Ya ha sido un mes!

I have already been here for a month! It has gone by so fast. I can't believe I only have 2 weeks of classes left. There is still so much I want to do in Buenos Aires. Mom and Alaina come on Sunday and I will not be volunteering when they are here, so that I can spend time with them.

Friday night, instead of staying up ridiculously late, I decided to teach myself how to make empanadas. Since you can buy pre-made, pre-rolled dough in the grocery stores it was actually very easy. I also bought a packages of spices labeled Condimento para Empanadas y Rellenos. 

Perfectly Browed Empanadas

 Salad Empanadas and Wine for Dinner

Inside Chicken Empanadas

Other Adventures

This week I took a day off from volunteering to go to La MamBA. El Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires. The museum lies on the edge of San Telmo, so we walked back down the street where the San Telmo market takes place.

Calle Defensa

The museum had four exhibits. The first one, was kind of odd and the art was very serious. One piece included porn, another was a office furniture covered in snow, and one was a the credits of a person's entire life. There was one thing that I found very interesting. Someone collected dedication pages of books and displayed the most heart felt ones. 

The other exhibits were much more normal modern art. One had a combination of white and colored walls, and the other made it seem as if there were no walls in the room. The paintings were hung buy string to seem like they were floating.

The Dedication Pages

Colored Walls

Floating Paintings

On the way back from the museum, we explored a little. We found a really cool disorganized bookstore and decaying old church. 

Book Store

Iglesia San Domino

On Saturday, I walk to the Japanese Garden which is located in the parks of Palermo. Weekend mornings are very slow in Buenos Aires, so there were not very many people around on my way there. I just kind of wandered up towards the park. On the way went to a large metal flower, that opens and closes with the sun. 

Church in La Recoleta

Walk to Palermo

Floralis Generica

The Japanese garden is one of the best kept gardens in the city. It is maintained and run by the Japanese society in Buenos Aires. There are koi ponds, bridges, a tea house, and bonsai garden. 

Japanese Garden

Photos From Volunteering

Here is a little taste of what I have been doing in the afternoons. 

Birthday Balloons! 

A Full Table of Excited Kids Painting Pictures!

More Painting

Tried So Hard To Get Him To Smile..... But He Just Wouldn't

Me, Irina and Genny

Rambunctious Girl Who Came and Wanted to Play After We Cleaned Up

Dia De Los Amigos

This weekend has been the best weekend so far on my trip. Not only was it the warmest weather so far, but there was actually sun! It was fun to wonder around some of the famous neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, and welcome a new student to the apartment. Sunday was Dia De Los Amigos or "friends day". Just like we celebrate father's day and mother's day, the Argentines celebrate great friendships on this day. 

Tango at Cafe Tortoni! 

Cafe Tortoni is one of the oldest and most famous Cafes in Buenos Aires. It opened in 1858 and has been serving Portenos (people from Buenos Aires) ever since. They offer tango shows every night of the week. People are let in an hour before the show to eat dinner or order drinks. The show I saw imitated a night at a Tango club. 

Since it was the last night in Bueno Aires for one of my friends, we went to find a place to get drinks. We ended up wondering in to a Restobar behind my apartment building that had live tango music. It was a great relaxing and romantic atmosphere. We stayed there talking and enjoying the music for a few hours.

La Boca "The Mouth"

La Boca is Buenos Aires' most famous neighborhood. It is so named because it lays at the mouth of the river. When you google pictures of Buenos Aires, it is the colorful houses and shops of La Boca that the pop up. La Boca was founded by Italian immigrants who made there houses with parts from the boats the brought them over. Since, the materials were ugly, they painted their houses bright colors to liven up the neighborhood. It is also know to be the birth place of Tango. People in the tourist area of La Boca are very pushy. They walk up to you with menus and act like you want to go to their restaurant and the prices on almost everything are inflated. The streets were packed with people and the colors were extra vibrant in the sun.

The Famous Colored Walls

More Brightly Painted Walls

   

La Boca Crafts Market

Birthday Girl Buying a Leather Purse

Hand Made Bracelets

The Mouth of the River

San Telmo 

The San Telmo Market is a 10 block long crafts market that starts in the heart of San Telmo at Plaza Dorrego and ends at Plaza de Maya. There is everything from antiques to silver jewelry, to hand made leather pieces to shoes.  The majority of the things there are hand made and relatively in expensive. For example I bought a hand made leather belt for less than $10. 

After the market I went into La Casa Rosa with the girl who just moved into my apartment. It was not very exciting. There were only a few rooms that you were allowed into. I thought it was interesting that the inside of on courtyard was pink and the other was white.

Presidents Office 

 Entry Hall of La Casa Rosada

I have finally mastered the kitchen. Everything is gas and has to be lit with a match. I still freak out every time I light the stove, but I'm getting better. I cooked my first steak tognith! And I was very impressed with my results. For 6 pieces of stake the size show below it was about $4. So cheap compared to steak in the US! I will now be eating steak for the rest of the week though. To go along with the steak made eggplant, which is now my new favorite vegetable.

In My Element (Literally)

When I first got to Buenos Aires, I was afraid I had made a horrible mistake. I was in an over whelming city, traveling alone for the first time. On my second day here a man started following me and asking for my number. I was extremely close to breaking down in the middle of the street.

Now though, I couldn't be more sure that I made the right choice. I love the people I volunteer with. I love learning Spanish again. And I love Buenos Aires. Now that I have mastered my commute to school and to the LIFE office, I can really appreciate my life in the city. It has done nothing but reassure me that I need to follow my dream of living and working in a big city when I graduate. I am able to explore the streets on my way to school, and admire beautiful old buildings on my bus ride to the LIFE office. It rain a lot this weekend and I loved it. I finally get to experience "winter", since no such thing exists in at Santa Clara. I love walking the streets in the rain and then entering a warm building to let the heat warm me up. As the title says I am in my element here, and I am loving every minute of my time here.

La Malba

Since I have been battling a cold, I took it easy on Saturday. The forecast said it would rain most of the day which called for an indoor adventure, so I chose La Malba (Museo de Art Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires). La Malba has been my favorite attraction in the city so far. Along wit the permanent exhibit featuring many political paintings and some abstract art, they had also just opened up an exhibit that featured art that used lights. Below are a few of my favorite pieces of art. 

 Moving Metal Ovals that Reflected Light

 Woven Lights

 A Bench on Each Floor Met in the Lobby and Intwined

When I left the museum is was pouring. I made it half way to the bus stop before deciding to take a break in a coffee shop. This leads me to a confession. It goes against everything my dad has taught me about the evils of coffee, but despite hating coffee my entire life and resisting drinking it, I have started to really like cappuccinos. So, I ordered a cappuccino and a media luna and sat in the cafe watching the rain, texting friends and attempting to read a children's book in spanish. I spent the rest of my afternoon and evening at home preparing for the crazy day that was ahead.

El Mundial

(The World Cup)

Starting at about 1:00 (thats three hours before the game), people starting fileing into bars and restaurants to watch the world cup final. Some places were by reservation only, and others had a minimum that you must spend. We were extremely lucky to walk by a bar as it was opening, so we got front row seats to a big screen. By the time the game started the bar was packed full. To reach the minimum fee for this bar you had to order two drinks. Since I don't like beer, I watched the game with some delicious and strong white wine. 

It was rather depressing for the first thirty minutes after the game, but soon people started to celebrate to support the accomplishments of the Messi and the team. People began flocking towards the Obelisk  and walking up Corrientes. People leaned out of cars and randomly broke into song. The street was loud until at least 1am when I went to sleep. On my walk back home, I passed a German bar. The police were there ready to stop any fights that might break out. Though new stations in other countries focused on the burning cars and angry Argentines, that is not what I experienced at all. Although they were disappointed, Argentina still wanted to support their team and celebrate all that they accomplished this year. 

Corrientes After the Game

This week I have been in class in the morning and volunteering in the afternoons, so I have been extremely busy. Tomorrow I'm going to a tango show and this weekend I am going to La Boca and the San Telmo Crafts Market. My next post will have pictures and stories from volunteering.