April 29th, 2013 – Opera Singer?

Today we had our first day of in depth case studies. We are looking at how BA is becoming a “greener” city. We first went to an area of the city where they are building a bus rapid transit system and destroyed lots of green life in order to do so. Then we went to Puerto Madero and saw the Lady Bridge (google “lady bridge Buenos aires”), and a bunch of upscale parks, interviewing people along the way. Then we went to a Congress meeting with lots of different NGOs who were discussing the government’s plans to make the city greener.

Then B and I came home for a quick bite to eat before I headed out again to “La Bomba de Tiempo” which is a drumming group that performs every Monday and is very well known. It was a ton of fun!! I saw someone attempt to pickpocket someone right in front of me and we prevented it from happening. Scary stuff. 

April 28th, 2013 – Stumbled Upon

Today I didn’t feel so hot in the morning (having come back at around 5am) so I slept for a very long time. I finally ventured outside around 3:30, and while I was walking down the street I ran into two other people from my program. They wanted to go to a market that was pretty far away, so we asked some people on the street how long that market was open to see if it was worth the trip. We met this older woman who wouldn’t stop talking to us. We heard her whole life story. But she did tell us that there was a fair a few blocks away right in Belgrano. We walked to where she said and low and behold there was a cute little market in a park. We got some pizza and walked around for a few hours before I came home.

I did some work at home before dinner. We had ravioli for dinner and chocolate cake with dulce de leche for dessert. YUM. 

April 27th, 2013 – Teatro de los Ciegos

B and I decided to walk about an hour to meet up with friends instead of taking the subway. It was beautiful out in the morning. Then we walked around the neighborhood of Palermo for a while, went to some markets, shopped, etc. We ate lunch (at 4pm) at this restaurant that is owned by Americans and serves amazing brunch. Then we came home because it began to pour outside.

I ate a quick dinner here around 7:30 and then went to a blind theater with two friends. That means that the production happens in pitch black and all of the actors are blind. The theatre is internationally known. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but it was such a cool experience. There was singing, smells, and things that touched us like drops of water. It was an hour long and we went out for the rest of the night. 

April 26th, 2013 – MDT

We had culture and society class in the morning, and then a site visit to see the MDT organization. The MDT is a cooperative organization that resisted government funding. They have their own kindergarten, bank, bakery, etc. (its like a communist community, so everyone only profits from what they produce). Our politics and development assignment is based on our visit, so although we were all so tired from our insane week, we paid close attention.

We got back from the visit around 7pm. I came home, relaxed a little, and went out at night. Good end to a crazy week. 

April 25th, 2013 – Dreaming of Sleep

Today, since everyone slept on average 3 hours because we all had this insane project to complete, we were all insanely tired at school. We had to present our projects to the rest of the class all morning. Then we watched part of a movie about the economic crisis in Argentina, which was hard to stay awake for. For lunch, some of us got some pizzas and wine and ate in the park to celebrate being done with the project.

After that we had a brief introduction to our case studies, which is another huge project that we start on Monday. It never ends. But after school, a few of us went to the Eva Peron museum which was very cool, and then we went to the zoo which is right in the center of the city. The zoo was incredible, and it was a beautiful day.

Then I came home and took a well-needed nap. At dinner, we talked about politics and pop culture. It was a great conversation. Then I debated going out, but I’m so tired and need to catch up on sleep. I don’t know if I can go 4 days on less than 4 hours of sleep each night. 

April 24th, 2013 – Stress

Today we went to school, had a guest lecture about transportation in BA, and then split up into groups to go to three different sites that were outside of the main city area. I went to NorDelta, which is a gated community complex (more like a city with lots and lots of gated communities within it) that was very far from the city. We took a subway and then an hour and a half train to get there. We had to finagle our way into the community, go through security and everything, before we could drive into the area. We stayed on a bus for the majority of the day.

It seems like we have been brainwashed on this program to think that all development is bad. So this incredibly beautiful gated community was being critiqued the while time we were there. Not sure how I feel about that.

When we got back to the school at 6pm, my group for the project that is due tomorrow met up. Except for the fact that half of my group went to a different site and was 2 hours late. We eventually all met up to work on our project. From 8 – 2:30am. Good times. Wait that’s such a lie. It was so stressful.