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Final[ly] Friday

Today marks my final work day here in Argentina! As to be expected, the past weeks have flown by and I truly cannot believe that my time here has almost come to an end - just as I was becoming a pro with the buses too! The past week has been incredibly bittersweet; while I have enjoyed every work day, they have all been met with final goodbyes to people at the various organizations where we have been working.

As a treat for the girls as CESAM - the correctional facility - we took face masks and makeup for my last day as it seemed to be something we bonded over. We also spent my final day at Quisqui dancing and playing outside - two things that they showed me how to be better at. A particularly notable moment for me was on Wednesday at ReecontrArte - where we work with the homeless - and one of the young girls stayed by my side the entire time and asked me to paint with her. At the end of the night she gave me her drawing as a gift to take home and remember her by (*pictured below*).

After my final moments in the office, I went to a coffee shop nearby and upon telling the waiter that I was a foreigner I was told that I could pass for a Cordobés (person from Córdoba) - undoubtedly a nice way to end my final work day here!

Thank you Luana <3

Left my mark in the office

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Nothing to Wine About in Mendoza

This past weekend was spent in Mendoza, which is another province to the west of Córdoba. Mendoza is known for having a beautiful view of the Andes as well as being the largest wine producing area in Latin America! Along with 3 other volunteers, I embarked upon an 11-hour bus journey on Friday night, arriving in Mendoza first thing on Saturday morning. We stayed the small town of Maipú in a hostel on a vineyard. The hostel (Antigua Residencia) is owned by an Italian family - safe to say the food was impeccable! Being their off-season, we were the only ones at the hostel this weekend, meaning we were treated exceptionally well; we all left wishing we could stay longer. The chef even prepared some special desserts for us and gave us exemplary wine pairings. Though the trip was short-lived, it was undoubtedly memorable. The views of the Andes overlooking vineyards and the clear starry nights were unforgettable! The only thing to “wine” about was perhaps getting back to Córdoba at 7:30am on Monday and then having to work at 9. Nevertheless, it was worth every second. 

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4 Day Weekend

Quick update: Following an exciting Friday and Saturday, the rest of the weekend was relatively uneventful - hence the lack of posts. Monday morning, I woke up to discover there was a problem with the buses (no, I did not have the problem, the buses themselves did). They all went on strike on Monday at 4am, and are still on strike as of Tuesday night. It was near impossible to get a taxi meaning we did not have to go to work! YAY :) Tomorrow, we’re back at it though, buses or no buses. We decided to celebrate our break today by going to watch the latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, which I really enjoyed! Onto more exciting things tomorrow...

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#NiUnaMenos

03.06.17

The day after my birthday, I switched gears and went to a protest here in Córdoba known as “Ni Una Menos”. Ni Una Menos started in 2015 in Argentina as a feminist movement against the machismo culture and gendered violence that characterizes a lot of Latin America. After a series of brutal murders or “femicides” had been publicized, a group of female artists, journalists, and academics got together to speak up against this widespread violence. Ni Una Menos  means “Not One Less”, as in not one less woman/mother/schoolgirl in the world. It’s said that a woman dies every 18 hours here due to gendered violence. 

The reason I know so much about it isn’t just because I’m a year older and wiser; I actually ran a workshop about the march for the other volunteers here on Friday! Then on Saturday a group of us met up, painted our faces with logos and slogans and participated in the march. We walked with two banners in hand that were made by the girls at CESAM (the correctional facility for young woman where we work) as they aren’t able to protest for themselves. We found out some heartbreaking news from our coordinator in that one of their former guards at CESAM, a mother of 4, was killed by her partner earlier this week. She had been reported missing and was found the night before the protest. It was all the more difficult to be there, and perhaps made it all the more important. 

-Justicia por Ana Barrera-  

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A Year Older and Maybe Even a Little Wiser

02.06.17

Incredibly blessed to have spent my 22nd birthday here in Argentina, doing work that I love. My day was met with thoughtful gifts from my host mom and my friends here, a delicious dulce de leche/coconut cake (yes, it was as good as it sounds), and a great night out celebrating with the other interns. This is the second year in a row that I’ve been travelling abroad for my birthday, and I consider myself lucky to have had these chances. It’s always difficult to be away from home at a time like this but my family and friends - both here and at home - made me feel as special and as lucky as ever! Truly a great start to the year. 

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A Day in Prison (just visiting)

In complete juxtaposition to the morning spent with kindergartners, this evening the Human Rights team had a placement in CESAM, which is a youth correctional facility for young girls. In keeping with the theme of the month, we spent the time discussing gendered violence and stereotypes. In an effort to keep the conversation intriguing and relevant, we discussed the prominence of sexist lyrics in countless reggaeton songs. The topic is often a difficult one to discuss, and the position these girls are in is even tougher to see. They are between the ages of 14 and 19, with the majority of them on the younger end. Being my first time in a correctional facility, as coupled with a language barrier and a distinct difference in reality, it was undoubtedly a tough experience. Nevertheless, the girls were incredibly nice to me and genuinely curious about every aspect of my life. I’ve never been interviewed by 5 teenagers at once, but it is exactly as I would have imagined! The girl who was seemingly the leader of the rest seemed to take a liking to me, or rather to my makeup, but that ensured the rest of them were kind to me as well (I knew practicing my winged liner would come in handy some day!) 

A truly notable moment was when one of the girls who had been making jokes the entire time had me read over a letter that she was writing to her mother. She hasn’t seen her in 3 months and it was both very sweet and very heartbreaking. I was starkly reminded of the reality of her situation, in that the walls inside the prison are the extent of her freedom. It is something that I will likely never forget.  Overall it was definitely a unique experience but I look forward to next Monday with them at CESAM.

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National Kindergarten Day

May 28th in Argentina marks the Day of the Kindergarten Teacher and National Kindergarten Day - “Día de la Maestra Jardinera" & "Día de los Jardines de Infantes”. It commemorates the life of Rosario Vera Peñaloza who is known for having founded the first Argentine kindergarten, and for her dedication to education. 

In keeping her spirit alive, we spent the morning today at  Dr. Horacio Garcia School with their kindergartners. We ran, or rather participated in, different activities including: Capture the Flag, face-painting, and an inflatable castle. I’d say we were equally as excited as the 5-year-olds for all of the above. All of those Spanish animals that I learned in Quisqui last week really came in handy when I was trying to paint faces - not including the one girl who wanted a pink crocodile. Thankfully, for the most part, it was a bunch of gatos and mariposas (cats and butterflies). Despite the incredibly early morning, and the fact that I left with green paint in my hair, it was undoubtedly a gratifying start to the week. It’s truly a heartwarming feeling to allow kids to teach you what they do best: have fun and play! The majority of our placements can be quite taxing, so it was a nice break to be reminded of a time when even the smallest things could bring the greatest joy.

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A Día in a Villa

(the title rhymes in Spanish, I swear)

An early morning bus took a group of us to Villa General Belgrano for the day today. Belgrano is a small village in the mountains by Calamuchita, about 2 hours away from the city. It was settled by Germans in the 1930′s and is characterized by Bavarian-style architecture and traditionally German food (with some liberties taken by local chefs of course). It also has the 3rd most prominent Oktoberfest in the world. Many of the signs and local stands are in German, creating the feeling of being transported to a small German town frozen in time. Had it not been for the constant buzz of Spanish throughout the day, one could have easily forgotten that we were still in Argentina. The scenic views and impressive architecture made for a truly great day in Villa General Belgrano. OH, and there’s a road there called Lago Ontario (Lake Ontario) which was a nice little surprise! Overall, it was a generally great day. 

Fun Fact: The town is named after Manuel Belgrano who was an important liberator of Argentina and actually created the flag! 🇦🇷

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A Revolutionary Day

Quite literally so, at least historically speaking. May 25th in Argentina is known as the Día de la Revolución de Mayo, or the May Revolution Day. It commemorates the establishment of the First Independent Government which was an important step toward independence. 

After a long Wednesday back at Quisqui and ReencontrArte, it was nice having a national holiday in the middle of the week, giving us all the day off on Thursday. While our initial plans to take a day trip by train were derailed (so to speak) I spent the better part of the day at the Dionisi Palace Museum of Photography and in the city centre. Overall, my day itself wasn’t revolutionary per se, but it was definitely an enjoyable day off!

Museo Provincial Palacio Dionisi

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Spanish 101

On Monday morning, we went to visit Quisqui, which is a residential care facility for young girls who are unable to live with their families due to extenuating circumstances. They range from 5-15 years old and our job there is to teach them about their rights in fun and innovative ways. 

First off, kudos to anyone who managed to keep my interest for more than 10 seconds when I was 5 because MAN is it difficult to be interesting to a child. Luckily, our levels of Spanish are fairly equal so it’s not too difficult to communicate. 

Upon hearing that English was my first language, one of the girls wanted to practice with me. She told me that she was getting A’s in school in English, and seeing as I’ve gotten A’s (and some B’s)  in Spanish, I figured we could help one another. Despite the many hours I have spent learning various verb tenses and conjugations, I was rendered useless when a 9-year-old wanted to practice her animals and the only ones I knew were the absolute basics. I think we both realized that I was learning more from her than she was from me when I did not know how to say/spell “iguana” in Spanish. Do you know how it’s spelled? I-g-u-a-n-a. YUP. Nevertheless, we both had a good laugh about it and I know how to say a tonne of animals in Spanish now! 

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No filter needed for La Catedral and this beautiful day (21.05.17) 

Fun fact: on the ground in front of La Catedral and the Cabildo nearby, there are drawings of the buildings. At some point in history, an architect realized that people would always walk with their heads down without noticing the beautiful architecture, so he decided to give them something to look at, which would ideally intrigue them to notice the buildings!

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FUNdamental Learning Opportunities

During the past week, two of the organizations that we have worked with are FUNDEPS and Fundación Sí. Despite the recurrence of the word “fun”, and the somewhat misleading title, they have been anything but. 

On Thursday mornings, the Human Rights and Law team works with an organization called the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies, or FUNDEPS. They are a non-profit organization that aims to advocate for human rights on a national and international level in various ways. Our job there is to serve as interns, aiding in research and translation work. A lot of it is grunt-work but it allows us to learn a lot about Human Rights in Latin America, how much has been done, and how much is still left to do. 

On Thursday evenings, we volunteer with Fundación Sí, which is a national NGO with a base here in Córdoba. They seek to aid the homeless population in many ways, including walking around the downtown area, delivering food and learning more about the circumstances that have left people in these dire situations. It’s always difficult to talk to people who face immense difficulties every single day. 

While I can’t really use the word fun as an adjective for these experiences, there is always a silver lining in that it makes us all the more grateful for everything we have, and reminds us how important it is to help those who cannot help themselves. 

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Amidst the leaves of the palm tree, you can get a glimpse of one of the thinnest buildings in South America. At its widest part it's about 3 metres!! Supposedly the brother who owned the front plot of land had a fight with the one who owned the back. And thus, a strange and intriguing architectural miracle.

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Updates!

I apologize for the recent delay in posts as I have fallen victim to the notoriously ever-changing and unpredictable weather here in Córdoba (i.e. I have a cold). I kid you not when I say it was 20°C one day and then there was hail the size of golf-balls in the same afternoon. Needless to say, autumn in Argentina is a completely unique experience. 

As to be expected, I have still not had a 100% success rate with the bus system. Since my last update about the colectivos, I have: taken the wrong bus, waited 35mins only to realize they weren’t coming to that stop, and straight up just missed my stop by 4 blocks in the past week. So maybe a 99% success rate? I'm sure practice will make perfect. 

Despite the above-noted mishaps, my week has actually been very rewarding. I have been able to partake in various field opportunities, learn a lot more Argentinian slang, and experience some of the exciting night-life (sorry mom <3). 

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Two (hours) to Tango

What’s that saying about when in Rome? I guess it really wouldn’t be Argentina if we didn’t try to learn the tango at least once! With the guidance of Diego and Diana at the Milonga Caminito, a group of volunteers and interns from Projects Abroad took an introductory lesson and learned the 8 basic steps (9, if you count stepping on toes) to tango. Safe to say there were some bruised feet but it was definitely worth it! If only Antonio Banderas circa 2006 in “Take the Lead” could see me now...

La Milonga Caminito

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First Day in the Field

05.17.17 Today was the first day that I was able to partake in an event with one of the external organizations that the Human Rights and Law team works with. In the afternoon we went to the Church of San Francisco (one of the many beautiful churches here) and worked with ReecontrARTE. They are an organization of volunteers that prepares food for the homeless population in Córdoba and seeks to form a bond with them through the arts. They regularly have a guitar and songs, as well as painting, dramatic arts, and other games. 

During our time there, we are able to help the volunteers, as well as connect with the people and learn about their life stories. Wherever possible, we assess specific needs that they have in order to better their own lives and try to assist them in helping themselves. Most commonly, they require assistance in learning how to get an ID or specific consulate information in order to apply for jobs or boarding houses. It was definitely a unique experience that was equally heartbreaking and heartwarming! I look forward to next Wednesday when I get to reecontrarse (meet them again). 

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