Buenos Aires 2

Hey everyone!
Week 2 is underway. Not a whole lot has happened since my last post, but I have a lot to write about nonetheless.

On Friday, we took a tour of the Evita Museum, dedicated to the life of Eva Peron, the wife of the former president Juan Peron. I have to admit that I knew very little about the Peronist government, and thus knew very little about Evita. I learned quite a bit from this museum. To describe her in a very concise manner is to understate her importance to the country, but nonetheless, the best way I can describe her is controversial. She was very well-liked by the lower and working classes, for Peron's government was a populist government, but she was also despised by the upper classes.

Basically, it goes like this: she was born into a poor family. Her mother was actually the mistress of a man who had another wife, and thus she was considered an illegitimate child, along with her siblings. She eventually worked her way up to becoming an actress. Being in the public eye, she caught the fancy of Juan Peron, and they got married. Peron instated economic policies that enraged the rich, because he commandeered their wealth and gave it to the poor. Alongside this, Eva spearheaded the “Eva Peron Institute” which provided goods to families. Apparently, when people come to the museum and see some of the goods which the Institute produced, they get teary-eyed. The mentality among some people is that “Eva saved my childhood,” since otherwise they would have had absolutely nothing. Despite having no official political office, Eva went on something called the “Rainbow Tour,” a diplomatic trip which took her all over Europe, North America and South America. However, her life ended rather abruptly at age 33 when she died of cervical cancer. Her story doesn't end there, though…her body lay in state for a few days, during which some opponents of the Peronist government stole her body , disfigured it, and hid it in various places throughout Buenos Aires. Eventually it was returned to the Peron family. Shortly afterwards, however, the Peronist government was overthrown in a military coup, and seized her body. It ended up in Italy, where it was buried under a false name. After much sleuthing, it was returned to Juan Peron, who was exiled in Spain at the time. He made a triumphant return to Argentina in the 1970s, and was once again elected president. The body of Eva now lies in the Recoleta Cemetary in the mausoleum owned by her family.
Alright, so sorry for the depressing story, but she is one of the most important figures in Argetinean history. I'll talk about something more pleasant now...my weekend! This requires an explanation of the concept of time in Argentina. Dinnertime is not 6:00pm or 6:30pm. It's 9:00pm, and even then, that's early…it's not uncommon to see people eating dinner at restaurants at 11:00pm. This means that the nightlife is wayyyy later than in the USA. Whereas most bars and clubs in the USA close at 2am, most bars and clubs in Argentina get into full swing at 2am! Now then, on Friday I went out with some members of my group. The school was hosting a party at an apartment, and we were there until 2:30am, after which we went to another bar. I got home at 5am…on Saturday, I slept in, did a bit of shopping, took a nap, and then had dinner with my host family. At 1am I went to a concert of a group called La Bomba del Tiempo, which is kind of like a drum circle. There were 17 drummers in the group, and I was astonished by the rhythms they created. It was almost entrancing, and everyone danced around the hall where the concert was held. At 3:30am they took a break. Yes, thats right, a break. I couldn't stand anymore, so I went home and went to bed at 4. Sunday was a very nice day, so I walked around to parts of the city I hadn't yet visited. This included San Telmo Square, which features an antiques market every Sunday. I saw everything from victrolas to old seltzer bottles to gaucho bullwhips (Argentine gauchos are kind of like American cowboys). Afterwards I walked along Puerto Madero, one of the city's port areas. Up until the 1990's it was characterized by decaying warehouses, as the better port was located further north. However, developers came in and turned the area into something much more pleasant. There are benches all along the walk along the port. People were sitting on the benches, drinking mate (ma-tay), the local tea, and enjoying the sun while others were walking and rollerblading along the port walk. There are lots of apartments, clubs and restaurants along the walk. Another interesting characteristic of the area is that all the streets are named after women, and the main attraction to the area is Puente de la Mujer, “Woman’s Bridge.” Here is a picture:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Buenos_Aires-Puente_de_la_Mujer.jpg

Afterwards I walked home and fell asleep…it was a bit of a taxing weekend in a very fun way.
One of my roommates also moved out. She is a pediatric neurologist (sound familiar?) at a hospital in London. She’s going on to Mendoza, in the west of Argentina. We had a goodbye dinner on Saturday night, during which she asked if the host family wanted anything from England, of course meaning food, tea, whatever. The quote of the week was said in response. Quoth Sergio, my host father: “Mandame Margaret Thatcher” (send me Margaret Thatcher). Of course, this is reference to the Falklands War in 1982, during which Argentina attempted to seize the Falklands (or Malvinas as theyre called in Spanish), a British territory. The war ended disastrously for Argentina, and many people still resent Maggie Thatcher for waging the war.

More to come! I'm about to learn how to make empanadas...

Buenos Aires 1

Hey hey!

Greetings to all. Im writing from my language school in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A bit of a disclaimer at first; the keyboard Im using is not the best of quality (ie a lot of letters have rubbed off) and I havent quite figured out the Argentina keyboard layout, so please forgive any grammatical or spelling mistakes.

Bueno.

I guess a good place to start would be my first impressions. A representative from the school flagged me down at the airport, along with 4 others from my program who were on either the same flight or a flight that landed around the same time. We took a shuttle van from the airport to the city itself. The ride into town reminded me the ride into town of many European cities, however Paris and parts of Rome came to mind. I was taken immediately to my guest familýs house. The street on which Im living appears to be a relatively high class shopping street, with lots of boutiques, cafes and restaurants. The architecture is strongly reminiscent of Paris, because when this part of the city was being developed, all things French were still cool. Unfortunately, the first 2 days were marred by rain. Obviously though, Im not going to hold that against the city.

My host family is very nice. Theyre an old couple, with 3 children and 6 grandchildren of various ages. I also share the apartment with 2 other native English speakers, one American and one Brit. The American is out of town but should return tomorrow. I have not been able to speak to my host mother very much, as she is unfortunately sick and spends all day in bed. However, I get along with my host father very well. He is very knowledgeable about Argentine history, politics and society. Pretty much every dinner is a history lesson. Last night we talked about the Battle of the River Plate, which happened early on in World War 2. A German pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, plagued the Atlantic shipping lines during the early years of the war. Soon enough, the British navy sent a detachment to go after the ship, and eventually cornered it in the harbor of Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay (right across the River Plate from Buenos Aires). The Brits put up a blockade, and shipping into and out of the river ceased. Eventually, the ship was scuttled. Anyways...weve also talked about Argentinas past, such as the Peronist governments, Evita, as well as the Argentine soccer team and its world famous coach, Diego Maradona.

Celebracion del Bicentenario

This year and this week have been especially important for Argentina. 200 years ago yesterday, a revolution began, which ultimately led to Argentinas independence. Even though the actual day of independence is July 9, the Dia de la Revolucion del 25 de Mayo is the most important national holiday. There have been 3 days of celebrations. The main avenue, Avenida del 9 de Mayo, has been closed off to traffic and instead the streets have been packed with people, stages, information booths, and activities. Every state in Argentina was represented, and there were even food stands featuring the cuisine of the various ethnic groups that live in Argentina; Spanish, German, French, even Irish and Armenian!! The Argentines are some of the most naturally musical people Ive ever seen...one day on the avenue we were listening to a band. The song was in a complicated rhythm, yet the audience was able to clap along in PERFECT timing.

As a student of both history and political science, Ive found that Im very intrigued by the concept of nationalism. As an American, Im very used to the traditions of banal nationalism, such as flag-waving, independence day parades and patriotic songs. I have to say that after America, Argentina is the most tangibly nationalistic place Ive ever been to. This stands in stark contrast to nationalism in Germany, which is almost non-existant, even frowned upon (a direct result of Nazism). Here in Buenos Aires, every building has a giant Argentine flag, everyone wears a little flag on their lapels. It doesnt matter if its a shiny gold pin or a simple combination of light blue and white (the national colors) ribbons. Little children run through crowds eating blue and white cotton candy, draped in flags and adorned with flag headbands. One thing Ive learned about Argentina already is that these people LOVE their country.

So, Im only half a week into my 3.5 week trip, and there are a few things Im hoping to accomplish. Id like to learn more about past governments, particularly those under Juan Peron, and learn the peoples sentiments thereof. On a much less serious note, there are plans in the works to go to Uruguay for a weekend!

Ill try to do a better job of updating this blog than I did with the tail end of my time in Germany ;)

Dave