El Tren de La Noche y Mi Primero Encuentro con Bahia Blanca

This past weekend, my family invited me along on a trip to Bahia Blanca, my host parents' home city, for the 70th birthday of my host grandma. Most of their family lives there. We traveled by train (not recommended for tourists!). If my gym is on the "ghetto" side, then the train was Ghetto, with a captial G!

The train took about 14 hours from Buenos Aires to Bahia Blanca. Going, we went on a local, so very slow, and somehow, the ride was bumpy. How? I don't know. Coming back, we went on an express and it took 16 hours. The train hit a woman, seriously. She ended up being ok, only a broken ankle, but it added some hours to our journey. Interesting experience!

Thursday, my family took me around to meet the family (taking mate at each stop) and on a city tour (not too much to see, not a recommended tourist stop). The port is the second largest in Argentina, but no beaches, only factories - mostly for petrochemicals.

after the "protest" with biosfera, i felt a bit Erin-Brockovich-esque taking these photos

Then they took me to the nicer neighborhood and I saw some gorgeous houses - the nicest that I have seen in Argentina. They reminded a bit of Westchester...

I joined a gym!

Yep! I joined a gym! It's close to my house, only 10 blocks so I can ride my bicycle there. It is on the "ghetto" side, but they have some machines and weights.

When you join a gym in Argentina, they make you complete a set of exercises to evaluate your current fitness level. So, that's what I did yesterday. Not bad at all.

Side note on greetings: whenever you enter a room and see people for the first time, it is part of Argentine culture to greet with a kiss on the right cheek (yes, men also). Hilariously, people do this at the gym, too! Whenever someone entered the gym, they walked around the two rooms kissing everyone else on the cheek. It didn't matter if a person was dripping in sweat (not too many people were) or on a machine. Gotta love those friendly Argentines!

Mi Proyecto: Calentador Solar de Agua

Yesterday was my first official day of work with Biosfera (minus the "protest"). First thing in the morning, I had a meeting with Horacio, the president and my supervisor, to discuss ideas. I expressed my interest in sustainable technology and told him about my project in India (rain-water harvesting system). He was thrilled! He threw out the idea of making a solar water heater (SWH) for a community center in an area of the city without sufficient services. I actually visited the exact community center that he was speaking about with FSD during orientation (we made bread). In addition, he wants me to make a second SWH on the roof of our building to act as a model for future projects. Furthermore, he wants me to write a pamphlet/manual (in Spanish, of course).

I am ecstatic about the project! It is exactly the kind of project that I wanted. What's more exciting is that I get to organize the project completely by myself. I have never worked completely independently before on a large project so I am excited about the challenge.

4 months, 2 SWHs, 1 Spanish pamphlet, a barrel of enthusiasm - totally doable!

Feria de Plaza Italia y Perritos!

Sunday, I went to the Feria in Plaza Italia with another FSD intern. It is supposedly the best feria in the city so, obviously, we had to check it out pronto.

There were all of the typical stands of mate cups, jewelry, and leather products as well as some live folk music and dancing.

what a sweet couple! they were dancing in their own world

My program director had told me that people sell puppies and kittens at the feria, so my friend and I went on the hunt for puppies! We didn't have to go too far...

line of people selling puppies and kittens
(same thing on the other side of the sidewalk)i'm in love!what a face!
(sorry, no pictures of kittens, they just don't do it for me)

I was very tempted to play with all of the puppies, but then my friend and I started thinking about where the puppies come from. One lady had a sign saying that her puppy had gotten its shots and vaccinations. Only 1 out of maybe 25! There are no animal shelters in Argentina - they simply do not exist. That leaves two options for the puppies: from a breeder or from the street.

In La Plata, there are muchissimo stray dogs. You will find a stray dog on almost every street in the city. On my street, there are 3 or 4 stray dogs that I see everyday. One of the dogs seems to live on the street, but I have seen him run into my neighbor's house. Some of the poorer families adopt dogs right off the street without taking them to a vet. Here's a picture of a dog (stray? owned? I don't know) in my neighborhood:

can you see him?

now?

Fotos: La Ciudad

view of plaza moreno and the city center from the cathedralpedestrian walking streetpopular coffee and alfajore (traditional Argentine cookie with dulce de leche) shopmeat aisle at the super marketgraffiti on university of la plata buildingpopular helado place in the city

La Manifestacion

Saturday, I participated in a "protest" with Biosfera (I put "protest" in quotes, because technically I am not allowed to participate in any protests as an FSD intern). Well as for my first and last "protest" with Biosfera, I thought that it went very well. We gathered early on Saturday morning. Then, we walked with signs to a pedestrian street in the center of city and distributed pamphlets. The pamphlets contain information about a new industrial park that is going to create lots of pollution right in the middle of agricultural fields.

some examples of the signs...

"less industrial park is more pure water"

map of park site

Our "protest" made it into the local papers.

my picture even made it in one! can you see me?

how about now? oops, sorry FSD!

Mi Familia Argentina

So far, I have been living with my family for almost a week and it is going very well. My family includes my host mom, dad and sister. My host sister is in the Argentine Navy and will be leaving in a couple of weeks to return to school. She is close to my age so it is nice having her around the house to chat with. After she leaves, my host parents' nephew will be moving in. He is a bit older than me and is an engineer. Also, my host parents are very friendly and like having guests over for dinner or for mate in the afternoon. There are lots of people around for me to practice my Spanish.

The house is very comfortable with a large garden:

my host fam's garden (ignore the tp - i had a cold)

My host mom loves to tan. When I woke up Sunday morning, she was out back mowing the lawn in her bathing suit. She's a very funny, warm person. I spent Sunday morning with my family relaxing in the back yard and reading the paper (trying to improve my vocab!).

All of the bedrooms are on the second floor of the house.

mine has bunk-beds! slumber party, anyone?

Of course, my family loves to drink mate! They have about 8 mate cups in the kitchen and then an assortment of fancier cups are on display around the house.

a fancier mate cup that my family used this sunday - i have yet to discover the difference in cups

My neighborhood is a little outside of the city and the houses vary in size and style.

a shabbier house in my neighborhood

It is very quiet and peaceful in my neighborhood. However, I am still getting used to taking the buses, walking around and figuring out how safe it is. My family is very helpful and patient in explaining things to me in very slow Spanish. They don't speak any English so as of now, our conversations are slow and filled with me saying "no entiendo" frequently. My family was kind enough to invite me along a mini-vacation to Bahia Blanca to visit family for a long weekend. I am looking forward to bonding with them on the 12-hour overnight train ride tomorrow night.