Platensita

Friday, March 13, 2009

Comedores: La Estrategia del Caracol y Aprendiendo

This morning, I went to snap some photos of the comedor, La Estrategia del Caracol, where I will (hopefully) be building the first solar water heater. This comedor (functions as a soup kitchen and community center) is located outside of the city serving about 100 families.

biblioteca para los niños

roof that will need extra support for a 400-L tank

oven where the ladies made bread (past FSD project)

garden (past FSD w/Biosfera project)

look at the size of those suckers!

ideal location for the SWH

pipe connection to city main

neighboring house with roof-tank - proof that there is enough water pressure for a roof-tank

neighbors and road

Aprendiendo comedor, courtesy of Jessie

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Mi Nueva Obsesión

Brand new obsession: making granola! I have been using this fabulous recipe. It's super easy and delicious. I highly recommend adding some chunky, organic peanut butter and lots of dried fruit and eliminating the brown sugar. Enjoy!

Asado con Familias!

Saturday night, my family invited some of the other families that are hosting FSD interns for an asado. We had a wonderful time, lots of great food and laughs. I made sangria, which everyone very much appreciated :)

Here's the parrilla, in our backyard:

Argentine steak never gets old

Jessie, me, Charlotte

the star of the evening, Ti-Ti. don't you just LOVE the pigtails? i do!

we had a great time playing dolls

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Proyecto: Grant-Writing and more

It's Wednesday mid-day and I am currently at work. I have completed writing the bulk of my grant request and am working on the budget. For the last week and then some, I have been working on this grant. Not to be a downer, but grant-writing is a pain in the butt. FSD wants an absurd amount of details and the information gets repetitive. The title ("Introducing La Plata to Renewable Energy Technology: Construction of Solar Water Heaters") says it all. Was it really necessary to identify and discuss 6 different project focuses (economic, health, education, community development, environment, appropriate technology) when the community doesn't have hot water?? Well, I am asking for close to US$1000 to construct 3 (!!!) solar water heaters (SWH) so I can do the grunt work necessary.

And yes, I did say 3 SWHs! One of the other FSD interns working with another organization found another community in need (without hot water). So we are teaming up to build the 3rd SWH at another comedor.

I'll keep you updated with photos as the project moves along.

Currently, finding materials (most importantly tanks and wood) have been my focus. In most of the literature that I have read, building a SWH is considered an easy, DIY weekend project and the materials include things that you can find at a junk yard (used thermo tanks, old patio doors, etc). However, Argentines aren't as quick to give/throw away goods as Americans. They don't upgrade for the sake of upgrading. Things get used until they don't work anymore. Therefore, the chatarras ("second-hand goods store") that I have been visiting really are filled with junk. There aren't good used tanks lying around for me to snatch up. This is causing a big dilemma with my grant making the project way more expensive than I thought. The search continues...

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Dieta Round 2

Ok, here I go. I think that I am going to do it this time. I am taking the plunge. No more facturas, no more white bread, limited pasta and pizza (but banishment would be impossible when depending on others' meal plans), no more helado (that's right, I'm serious this time).

I decided on the diet otra vez after seeing beach pictures - not so fun... And alas, I had my first test of determination yesterday morning. I arrived at work to plate-full of facturas (think croissants filled with dulce de leche and other amazing sweets) in the kitchen. But I wasn't going to dive in. I was determined to stay strong. When my co-workers arrived, they all squealed in delight and started digging into the goodies. At which point, I was standing by the stove heating up the water for mate (new addiction) and they turned to offer me some. When I politely declined, they gawked (I think that jaws actually hit the floor) - probably from a combination of the yumminess of the facturas and their knowledge of my insatiable sweet tooth. So, I just went ahead and announced my new diet. Big mistake! Immediately, my Columbian friend grabbed at my waist to "measure" my tummy, and then came the taunting with the facturas ("are you suuuuure that you don't want one?" while dangling them in front of my face). Despite this, I succeeded in staying strong! Yay me!

Today I got some more stomach grabs, always fun... not. Helado will be the real test - I am not looking forward to that.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Valientes!!!

My daily schedule has become welcoming-ly steady. Arrive at work at 9:30, work all day with a wonderful home-cooked lunch around 2pm, work-out/see friends/do yoga/go to capoiera, head home for dinner and lastly, the highlight, Valientes!

My host family is addicted to Valientes, a muy muy popular Argentine telenovela based in Buenos Aires. We sit down together all eyes glued to the TV from 10-11pm M-Thurs. no talking allowed. The premise is silly and predictable (think bad day-time television) - 3 hermanos and 3 hermanas, fairly self-explanatory. But of course, I love it! I look forward to watching it everyday. Hilariously, all of the host families are hooked too, and the other interns and I discuss the show all of the time - catching each other up on missed episodes, reviewing the plot to make sure we understood the Spanish, fighting over which brother is hotter, etc, etc.

This picture says it all:

Mar del Ajó

I had heard some pretty discouraging things about Argentine beaches; therefore, my trip last weekend to Mar del l Ajó (5 hours from La Plata) was a pleasant surprise.