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Hola a todos!
Just wanted to catch everyone up on my life- haven't done anything super exciting but I am really happy to be fairly settled into a routine. Since I last updated I have started Spanish, or rather Castellano tutoring. I found Marco, my tutor via several forums where people had recommended him. I am currently taking 3 private lessons each week with him, 2 hours each. It's going really well so far...he teaches from his apt which is luckily located about a 5 min walk from my place. He has a classroom sectioned off in his apt for teaching. He teaches Argentine/BsAs/ rioplatense/porteno spanish. Which basically means the accent here and the subjects that they use (one of which is different than in basically every other spanish-speaking location.) Anyway I am doing that mon, wed, and fri mornings.
I currently have tues and thurs free which i plan on spending at the British Hospital with Dr. Sola who I will be shadowing. I have met him a few times and he is really nice- ironically worked at Shands for a few months! (university of florida's hospital for those who don't know) He has indicated that I will not be allowed to watch major surgeries, but small procedures should be ok. When he is busy or in surgery he will try to "pass me around" to other doctors to get a feel for many areas. He does oncology but is also the head of the tissue/bone bank of the hospital?
Oh i guess last time I was going on my trip....that was cancelled, mainly because Dr. Sola couldnt go and then the BsAs group kinda bails I guess-SO i will go next month (weekend of march 20th i believe)
Volunteering with LIFE is still going very well. I have been made a co-coordinator for this week and most likely as of next week will be coordinating my own activities at one of the comedors that we go to-literally translates to soup kitchen but varies in each area, sometimes fulltime soup kitchen that provides 3 meals a day for tons of people and for some places its some sort of building where the kids can go as a safe play/ work area. I have been to 3 comedors so far and have been assigned to start taking over Los Angelitos which i really like when I went there. The kids are very interested in learning there and will happily do math and language worksheets, games, etc. I will be doing that twice a week, timewise from 3-7 pm. Since i will be going to the same place from now on i will start bringing my camera so you can get a better idea of what im doing.
The areas that we go to are fully called Villas Miserias, mainly just known as Villas (vee-shas) which is what slums are known as in argentina. LIFE mainly works in La Ciudad Oculta aka Villa 15. You can google ciudad oculta and see pictures and some info. If you see pics of the HUGE building that looks like it could be the skeleton of a hospital thats one of the areas i have worked in. I have been playing futbol with the kids in the entrance to that building.
Also LIFE does a once a month trip as well to Misiones, which is in the north as well but more east than where ill be going with Pilotos Solidarios(the otherr org with Dr. Sola). So one month i will probably do that trip instead, it goes to a small indiginous village to mainly bring them supplies,etc. This is also where Iguacu Falls are so for $50 more I can stay 3 more days and visit them and the border towns in paraguay and brazil. (im told legally you need a visa but "dont worry about it- we do it every month" )we'll see...
Last week I joined conversationexchange.com which allows you to create a profile indicating your native language, where you are located, and which language you'd like to practice. So far I have met up with one girl who is argentine, from a few hours outside of BsAs but now lives and works here. She wants to practice her english as well so we did a good mix of both languages, I will continue to meet up with her once a week as practice.
Lastly I think starting this week I will start goign to Spanglish which is pretty much the same concept but in a group. I think it's kind of like speed dating, where you go from person to person having conversations half in english half in castellano. The one on thurs evening is at a bar/resto down the street from me and its about u$s 4 to get in, get a beer, and meet people. I think my new argentine friend will come as well.
After Spanglish I am having dinner with my program contact here, Lorena. We are going to a restaurant that specializes in food from the northern part of the country which is empanadas(which are outstanding by the way) tamales, (not like ours- i havent had one yet cause ive only seen them with beef, imagine that...) and im not sure what else.
Quick run-down on food so far--not amazing....I know i don't eat beef but that's not why i'm saying that-calm down. All expats and other long-termers here seem to agree: you can get a great steak but after that not much. Not many veggies at all. and most restaurants are parillas (steak) or italian-esque, which means pizza and pasta. It's a HUGE city(13 million) but apparently not much in the way of asian food at all, including thai, indian, etc. I did try to eat at what is the best middle eastern place in the city but the wait was over an hour. i will definitely make reservations and go back tho. like i said empanadas are good, small argentine version of a meat pie i guess, i like chicken, veggie, cheese and onion, or humita which is a kind of creamy corn filling. The produce here is surprisingly not good. I don't even buy it at the main grocery either, i only get produce from little stands/stores that sell only that. Its extremely cheap (ex: several potatoes, carrots, peaches, lettuce, onions for 9 pesos which is about $3. Some is good but usually wilted, etc. Also sadly, the cheese selection :( not good. and very expensive. Cafes are abundant - to my family specifically no it is not very strong.. not bad by any means but also not like in italy/holland/france etc. And 90% of coffee in the grocery is roasted with sugar added...i have to pay very close attention to make sure i get "sin azucar"
anyway i quit for now...spanish homework and the oscars horribly dubbed in spanish....CHAU
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