Me Gusta Mi Pelo Largo

So I think I somehow forgot to mention that I've been playing guitar for a bit over two months now. I picked it up when my friend left for the wilderness, I think in an attempt to fill the void. Glad I did because I absolutely love playing. I'm still definitely a beginner, but I love sitting around with the guitar and making sounds with it. I also get jealous whenever I'm with someone who is holding a guitar. But usually when I ask them to pass it (or they get the hint because I'm reaching towards it) I just hold it and occassionally hit some strings. I'm really excited because I want to play, a lot.

I've only written two songs, both since being in Argentina, but I'm looking forward to having a ton by the time I leave, and it'll be like a narration of my life and pensamientos while abroad. 

Here is the one I just wrote two nights ago-

I want to write some songs in Spanish. I thought that this one was totally BsAs Spanish, but just noticed yesterday that I said "tu eres" when one of the main differences in the Spanish here is that they say "vos sos"-so I guess I'm not quite speaking their version of Spanish quite yet...

soon.

http://www.mediafire.com/?k1q64c9pcrdtxpc

please let me know if that link works...

Me Gusta Mi Pelo Largo

Recuerdo el día que cortaste tu pelo
así cortaste tus problemas-
quitando memorias del invierno,
ojalá que funcionaba así

Como el día que hablaste sobre espacio
y querías dormir en el parque,
pero por fin encontraste mi suelo
y quien estaba sorprendido?

Tu eres mi vida
tu eres mi sol
tus problemas son mios
y me gusta mi pelo largo

Pues deja que tu pelo crece
y deja que tus ojos abren
esto no es para siempre
y las cosas van a mejorar
poco y poco
no tenés miedo
ven acá
podemos desaparecer
podemos correr con otro plan
antes era una broma
y ahora es la actualidad

Había un tiempo con amor prohibido
y palabras fueron peligrosas
acostando en la hierba era nuestra manera
de estar cerca del uno al otro

pues deja que tu pelo crece
y deja que tus ojos abren
esto no es para siempre
y las cosas van a mejorar
poco y poco
no tenés miedo
ven acá
podemos desaparecer
podemos correr con otro plan
antes era una broma
y ahora es la actualidad

Recuerdo el día que cortaste tu pelo
así cortaste tus problemas-
quitando memorias del invierno,
ojalá que funcionaba así

love.love.love.

Iguazú! (Pictures and sentences about life)

Life is astounding.

Though I still may buy another digital camera, I bought a disposable one for the weekend in Iguazú, so I want to include a ton of pictures!

1. So first we went to Las Tres Fronteras: 

This is me standing triumphantly on Argentina's land. To the right is Brazil with an awesome building-no idea what it is but I absolutely loved it. To the left is Paraguay, with distant skyscrapers from a near by city.

I went to Iguazú for the weekend with Riley, Gavin, and Kyle (all from BC), and a couple other students. It was an 18 hour and surprisingly comfortable bus ride. They played movies (like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-an "old" favorite), gave us yummy food, wine, whisky. Riley and I played MASH (always a must)... spent the weekend in a hostel (of Hostel International) which was super nice and all around great.

2. From Las Tres Fronteras we took a random side path that spit us out in the neighborhood, from where we walked back to the town of Iguazú. Along the way we passed by this building/chickens/banana tree (not in the photo). I loved this area because it was simple and colorful. It reminded me a lot of being in Kenya last summer. Partly I think because the soil had a similar country, but greatly because of the simplicity and content-feeling that swept over me.

3. We spent all of last Sunday at the park-

This is "La Garganta Del Diablo" (Devil's Throat)

As wikipedia says:

"The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Position is at latitude (DMS): 25° 40' 60 S, longitude (DMS): 54° 25' 60 W . Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 ft). The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory. About 900 meters of the 2.7-kilometer length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes only 3 mm (0.1 in) per year. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains in the Paraná River at Argentina, shortly downstream from the Itaipu dam."

4. This is from that same lookout, looking down the river to the left. The above photo is at the end of the river, on the right. It was so beautiful. I wish I could have stared a bit harder, but the mist was all up in my business...

5. This is a completely different part of the park-there were waterfalls everwhere

and with lots of waterfalls

came beautiful rainbows.

It was a great weekend-

I love BsAs (so much), but it was nice to get away for a few days and remember how beautiful nature and countryside is. A completely different atmosphere. Much needed-break.

All is well here. Living cheaply (which is made easier by how cheap everything is...)

I'm going to translate some things into dollars:

Subte: 30 cents

Empanada: 75 cents

Burger: $2.50

Tablet of Dulce de Leche: 50 cents

Baguette: 50 cents

Movie: Blockbuster: $6 Independent Theater: $2

Cancer: $1.50/pk (or $1 if you're really cheap.... boo)

Went to El Museo de Bellas Artes again yesterday. It's such a fantastic museum. I think I need to spend an entire day there and bring people who are willing to be there that long-

Because honestly every room is fantastic.

Right now there is a Berni exhibit. He's an Argentinian artist who painted in the 20s, 30s, 40s...  and the exhibit is really fantastic. Every since taking the figure painting class at BC I have such an appreciation for all the different approaches an artist can take with the figure. Berni is great. I highly recommend looking at his work but also reading about it. It seems a lot of the paintings are pretty political and reflect Argentinian history, but I think I got a lot out of it.

My fast-friend here, John, had a couple of friends visiting for the week from Florida. I think they saw an awful lot of BA, including this street corner where we waited for about an hour. (Eventually it started pouring and thundering with lightning, which is the prettiest.)

So here we have the visitor,

and RILEY EATING AN EMPANADA NOM NOM NOM.

I love empanadas.

Always and any time of day.

now i'm going to make pesto for my housemate and i!

Because I finally found basil in a store-

and I've missed it dearly

love.love.love.

I've Fallen In Love So Easily.

Argentina I love you-

I love your broken cobble-stone sidewalks

your piropos from the rolled-down car windows

the alfajores

     -thats addiction-

dulce de leche cookies, bread, churros---

Argentina, your bon bons are only 1 peso, 

change for the collectivos,

music on the subte

(reliance on the guiaT)

Ojalá que regreso,

or live here,

supongo que puedo

Argentina I love you-

Argentina I barely know you

Nom nOm noM

I'm working out my schedule so that, if I so choose, I can have lunch at home everday of the week. 

Very Little Girl in the Very Big City

It has almost been one month. There is a lot running, walking, skipping through my head.

Since my last post-my camera was stolen. I try not to think about this too often because it makes me sad that not only did I lose the first two weeks of photographic evidence in BsAs, but I can't bring myself to buy another digital camera when I know that might get stolen also. So I was considering just buying disposables, though in the end I know this would be more expensive because i have to pay for disposables and to get them developed. I also have a fabulous film camera here that I may use if I can find a good camera case and if I can justify carrying it through the city (and not getting robbed)... In short-was sitting in a park with three guy friends at 630pm. Three young boys (the oldest being 14 or 15 at most) came up bothering us (we had seen them earlier) and saw that my friend was holding my camera. They threatened him with what was probably not a gun (but was under his jacket so we couldn't see) and took my camera, his camera, our friend's glasses, two backpacks. It made me feel stupid because I thought I would prove everyone wrong and go the full six months without being robbed. So that's when I finally believed what people had said,

"No neighborhood in Buenos Aires is truly safe."

Classes started this past week. It's been pretty frustrating. I only have to take three at DiTella, but its such a small school and the times of classes are so random. Classes can be Monday/Wednesday, Tuesday/Wednesday, etc and they can be a different time on a different day. So classes conflict with one another very easily. Tomorrow I have to submit the classes that I want to take. I think I'm going to do a contemporary art class, us foreign policy, and literature. 

Meanwhile I'm having trouble deciding what my education is worth to me. This is something I'll have to decide in the next few days/months. I am trying to remind myself that no where is home, that I am settled in no place, and I can do anything right now. (Within reason.)

I've been having a lot of fun these past few weeks. My only complaint is that I want to meet more locals. The students at DiTella don't seem super social, in terms of meeting the international students. I know I could just walk up to someone randomly after class and introduce myself, but it feels strange. Yesterday I was thinking 'this feels like the first day of high school'.

On Saturday I am moving to a new place, and I think this is going to be really good for me. My home stay just wasn't what I expected and I think I'll feel much more comfortable and settled in this new house. There is a 29 year old local and a 22 year old from Sweden. It's a lovely place with a yellow cozy living room and terraza on the roof-a corner building. 

In general I am so so so glad that I decided to spend six months in Argentina. This experience is really getting me to question so many things such as,

- What does it mean to be truly fluent in a language, and how attainable is this for me?

- Is the person I am, here in Argentina, closer or farther from the person I feel best exemplifies myself?

- This is a point in my life where I can be doing anything, what is it I want to do?

Here is what Buenos Aires looks like. I live in Belgrano and my school is also in Belgrano. Palermo is where we often go for bars or clubs.I have a frew friends in San Telmo. La Boca is where you aren't supposed to go at night. Recoleta is nice and has a famous cemetary. Puerto Madero is the super new looking big city part, though in general the architecture here is on the newer side.

Alright I just wanted to give an update of sorts. Finally bought stamps (which was a lot harder to do than I realized-basically because I had to look up the post office since no locals seemed to know where the post office or stamps were) and now that I'll have a more permanent address I look forward to sending letters. 

love.love.love.

Claudia