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2 Julio

Thursday we had class again with Guillermo. Later that night after dinner I went to a milonga with Alejandra and the Serpicos to learn to tango. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to learn the basics and get some practice, so we picked up what we could of the more advanced steps, then had a Quilmes and watched other people tango.

3 Julio

Friday I didn't do much. I walked around the part of BA south of my neighborhood. There's a street here named Estados Unidos (United States), and I found it interesting that a red X was spray-painted over one of the street signs. That night, I believe, I got a call from Luciana, the director of Expanish. She said that Universidad Austral where I take my classes is closing down because of the Swine Flu. Swine Flu is a huge scare here. Many people are wearing masks when in public. Theatres have closed down. Less people are taking the Subte. Many public events have been canceled, and all the schools have closed early for their winter breaks. Most of them get all of July off. Since our program doesn't follow the school's typical schedule, We're still having class, but it's in a new location.

4 Julio

Saturday was much more eventful. Soon after waking up, I took the subte across town, then had to walk at least 10 blocks to the Recoleta artisan fair, which I had visited before. As you can imagine, it was much more enjoyable with friends. I met Adam who had been waiting on me for over 20 minutes. I felt bad. The location of my house requires me to take three different trains of the Subte to get anywhere, and timing them can be unpredictable. First thing I did at the fair was look for food. I got some ensalada de frutas (fruit salad). The hombre selling it filled a good-sized cup to the brim with various fruits, then filled the cup half way with freshly-squeezed JN (OJ). It was really good. Then we just looked around at all the handicrafts while waiting for Cambria and Bridget to show up. Over the span of our time there, I bought quite a few souvenirs.

One highlight of the fair was that some girls stopped us as we were walking. One of them (in Spanish) asked if we spoke Spanish. I said "si," and she looked very relieved. She starting talking about the organization that they are a part of, and I told Adam (in Spanish) "They want money." The last time I visited this fair, a man tried adamantly to get me to donate money. People here don't give up that easily. Lucky, this organization was different. She said, "No, no, you can volunteer, too." So we had a nice conversation about their volunteering opportunities, which gave us some Spanish practice. One of them is that they go around to hospitals dressed as clowns and make kids laugh. They call it "laughter therapy," and I told her that I had done something similar in Jr. High, but with old people, as part of our Clown Troop. Now, I'm very interested in volunteering. It would be great to be able to meet locals and fill up my schedule doing something fun. I emailed them, but so far, I haven't heard from them. I wonder how their activities have changed due to the swine flu scare. Towards the end of our conversation we exchanged contact information, including our names. One of them was Maria, and I asked if anyone had ever sung the song "Maria" to her from West Side Story. She'd never heard it, so I sung it to her, which was fun. She said that I'd fit right in to their organization, which I took as a compliment. Later, when I looked at the brochure they gave us, I read that the organization also prays with and "spreads Jesus to" the people in the hospital, which I thought was pretty cool. But when I asked the girls if the the organization was associated with a church, they said that it wasn't. I'm pretty sure they said that neither of them attended a church either. Anyway, I hope to hear back from them soon. I gave them Expanish's website, so hopefully they can connect with them to get more volunteers in the future.

Soon after that conversation, I saw the back of a girl who I thought was Cambria, and I thought out loud to Adam, "No, it can't be Cambria." But it was. Eventually Bridget showed up, too, and we continued browsing the different booths. I ran into Noelle, too, for the third time. She was the wife of the couple I met in my hostel on my first morning in BA. I ran into them at San Telmo's artisan fair, and now I saw her again. At first I didn't recognize her because I'd never seen her without her husband. They are one of those couples that everyone envies because they seem to have the best possible life and relationship with each other. I hope one day I and my wife are like Kip and Noelle.

After we had our fill of the artisan fair, the four of us took a colectivo to the circus, or rather, as far as the colectivo would take us. It stopped sooner than we expected, so we had to walk a few blocks to get there. On the bright side, we got some Super Panchos. These things are like hotdogs, but they're bigger, and they're sold for no more than 3 pesos (less than a dollar). They're sold as just about every plaza, and they typically are sold with an array of around 20 sauces and/or salsas. I put some tomatoes and some other sauce that looked good on mine, and it was amazing. I think I will miss Super Panchos.

We finally made it to the circus, and it was cool because it wasn't really touristy. It was almost all locals. Everything was free, too. We watched a couple shows, which I filmed and uploaded to facebook. I really enjoyed watching the people there. There were a lot of mate drinkers. Behind us there sat a toddler drinking something out of a sippy cup with a bombilla (mate straw). I got a kick out of that. The first show, if not both, seemed like they were really for kids, but I guess most things are at a circus. After the shows Cambria bought some cotton candy, which we ate as we headed for the Subte.

The Subte took us to Palermo, another barrio, which we explored for a bit so as to not arrive too early to the bar. It was the fourth of July, so an American bar owner was having a celebration as his bar for North Americans. We got free hot dogs, which weren't nearly as good as the Super Panchos, and we got a free drink. It was kind of nice to just chill with some Americans and see what they're doing in BA. I met a Spanish teacher, and then later, a group of students came who were from the University of Missouri. They were all undergraduate photojournalism students. I met three of them whose names were Elise, Seth, and Georgia, and of course, I asked if they knew Val. All of them said the the name sounded familiar, but Georgia was certain that Val had been one of her TA's. Small world!

5 Julio

Sunday, I got a figurative breath of fresh air. I woke up earlier than usual, met Adam outside my front door, and we took the Subte to Iglesia Bautista del Centro (Baptist Church of the Center). It was a fairly large church; everything seemed familiar, but everything was also incredibly Latin American. We arrived right on time 10:30, and the church was not packed, but the ushers asked us to move to the end of the row to save space. We were a little confused, since it looked like there was plenty of room, but sure enough, gradually, the church filled up. Like most Baptist churches I've been to, they also had a welcome time. The leader of the service (I think it was the music minister) gave a disclaimer about taking precautions about the swine flu, but that didn't stop anyone during the greeting time. But here, instead of the typical hug or handshake, everyone greeted each other with the Argentine kiss, which everyone does when they see people they know regardless of gender: just brief kiss on the other person's right cheek. It touched my heart to see Paul's command "Greet one another with a holy kiss," put into practice, something culturally unacceptable in the U.S. Afterward, we sang several songs. Luckily they had a projector with the words on it, so Adam and I were able to follow along and understand most of what we sang. Unless it's for work, Latin Americans don't typically feel the need to arrive on time. Some of the tunes were familiar, and I noticed a trend of theme of overcoming, vencer, which I thought was really cool. It will be interesting if that was a theme for that week, or if it is a constant theme in their worship. Regardless, I thought it was really cool. As I was singing all of the things in the songs we were singing, and as I listened to the pastor speak later, whenever I heard truths about God in different language, it was in some ways like hearing them for the first time, and I really took a lot away from it. It also touched my heart to hear them sing "aleluya" with their Argentine accent, pronouncing the "y" like the "s" in "pleasure." I pictured the multitude of all the nations in Revelation praising God singing "Aleluya," and the the Argentines sticking out in the crowd whenever the song gets to that syllable. :-) After the worship time, the pastor started speaking. He started talking about the Swine Flu scare, and about how it can't stop them from meeting together. He had complete faith that God would protect them. His sermon was about responding to times of crisis, a very useful and relevant sermon to the population of Buenos Aires. At one point in the service they listed off members to pray for, much like what Temple Baptist Church in Shawnee does. It was sad to hear of a 7-month pregnant woman who was sick with Swine Flu. After the sermon, there was no altar call, which Adam pointed out to me later. I hadn't even noticed, but I think I like it. They seem to be a group of believers who expects God to work not just during the 5 minutes after a sermon, but throughout the service and throughout the week. They don't have Sunday School but coffee groups who meet once a week. They also have a group of jovenes (which are those ages 18-30) who meet every Saturday. The 30-60 age group is called jovenes plus which means "Young People Plus," which I think is hilarious. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I'll be able to meet the other jovenes this Saturday because I'm going to Tigre, but I hope to soon. It's possible that by now they have cancelled meeting together anyway. This week Swine Flu is supposed to be at its peak. So, all in all (no pun intended) I thoroughly enjoyed my experience of church in Buenos Aires, and I plan to return this Sunday.

After church, Adam and I ate at a fancy diner, where our waiter seemed to hate us. I got an overdone omelette, which was decent, and an unsatisfactory coffee. I made a video with my camera talking about how getting free water at a restaurant here is impossible. After eating, I walked to mi casa where I ran into the Serpico family leaving. They were going to check out San Telmo but have lunch first. They let me tag along. They're a very entertaining family, which is surprising to me because there's only three of them. Apparently they have had amazing luck with food in BA, and have eaten something they've really liked everywhere they've gone. It was the same at the restaurant they chose in San Telmo. After eating, we went the the market, where the kids bought a few things and Mark and Jackie each got separated from us at one point, causing Maria to freak out. The market is a really cool place to explore. It's like an antique store/thrift store/produce market. There were a lot of fruits and veggies that I've never seen before, like white eggplant and something that looked like really wrinkly pears. And as far as I know, all of the produce was grown "organtically." I kept thinking how much Val would appreciate it. While we were inside, it started raining over us really hard. Luckily it had lightened up by the time we left. The Serpicos took a taxi to do some shopping in Palermo, but I decided to go home and do some homework, so I found a colectivo heading that direction and did so. On the way home, I bought some socks. I don't know why I feel that is relevant or interesting to include in my blog, but there it is.