Sierras!

Sorry but I don't have new pictures to put up. I took pictures in the sierras (I'll explain that later) but I haven't uploaded them yet. 

Heres whats been going on...

Hillel - I've been in touch with a travel agency that Yanina has worked with before to try and figure out and plan the horseback riding. They told me that they are investigating it and will email me and call me when they have more information. 

- The college that will be coming in March (Juniata College) said that probably 2 or 3 more people will be coming to Córdoba. 

- This thursday is the end of the year party for Hillel. There are still a few details that need to be planned but it sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. Basically I think the idea is that we are going to rent out a "boliche", a night club for the night. I'm especially excited, because it will be a great way to meet new people (I always love meeting new people).  

- This weekend the Hillel of Buenos Aires invited us to come. We still don't know if we can come (because our end of the year party ends friday morning and to get to Buenos Aires we would need to take a bus, which is about 8 hours and there may not be enough time). If we are going to Buenos Aires, I will be one of those people that goes!!! I hope that this trip does happen, because it would be great to meet the Hillel BA crew and exchange ideas (for me I would be curious to know what they will be doing for Alternative Spring Break), as well as get to know people from Hillel Córdoba better. 

- More or less around mid November I was given a 37 page document to translate and so far I have translated 21 pages. On Saturday the person that gave it to me asked me if it could be done by next monday. I told her that maybe more or less it would be done by that time. The problem is that my brain can only handle translating a max of 4 pages per day (and that's a lot of pages) so I think it may take a bit longer...I just really don't want to disappoint anyone but I can't control my brain capacity and when it gets tired. 

Social welfare center - On Wednesday there was a "jornada", our volunteer day event. A professor from Buenos Aires came to Córdoba for the day and spoke about the importance of volunteers, the roll that they play, how to be a volunteer, how to influence people to become volunteers, how volunteers influence the people they are helping ect. It was a very nice event, very interesting and I learned a lot. Elsa did a great job planning it. I think Elsa was expecting at least a 100 people to come, and unfortunately only about 60 people came, but never the less it was a success. 

Macabi - On friday I had a meeting with Damian, the director of Macabi and he told me that I can go to the summer camp in Buenos Aires (January 4-13). What I will be doing we are still unsure about...

- Also on friday, he told me that from December 20-31st there will be a day camp at Macabi for kids ages 3-12 and he wants me to work at the camp. I have no problem working at the camp, but to be honest what frustrated me (and still does) is that I must have asked him and the roshim at least 5 times if there was anything going on at Macabi for kids during the summer and they all told me, "no, go on vacation". So after hearing this response several times and still wanting to work and do something, I contacted the NY and BA JOINT offices and they found me another job in Buenos Aires. Now, I feel like a boluda (the word that I want to use in English I probably can't, so use your imagination and substitute it for another one), for wasting the time of  NY and BA, making them work really hard for me, and for nothing. I'm sure that this type of situation will happen in the future, and probably many many times so the lesson that I have learned from this is that someone may tell me something fairly important at the last minute and I just have to go with it and do it, even if it may be an annoyance and a huge inconvenience for other people. This is my job, and what needs to be done needs to be done by me and only me.

- Saturday I said a little speech to the madrijim, basically explaining who I am, telling them about Thanksgiving and how I am very thankful to be in Córdoba and have the opportunity to work and get to know them (the spirit of Thanksgiving). 

- Also on saturday we talked about planning the training session for future roshim (it changes every year, so in March there will be new people). We talked about giving the candidates a sheet of paper with a topic or word and they need to write words that are related to the given word/topic, roll playing - if they were in the following situation what would they do, their expectations of being a rosh, what challenges they think they may face and how they will overcome them (that was my idea) ect. If I remember correctly, I don't know if we ever came to an agreement about how exactly the training would be, and after all, we still don't have a date to do it. 

- December 4th is the last day of Macabi activities (or is it...after what happened on Friday now I'm having doubts about if it really is the last day...) and the day that the 2nd year madrijim students graduate from the madrijim school. If I go to Buenos Aires, I will be missing this (I was debating if I should stay or leave Córdoba for this, but Damian said that the Buenos Aires trip would be better for me). 

Argentina - Friday night a Sefardi family (the same one as before) invited me over for dinner so I went. The food was amazing, delicious rice, tabuli, hummus, other salads that I did not recognize and...HOMEMADE BAKLAVA! I guess they realized that I really liked it, so they sent me home with 12 of them!!! Oh gosh it's sooo dangerous and I'm so tempted to eat them all in one sitting! 

- Friday night at the temple a bunch of police came, which at first made me very nervous. I kept asking everyone, why are so many police here and what happened?!?! I really thought that something happened, I thought that maybe someone tried to destroy the temple or something like that, why else would all of the Córdoba police be at the temple, they are not Jewish! What I didn't know and was later told is that every year the Córdoba police are invited to the temple to observe the service. After the service, they watch a movie about the holocaust so they have a greater appreciation for the Jewish culture/religion and so that they learn more about discrimination and anti-semitism. Does this happen in San Diego? If it doesn't it should. 

- Sunday I spent the day in the sierras (the Córdoba mountains) with a friend. We went to at least 5 little towns, walked around and went to a few shops. Basically each mountain town has little artesanal shops (shops with things only made in that town), that sell delicious alfajores (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfajor), honey, beer, leather goods ect, all made within the town. In the afternoon we had the "merienda", evening snack and had some  alfajores artesanales  and drank mate. For dinner we went to Carlos Paz, the biggest city in the sierras. It was a great day and nice to get out of the city for a little bit (although I really do enjoy the city). It's amazing how just 30 minutes outside the city you are in a different world, total peace and quiet! 

- Summer is approaching which makes me very nervous. Everyone that I have been talking to has told me that Córdoba is dead during the summer: Everyone goes on vacation, many businesses will be closed, my neighborhood will be dead (it's mostly students) ect. This makes me very nervous, because I don't want to be alone in a new city. Who will I hang out with and how will I fill my time? The day camp is only from 3PM-7PM...Also, the day camp ends on December 31st, where will I go for New Years and with who? I'm VERY nervous about literally being left alone in the city.  

That's basically everything I can think of for now that has gone on. Loving la vida Cordobesa :-) How was your Thanksgiving??!??!?!?!

Lluvia Lluvia Lluvia

                                            Zona de Patio Olmos, Córdoba Capital, Argentina


Chicos, I'm alive! I am no longer sick and I can taste food, no sour throat, no tiredness, no fever, I am cured! 


Where to start...at Hillel I have continued to work with Yanina on Alternative Spring Break. I am trying to put together an activity to go horseback riding through the mountains but it has been a bit of a challenge to get information. I write emails, make phone calls and nothing, "nadie me da bolas." I am going to continue to work on this, and I know that eventually I will get responses and they WILL go horseback riding! 
- Just when I thought I was done translating, on monday I was given a 37 page document to translate from Spanish to English. Translating is not my most favorite thing to do, but each time I translate, I think to myself, at least my language skills are improving...I hope. So far I have translated 10 pages. 
- Tuesday night was the Superclasico (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42mdk8XaoZM), the most important soccer game in Buenos Aires, and probably in Argentina because the 2 most popular teams from Buenos Aires that are rivals, the Boca Juniors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boca_Juniors) and River Plate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Atlético_River_Plate) play against each other. Tickets are very expensive, costing over U$S100. We watched the game at Hillel and I was rooting for Boca, but unfortunately they lost (the score was 1-0, River).
- Wednesday night a professional architect came and spoke at Hillel about the career and his work. His resume was very impressive. He helped design and build MALBA (Museo America Latina Buenos Aires, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MALBA) and design a few buildings in Europe, the US and Abu Dhabi. He showed us his upcoming projects for the city of Córdoba and they are fascinating! Basically his plan is to maintain the historical buildings (Córdoba is a very old city, older than Buenos Aires) and build huge new constructions, as if Córdoba would become a mini Hong Kong, or at least that is how I perceived his plans. 
- The last activity at Hillel will be December 2nd and I think we will be renting out a nightclub, a "boliche" but I'm not sure. Tomorrow we have a meeting and hopefully I'll learn more about it. 


Todo bien in the social welfare center. Tomorrow is Volunteer Day so I will be arriving at around 8AM to help out with whatever they need. I think it will be a very interesting day filled with learning, eye opening events and meeting new people, all sounds good to me! A prominent guy from Buenos Aires (I forgot who, but somehow he is very well connected in the Argentine volunteering world) will be coming to give workshops and lectures about volunteering. In order to prepare for the event, I have been acting as Elsa's secretary, making phone calls to inform the people "la gente" about the event, to get them interested and to make lists of whose coming/not coming. I'm still working in the ropero with the señoras and drinking café with them. 


With Macabi I'm honestly still totally clueless as to what I can do, in terms of interacting with the teens and planning activities. I've already mentioned to you what goes on during the week and on saturdays and for now I see little room for opportunity and growth ( I still can't figure out when the teens have free time). Maybe this is all wrong, and I just need to get to know the community more, maybe I arrived at a bad time and have a skewed sense of what's going on (because it's almost summer and things are slowing down). What I do know is that I think that Macabi is just as confused as I am, and I think that we equally both have no idea what I could be doing. For now I come every saturday, observe activities and help out with whatever needs to be done: helping to clean up, helping with snack time, organizing supplies, putting together the community magazine...but this has nothing to do "nada que ver" with teens, which is what I came here to do. I hope that in the future maybe things will become more clear, for both Macabi and I. I'm not being pessimistic, I'm just saying how things are for now. 
- One thing that I am SO excited about is that I'm making thanksgiving dinner for the Roshim, the leaders of the teen department at Macabi that are about my age. It will be the first time I'll be seeing them outside of the work environment, so I'm excited to interact and get to know them on a social level. How did this all come about? I mentioned at the last meeting what Thanksgiving is, the story,and US customs and traditions related to the holiday. They seemed really interested so I invited them to my apartment for thursday night dinner. Heres whats on the menu: chicken that I will have delivered, NOT make myself (there is no turkey in Argentina), mashed potatoes, homemade applesauce (thanks mom for the recipe!), deviled eggs, grilled cheese (classic American food) and steamed corn with butter and parmesan cheese. For dessert I will make sugar cookies and I bought ice cream. I hate cooking and therefor don't know how, so I really hope the food turns out tasty. I'm really looking forward to the dinner, to get to know the roshim better and I'm also hoping that this will maybe cause a trickle down effect: by making a dinner for them, we will get to talking and I can learn/think of ideas for the teens and maybe one day make a dinner/an activity for them. We'll see how things go, I'll let you know in the next blog. 
- Nothing new has happened with International Convention. I know that the girls and their parents are excited, which makes me really excited. 
- Either this saturday night or December 4th is a dinner for the Madrijim, to honor them and the work they have done for the year. I obviously will be attending, because it will be a good opportunity to meet Madrijim, to learn more about what they are doing and maybe think of a few ideas. I'll tell you more about it in another blog, after I attend the dinner. 


Nothing terribly exciting in Argentina. Today is a holiday, I don't know why exactly but something related to the military government (not sure which one) or the Malvinas. This is a new holiday and I heard a rumor that for 2011 the government will add additional ones...
- As a result of the holiday, I thought I had a Macabi meeting but it turns out it got cancelled, and will be on wednesday instead. 
- Thursday night I went to karaoke, in a local bar 2 blocks away from my apartment. You would think that karaoke would be the same in any country but it was very different. There were NO English songs! I really enjoyed listening to the Latin music, especially cuarteto, musica Cordobesa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOfCVGgIEqw). 
- A new ice cream parlor "heladería" opened across the street from Hillel. Needless to say, it is VERY dangerous and awfully tempting to go everyday. I went the day it opened and got a chocolate chip dolce de leche ice cream, to die for!!!! 
- It's been raining quite a bit here (that's why the title of this blog is Lluvia Lluvia Lluvia - Rain Rain rain). It rained thursday, sunday and today. This Southern California girl does not like to deal with rain;-)
- I recently found out that for the summer I will be working in Buenos Aires, because there will be nothing for me to do here (I think I mentioned in previous posts that I have been encouraged to go on vacation for 6-8 weeks and I am not ok with that). I will be working in the 13/17 program, "The 13/17 Program, which provides Jewish teenagers with a nurturing Jewish framework for sports and cultural activities during summer and winter school breaks" (from the JDC webpage). I am very excited about this, to be exposed to more JDC programs, to see how another teen community operates, learn new activities and incorporate them into Córdoba and lastly hopefully building bridges and making connections between Córdoba teens and programs with whats going on in BA, regarding both teens and programming. Also, I am excited to meet and work with the staff because I think they could be a good resource for me in the future. Basically I will be arriving in BA sometime around the 10th-15th of December and I will leave either leave the 1st or second week of February, depending on when Córdoba wants me back. 
- I think I mentioned in a previous post about the Jewish camp in Argentina (http://sites.google.com/site/hejalutz/) and how I wanted to go but was getting no responses. Well, today I got a response, which was very complicated to get. I had a meeting a few weeks back with the director of Macabi to see if there was anything I could do at the camp and I talked with the roshim as well. I wasn't getting any responses so I decided to take matters into my own hands and email the camp. I got no responses and I found out why (thank you Viviana for telling me!). Apparently, you can't just email them, you need to have a contact that knows them in order to get any form of communication from the camp (maybe this is for security reasons?). I had no idea about this, because in the US if you are interested in summer camp, all you do is email or call the camp and someone will help you. Apparently it doesn't work like that in Argentina. Anyways, I received an email from Damian, the director of Macabi and he told me that the camp, "majané", would like me to go, which is so awesome! I'll get to see what summer camp is like in Argentina, meet people from all over Argentina and have new experiences. Damian said he will let me know what I will specifically be doing there. 
- Today I had a meeting with Viviana who works at the JDC in Buenos Aires. We talked about how I am acclimating in la vida Cordobesa, what I'm doing at work, tips and advice of more things I could be doing and getting to know people, International Convention ect. The meeting was quite helpful and I will definitely be incorporating her ideas, tips and advice into my work and social life. I expressed my frustration and how it's been a bit difficult interacting with the teens and she thought of a great idea. Many families come to the social welfare center for resources, I could be a "big sister" or "godmother" to those teens. I got really excited about this, and I hope it will work out (I hope there are teens). I think I could really benefit and learn a lot from them and I'm sure the same could happen to them. Also, I would really feel like I would be making a difference, and maybe if this works out my "vision" for working with teens would become more clear? Que se yo!  I really want to work hard, do the best that I can and make a difference here in Córdoba, "Tengo muchas ganas de trabajar y conocer Córdoba y me voy a poner todas las pilas para lograr eso!" 


Bueno, it's 10:43PM and I still have more emails to write and I have to get up early tomorrow for Volunteer Day. Elsa will be picking me up around 7:30AM which means that I should be going to bed soon. Buenas noches and look for my next post in about a week, hopefully friday I'll write another one.  

Sick :-(

   Patio Olmos Shopping, Córdoba, Argentina


Sorry guys, but this is not going to be the most exciting and eventful blog. Basically since last saturday I've been sick, with some kind of cold. I've been super tired, "sin pilas", headache, fever, sour throat and stuffed up and runny nose so I haven't been up to much. I have been taking several naps during the day and when I get home from work all I do is sleep. I'm slowly getting better but I think what I really need to get better is a fed-ex overnight Paul Neustein peacan pie...HINT HINT HINT! 


Last friday night I was invited to have shabbat dinner at a sefardi familys house. The family was very sefardi, super loud, lots of food (meats, rices, little salads) and their ancestors were from Yemen, Syria and Iran, but the family has been in Argentina for 100 years. The family is so sefardi that they even feed their dog a mixture of kibble and rice! That really cracked me up. 


This week at Hillel I finally finished translating the million documents, what a relief!!! Now I'm starting to help Yanina plan more for Alternative Spring Break. We have a group of about 10 people from Juniata College and I have been in contact with them about their travel arrangements, community service project and recreational activities for them to do in Córdoba. The leader of the Juniata trip mentioned that she wanted to do something with horses so I'm looking into a day trip for them to go horseback riding in the Córdoba mountains. For the community service project I would love it if they could do something with the social welfare center. That way, they can get to know members of the community (Elsa is awesome!) while helping the community at the same time. They come in March, so there is still lots of time for planning. Wednesday was the last day of Ciclo de Cine, "Film series". We watched the movie "El Abrazo Partido", an Argentine movie about an Argentine/Polish Jew looking for his family roots and ancestry. The director of the movie, Daniel Burman was supposed to come to Córdoba to analyze the movie but thanks to the airline strikes he couldn't get a flight from Buenos Aires to Córdoba so the event was done without him but I would still say that it was successful. 


At the social welfare center I've been working in the ropero. Many people came on tuesday, I've never seen so many people there before! I've also been helping to organize folders and documents for each beneficiary at the social welfare center because at the end of November/December is when they need to bring their documents in order to receive their resources, so we really need to be organized for that. I started a blog for the social welfare center. Elsa wants to use it to put up fotos and events such as Volunteer Day which will be November 23rd. Hopefully at some point this week I'll get together with Elsa and show her how to use it and how to upload fotos (thanks again Natalie and Larry!). Ah an interesting thing happened on tuesday. We were working, going about our normal business and all of a sudden the electricity went out in the building...and in the entire neighborhood. I asked Ariel, a guy that works at the social welfare center with me, what was going on and he told me that during the spring and summer, it's common that the electricity goes out for a few hours. What happens is that so many air conditioners are running at the same time that the electricity can't handle it and just shuts down. He told me to be prepared for this during the summer because it will happen at least once a day, but he assured me that the electricity wouldn't be off for more than 3 hours. This really surprised me, because I never experienced this in Buenos Aires (maybe I was just lucky or never in my house when it happened) and I certainly have never experienced this in California. But you know, that is la vida Cordobesa and it's just something that I'll have to acclimate to, it could be worse right? 


Macabi I've been attending meetings every monday. We are talking about rapping up the year, planning a great end of the year activity for all the kids on saturday and the awards ceremony dinner for the madrijim, the 17-year-olds that lead and plan the saturday activities. Slowly but shirley I'm starting to meet and get to know a  few of the Madrijim, which is SO difficult because saturday they are busy all  day and same for during the week. I do feel a little bit accomplished though, and I know that through time and patience I'll meet more and eventually work with them, I hope. Something that I am SO proud of is that I have 2 kids for International Convention, the BBYO trip to Los Angeles. Yesterday I met with the girls and their parents and explained to them about International Convention, the idea of it, who goes, where they will be staying, traveling through Los Angeles ect. They had a million questions, which is perfectly fine because if I were them I would have the same questions. The girls are so cute and excited to go to LA. It was so cute, during one of the meetings, while I was explaining the trip to the girl and her parents, the girl took her moms purse and took out the money and put it on the table and said "Here is some money, I'm going to go home and pack my suitcase. I'm ready to go now!" That for me really put a smile on my face, because I'm so glad that I can give these girls this amazing opportunity; to travel to the US, to go to Los Angeles, an amazing city (and my lovely state) and to meet Jewish teens from all over the world. I also mentioned to them that they are the first people ever from Argentina to go to International Convention and that they will be representing the Jewish Community of Córdoba and their country and  from reading the expressions on their faces, I could tell that this made them feel very special, proud and important. I really hope that the trip lives up to their expectations, I mean, how could it not! If I were a teen I would go (and I did go back in the day when I was a teen). Speaking of feeling very important and proud, I realized that taking these two girls to International Convention is probably the biggest responsibility I've ever had in my life. These parents that barely know me are trusting me to watch over the safety, health and wellbeing of their daughters, in another country! These parents who I just met yesterday, are trusting me to travel with their daughters internationally for thousands of miles, to attend an event with BBYO, an organization that they are not familiar with. When I thought about this deeply, it really struck me, Wow, people view me as a responsible, trusting adult, and they barely even know me, that's kinda cool that they have so much faith in me. 


I really can't tell you any news in Argentina. Seriously I've been sleeping in between work and when I get home I've been going to bed really early. The Aeroparque domestic airport in Buenos Aires is still under construction and should be finished by December 1st...we'll see if they finish on time...Aerolineas Argentinas is still on strike, causing a lot of commotion and difficulties traveling domestically and internationally through Argentina. I'm getting a little bit nervous, because I have a flight scheduled to Buenos Aires December 10th and if the airport isn't finished and if airline strikes are still going on I'm going to be kind of screwed...but we'll see what happens, theres still time. The students in the Córdoba public universities are still protesting about the new education law however I have seen a reduction in tents in the center and less signs and less students on the streets protesting and asking for signatures which I think is a good sign. Friday night I had dinner at the sefardi temple because they had a dinner for youth. I was really tired and not feeling up for it but I thought to myself that it may be a good way to meet new people.  I had a nice time and the food was really good. 
Although it's spring, everyone is talking about summer and thats all they think about. My bosses in Hillel, the social welfare center and Macabi all asked me if I have plans for the summer and I told them no. They all told me, oh Ariana, well you should really plan a trip or do something, because from mid December to the end of February everything will be closed and there will be no work for you to do. Although I'm glad to have some vacation time, I'm a little bit nervous about not working for 2 months...what on earth am I going to do (for work), how will I fill my time (recreational activities) and who will be around to hang out with (because apparently everyone is gone for the summer)?!?!?!?!?!?  


That's about all thats been going on. Hopefully next week I'll feel better and have more to write about. 

One Month!!!!

I have been in Córdoba for a month!!!!! As I'm sure you can tell from my blogs, I'm really loving being here. The city has a very young feel to it (college students everywhere) and there are so many restaurants, bars, ice cream parlors (the Cordobeses LOVE ice cream), shopping, buses, taxis, museums, cultural centers, historic buildings (like the picture of the church that I put up) and more! You all should come visit and see for yourself. 


Another fabulous week has passed at Hillel. Last night was the end of the truco tournament and I made it to the semifinals but unfortunately did not win. I'm going to keep practicing and playing and I told everyone that in one year we should have another truco tournament and I will be the winner ;-)
 I've been doing a lot of translating for Hillel, translating from Spanish to English and English to Spanish, an average day translating for 4-5 hours. When I get home I'm so brain dead and all I have energy to do is veg out and watch TV in English for a longgg time. Yanina, my boss told me that next week I will work with her more on planning Alternative Spring Break because we now have a confirmed group of college students from Juniata College that will be coming in March. We are also starting to talk about planning our end of the year/Chanukah party at Hillel. 


This week at the social welfare center I've been working on organizing papers that we will give to our "clients", basically papers saying that they need to bring their medical, financial and Argentine documents in order to receive their resources (medicines, clothing, money, food...). On wednesday I worked in the ropero, organizing the clothes that we will put out for summer and putting away the clothes from fall and winter. Wednesday evening there was a party to celebrate the volunteer work that the women, "las señoras" have done through the year. What they do is get together at the social welfare center and knit blankets, sweaters, gloves, scarves ect. and donate them to poor people and to the villas (shanty towns). Last night they drank café, ate criollos (a Cordobes biscuit commonly eaten for breakfast and with tea and coffee, instead of eating medialunas) and the Tzedek group from Hillel (the community service group) came to thank the women for their hard work and then we got together and sang Hebrew and Spanish songs. The ceremony was very nice and the ladies are so cute and really enjoyed our singing. 


I had some success at Macabi this week!!!! I found 2 teens to be Global Ambassadors for Argentina. Global Ambassadors is a program through BBYO, with the goal of creating a global teen Jewish network by talking through Facebook, Skype, Messenger ect., to share how Judaism is practiced in their countries and what young Jewish life is like throughout the world. There are Global Ambassadors in the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Israel, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia and more countries. 
Last week I had some of the teens at Macabi fill out applications for International Convention. I picked out 4 teens that I liked and now I will talk with the teen department at Macabi and with BBYO in the U.S. to see which teens will go (I can only take 2). 
In January there is a summer camp for 2 weeks in the Province of Buenos Aires for Jewish kids throughout Argentina. I've asked several people about how I can participate in the camp but I have not been successful in getting information (about who leads the camp and what I can do). From what I've been told, it seems like the camp is very much established and all tasks and activities have already been assigned to people to lead and take charge. I asked if any foreigners have taken part in the camp and they said that only Israeli Shlichim come to the camp to teach the kids about Israel. Hopefully I'll strike some luck and find out more information and if there is a place for me at the camp. If not, I was told that there is another camp in July (winter camp) so maybe that would be a better time to go...que se yo! December 4th is the last day of activities at Macabi before starting summer. At the meetings I've really been pushing to do an activity for Chanukah, because it's a fun holiday and any excuse to eat latkas, gelt and jelly donuts works for me :-) I think that we may have all agreed to make jelly donuts on December 4th, we'll see if that actually happens... even if it doesn't happen, at least they got excited about the idea and I think thats progress!!! 


Another interesting and eventful week in Argentina. I was told that at the end of November there will be a new holiday (I have no idea why) so I will have another day off of work. Also for 2011 the government is expecting to add on more holidays...
The other day for the 1st time I tried ice cream from Córdoba and it was goodddd, dulce de leche with chocolate chunks and brownies, YUMMYYYYY
There is a student strike going on now in Córdoba by all of the public universities. They are angry about a law towards education (no idea what the law is) so in every public university, all the classes have been cancelled and students have set up "camp grounds" in the center of the city, filling it with millions of signs, constant marches (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_raVdVKNQPQ&feature=related) , tons of speeches, chanting ect. The students have set up tents in the center of the city, sitting there drinking mate and collecting signatures to rebut against the law (I have no idea if they actually sleep in the tents at night). The link to the youtube video that I put up was actually a protest that went on right outside of Hillel the other day. We were playing truco and this was what we were listening to. Me and two people from Hillel went outside to watch a bit of the protest which was really interesting. By the way, protesting in Argentina is completely normal (and most of the time isn't dangerous). I can't tell you how many times in Buenos Aires I was in Chacarita (it's like I was in Poway/the Bronx) and I had to go downtown for class(like going to the Gaslamp/Wall Street) and the subway randomly went on strike without any warning and I missed class.
Speaking of Buenos Aires and going on strike, the domestic airport, Aeroparque is closed for renovations due to updating and construction. They say that it will be open again on December 1st...and I sure hope it will be because I have a flight booked to Buenos Aires on December 10th...(I'm going to Colonia, Uruguay for the day to renew my visa). The pilots from the airline Aerolineas Argentinas have gone on strike so this has caused some complications with traveling... 


I was invited to attend the Sefardi shul so I'll go to services and then have dinner with a family and I'm very excited for that. 


Not much else has been going on. I'm just loving la vida Cordobesa!