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.
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