Januca!

                                            Celebrating Januca in Buen Pastor, Córdoba, Argentina
                                                                   "Chanukah for everyone"

Hola a todos. My gramma told me that when I write in pink (although it is the best color ever!) it is hard for her to read so now I will write in black. This is all for you gramma!

I'm writing to you today because tomorrow I go to Buenos Aires/Uruguay (to renew my visa) and I don't know when I'll have time to write so better to be safe than sorry and write now.

Bueno, where to start....

Hillel:
- Last week we had dinner at Martíns apartment, the President of Hillel. The president of Hillel, Buenos Aires happened to be there too having dinner with us. The dinner was nice and the apartment had spectacular views of the city. I was very lost during the dinner though, because most of the conversation was about the players/movers and shakers within Hillel Argentina/Uruguay and also about the politics that go along with that. Being that I don't know anyone within that group, I did not have much to say.
- I FINALLY finished translating the 37 page document. What a relief!!! Now I can start my summer vacation ;-)
- Basically Hillel has come to a close until February. I am going to the office today but only for 2 hours. There are no more activities.

Social welfare center:
- I have been given a short document to translate, basically a pamphlet that explains what the social welfare center does and their programs.
- Elsa and I thought of a great project for me to do for next year (March). In the past, the social welfare center had events for the beneficiaries such as birthday and holiday parties and day trips such as Córdoba city tours and trips to the Córdoba mountains. The idea was that the beneficiaries could meet each other, become friends and realize that they are not alone. In other words, that there are other people out there that are having the same challenges, people that understand them, want to help and support them. Unfortunately, a few years ago these events were canceled due to lack of funds. My project for next year is to create a blog (in English) for the social welfare center, translate the pamphlet, translate the "master plan" of the events that Elsa has already written out from before, and talk to organizations, communities, individuals in the United States to see if in any shape or form they could help us. I'm very excited for this project because I will be learning more about Argentina and its social problems, I will be developing job skills (translating, communication, grant writing ect.) and it's all for a good cause. I will be starting this in March but if anyone has any ideas or could give me a head start in who to contact for financial help that would be very much appreciated :-)
- I think I mentioned this in a previous blog, but I've also been thinking about if there is somehow a gateway between me, the beneficiaries and teen programming. Maybe in March I could start a "big brother big sister" program for one of the kids of the beneficiaries. I could be a "big sister" and hang out with the teenager in the city, help with homework, whatever, lo q sea. I talked to Elsa about this and she told me that she doesn't know of any teens but maybe Dolores, the social worker who works in the social  welfare center and who is in constant contact with the beneficiaries and their families, could help me out with this project.

Macabi:
- December 4th was the last day of activities at Macabi. It was a boiling hot day and we were outside all day putting together the stage, chairs, lights, sound system, projector, lifting heavy things...basically doing everything to set up for the ceremony/graduation for the madrijim school (I am very sunburnt). We worked all day, starting from 11AM until around 5PM and in the end we created a beautiful setting to have the ceremony (someone said that it looked like a wedding). However, around 5:30-6PM, it started to rain so in 15 minutes, we disassembled what we worked on all day and moved it into the multipurpose room. Never the less, we were absolutely PISSED at mother nature.
- I called Damian to see if there would be any training or any meetings for the day camp which starts December 20th. He told me that there might be and that he would call me tonight...I hope he does...
The camp is only weekdays (not weekends like regular Macabi activities, or in other words, not saturday) so if there is no meeting/training I would love to take advantage of having no work on saturday and go somewhere for the weekend (December 17th) and then come back and start camp. I'm thinking of either Mendoza or possibly Buenos Aires but I can't even think about making plans until I hear back from Damian.

Argentina:
- I love Argentina. Yes, there are many "quilombos" in Argentina but the language, history and culture is just so rich and I constantly love learning more about it.
- I briefly went to a Chanukah party at Chabad. I was probably there for about 20 minutes because shortly after we had the Hillel dinner at Martíns apartment. In those 20 minutes I did manage to eat some Chanukah gelt, the only Chanukah food I ate during the holiday :-(
- There was another Chanukah party in Buen Pastor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paseo_del_Buen_Pastor) which was opened to the public. The setting was beautiful with lots of lights, water fountains, palm trees and lots of people, most being goys. The Rabbi of the Centro Union said a few words about the story of Chanukah and later the menorah was lit. What was interesting about the menorah lighting is that one representative from each of the the major religions in Córdoba (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) lit a candle as well as the mayor/governor of Córdoba and other important people to the city. When I saw this, I thought to myself, wow what a great way to really tie everyone together. What a great way to really show friendship, unity and peace. I guess you could say that the diversity of "gente" lighting the menorah really struck me and was a bit powerful. After the menorah lighting, a famous clesmer band from Buenos Aires played for about 2 hours. The music was great and it brought me back memories of when my family went to visit my Aunt Lori in New York City and we went to a clesmer concert. The music was great and people were really into it (even the goys). I was just waiting for the black hatters to jump out from behind the curtain and start dancing and make le'chaims...that never happened.
- I went to another Chanukah party at the Sefardi temple. It was more low key but still nice. There was a dinner and then 2 guys from Buenos Aires put on a small show and played the violin and piano.
- I've been investigating taking a Spanish or Portuguese class for the month of December but it's impossible. Starting December 20th, I need to be at Macabi at 1:30PM for the camp and I end at 7PM. I already have swim class from 9-10AM and theres just not enough time for me to shower, get ready, eat and go to Macabi (it's a 20 minute cab ride). I'll look into taking a class in March when the new year starts and I think that during that time there will be more options too.
- Yesterday was another holiday "Día de la Virgin"which I'm assuming has something to do with the Jesus/Marie story. You guessed it, I had no work. That day I took advantage of my free time and walked around the city (many places were still open). At night, there was a free jazz concert done by a Córdoba band in Buen Pastor. The jazz music was different than what we are accustomed to in the United States. It was all drums, a bit of singing and some piano. I was waiting for Bill Clinton and Paul Neustein to break out with a mean saxophone performance but that never happened. I still enjoyed the music though and it's always nice to note those cultural differences.
- After the jazz concert, there was another free folklore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exY6xn-lNgI) concert (typical music from Northern Argentina) in the Plaza de la Independencia. I really enjoyed that concert, probably more than the jazz because it was very Argentine and people were dancing traditionally to the music. Of course at the end of the concert, there was a mini rally "protest" because apparently fairly recent there was a protest in Buenos Aires (theres always some kind of protest in Buenos Aires) and a 23-year-old was killed so in Plaza de la Independencia there was a rally about security and human rights. No one knows who killed the 23-year-old, if it was the police or an individual.
- The Christmas tree in Plaza España was lit last night, inconveniently at the same time as the jazz concert was going on. There were constant helicopters roaming around in the sky making tons of noise, filming the lighting of the tree so several times the band stopped and waited for the helicopters to go away (they never actually did, they were constantly coming and going). At the end there was a great fireworks show.
- Tomorrow I'm going to BUENOS AIRES! You have no idea how excited I am!!!! I REALLY miss my friends and "the big city". I'm actually going because I need to renew my visa so saturday I'm taking a boat to Uruguay and I'll return to Buenos Aires at 10PM. My friends have already sent me emails telling me that they planned the whole weekend and how they are SO excited for my arrival. This is something that I still don't have in Córdoba, a really tight nit group of friends and it will be nice to be in Buenos Aires and having that feeling again of familiarity and friendship. I feel like I arrived in Córdoba at the worst time (and everyone has told me that), just at the start of exams and what worries me is that by the the time I make a really good friend(s) I'll have to leave shortly after, because I'm only here for a year...Pero bueno, I'm probably thinking about this way too much and everything will work out and will be more comfortable through time and summer is not the best time for that, and I know that.

Ok I feel like this is really long and I don't know what else to say. Have a great weekend everyone!
If you want to  listen to "cuarteto" (musica cordobesa) and see pictures of this beautiful city and witness some of the rich culture, check out this youtube video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOfCVGgIEqw

SOY CORDOBÉS!