Verano!

Las sierras Cordobesas, "The Cordoba Mountains"

As promised, I have finally uploaded a picture from the Cordoba mountains. This is a picture of a maze that I did with a friend within the mountains and it was quite difficult!

Not much is going on at work because of summer but this is what I have been working on...

Hillel: The Hillel House officially closed on December 14th so nothing is going on there until February/March. I still am technically working though, but only through email because we need to finish planning Alternative Spring Break for Juniata College that will be coming in March.

Social welfare center: Things are very quiet there. For now I have been organizing the files of the beneficiaries, taking out old information/documents and putting in new info. Last tuesday I didn't go to work because I had a meeting with the 2 Argentine girls about the trip to Los Angeles. I felt a little guilty about missing work but we achieved a lot in that meeting, and it was the only time they had to meet up.

Macabi: I am working at the day camp there, being a counselor "madrija" for 15 kids between the ages of 9,10,11 years old (the oldest age group at camp). Camp starts at 3PM and ends at 7PM. Basically the schedule is set so that for an hour the kids play sports, the next hour is instructional swim, the next hour is sports again and the last hour is free time in the pool. The structure of this camp is very different from what I am accustomed to. When I went to day camp in the U.S., we did sports and swam in the pool but there were also other activities such as art, theater, cooking, creative writing, mad science ect. This day camp seems to be more focused on sports and when I mentioned the idea of jewelry making I got very weird and surprised looks. I'm having a good time at camp and the kids are great but I'm not going to lie, I often get very frustrated and annoyed because this age group is not my specialty.

Argentina:
- The weekend of December 10th I went to Buenos Aires. I went because I had to renew my visa so I went to Uruguay for the day (it's easier and cheaper to get to Uruguay from Buenos Aires rather than Córdoba). It was FREEZING cold and RAINING in Buenos Aires and Uruguay (I heard it was beautiful weather in Córdoba). Upon my return to Córdoba, I went to a meeting at Macabi which was basically a summary of how the year went. Each department within Macabi gave a presentation about how they thought the year was for their department, challenges, successes and goals for next year. It was an interesting meeting, with lots of people and it was great to learn more about how Macabi functions, to put names to faces and to meet new people.
- Being that it's very quite in Córdoba, both in the city and with work, I thought to myself, hmmm I wonder if I could go back to Buenos Aires next weekend (December 17th). I double and triple checked with all of my jobs to make sure that there was no work, meetings or training and everyone said no so I left again for Buenos Aires the night of December 15th. I wanted to go back again because I felt like I had no time to see my friends (due to my trip to Uruguay) and it was so cold the previous weekend that I felt like I hardly was able to go out and enjoy the city, "no tenia ganas de salir". Plus, I usually have to work weekends so I wanted to take advantage of this free time. It was great going back and I did everything that I wanted to do that I was unable to do the previous weekend, and the weather was glorious!!! I went to the JDC office and had lunch with Zara (a JSC fellow) and met some of the staff (who are great by the way), I briefly met Martin who I will be working with in Buenos Aires for 13/17 program in January, I tried chocolate ginger ice cream which is amazing and my new addiction now (thanks Zara). When I'm in Buenos Aires in January I swear I will eat that ice cream every day!!!
- More protests in Córdoba, I think about the same things as before but I'm not sure (the new education law about teaching religion in public schools). My bus route was cut off by the protestors so I had to walk a little more than I normally would (but only an extra 2 blocks). The other day in the center of the city I saw people chained to bike racks going on a hunger strike (about the education law). You may think that this sounds a bit nuts but the truth is that if these kinds of things were not going on, I would be a bit concerned, because this is Argentina and Argentines love to protest. It's not dangerous at all to walk through the protests (don't worry mom). For me personally, I always think its so interesting to watch the protestors. I get to learn more about Argentina and political and social problems, learn their methods of communication, and watch all different types of people gather together that normally would not associate with each other.
- Friday and saturday the electricity kept going on and off in my building (that's why I am writing the blog today instead of friday). I have no idea why I lost electricity but I heard that during the summer electricity throughout the city could be shut off for a few hours due to the fact that too many AC's are running at once and the power can't handle it. I'm assuming it had something to do with that. Everything is back to normal now
- Yesterday I went to the río, aka the Córdoba beach. Córdoba is not on the ocean but there are many lakes and rivers where "la gente Cordobesa" often go to soak up the sun and go swimming. It was so beautiful, so natural, a laid back and calm atmosphere, filled with families making "asados" (Argentine BBQ) and swimming "en la naturaleza". I have never been to a río before and I REALLY enjoyed it. It was so beautiful, so calm and relaxing and I loved people watching. I took many pictures and I will put one up in the next blog.
- As I've said before, it's summer here and the city definitely feels empty, especially in my neighborhood because before it was filled with university students and now many of them have left to go home. Many businesses are closed, there are less taxis (the other day I waited 10 minutes for a taxi and before all I had to do was walk outside and there would be at least 5) and many businesses have shorter hours. I heard that in January even less is open in Córdoba so luckily I won't be here for that (I'll be working at the sleep away camp in Villa Gesell for 2 weeks and then in Buenos Aires for the rest of January).
- For my swim class I got moved up from the basic class to advance. In the advance class, the people really do swim...a lot and don't stand around and talk to each other (which I prefer, because my thinking is that yes I do like to talk and socialize but I came to the pool to go swimming and get a good workout!). I am the slowest swimmer in the advance class but that doesn't bother me at all.

That's about all that has been going on for now, nothing too exciting but verano es así. I hope to go back to the río next weekend and do more walking around and exploring of Córdoba :-)