'You know...the american girl doing the research"

Well no one's said that about me yet, but I know it's just a matter of time! Today, I went to visit the Polideportivo of Argentinos Juniors. For lack of an English translation, the Polideportivo is where all the other sports of an Athletic club are housed. Tennis, skating, basketball, boxing, volleyball, and many more. It took forever and a day to get there, because the colectivo driver (with the best intentions) thought he'd missed the place and told me take another colectivo to the other side of the bridge (which goes over the railway tracks) right near the club. I took a colectivo, got off, and people told me it was the other side of the bridge. I finally got there, and what a welcome I received!!!!

All I had to do was tell them I was a student doing a research project on the club and the guard was off telling me how great the club was and his experiences, and football in Argentina, and how close a community the smaller clubs are and what a welcome I would find. He pointed me in the right direction with phone numbers and everything to find the materials I needed, he let me in to the complex and showed me where the pool was. The pool was GIGANTIC, and there were loads of people. He also provided me with some valuable information about what other activities happen at the polideportivo besides soccer. He told me all about how sometimes musicians come and play at the smaller stadium that's inside the complex, and how there's a small library inside, and oh just so many useful things. In addition, when I mentioned I was going to call a cab he said, "No, don't do that." and took me inside a little farther to speak with the group of guys that run the Remis company for the club. A remis, I've gathered, is something like a taxi service, but only for those at the club. It's cheaper, I believe, than a taxi, and I'd wager probably safer because, as the guard Ruben, told me, everyone knows everyone at the club.

And it wasn't just the guard who was really nice. I was having a look inside the locker rooms, trying to find my way to the pool, and the young woman working in the small office (I guess coordinating activities for the pool and such) asked me if she could help me because I obvioulsy looked kind of lost. I explained to her that I was a student doing research about the club and she smiled, asked me what I was looking for ,and pointed me in the right direction!

I have a feeling that by the time I finish this project I will know a lot of people at the club, and instead of trying to pronouce my name (which half the world apparently finds absolutely impossible to pronouce) I have a feeling they'll just refer to me as "that american girl doing the research"!

Buenos Aires: An Organized Student's Worst Nightmare

Why, you may be asking is Buenos Aires (notice, I specify, what I say does not apply to the whole country) is an organized student's worst nightmare? Read on.

1. Colectivos: The public transportation. The subway here is reliable enough, but the colectivos? Sometimes you have to wait twenty minutes for one, and then after twenty minutes, four pass at the same time. Drivers don't have to stop to pick you up, and there's no definite schedule of when they will! You need change to pay your fare (where as the subway takes bills), which means if you have none, you have to go to a nearby kiosco to buy something just for the change! Meaning, if you want to be in class on time, lets take this morning for example. I had an 8:30 class. It was my first class so I wanted to make sure I found the building and the room. Had to give myself twenty minutes to get down to the ground floor, go to a kiosco (sometimes obtaining 1.25 pesos is the most difficult thing in the world), and for the colectivo to come, I gave the colectivo between 30 and 40 minutes to get to USAL, and 15 to find my classroom. All in all? I had to leave at 7:15. But why did I bother? I don't know. Why don't I know? Read #2.

2. The academic system: A student gets her schedule. It says she has an 8:30 class Monday morning. If this student were American, she'd wake up and make sure she was in class by 8:25. If she were Argentine she'd be walking into the building at 8:30. Why? Because Argentine students know that Argentine professors start class whenever Argetnine professors want to start class! I was so prepared for this class this morning, only to be thrown off by the fact that the professor did not arrive until 8:46. Not even considering class times. No one uses books here. They're all photocopies. You're asking, isn't that illegal? Why yes, it technically is. Doesn't stop every professor from requiring an obscene amount of photocopies to be read. They're not expensive, but chances are, when you get the reading from the Photo Copy Shop (Fotocopiadora), you'll be missing a page or two (at minimum, if you're lucky).

3. Argentines LOVE to protest. Now: don't get me wrong. I remain, as of now, ignorant of the deep reasons why people take to the streets in this country, and I'm sure most of them are completely legit. However, when I've decided to be economical and hoof it 26 blocks from USAL to the Plaza de Mayo to make photocopies of the one section of the book from the National Library of the Legislature that I didn't get the last time I was there, and I arrive 26 blocks later only to find the entire building completely blocked by riot police in case the MASSIVE protest taking place outside the building gets out of control, yes, I get a LITTLE peeved. Twenty-six blocks, folks. A bit of a hike. I asked one of the crowd controllers who looked to be from the group that was protesting, and I found out that it was a union, I believe that's what he said, from the province of La Matanza (I think) protesting for jobs. Mind you this was in provincial Spanish over the noise of about ten drums. It was only a little later that it hit me that I was just in the middle of one of the protests of the Piqueteros- the social movement I'd learned about in class two semesters ago. Groups of people, from different organizations, block of roads in the capital, for a time, to make a point. Kind of ironic.

On another note. Finally got my final class schedule. Latin American Political Systems Compared, Iberoamerican Literature, and Advanced Spanish. All this plus my research paper will be quite a load this semester.

On yet another note. The soccer team I play for, at the University Torquato Di Tella won last Saturday 2-1. I played goalie! To keep up with my soccer team just keep checking http://www.diversica.com/adau/dpinfo.php?dp=futbolfem&mn=r and look for UTDT. The girls on the team are great, and practicing gets me out of the house once in a while!

Another note: I am currently in possession of 12 pesos in CHANGE!!! *gasp*...the mint finally opened back up. I haven't had this many one peso coins in my posession EVER.

And on another note, last note, I promise. I obtained, through the woman helping me with my research paper, a promise of a personal interview with the current president of Athletic Association of Argentinos Juniors- the club on which I'm doing my thesis! I"m so excited!

So that's the news from Buenos Aires!

Porque Boca le dale, Boca le dale, OH!

Barracades, police officers everwhere, crowds of people, strategically placed swat teams with bullet proof, botons and tear gas, and checkpoints. What am I describing? An accident? A hostage stand off? No. None of the above. I am describing a large section of the neighborhood of La Boca on the night of the first game of Boca Juniors.

Boca Juniors. Absolutely no words can describe the following that this soccer team has in all of Argentina. The stadium, La Bombonera, is located in La Boca, and is entirely painted blue and yellow. The team is currently such a powerful commercial enterprise that it forced Coca Cola to change its colors if it wanted to advertise inside the stadium. Red, White, and Black are not allowed. Those are the rival colors of River plate.

Most soccer teams here are also athletic clubs. As such, members of these athletic clubs get first priority (and some cases free entry) to some of the team's games. In Boca's case? el Club Atletico de Boca Juniors has 80,000 members. La bombonera has 50,000 seats. Boca Juniors currently only sells tickets to members. There are two sections in almost every stadium. La Platea, and la Popular. Platea is what most americans think of as stadium seating- seats. The section where, here, families come, older folks, and most women who come to see the game. Popular is where the chaos is. No actual seats, people stand the whole time.But tickets are also about a third as expensive, and the only ones that remain on game day. Boca's policy is to open ticket sales on game day (except for the HUGE games: read- Boca vs. River) and usually the only tickets that remain that dont cost 700-800 pesos a piece are the popular.

A couple sections of the popular in the Bombonera are exclusively for members of La Barra Brava, the sections that waved the flags and the signs Jugador No 12 (read- 12th player). Don't know much about what it takes to become a member, although I do know most are in their teens and 20s, but members of the Barra get free tickets to the Popular section for most games. How does this happen? Well, CABJ denies any official affiliation with the Barra, but someone inside has to be paying for the tickets! La Barra Brava does all the chanting that Argentine soccer is so very famous for (title of this entry is one of the chants). When I went last night, I kid you not, the Barras chanted the ENTIRE 95 minutes of the game. It's incredible to see entire sections of the stadium jumping up and down at the same time. When it's full, they say la Bombonera shakes. And after what I saw last night? It doesn't surprise me.

Last night Boca Juniors played Velez Sarsfield and tied 1-1. In the first two minutes, Boca scored. In the first fifteen, someone from the small Velez section threw a fire cracker that almost hit a police officer. There were police surrounding the field and the stadium all during the game (the field was glassed in with spikes at the top, talk about protection for these guys!), and at the end of the game, police in full riot gear with plastic shields and everything came onto the field. A detterent, I guess?

People were very nice, and the row of what were probably life time Boca members (all 80+ years old) behind us was interested in how 3 American girls came to get tickets for Boca Juniors. We sat in the Platea, where tickets for foreigners are nearly impossible to get, so we definitely got a good feel for "La Pasion Boquarense" (read- Boca Mania...literally translated- Bocan Passion).

It was intense, amazing, and so exciting! I'm definitely going back.

Miscelaneous happenings...

Everyone has dogs in this country. Absolutely everyone. And while every American laughs at Paris Hilton for dressing up Tinkerbell (her little Chihuahua, for those of you who didn't know), I'm pretty sure that half the dogs I've seen here are better dressed than I am. From the biggest greyhound, to a chihuahua so small it could fit in my purse, a huge portion of dogs here sport sweaters, and....drum roll please.........I've seen some wearing pants too! When we went to visit la Boca and the Bombonera (Boca Junior's stadium), some guy was walking around with both his greyhounds sporting blue and gold Boca sweaters and pants!! My only question....what about shoes? I mean, when my dog PJ was still alive I know we bought him booties when it snowed so his paws wouldn't freeze, but I have yet to see a dog here with shoes! Weird!

On another note. Protests erupted throughout the downtown area two days ago when the electric bills came. Apparently the electric bills are really fixing people good raising bills as much as 600% this month. For what reason? Well, I'm not entirely sure. But people were ANGRY. And the police of course were not just going to sit around and let people protest. Policemen in full riot gear (masks, bullet proof vests, those long sticks they use to hit people with, and cans of tear gas and of course guns) on every corner of the plaza yesterday, in addition to a whole slew of regular police in the middle of the plaza. Now granted, this wasn't anywhere near the scale of 2001, when Ines told me that the main avenue four blocks from us was blocked with protestors nearly every afternoon, but I feel like I'm definitely here at an exciting time!

On yet another note, Argentine football and the AFA are experiencing an unprecedented crisis that has actually never happened before. The details are still quite a mystery to me (the newspaper lying nxt to me promises to explain more), it had something to do with some channels exclusive contract to show the AFA football games. The AFA broke the contract, and because of that, Boca's first match has been delayed yet another week. *sigh* But apparently this is the first time EVER this has happened and footballers and sports shows talk of little else!

So that's how it is here in Buenos Aires.

Long Awaited...Personal Updates

Hi, folks! I have been in this wonderful country for three weeks now, and every day I wake up feeling so glad that I decided to come! Some classes have started, while others have not. With the IFSA (Institute for Study Abroad) program that I came with, students are allowed a shopping period, where we can try out courses at a number of different universities. We can try courses at 1) the University of Buenos Aires (UBA), 2) University Torquato Di Tella (UTDT), 3) Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and 4) Salvador University (USAL). The literature program at USAL has already started, so I've been to one class there, and the political science program at UCA starts this week. I'm excited to start classes because that means I'll have a regular routine down instead of having to look at my planner every day!
Saturday nights have been great, because on that day I go out and make an event out of eating. I've tried three different restaurants so far. The first Saturday I was here I went with my new friend Natalie to try a classic Argentine asado (steak!) which was absolutely delicious. Then the next Saturday Natalie and I went to a very chic Mexican restaurant where I tried shrimp tacos. The food was good, but the portions were too small. Last night, Natalie, Noah, Zac, Kate and I tried a restaurant called "Estilo Campo" which is near UCA, about 40 minute bus ride away from my house. I had steak, which was again, absolutely delicious. Plus, you can not beat the prices. Since the peso is still 4 to 1 with the dollar, the most I've spent on a meal here is about 40 US dollars for two people!
My birthday is in three days! I'll officially be in my "Early 20s". Wow. It's rather anti-climactic because of course I can drink legally here already, but I'm thinking I'm going to go with a few friends to a nice restaurant for a good meal. Well, that's basically all the updates for now.

The Military (Cue the Suspensful Music)

Other than updating you all on my adventures here, which I promise I will do quite soon, I wanted this blog to be able to convey to friends and family in the USA certain aspects of Argentine culture that are perhaps still a mystery to most. For this entry, I've chosen to write about the Argentine armed forces and their lasting impression on the people of this great country.
For most of the last century, Argentina alternated between military and civilian governments. The military has always been an institutionally strong entity and has thus had the power to "relieve" any president of his post for any reason they chose. The periods of military government, however, never involved horrificly harsh repression until the early 1970s. A quick mini-history lesson before arriving at 1976.
Juan Peron was a populist president elected in early 1940s and who served for about ten years, if my memory serves me correctly. However, as the economy began to falter, the military staged a coup and allowed Peron to go into self imposed exile in Spain. For 18 years Peron lived in Spain, and in 1973 when absolutely nobody could save the country from economic and social unrest, they asked him to come back because they knew he was such a unifying figure. Who "they" are, well that's still a bit of a mystery and it might involve some research, but we'll say for now "they" are the powerful whos who in Argentine government. Well, Peron came back in either 72 or 73, ruled for a few months, then died. His third wife Isabela took over, but she did not have the capacity to govern a country so "threatened" (note quotation marks!) but communist infiltration. Let it be known that Jorge Videla did not start dissappearing people after he staged a coup d'etat in 76. My research for my paper last year indicated that the military, under Isabela Peron first began these covert operations in 1974 or '75.
Jorge R. Videla, along with several other heads of military, took over the government in 1976. They ruled until 1983. During this time the military was all powerful. They could take anyone they wanted for the smallest reason (long hair, dissent in school, even if they just didn't like their appearence!) and hold them without trial for as long as they pleased. Over 30,000 people were simply "dissappeared" during this time, many of whom were university students or professors.
Coming back to the present.... I live in a neighborhood with a huge military population. We are two blocks from the national military hospital, and the National School of War (think School of the Americas but in Argentina). And something eerie I just discovered last week... the biggest detention center used during the last military dictatorship, and by big I mean it is rumored to have dissappeared the most people by the most gruesome methods, is right down the street from me. Its called "La ESMA", which is an acronym for the National Naval Academy.
Argentines today are still very wary of anything or anyone associated with the military. While having a conversation with my host mother, Ines, she asked me what I wanted to do with my degree and I told her I was thinking about military law. She listened politely as I told her about my family's history in the military. Then after I was done, suggested to me that I not let it be openly known that I was from a military family and wanted to join because in many settings I would not receive the best of receptions.
The military and police forces today are still very present in Argentine society, although deprived of a lot of their institutional power. Cops are all around, on foot, on horseback, and in cars. All cops carry guns, and all guards I've seen to military institutions carry weapons that look larger than I am tall. The atrocities committed by the military in this country during the 70s and 80s are a very taboo subject, but a few very brave souls are beginning (almost thirty years later) to speak out about what happened to them inside the detention camps. Its a dark stain on this otherwise great country.

The [[Moneda]] Situation

"Moneda" is the Argentine word for change. Money is a very interesting topic in this country, and by interesting I mean intensely complex and difficult to understand. The mint that makes these wonderful coins that you see in the picture is out of service for the winter. I'm not sure if it's a regular seasonal thing or if its just this year. Anywho, Argentine small businesses; exp: Kioscos (think smaller 7-11), and laundries; and some big businesses; exp: McDonalds; will jump through hoops of fire before they'll give you change in coins. Finding change with which to take the colectivo is almost an art made all the more difficult by the fact that Argentina frequently uses 2 peso bills. For example, if I buy something that costs 3.50 in a kiosco and pay with a 10 thinking I'll get a 5 peso bill back and 1.50 in change, I'm highly mistaken. I get three 2 peso bills back and 50 cents in change. Another weird example: I went to get my passport photos taken for Immigration. That cost 13 pesos. I went to pay with 100 and he asked me if I had anything smaller. I thought that that request was reasonably logical so I came back the next day to pick them up with 20 pesos. H estill asked me, "you don't have anything smaller?" I don't think he had 7 pesos there and that was the shop where a majority of IFSA kids went to get their photos! Last example: Natalie and I went to McDonalds and spent 44,50 in pesos (about 10 dollars) on our meal. I paid with a 50 peso bill and the woman had to go find change, because she didn't have it in the register!
What happened to this country's financial system in 2001 was horrible. Hundreds of thousands lost their life savings. But that will comprise its own entry at another point. I've got a busy day today. I'm going to see Boca Junior's stadium in the south of the city, and then to see the universities. That's all for now, folks!