On the move again!

So, predictably, life with the Señora was fated to come to an end...

Luckily, my friend, Jen, found an awesome apartment for herself, which meant she was vacating her one-step-away-from-awesome apartment with her awesome roommates.

A private bedroom, two girls my own age (yeah, I know, GIRLS, but I guess it had to happen at some point), so meet Maru and Meli! (Maru's boyfriend, Ricardo is in the middle, he's part of the package.)


And here's the kitchen...the other big perk, the patio is currently looking pretty empty (which makes it great for parties!), as well as my bedroom (tons of white space)...so, here's the kitchen with Maru and Ricardo once again...


And a cute picture of Jen, who was kind enough to facilitate everything...(you know the other two, now).

Shopping!

Shopping in Argentina is a little different from home.

All the clothing stores are really small, but they tend to have several branches within a small radius. Case in point, India, which has 3 stores plus an outlet within 3 blocks. It's also interesting to note their logo appears to be an Indian, as in a Native American, not someone from India, as you'd think by the name. (Their clothing is mostly typical Argentine in style, with a few Indian pieces thrown in--styles from the country of India.


In general, service is over-the-top. These tiny stores usually have at least 2-3 employees who will immediately welcome you and help you find anything you're looking for. My tactic is to just browse until I'm fairly sure I know that I want something, because once they sense interest, high-pressure sales tactics abound, and it's difficult to leave without buying something. (They will do everything to hunt out the size, color, style, etc. that is missing from whichever piece is in your hand.)

Makeup is generally sold in stores that resemble the makeup department of a drug store, where all the shampoos and are in center isles, and expensive items plus makeup are behind the counter. You take a number, and someone will help you, putting makeup on you with clean utensils to ensure it's sanitary and that you like what you're buying. Time consuming, but a nice touch.

Shoes are also sold in the "take a number" fashion, and many stores are unfortunately keeping their doors closed and locked during business hours, opening them for customers, and locking them after they enter due to a rise in crime (more to come on this note, unfortunately).

A Celebration!

On Friday, one of our clients, Cecilia, completed the treatment program she started almost two years ago. Appropriately, this was celebrated by all. One of the therapists, Susana, explained to the new clients that because of the group modality of treatment, success for one person really is a success for all. Everyone contributes to the others' treatment.

Therapist Pablo, Therapist Susana, Cecilia, Social Worker Débora, Therapist Mariel

To this end, Friday was spent cleaning and cooking, as everyone worked to prepare the site for Friday night's celebration. I helped the nurses prepare food and clean the kitchen, as the patients scrubbed down the building.

Afterwards, the patients watch a movie (Along Came Polly), and got to snack on some of the cookies for the evening.

At 6, everyone went home to spruce up (or to the bathrooms), and at 7 the guests began arriving. Cecilia's family and friends were invited as well as the social worker from her insurance company (these social workers do regular audits on us, to ensure things are going well for their clients and the patients are improving), the families of all the other patients, and the kids of some of my coworkers.

Things opened with the national anthem, and then the President, Débora, spoke of Cecilia's accomplishments in treatment. It was a really nice speech, where she basically said that love was the heart of treatment. Everyone at El Bohío loved Cecilia and cared for her success, and everyone invited to the celebration was part of that success, due to love. (I was especially surprised that God wasn't credited or thanked, as the program is very spiritual, and God tends to been seen as the center of everything that happens at El Bohío.)



Snacks consisted of deviled eggs (the yolk was mixed with mayo, herbs de provence, and carrots!), sandwiches de miga (pictured above, simple ham and cheese sandwiches served for every occasion of any importance, oven double- or triple-deckers), pigs in a blanket (although this term was new to them, they just called them hot dogs covered in dough), and little pastry shells filled with either a ricotta-olive mixture, or ricotta-ham (also pictured).

Lots of pictures were taken--like in a wedding. Cecilia and family, Cecilia and staff, Cecilia and original patients (pictured below, with me, the original beginning English class I taught), Cecilia and all the patients, Cecilia and friends...

Jenn, Emiliano, Cecilia, and Pablo

The evening was wrapped up with cookies, cake, and Argentine folkloric dancing. It was a beautiful, festive evening, that left us all feeling really proud.

Quick Update

Just a quick update--apparently November has been a busy month, since I haven't published anything since the 4! I am getting ready to move this weekend, one of my friends is leaving her apartment and her two wonderful roommates, so I get to take over and leave pension life behind! I believe the Señora is a bit upset...she came and told me I needed to be very, very careful in my last week here, because if I break anything, I'll have to pay $500 (pesos). (The only thing I've broken so far is a plate, valued at $3, which she refused to let me replace.) Wish me luck for a speedy escape!

Also, work has been chaotic. We couldn't pay our phone bill, so we lost our internet connection. Now that it's been paid, it will take 2 weeks to turn the phone back on. Since the majority of my work requires the net (at least for reference), I've been working scattered hours, spending half days in the office, then trying to download anything useful from cafes, in order to work the following day.

The good news is that the holidays are coming, and with that vacations!

Just a quick update, more to come soon!

Election Night Party

Ana, a staff at FSD hosted an election night party for all who were interested. Her boyfriend owns a bar, which is normally closed on Tuesdays so we took over, projecting the CNN coverage and blasting "American music," as defined by each who participated.


We dressed in red, white, and blue and goofy hats...


Special election night shots were available for 2 pesos (50 cents) a piece...



And Ana baked a cake to celebrate the victor, which was luckily Obama. I don't think anyone would have had an appetite for cake with another Republican headed for the Whitehouse.

Another weekend getaway--Colón!!!

We took another group trip last weekend, this time to another river town, Colón, appropriately enough in the Entre Ríos province.


Spring time weather is a little unpredictable, alternating between cold and warm, sunny, overcast, and stormy...or any other variation. Luckily, we arrived on Friday to a beautiful, sunny day. We lunched by the river, then spent the afternoon exploring the river banks and napping in the sun.


We'd rented a couple small apartments for the weekend, and our Program Coordinator, Fabian made us a spaghetti dinner. We were all pretty exhausted after the travelling and called it a night after dinner.

Saturday morning was chilly and overcast, but we took a boat ride down the river and made it back just before the skies opened up, pouring down rain that would last the rest of the day. We made omelets for lunch, ordered in ice cream (Argentines love ice cream in any weather), napped, and watched old movies on TV until dinner time, when we couldn't stand being inside any longer.

Then, we headed out for someones brilliant suggestion of trying to vegetarian restaurant!



Even Max is smiling, and he was pouting quite a bit over not having any meat with his dinner. The food was fabulous! Some of us went out after, where we enjoyed the local bar scene, and the local bar scene got to meet a real American.



(We jumped the gun a bit on the picture of Mary Andrews...about five minutes later her table that started with four guys had grown to about 12.)

Sunday, the sun returned and it was warm enough to bare all in the nearby thermal baths--no pictures are included as the girls are still transitioning from winter bodies and cameras were forbidden. ;)

And Sunday night we returned to La Plata, a little sunburnt, a little tired, and a lot relaxed. =)