Becoming History Savvy

This was supposed to be posted before I left for Bariloche, oops! Didn’t realize it never went through:

Sunday morning we were supposed to go to a polo match that had been rescheduled from the previous week, however, there in fact was no match scheduled (poor planning, yet again, IES?). I was so ready too, sweater vest and all. No worries though, we were assured that we would be made aware of the next match. Instead, we headed to one of the biggest (and most wonderful) malls here, Alto Palermo, to go see a movie, Going the Distance. Definitely MUCH funnier than I expected, highly recommended. However, anybody over 40 would probably think it was a waste of time and money, not unlike many of the other movies I like.

Sunday night I received terrible news. As a result of the student strike at IUNA, my tango class was suspended until further notice. I felt like a part of my soul had died. Naturally, everybody else in the class was ecstatic not to have to wake up early the next morning, which I guess was nice, to a certain extent.

I actually had to do a substantial amount of work this week. I know, I was shocked, too. My friend Allison and I were to present a project on San Telmo, one of the barrios of the city, the one with the antique fairs on Sunday afternoons. We presented on Tuesday and it went great. Our professor, Mercedes, is a wonderful woman. She always gives us compliments after we give correct answers in our grammar exercises, just like in middle school. “MUY BIEN, Diana!” or “Excelente!” or “Buen trabajo, mi amor” or “Increíble, Diana. Muy bien.”

I win.

Urban History class has been very interesting. There’s a lot of reading, though. And I mean real reading, like 50 pages for each class in Spanish. That’s legitimate. Otherwise, it’s been great, because we get to go on field trips to explore different parts of the city. Since we’ve been around some of these barrios quite a bit, it’s nice to be able to actually picture the place that we’re talking about in class and then see how it has changed. We went on 2 field trips in the last week and a half, one to the famous Plaza de Mayo, which also has the Casa Rosada (presidential palace). The Plaza de Mayo is important for several reasons, most importantly because it is the focal point for politics in the city. It also is the home of the National Bank of Argentina and the cathedral. Many civic demonstrations occur there too. One of the most famous demonstrations is that of the grandmothers at Plaza de Mayo, who, to this day, have a peaceful march around the Plaza every Thursday. This march is in memory of all the disappeared persons of the Dirty War (la Guerra Sucia) that occurred in the 70’s, the result of a military coup that put Argentina under the dictatorial rule of Jorge Videla. The other was Plaza San Martín, an area characterized more by its many lawns and palm trees for afternoon lounging than historical landmarks. It is dedicated to José San Martín, an Argentine general and significant figure in the country’s struggle for independence from Spain.

Wednesday night we celebrated our friend Mike’s 20^th birthday. We went to one of our favorite bars, The Spot. It was hip-hop music night. Enough said.