Assimilating

assimilate |əˈsiməˌlāt|verb [ trans. ]1 take in (information, ideas, or culture) and understand fully : Marie tried to assimilate the week's events.• (usu. be assimilated) absorb and integrate (people, ideas, or culture) into a wider society or culture :
From fun to awkward, gross to satisfying, I've never been one to shy away from the opportunity at experiencing a foreign customary practice. Luckily so far, nothing I've encountered in Argentina has made me feel squeamish. Quick recall: guinea pig and trenches in Ecuador, hard liver on lockdown in Colombia, baths in Morocco, etc. So trying every little thing has been an exciting way to, not only learn about Argentina, but assimilate to my new home.
Catching my eye from the very beginning was the common sight of many people carrying their briefcase, backpack, satchel, thermos while sipping from a cup and straw shoved under their arm. A substitute for the American Starbucks cup, the yerba maté gourd is obviously a popular accessory. I had always heard about maté, but I knew little. Maté is an evergreen species of holly, native to northern Argentina, whose leaves are dried using an open fire which gives it a smoky flavor. In the form of a loose tea, maté is served in a shallow gourd, with a bombilla (straw) that has a filter on the end. Maté does not steep (trust me it's bitter, you wouldn't want the water to sit too long), but instead the gourd is filled with hot water and fully consumed by each person before it is refilled and passed on to the next. Containing something like caffeine, called mateín, the long lasting buzz, minus the crash, is far better than coffee. As you can see above, the gourd isn't very big and yes, everyone uses the same straw so if you're feeling sick please be kind and pass. I'll be happy to treat you all to maté on your upcoming visits!

And as usual, it all comes down to food. Due to the heavy immigration throughout history, Argentina has acquired many Italian customs. One delicious traditional Porteño dish is pizza con faina. Pictured on the left: Faina is a chickpea and wheat flour dough mixed with water, olive oil, salt, and pepper and cooked on a hot iron plate. Served on top of, underneath, or next to a super cheesy, gooey, scrumptious slice of pizza. I'd like to think it's somewhat healthy too!

Luckily for Kristin and I we have a lovely superintendent named Juan. He and his wife have taken care of our apartment for many years and are clearly accustomed to helping out with the foreigners who come and go. Juan has been exceptionally good at answering all of our questions: What's the postal code? Where can we buy fresh pasta? Who makes the best desert in the area? are only a few examples. He's always sure to tell us to watch out for the Argentinian boys, guard your purse with you life and OJO, OJO, OJO! which is his reference to keeping your eyes open and aware at all times. He looks after us but also reminds us each time their is a tradition we are supposed to follow. The first day of spring he showed up at our door with two little potpourri rose bushes because on the first day of spring men give women flowers.

And yesterday he was sure to tell us that on the 29th of every month you are to place money under your dish of gnocci (Another Italian tradition I imagine). If you leave the money there until the plate is cleaned... Good luck with money throughout the upcoming month. It must be a sign because yesterday, I got a job! (details to follow) xo

350: Moving Planet

Saturday, September 24th marked a day of global support for the Moving Planet initiative (check out their website to see a picture of our group) encouraging people worldwide to reduce carbon emissions by taking alternative modes of transportation. We were more than happy to join a few of our new friends for a bike ride (borrowed from BikingBuenosAires) to a small park in a Northern neighborhood where we were greeted by several locals and activists keen on protecting the Earth.

Not exactly sure what we had signed up for, but expecting some cruising through the city on our bikes, we were a bit unprepared. Over dressed, undernourished, and somewhat hung over, we somehow made it through the 4 hour event and actually had a great time. We volunteered our creative talents by helping with banners, painting bicycles on walls and sneaking beer into the plaza for those hardworking tree huggers. The best part was knowing that thousands of others from around the world were congregating for the same reason.

Mateas, the coordinator, planned to follow up with a bike ride to Congress to present a plea on behalf of those who want to make a difference in Buenos Aires. The implementation of several kilometers of bike paths, bike rental stations, and stricter laws made to protect bikers has been an impressive effort by BA's government during the most recent years, but they are still leaps and bounds behind other modern cities around the world. Everyone at the park on Saturday, including myself, would like to see more people out on the trails, eating up less of the world's precious resources, and getting some exercise too!

But the BEST part was this kid who plays Nintendo music from old Gameboys! No joke! Here's a video of one of his songs. (sorry, I can't turn it upright, but just listen. That's the important part) Never have I seen such creativity with a video game. xo

An Urban Version of Open Space

I was spoiled growing up in Colorado. Surrounded by beautiful mountains covered in vegetation and filled with plenty of little creatures exploring their natural environment. City folk can't even begin to imagine what it's like to live within walking distance of a variety of trails, open to the public where you may not see another individual for miles. This weeks lesson for the small town girl in a big city: Take advantage of every nice day by going to a park with the thousands of other people taking advantage of the very nice day! And from there, sit back, relax, and learn to appreciate 'people watching' as opposed to secluded streams and isolated forests.

Here's a sample of our weekend trips to the park for studying, bikes, soccer, maté, and sunshine! These are all taken in Puerto Madero, a 20 minute walk from our place, the newer, richer, 'cleaner' part of the city frequented by locals from other neighborhoods on Saturdays and Sundays.

And because it always seems to come full circle, in the sense that my mind continuously reverts to food, I can tell you about a special treat called the Bondiola. But first, after traversing the thick crowds of shoppers in the San Telmo market, a street market held every Saturday on the historic street of Defensa, we were able to track down the infamous Hot Sauce Boys. Two recent American graduates who similarly found the lack of spice to be a frequent irritant while studying abroad in BA. Their year old YaYa Bean brand has taken a somewhat monopolistic hold on the market for hot sauce and for a very good reason: it's hot, but with a fantastic flavor, giving Cholula a run for its money. Needless to say, our search for spice has come to an end. We

purchased the largest bottle available.

Stumbling across our BikingBA friends on the 'boardwalk' that parallels the Ecological Reserve and is also home to a variety of parrilladas, or Argentine BBQs, we sat down to enjoy this thing they call a bondiola. The perfect compliment to our recent purchase, we loaded our thin pork steak sandwiches with lettuce, carrot salad, onions, chimichurri, and special Parrilla Mi Sueño sauce and gobbled down what has now become one of our favorite meals. The stand lives up to it's name because yes, their sandwiches have become a part of my dreams. Luckily for me I will visit on every South tour I give for work because BikingBA has created a nice relationship with Reuben, the owner. He happens to give free food to cute girls too! How could I be so lucky. xo

Foreign Countries Make Me Fat!

Morocco: 10 pounds, Spain: 20 pounds, Colombia: 15 pounds, Argentina: Give me a few more months, the metabolism is still running on American standards. That's right, the food here is yummy, diverse, and best of all cheap! Therefore, expect to see a little more 'Brett' in the near future because, as usual, I am taking full advantage of the delicious food culture.

It began with several trips to the bakery - conveniently located across the street from my apartment - to try each and every buttery, flaky, cream filled fatura (pastry), croissant, and tart they have to offer. (By the way, the trips will continue as I have yet to try all the pies, cakes, and cookies.) Then after discovering that Kristin, my new roommate, shares with me a love for ice cream, I have moved onto to the finer, creamier things in life offered in usually more than 25 flavors including coconut, banana, pineapple, dulce de leche, and (the hands down favorite for us both) maracuya (passion fruit). It's not only sweets we crave however, which is why we hit up el Barrio Chino (China Town) today.

Exhibit one: a plate of lovely rice noodles with veggies, slathered in a deliciously spicy chili garlic oil. Lunch gave us enough energy to venture into a HUGE chinese food market where we found lots of gross and creepy items but also plenty of the ingredients Kristin needs to cook us a few dishes she learned during her time in Thailand. A return to Barrio Chino will happen!
We may have been inspired to traverse the city in search of delicious Asian food by our dinner experience from last night. It's a long story, but I can make it short... What's the first thing you crave when in a foreign country? HOT SAUCE! We'd hoped that an invitation to an artist/chef's house for a group meal with a bunch of strangers would mean some spicy, open your senses kind of dishes, but no luck. Not to say the Venezuelan food wasn't super tasty (very similar to Colombian), coupled with the awesome hippy type atmosphere, and surrounded by beautiful art filled walls, but we still had a goal: get some spice! Exhibit Two: Venue for Tuesday's dinner
Therefore, our quest for hot sauce continues! Until then, we will continue to enjoy the very inexpensive yet completely satisfying Argentinian wine. ($5-10 dollars inexpensive to be exact)
So...to set the story straight, no I'm not yet a fatty, but am well nourished and enjoying every minute of the new flavors and scents. And to ensure that I don't put on the Argentinian 15, I bought sneakers this afternoon (which are outrageously expensive as Argentina puts a gigantic tax on all imported goods) and will begin the running regimen tomorrow afternoon. That is of course if I can manage to resist the mouth watering aroma of sweetly coated almonds being cooked over an open fire on each street corner. xo

Grandma Taught Me Well

Anyone close to me, probably even those not so close, know about my affection for clothes. More than likely instilled by the multiple hour shopping trips funded by my grandmother from the age of 'before I could remember', I enjoy all types, styles, colors, and prices. So this wont come as a surprise that I didn't leave Durango with only a suitcase and a carry-on (the current restrictions for Continental International travel), I paid for the extra suitcase and commandeered my travel companion's (Emily) large checked luggage. Three, 50 lb. ragged bags, a carry on and one personal item later I'm on my way to the next great adventure!

Two weeks ago I left for Buenos Aires, Argentina to become a student at the Universidad Nacional del General San Martín (UNSAM) to study a post graduate degree in conjunction with Georgetown University. I'll be studying Development Management and Policy, something like International Development: Save the world kind of stuff. But first, I had the chance to live like a tourist for a week with Em.

Leaving her little one at home for the first time, (for which I am ever so grateful!) Emily flew with me to BA and traipsed around the city not only to search for a place to live, acclimate, and protect me, but to offer moral support. A city of 12 million is not a small task to take on and can obviously be intimidating. Thanks to Dad and Emily, the transition to my new home could not have been smoother!

Food, lots of delicious, relatively cheap food to be exact, beer and wine, plenty of cafe's con leche, streets of antique/vintage stores, markets, a couple of museums, a concert by a Paraguayan group and a a four hour brunch with my new landlord later, Emily already had to leave. The week flew by, but as we are extremely productive travelers, I don't think she felt cheated out of a longer trip. We saw EVERYTHING it seems! Not only did I feel completely confident and safe after the first few days, she had the grace (as every true friend does) to leave me in wonderful company.

The day Emily had to fly out we met up with Kristin, a fellow American making her first trip to BA for the masters program. After three days of failed coffee date attempts we finally managed to catch up and I am so glad we did. Right away, I knew we'd be buddies and now she's my roommate!

All said, I am safe, happy, acclimated and comfortable in my new neighborhood. Love the apartment, have found several groups of fun and interesting people to hang with, enjoyed my first day of class, and am confident that the next couple of years are going to teach me more than I had expected. So stay tuned for future posts because even though I'm getting a late start there will be plenty of time to catch up! xo