The 4 weeks that have passed since returning to Buenos Aires from our Spring Break adventures have absolutely flown by. Truthfully, I look back at the semester and cannot believe how quickly it's gone. When my parents headed home in January, I remember thinking that it seemed it'd be forever until I saw them again. Yet here we are, what seems like moments later, with less than 3 weeks left before heading home and closing out one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had.
That said, there's still a bit of re-capping to be done on this semester's events.
Thus, here begins Part 4 of this semester's catch-up posts:
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The big 2-0
(March 12-14, 2010)
For starters, I have finally left the teenage years behind! I celebrated my 20th birthday in Mar Del Plata, a beautiful beach city about 6 hours south of Buenos Aires. A group of about 20 students took a trip there in order to fulfill our PE 157 (Surfing Class) credit. We spent the entire weekend with a professional surf instructor, attempting to master gnarly surf (thanks to the thunderstorm that rolled in Sunday morning), soaking up one last bit of summer sun before autumn arrived the following week, and all-around enjoying yet another change of scenery from the BA high-rises.
Though it was strange ringing in my 20's without Mom & Dad here to celebrate, I truly could not have felt more covered by birthday love that weekend. Our surfing class celebrated together on Saturday night, and Hannah bought me oodles of medialunas (like croissants but even better) for a special birthday breakfast on Sunday morning. But the celebrations didn't stop there -- Mom & Dad used Send Love BA to send a birthday cake and to Casa Holden, and my homestay parents cooked a special dinner, complete with apple pie, candles, and birthday wishes, to celebrate on Monday night. On top of all that, I got tons of e-cards and Facebook messages from family members, reminding me that despite the thousands of miles between us, I hadn't been forgotten. It's still overwhelming to think about how much love I felt that weekend, and I am so grateful to all of my family and friends, at home and here in Argentina, that made my 20th such an incredible birthday.
Annie's Pet
(March 26, 2010)
Two Fridays ago, Veronica Cache (my professor from last semester's South American literature course) took a group from our program to go read to elementary students at an English-teaching school here in Buenos Aires. I was assigned a class of 8-year-olds and a book called Annie's Pet, the story of a girl's search for the perfect birthday gift to herself: a new puppy. We bussed over to the school and spent about 2 hours with the teachers and students, first reading our stories to them, then telling them about our experiences in America and helping them with follow-up activities that corresponded to our books.
The opportunity to interact with students in the classroom and watch their eagerness to learn (and succeed in) English at such a young age was incredible. Most of them had never interacted with a native English-speaker before, since the great majority of English-speakers in BA, including their teachers, learned English in bilingual schools as well. I spoke as slowly as I could and carefully enunciated my words, and I was so impressed by the way they understood. It was somewhat difficult for them to follow along, as an American-English accent is a rare find in South America since most of the instruction is in British English, but they maintained their enthusiasm and were extremely interactive with our post-book discussion of what kind of pets they would want, how they would care for them, etc.
Our trip to the Santa Maria School opened my eyes so much to not only the blessing it is to be born in an English-speaking country, but to be given the opportunity to learn from native speakers as well. I felt like our chance to help improve their English for an afternoon was just a small way to repay the blessing our immersion in the Argentine culture has been for the past 6 months. As my time abroad comes to a close, I am reminded to soak up every bit of the once-in-a-lifetime experience I've had here.
Needless to say, I learned a lot more from 25 8-year-olds and a children's storybook than I was anticipating!
Felices Pascuas
(April 1-4, 2010)
Celebrating Easter last weekend resulted in some of my favorite memories of the entire semester. We had Thursday and Friday off of class, and while many students chose to use the weekend for a last chance to travel, Hannah and I decided to make our Easter Weekend a "stay-cation" in Buenos Aires. As my homestay mom so often says, sometimes we forget to be tourists in our own city. Thus, Hannah and I created a running list of all the things we probably should've done by now but just haven't gotten around to yet.
We spent the majority of Thursday and Friday exploring the shopping scene of Belgrano (Casa Holden's neighborhood) and a great area called Palermo SoHo, home to tons of up-and-coming designers' stores, neat new restaurants, and other young/artsy locales. We found all sorts of lovely leather goods on sale (thanks to the world-wide economic crisis) and enjoyed being able to experience the city without the stress of classes, due dates, and the crunch-time we so often feel during the weekend.
Then on Saturday, quite rejuvenated from the prior days' retail therapy, we headed to Tierra Santa (literally, "holy ground") with our friends Nathan and Gigi. Tierra Santa is a religiously-themed park that brings a bit of the Holy Land to South America, in a very big way. There's a pavilion that offers Nativity shows (think Epcot meets animatronic wisemen, complete with the Hallelujah Chorus), a giant replication of the Wailing Wall, and life-size depictions of the Stations of the Cross, all presented in a surprisingly authentic, reverent manner. Best of all, though, every 15 minutes, a giant Jesus rises from the grave. We weren't quite sure what to expect regarding anything in the park, but the resurrection was definitely the most-anticipated attraction, as far as we were concerned. Come to find out, in light of Holy Week, there was a special resurrection ceremony right before the park's closing, complete with fireworks and the whole shebang.
I'm not going to act like we didn't initially find the whole idea of a Jesus theme-park absolutely hilarious, but honestly, we ended up really enjoying our experience at Tierra Santa. They hosted mass in the center of the park (ironically, in the Hebrew Temple building), including a candle-light vigil and a sing-along to "This Little Light of Mine"; everyone in the park seemed to be extremely aware of the significance of Easter weekend, and not just due to the chocolate eggs and crisp fall air pervading the city streets. Unexpectedly, our trip to Tierra Santa brought the spirit of Easter to us in a new, unorthodox manner. This new encounter with Easter was brought full-circle through our Sunday experience at the San Benito Parish church. The mass we attended was a beautiful picture of the way Christ's resurrection transcends boundaries of culture, language, and tradition, as a source of hope and redemption for all who hear it. The priest spoke on the erroneous nature of placing our religious focus solely on our faults, our shortcomings, and the desperation of society. While these are obviously an essential part to recognizing our need for salvation, if we dwell upon them, we fail to see the glorious joy that comes from Christ's victory over death!
I am so grateful for the encouragement we encountered through that Easter morning mass. We should be humbled daily by the inadequacies we cannot overcome alone. However, just as importantly, may we never forget to extravagantly rejoice in our Savior's success to satisfy our need for him!
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."
- Romans 5:8-11
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I can't believe I'm home 3 weeks from today! I look forward to seeing all of you so soon.
Love from abroad,
Margaret
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