culture shock???!!!

Obviously culture shock is part of my Argentina adventure. Due to the zillion culture shocks I experience in the past, this time I think I can handle them better. I knew nothing about this country before I came here. As I have said to several people, if I hadnt gone to the States, I wouldve thought of going to this part of the world. So, I guess I came without many expectations and precautions either...

I was surprised to see how homogeneous this country is. Yeah, mainly European decendants and I hardly meet Asians or other ethnicities. I met two or three muslims, just because we're so obvious, but that was it. Barrio Chino, or Chinatown here is not a town! It only consists of 3 blocks of streets of restaurants and a couple of tiny Asian markets. And there arent that many people speaking Chinese. Very different if you go to NYC's Chinatown where you kinda only here "ni hao ma" as you make your way around the town.

There are many what I would prolly call culture shock after being here for almost 2 months--cant believe how fast the clock is ticking...

- well, the tiny barrio chino/chinatown that serves you meals without the rice!!! they serve like, ma-po tofu with bread instead!
- sending a letter through the post office can take you forever... I dont know how the system works here, but they sure make you wait for at least half an hour...
- although the weather is nice outside that you'd think that it's spring, people will still wear thick jackets and scarfs... because it's still winter!
- the subway closes before 11pm! how could they do such a thing???
- it's better to smoke in the class than eating a sandiwch during lecture!

I cant really think clearly right now, since I have a stuffed nose (again...). I shouldve listened to the Argetines about "wear warmer clothes next time!"
I need to start reading this Historia contemporánea de América Latina...

Where the heck is my bag???!!!

Today is Tuesday, August 16 2005… a month after my first day in Buenos Aires. I had my Spanish class as usual. The weather wasn’t that cold and UBA was still on strike…

After my Spanish class, with Erin and Elise, I went to UBA for our 5pm class. But since it was still quite early, we decided to tomar un cafecito. So we went into a café across UBA called Afeirte, or something like this. I ordered cheese sandwich and we all chit-chat like we also do. Sarah came to join us later…

As we were about to pay the bill, I think it was 4.30pm, I looked for my bag on the floor and MY BAG WAS GONE! Aaaaaaaaaa…. Where the heck is it? I was quite panicked trying to convince myself that it was just a dream. BUT IT WASN’T A DREAM!!! I said to myself that I had it with me when we entered the café. The waitress was “so nice” that she only said to me that “never in Buenos Aires put a bag on the floor… now you know what happens if you do so.” HAH??!! Thanks a lot!

I tried to calm myself down. Surprisingly I didn’t cry or go crazy… I went to a locutorio (a telephone café) and called Mario. I don’t know if he was trying to calm me down or what, but he told me that it happens often in Buenos Aires---people steal your bag, no matter how heavy it is and where you war L
So I went home worrying what my host mum would say. She was mad at all and we both went to a shop where they make keys (coz I had the keys in my bag!!!) and got it fixed an hour later.

As I was about to call my parents from the locutorio, I checked the voicemail and someone called saying that my stuff was found!!! Thanks GOD! I went to a locutorio mentioned, which apparently a couple of blocks away from UBA and found 80% of my belongings, minus the bag and money… Pheeww…

From then on, I never put my things on the floor and became a bit prejudice against people. I was a bit paranoid for awhile when I’m in the public place…

- BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU’RE IN A RESTAURANT
- NEVER PUT YOUR BELONGINGS ON THE FLOOR
- BE CRAEFUL WITH BEGGARS, NO MATTER HOW CUTE THEIR KIDS ARE

17agustustahun45

Two days ago was Indonesian Independence day, 60 tahun Indonesia merdeka! Since I left Indonesia, I never actually went to a celebration at the embassy. I don’t remember why I didn’t go to NYC last year… So this year, I decided that I should go to Embajada.
I had a class at UCA in the morning, and I came 10 min late, coz I didn’t predict the traffic was going to be bad L anyways, the class turned out to be boring dull… I think I’m going to drop the class, since I know that I can take better soc psyc class at Wesleyan. So I left after the first half and went to Paseo Colon to take 152. I didn’t know which bus to take from Puerto Madero, coz 1) I don’t have my Guía T, 2) even though I had it, I wouldn’t know where the stops are… That’s how complicated the bus system can be in Buenos Aires.
So, I went to Retiro station and took a train from Belgrano to Saldilas (saldila… something like this). Once I got out of the train, I had no idea where to go, since it’s was surrounded by factories and railways. Thanks to a nice police officer (I like how there are many police officers around the city…), I arrived safely at the embajada.
It was quite obvious that people stared at me… Not only that because I was late, but I think I have a different appearance :p hahahha… So, I met with bunch of ibu-ibu, whose names I don’t remember, except Ibu Ida who kept on saying that I should stay over at her place… hehhehe…
This is the first time I felt very welcome at my own country’s embassy. I have had bunch of bitter experiences with the Indonesian embassies, but this one here… The people are nice and they welcomed me well. :) I met 2 Tia (s), Mexind (the consejero’s son who was born in Mexico… Mexind—mexico and Indonesia!!!), Rudy (this guy who works there… ) and bunch of other people. The food was great, although it would have been better if it was warm :p but nothing is better that Indonesian food!!!
I’m happy that this year’s 17an went well and I appreciate the friendships that I made at the embajada. J I now know that I’m not alone in BsAs and I hope with the presents of Indonesians, I don’t think too much of Mas Yogi. I miss him, but I know that he’s doing great in Indonesia and TRUST is the key… :)

my first week taking classes in Spanish in Buenos Aires...

I have
· Psicología de la Religión (USAL)
· Psicología Educacional (UCA)
· Psicología Social (UCA)
· Economía de educación (UBA FyL)
· Educación no formal (UBA FyL)
· Sociología de la Educación (UBA CS)
· Historia de la clase obrera y el movimiento obrero argentina 1878-2002 (UBA CS)
· Historia Social Latinoamérica (UBA CS)
on my class shopping list. These are actually less than what I told Cecilia, my COPA tutor since she expected me to have about 10 classes… (>_<)

So, on Thursday August 4, 2005 I started my first class-Psicología de la Religión at Universidad de Salvador, located on Avenida Marcelo T. Alvear. I wasn’t sure if Alex Dupuy would approve this class since it has no relation at all with sociology and I wasn’t sure how to justify my decision. But I decided to try it anyway.

The class was full of girls grouped in different parts of the classroom… yeah, quite an awkward situation. The class was supposed to begin at 11.15am, but the professor didn’t show up until after 11.30am. Despite his lateness (is this English word?), he was a funny professor and he wasn’t that hard to understand. He speaks English quite well hearing from the way he pronounced things. It was hard to judge if I’d like this class coz we didn’t do much and I haven’t read the readings yet… I guess I have to try it again next week.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 I went to UBA FyL at Puan for my Educación no Formal class. The first time I went to UBA, I was shocked! It wasn’t like a university building… Full of posters and propagandas against Bush, Kirchner’s government, capitalism, you name it… The condition of the class was quite sad… some of the chairs don’t have tables attached it to anymore, the fans are not working properly. MMmmm… and people smoke in class!!!

The class began at 18.00 and supposedly it ends at 23.00… yeah, a 4 hour class! I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the first class L The class was quite full of students, some with cigarettes on their hands of course. After a quick introduction of ourselves, we were told to do something. I didn’t understand the instructions…! The class went REALLY SLOW… I kept on looking at my watch and was trying to stay awake and look interested. I got a pretty bad headache, partly because I couldn’t understand 70% of the Spanish. HOW COME SPANISH IS SO HARD? When the class ended, I talked to the professors and I told them that I wasn’t sure if I could keep up with the class. They told me that the class would be a good experience for me especially because I’m interested in education and this class contains many field works. So they encouraged me to try again next week… Aaaaaaaaa.. what to do???

The next day, I went back to UBA FyL again for a class called Economía de la Educación. I went there and saw no classroom no, only a pencil handwriting saying 5th floor. Right, what does that mean???!! So I went to the 5th floor and found about 20 different classrooms. “Ok, there might be a paper with the course name on one of these doors.” So I went around and around and around… It was 5pm and I still couldn’t find the class.
So I went to the staff room and asked for some information. No one knew… they told me that the professor didn’t give any information on where she wanted to have the class in. HAH??!!! Now what???!!! I said to myself that if I couldn’t find it in the next 10 min, I probably should just go home…

I went upstairs again and asked a lady for the professor’s room. Thank God she knew where this professor’s office is. I got there and saw the professor. Apparently, she’s planning to have the class in her office!!! Ghee, how hard is it to write it on the notice board like everyone else??!!

We started around 5.30ish and there were about 8 people in the class. The class turned out to be quite boring and I was quite clueless, not only because I didn’t understand the Spanish, but also because I had no clue about most of the economic terms they used. I should’ve taken ECON 110, OR AT LEAST 101 at Wes… Aaaaaaa… nothing is right so far!!! Besides, I think this class is going to be quite hard for me. Although some of the readings are going to be in English, there is quite a lot work to do, plus the small number of people in the class is quite intimidating. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!!

Nothing is quite right so far. Early that morning I was at UCA taking Soc. Psyc. Going to UCA after being at UBA the day before is like going from a village to a capital. UCA is such a nice university—air conditioned, clean, neat, comfortable lecture halls… J sweeeeeeeeeeeettt….

There were 3 professors in the soc psyc class. The first hour, a young professor gave a lecture on… I don’t remember anymore L I only wrote about two sentences and didn’t catch most of the things she said. Aaaaaaaaaa…. SO TOUGH! During break, some of the girls in the class came up to talk to me and explained to me about the lecture. How nice J I believe that I made friends in class better than my past experience in my other 3 classes. After 20 break, we were back in class and had práctico, which is like a discussion and exercise session. We had to do some experiment which until now I still don’t understand the purpose. The class turned out to be quite absurd, even the Argentines said so. They told me that the professors aren’t that good and I shouldn’t waste my time in that class. I mean, I have to agree with them. The professors were talking, more of gossiping, while we did our experiments and seemed to be quite reluctant L

Friday ended… my first week of class shopping ended as well and I have no class, not even one class that I really enjoy! Aaaaaaaaaaaa… I miss Wesleyan! I realized how much I like to be at Wesleyan… (>_<) next week I have a couple of more UBA classes to take, but this time they are in UBA Ciencias Sociales building, closer to my house. God, please help me find classes…

One of the most unorganized orientations ever...

Sunday, July 17, 2005 the orientation of COPA program officially started. I had my Spanish exam—written in the morning and oral in the evening. I wasn’t sure about the written exam because I didn’t quite understand the readings L I was quite panicked, especially when I saw everyone else was writing their essays pretty fast… OH NO!!! The oral exam also was quite weird since Diego, the professor, seemed not to pay much attention to what I say… OMG, I think I’m going to be placed in some crappy Spanish class during the orientation later…

The next day, we left for the orientation in Tafi de Valle, Tucumán. We go there around noon and took micros to the hotels. One the way, our micro broke down!!! Something went wrong with the engine that we had to stop for a couple of times L the trip seemed to be forever… The view to Tafi was nice, just like the view on the way to Yogyakarta.
We finally got to the hotel, and obviously we’re very late. I got myself settled in a room of 4 with Leila, Ana and Alison.

ORIENTATION BEGUN…
Mario had a small speech on the rules of the orientation and the concept of no speaking in English. It’s funny how everyone started speaking in Spanish after the gathering. BUT it only lasted for 30 minutes the most L I made friends with a couple of people, like Elise from Wisconsin and Fumiko, a jap girl from west coast.

Everyday we pretty much have a fixed schedule:
8.00-9.00: breakfast
9.00-11.00: Spanish class
11.00-12.00: Realidad Argentina, which later turned out to be a 101 history of Argentina class!
12.00-18.00: do-whatever-you-want activities… Mainly there were some hiking excursions, which were quite challenging.
18.00-19.00: Meet your tutor to discuss about your study plan
19.00-20.00: Chit-chat with Mario
20.00-22.00: dinner
22.00-8.00 the next day: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz…

The schedule doesn’t seem to bad, right? BUT, people at COPA doesn’t know how to organize things sometimes.
For the activities before and after hiking excursions, we were put in a school located 5 min away from the hotel. It’s like a school in village, so there were only minimum facilities… but I didn’t expect that we’d be studying in a school without heating system!!! OMG, it was freezing COLD!!! The kids in that school didn’t go to school during winter because it’s to cold for them to study… but look what we’re doing---using their school to study in winter!!! Ghee, how on earth can you study in the middle of cold weather with only a small electric heater just enough to warm 3 people who’re sitting right next to it, while there were 10 other students freezing to death???!!!

The food in the hotel was ok… We got the same breakfast everyday—medialunas, dulce de leche, cheese, ham, tea or coffee, fruit salad. It was quite an elaborate breakfast, but after 3 days, I got tired of it. For dinner, I tasted one of the weird meals called locro. I don’t know how many people actually finished their locro, but it was quite horrible. My host mum told me that it was supposed to be good, so I guess I was in a wrong place L

During the orientation, we had to start thinking of the classes we wanted to take while we’re here. One of the reasons I chose COPA was because of the elaborate choice of courses they offer. We’re able to take classes from 4 different universities: UBA, UCA, USAL, and di Tella. Since the first day of group meeting with the tutors, we were told to start preparing the list containing min of 10 courses that we’d like to try… (min 10 classes???!!!).

At the hotel, there were some handbooks of courses from the universities. OMG, they were so insufficient… Since the beginning, I wasn’t that interested in di Tella due to the courses that are mainly economics and international politics, so that narrowed down my choices. I looked at USAL first, since it has a soc dept. MMmm.. the courses seem to be quite uninteresting. UCA doesn’t have a soc dept, and I’m not interested in taking political science (I think the bad experience I had in my government class at Wesleyan discouraged me from taking a class related to government and politics…). But UCA’s psychology dept seems to be quite interesting. So, I ended up with UBA… I was quite satisfied with the list of courses. UBA Ciencias Sociales offers variety of courses that seemed interesting and I was quite sure that I could get credits for my major.

BUT… There were not enough descriptions of the courses for us to create a good list, especially in relation to UBA classes. I bet COPA has done this kind of course selection process for million times, so why can’t they be more prepared???!!! There were no course schedule yet available during the Tafi’s orientation and the course description looks so old and unconvincing. It was quite frustrating having to deal with the process. I’m imagining that the class shopping period will be HECTIC and STRESSFUL!!!

After about 5 days in Tafi, we left for Cafayate and Salta. We took buses and stopped a couple of times on the way. OMG, lunches during the bus trip was AWFUL! On the way to Cafayate, we stopped to have lunch at a mountain-looking area. One of the COPA people handed out boiled egg and a roll of bread… I didn’t know what to do with them—Was I supposed to make an egg sandwich on my own??? Then, some people showed up with lettuce and cheese. Some walked away with milanesa (flat-breaded meat). I then realized that you’re supposed to assemble your own sandwich… BUT first you have to locate the people who’re handing out the “pieces of the sandwich puzzle” L So people were walking with their bread from one place to another trying to find lettuce, mayonnaise, etc! Aaaaaaaa…. It was horrible!
The next day lunch in Salta was also the same… Instead of boiled egg, we were given a piece of chicken leg (along with the bone!) and a roll of bread! Aaaaaaaaaaaa…. Why couldn’t COPA make sandwiches??? Or how hard does it get to book a restaurant that we’d pass on the way? L

Cafayate was kind of a weird destination. I wasn’t quite sure why we even went there, since we got there in the evening and had dinner in a small town that only has a couple of tiny hotels and restaurants. Anyway, the hotel we stayed in was pretty bad coz the AC doesn’t have the cover on it and the shower was tiny L not to mention the breakfast that was worst than Tafi’s hotel. There I realized how good the Tafi’s breakfast was. Oh ya, the dinner was weird… It said it was a parilla which is a steak house. But instead of serving steak to every guess in the restaurant, only 50% of the people in each table got steak, the rest got pasta!!! Ghee, that was so sad… I don’t know if it was because they ran out of steak or COPA didn’t pay enough for them to serve everyone a chunk of steak L this orientation is not that great… I can’t wait to go back to Buenos Aires, although I don’t know if my life would be much…much… better than this. At least, I don’t know to live of my suitcase that’s now full of dirt clothes.

The morning we went to Salta something quite ridiculous happened. One of the boys in our group was missing and nowhere to be found after an hour or so searched. Cafayate isn’t a big city, but I believe no one was familiar enough with the city to know where to look for this guy, named AW. Mario, the program director, asked everyone to gather around and told us that in Salta later no one is allowed to go out from their hotel after 10pm. Some people who saw AW said that the last time they saw him was in a bar near the hotel. As we were about to depart to Salta, Mario found him in the jail…! Apparently he was so drunk that when he was asked to go out of the club, he was yelling and banging the door of the club that the club owner had to call the police! OMG, why can’t some people wait till they get to Buenos Aires to get drunk and go crazy???!!! Salta was quite nice, but I think because I was quite exhausted and I was beginning to miss Mas Yogi a lot, I didn’t enjoy myself as much as I should’ve. We flew back to Buenos Aires on Monday, July 25, 2005.

The hectic orientation is not yet done… To be continued…