Dear friends:

In effort to compensate for my lack of communication, this is about to be the most amazing post ever!

Okay, so first you need to click on this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4tF8H9LSJ8 to listen to music while reading...

Got it? This song is like everywhere here. the other day i was walking on a busy street and a school bus of elementary kids were all singing it... happy

I just finished my midterms yesterday. They were challenging, mostly because they were in class essay types (spanish of course). I kind of feel like a 6th grader going to college. But they are done, and I feel good about them, and now I have the next 10 days off school (well sort of)! 10 whole days. ahh so beautiful. I have a very long list of things to do/visit/accomplish/read/eat... which I will be very dilligently sharing with you. Everyday. So get excited.

Classes have turned out to be very interesting. When people ask me what I study here, it's easy. I'm studying Argentina! I'm taking a History and Literature class which goes through all of the notable argentine literature and it's complementary historical context. Perhaps the most well know latin american writer is Sarmiento. he wrote a critical work called Facundo in 1845 and he later became president of beloved Argentina in the 1860s. I'm also taking Argentine Foreign Policy. We spend half the time discussing meat in this class (chilled vs. frozen) and the importance of meat in economic relations with the rest of the world. To me, this is funny but here meat is no laughing business! My last class is just for exchange students and covers Peron (controversal president of the late 40s and 50s). Most of you are familiar with "Don't Cry for Me Argentina"? Well, the musical Evita is about Eva Peron, his wife. Peron created a sort of "Welfare State", semi-fascist, Catholic, anti-american in words, pro-american in most actions. He was a leader of the working class, tight knit with the unions and Eva created a role of social projects including schools, hospitals ect. I'm holding out on a definative opinion about him until the end of the class.

The weather here is starting to cool off. Boots are in the store windows. Leaves are on the ground. But I mean, it's still like 65 degrees outside. Mentioning degrees, let me express my frustration with Celcius. I mean it's just confusing. To me. And same with millitary time. To me. While both methods are easier, they are harder when you're brought up using good old Farenheit and 'civilian' time.

In other news: I officially have a place off campus for next year in DC! My sister is having her baby shower this weekend! Swine Flu has not reached Argentina (which is good, because people here tend to FREAK OUT about things that there is no use freaking out about). My little sister here, Paula, had her 3rd birthday party last weekend... there was a giant inflatable slide= amazing. I found a hotdog joint, 4 pesos, all the toppings you can imagine (including fries on top)!

BBC has made me very angry this week. They did a special series on the Nigerian Police force: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8023067.stm . And let me just say, I am in no way condoning how the Nigerian Police operate. I have been on the other side of one of their AK-47s and trust me it's not a fun place to be. But, in most places in the world it is common knowlegde that the police are not your friends. They merely operate to the advantage of the highest bidder. So, I am up set that BBC chose to highlight Nigerian's incompetencies considering the irony that most of Nigeria's problems can be easliy tied to the imperialistic explotation they recieved for over a hundred years courtesy of the UK. I do not think that this BBC article helped those suffering in Nigeria, it merely made a story and hurt Nigeria's image when it's just trying to find it's identity 40 years after independence. Sorry, that was a little ranty, but honestly am I being completely ridiculously biased? hope not...

see you tomorrow!

my weekend:

so it's confession time...
I have an unhealthy obsession with laundry. Anyday I get to clean clothes, is a good day. In Nigeria, we would pay women to wash our clothes (about 35 cents per item) and everything was handwashed and then hung out to dry. But, given the Sahara-like conditions, the clothes never came back to me looking, smelling or feeling very clean. In my home here, there is a washer (in the kitchen) and after about 40 minutes of scrubadubdub, the clothes are ready to go upstairs to the lines. The smell of line-dried clothes is very marketable (candle company anyone?), but honestly there's just something about letting the wind and sun do the work... So as spring approaches (for most of you at least), instead of throwing that next load in the dryer on a beautiful day (and wasting ton of energy), hang the clothes up in your backyard and soak up the freshness!