Since we had finished all of the Pesach cakes in the last couple of days, there wasn't much to eat for breakfast this morning, and I only had a 100 peso bill, so of course, I had to find some way to break it. I figured the kosher supermarket would have something, so I walked to one of the supermarkets here in Belgrano to buy some chocolate covered matzah. Let's just say that I had no trouble breaking my 100 pesos there- passover food in Buenos Aires is outrageously expensive. Of course, when I went to the fruit store to buy some bananas afterward, they wouldn't even take a 50 peso bill, so I had to find more fruit that I didn't really want to get the coveted change. I thought of that Seinfeld episode where George had to buy all of this stuff at a street vendor (stuff only Kramer wanted) in order to break his 100 dollar bill (see the Dinner Party episode).
Anyway, the 2 sedarim were vastly different from the seder that I have with my real family. The disparity b/w the 2 here was enormous. The first was very quiet and small, whose hosts are baalei tshuvah (Jews who used to not be very religious). As a result, there was very little singing and no discussion as well. My friend Yael and I ended up teaching our hosts some of the songs that we sing with our families during our sedarim.
The 2nd seder with my host family was the complete opposite- very loud, all over the place, a complete quilombo. People were running around, throwing wine corks at each other. It reminded me of the contrast b/w the 2 families in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where you had the small, quiet, Americans, and the loud, big, fun-loving Greeks.
Although I was a bit disappointed in the lack of singing and discussion during the 2 seders, I realized how nice it was being able to have a seder and relive the Passover experience in a foreign country, with people from Argentina. No matter where you are, you can forge this bond where you can celebrate with people that you barely know, in an unfamiliar country. Add to that that the seders were in Spanish, so that was great. My chabad family was so impressed with my Spanish reading skills that I was rewarded an extra paragraph to read. Despite the fact that I missed my family, I felt very comfortable and really enjoyed myself..
On the way back from shul/synagogue one night, we were walking back with a family, and this ten year old girl came up to me and asked where I was from. When I told her the United States, she started freaking out, unable to contain her excitement, telling me that she would love to go to NYC. I felt like a celebrity When I asked her why she loved the US so much, she didn't really have a response. I find here that especially for people who have never been to the US, it remains a fantasy land, one that is near perfect, where it's beautiful everywhere and everyone is happy. Maybe a lot of it could have been that the girl was ten. It goes to show that one really needs to see a place first hand to understand it and be able to contest it's stereotypes.
Yesterday, I had off from school because of Easter. I met up with some people from my program, and we went to the Malba Latin American Art Musuem. Following that, we saw the animated movie Rio in Spanish- it never gets old seeing Disney movies.
Going to the Buenos Aires book fair today and then staying in Once for the weekend.
Ciao
Happy holidays
ariel
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