This past Friday night, my host family hosted the 7th grade class from Shmuel's school for dinner. I was a bit skeptical as to how the night would go, thinking I'd perhaps be really bored. However, once I told the group that I was an American, the questions didn't stop coming. They asked me about Disney World and what type of music I liked. When I told them I had seen Beyonce perform, they proceeded to ask me which other concerts I had been to. They were expecting me to say performers along the lines of Brittney Spears and Miley Cyrus, so they were a bit disappointed when I started naming non-Pop bands that they had never heard of.
None of these kids had ever been to the US, and they had this glamorized vision of it in their minds, all expressing their desire to go to the US. Which made me think to myself, yes, the US is a wonderful country, and it has so much to offer, but does it really warrant all of the hype?
Without seeing how the rest of the world lives, many of us who are so used to our relatively high standard of living would probably say no, especially in light of the recent economic crisis and the extremely difficult financial situations many Americans have recently begun to face. However, in comparison to a poor country such as Argentina, I suppose it could surely deserve the hype. Shmuel just told me that most of his students are of lower-middle class, reflective of a great percentage of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires, especially after the economic crisis that occurred here in 2001. It remains a community in dire need, and while Jewish and non-Jewish communities face poverty in the US, our country remains relatively prosperous. It seems we often take for granted the greatness of the US.
On the other hand, sometimes, people don't seem to get too excited when they hear the US. Last night for example, I went with some friends from my program to a bar featuring live funk/blues music. At some point, I realized it was time to approach and talk to some Argentine girls. Until that point, I had been pretty shy in approaching Argentine girls by myself at bars but I figured I had nothing to lose. So I ended up chatting with a couple cute girls, 22 year old portenas (the word to classify someone from Buenos Aires). They didn't seem to care too much that I was an American, and they didn't have an interest in going there either, cutting off a major chunk of what I was planning to talk about. The conservation wasn't going very far (I can't just pull words out of no where) and after a few minutes, I humbly returned to my API friends, proud I at least gave it a try.
On an even brighter note, the music at the bar was great.
Yesterday, I went to Recoleta, a luxurious, European looking part of town near the center. Every Sunday, one area in the neighborhood hosts a big artisan fair, selling lots of art, jewelery, mate cups, and other things for display- a great way to spend a free day, strolling around the different stalls, which surround a very grassy area featuring different musical performers. From bargaining and chatting with the local vendors and listening to different tunes, it's a great relaxing Argentine experience.
What made it even better was that I had nothing to worry about once I came back home. In Maryland, my Sundays consist of homework, obviously with some football thrown (pun intended) in between. I often have too much work to venture off of campus and go to DC (obviously there's never anything to do in College Park). But here, where the homework is minimal, I can explore and thus learn the city without any worries except for making sure I have coins to take a bus back.
Nope, unfortunately, this semester is not reality in the slightest. More fun and games than work by a vast margin won't be the norm, but it's certainly a pleasure to experience it.
That being said, I am looking forward to working hard both in the summer and the following semester back at Maryland. I have really come to appreciate hard work.
One of the songs performed at the fair yesterday is called Ojala, a famous song which I remember learning about in one of my classes at UMD. Listen a bit
Hasta luego
Ariel
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