Master'In Buenos Aires

Time flyes

2011-05-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

I have been terrible on keeping this blog going! I have probably lost some of the few people that were reading this...but, I'm still here.
Time, life, days have flown away soo quickly. I cannot believe that I have been here for 3 months already! So many amazing things have happened during this time. And all I can say is that I have been able to see God's fingerprint everywhere around.

What have I been up to lately? Habitat, school and English classes! Yep, I'm teaching ESL for some extra cash. I truly don't know how people do it here. Life here is more expensive than what I expected. Well, in some areas it is. I have learned that this is the country of "cuotas" and "mensajes de texto". You can buy anything here in monthly payments, even your groceries!!! Yes, if you don't have all the money to buy what you want, you have the option to pay the amount in 3, 6, 8 or 12 months. I was very surprised to know that option was also available for your groceries, as in my head you buy your food with the money you have. This is the reason why Argentinians never own anything and are so into debt. They always worry for all the things that they have to pay at the end of the month, however, they continue to purchase more. As for the texting, that's the life here. Cellphone calls are very expensive so people text rather than call. I actually love it as you can save so much money that way!!! I have to say though, that I MISS my triple days of Tigo!!!

Things are good and I have some things I love from here:
- good wine on a cheap price
- medias lunas with dulce de leche
- having so many options of things to do and a lot of them are for FREE
- the passion of the people and the music
- pizza!
This list is growing as times goes by. I am so enjoying getting to know this city!

Sorry for not posting too many pictures. I promise I'll make a better job soon!

I'm back!

2011-04-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

.....aaaand I'm back!

Sorry to have been out of touch in the last couple of weeks, but I'm back with a small update!

As you can see I have a good "back to school" image to the right. Well, it is because I am back to school! Yep, I finally started my classes for the master's degree at the University of Salvador in Buenos Aires. The name of the University has nothing to do with my beloved country but at least everyone knows about it when I introduce myself.

Things are going really well at Habitat also. I've been enjoying every single day there and have learned a lot. There is a lot to do and days are never the same there. At least for the Fundraising team, which I am proud to be part of. The other 4 women I work with are amazingly beautiful inside and out! I am currently working on 3 grant proposals due this week, so keep us in your prayers as we can benefit a lot from them.
I am also happy to announce that Habitat Argentina just won US$ 10,000 on a contest held by Changemakers.com (http://www.changemakers.com/node/96796). The project in where the funding will be invested is in Recycling urban homes for families that cannot rent/purchase a home by their own...thank you to those who voted for us!!!

To finish this post, I just want to share a couple of pictures of the amazing volunteers I work with... They are a blessing to my life!

Nenna, Sarah, Dani, Lolo, Megan & Junior

Las chicas

Mi Chucho (my dog)...

2011-04-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

During my years in Guatemala, there was someone who was always right next to me. All those days when I felt lonely and missing my family because they were away; he was there.
Walking on the streets of Buenos Aires, I get to see so many black labs (too many probably). And each time I see one, I just miss my Don Akira.... So, today, I just wanted to see him again so I decided to share some pics of him...

So happy with his toy...

...aaand yes, that's how he sleeps

those of you who know him, will understand this "yes/no" picture...

I truly miss those eyes

So if you're ever in Guatemala, please stop by my parents place and go play with him for a little while. Also, make sure to give him a hug from his mamma...

Placido Domingo in BA

2011-03-25T07:15:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share the link to a video of last night's concert of the tenor Placido Domingo in Buenos Aires. He gave a free concert on the widest avenue of the world, the famous Avenida 9 de Julio, right were the Obelisco is.

Some of the volunteers of Habitat and I were able to go as it was FREE. There were 125,000 people at the place!!! It was amazing and one of the best experiences ever!

Enjoy...

Prayers Welcome!

2011-03-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how many of you are following this blog but for those of you who are, I have a little request...

I can't get into details but, I just want to ask for your prayers for my family (parents, brother, don Akira and me). There is a specific situation that we as a family are going through and we need God's help and provision. I am sure He will never-ever leave us and is already taking care of everything, but the more people joining us the better!

So, next time you are with God, please remind Him of our need. I would truly appreciate it if you do =).

~ I am basing this request on the Scripture in Mathew 18:19:

"Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven".

God be glorify!

Caminito

2011-03-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I finally visited the famous place of "CAMINITO" in the barrio La Boca. I have been in Buenos Aires 3 times before but I never went to visit the area.

You have probably heard about the famous Boca Junior soccer team where Maradona used to play. Well, the team is from this barrio known today as "la republica popular de la Boca" . Caminito is an area of the barrio that was turned into a street museum.

The area was a residential center of immigrants from the Italian city of Genoa. It was a poor area that was neglected by the rest of the city of Buenos Aires to the point that became a dump. An Argentine artist Benito Quinquela Martin, who lived near by, painstakingly prepared the walls facing the abandoned street, applying bright colors. He was a personal friend of the Argentine tango composer Juan de Dios Filiberto and decided to name the place after Filiberto's tango song Caminito. The place is just a few blocks (3-4), but it has a lot of energy. It is visited by tourists and locals specially during the weekends.

Hugo and I sat down in one of the simple but fun restaurants and ate a choripan (a chorizo between 2 loaves of bread) with a local beer while watching tango dancers and tourists go by. It was a great day. Here are some pics for you to check out the place...

CUIDADO con la comida!!!

2011-03-10T13:47:00.001-08:00

Nunca habia estado en algo como esto!

Este es el video de la celebracion de la aprobacion del examen de fin de carrera de Medicina de mi hermano. Aqui en Argentina los amigos y familia lo esperan a uno fuera de la facultad con huevos, harina, agua, cerverza, mostaza, hierba mate, pintura y cualquier otra cosa que puedan encontrar y tirarsela a los estudiantes que egresan.

TaNgO

2011-03-08T14:43:00.001-08:00

Some tango for you all. This is the kind of thing you see on a Sat afternoon at the park close to home. Isn't that amazing.
(sorry for the backround noise)

Enjoy!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.7

2011-03-03T10:37:00.000-08:00

Met my friends from Habitat for Humanity today! The office is about 1 hour subway/bus away from where I live (due to morning traffic) -outside of the Buenos Aires City Limits. It is a nice place with very interesting people.

To my surprise, I won't be the only international volunteer there. People from around the world will also be starting volunteering at their office. I'll be working with peps from: Brazil, France, Holland, New Zeland, Korea, Canada and of course Argentina. Can you imagine all those nationalities meeting in one place?!?! A little change for what I was used to but I love it!

For those who doesn't know, I'll be part of the Fundraising Team. I'll be working on Grant Proposals that we will be presenting later this year. The office has a lot of needs here and this grants will be to help the projects Habitat wants to start with families in Argentina.

If you want to learn more about them, check their web site:

http://www.hpha.org.ar/

--

~ I want to take a moment and thank all of those amazing giving hearts that helped me! You made this opportunity happen for me and I am so very thankful. May God bless you abundantly! ~

PS. If you would like to contribute to my support in this work, please contact me at damarogo@gmail.com

What a weekend!

2011-02-28T17:07:00.000-08:00

So, this past weekend had a little bit of everything...including HARD WORK!

Friday, we (Hugo & I) packed our things to get ready to move into our new place. I did not have many things to pack since I just arrived and had most of my very few things still in my bags....but my brother?!?!?! oh Lord, he has boxes and boxes of books. All those books, photocopies, notebooks and whatnot that he used in the last 7 years of school. He is about to graduate as a doctor but still needs to pass the final exam to obtain his licence in the country which is why he needs all those boxes to study from...well, study from the books not the boxes...

We were going to move in on Saturday but the owners of the new place did not have it ready. However, we knew the move had to be done this weekend as it was the end of the month and told them to let us know when it was ready....sooo, we decided to laid back and enjoyed the beautiful day outside. First, we went to the park and sat down under the sun while reading. Sorry I don't have pictures for that.

Later we decided to walk to a more touristy area in the city: Palermo Viejo or Palermo Soho. This is an area visited a lot by tourists and locals to go shopping, drinking or to eat at one of the nice restaurants (it kind of took me back into Antigua to be honest); but during daytime on Saturdays and Sundays, there are hundreds of designers wanting to be known that come to Plaza Serrano and sell their products. Great products!... Bars and restaurants turn into clothing shops. It is soooo nice! While women (and some men too) are shopping, the guys just sit down and drink a cold local beer and watch people go by. Famous people often visit this place as it has become "the area to be seeing". Unfortunately, I did not see anyone famous person, but I truly enjoyed the walk. It has energy. Hundreds of cultures all around the globe meet in these few blocks.

"Casa Chic"

Then Sunday! oh dear Sunday! We got a call from our new landlord telling us that the apartment was finally "ready". We had to find a moving truck that same morning which we did. However, it wasn't going to be available until 7:30 pm....
~ I'll make a pause on the story here to tell you why all this is crazy. You'll see, my brother was living in one of the main streets of Buenos Aires, Avenida Santa Fe. Because of the traffic, you can only move in/out of your place on weekends so the truck can park at the entrance of the building and not cause more traffic ~

Before we cleaned

...Fortunately, our moving truck guy called to let us know he was going to be able to help us earlier...At 6:30 pm we started to the load the truck, 7:00 we were unloading the truck at the new place, 7:30 we started to take the things from the entrance of the building to our apartment in the 9th floor...oh, did I mention the elevators here have an area of 1 square meter??!! (we had to make several trips);... 8:15 we had our things in our place but we noticed that it was dirty. In fact, it seems like whoever was living here before did not even bother cleaning at all. So, we ran to the groceries store, got a bunch of cleaning stuffs and started cleaning the bathroom and kitchenette around 8:45.... it took us 6 hours to clean that place and organized it, but boy we left it CLEAN. I think my brother kind of felt he needed to leave the bathroom like an OR!...lol

We now have just a few boxes with things left by the previous tenants that we found as we cleaned...oh! and a lot of garbage bags that we cannot take outside as the Garbage Collectors went on a strike. Yep! the city Major announced this morning that there will be no one collecting the garbage for a few days until they solve this situation. No one is allowed to take the garbage outside as there are chances of rain.- Ha-ha!

=)

PS. Pics of the "after we cleaned" coming later.

2011-02-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

According to the Wikipedia, a culture is "The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group".

I remember doing a research about the hole concept of cultre last year for my thesis. I was working on the Mayan culture then... Now, I'm working on a ~~slightly~~ different culture now:

After days trying to absorb as much as I can and learn the attitudes, values, goals and practices that are common in this place; I have to mention a few that are interesting for me:

1. There is a new hole routine for me: getting up late - eatting a late breakfast and lunch - dinner around 10pm - going to bed after midnight - which takes you back to getting up late. The hole concept of early mornings is changing for me. Early mornings is now: getting up around 9am!

2. skin, skin, skin! People don't mind showing some skin here. Mini, and I repeat, Mini shorts, skirts, dresses and tank tops are a MUST for this hot-summer weather (December-March). Coming from a country that is like being at the beach 24/7, I am used to jeans and warm weather; but here, they give you the "you are such a weirdo" look if you wear them when it's hot. The good side of this...I can wear those cute dresses I got at my fave place in Antigua Guatemala: The PACA!

3. Hot, strong and small! Yep, this is how you take coffee here. It is an injection of pure caffeine that can keep you awake until late hours at night. Oh wait!....late hours at night?... I'm starting to understand where that concept is from.

4. Food shopping/great vegetables & fruits- all for very inexpensive prices era is gone! Another concept to change in my mind: "what's cheap for me might not be cheap for you".. Oh boy, how do I miss the mercados in Guatemala where I could go buy a fresh tomato for US$0.15, or a delicious pinaple for US$1.00. Those times are gone! Life in Buenos Aires is more expensive than I thought and agricultural products are not always the best. I still need to dig-in a little more but so far, I truly miss my "mercado de la Antigua". However, it is a must to mention my number 5...

5. CARNE! oh yep, the beef...good, good and good. Not as cheap as it used to be a couple of years ago, but it's still pretty good. If you ever get the chance to visit Argentina, a "MUST-DO" is to eat an asado. You will never regret it. Trust me on that one!

The life of a porteño...

2011-02-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hello there!

I have been hesitant in writing or not this blog. But, I realized that I do not want to forget about this HUGE blessing that God has given me. I want to remember all of it and especially, be able to go back in time and remember God’s mercy and love. There is a looong story on why this means so much to me, but in a few words: God gives second chances to all of us when we let Him guide us. Oh His Love is UNIQUE!

I’m writing this blog from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I moved here this past week so I can get into a grad-program in Non-Profit Management at a local University. After years working with NGOs and seeing how real love, care and opportunities can do in people’s lives; I want to learn everything I can to help improve lives in developing countries.

~BA (Buenos Aires)

What an amazing city this is! I have had the blessing to visit it before as my brother lives here. Every time I come, I get blown away by the culture.

These few days have been very tranquil; just getting familiarized with the people, streets and culture of the place. I have been walking everywhere and trying to absorb as much as I can. In a way, I just want to relax and take one step at a time, but in another way, I just want to get going and feel like “home”.

Yesterday, Hugo (my brother) and I, went to a tango show. The municipality of Buenos Aires created a tango show that has traveled all around the world. They performed the show yesterday evening as the closure of the BA summer activities…. What can I say other than B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L? We were sitting right on the Avenida 9 de Julio, under the Obelisco monument, listening to this romantic music and seeing amazing dancers move to the sound of every-single-note…It was stunning!

Grab a glass of red wine, close your eyes and listen to this:

Por Una Cabeza - Andrés Calamaro

PS~ why am I writing in English when my first language is Spanish? Well, I believe the majority of my readers will be English speakers. But, do not worry….el español aparecera frecuentemente por aqui!!!

Padres mios: Los extrañamos pero los amamos!!!