Quilmes, Argentina

Today was a day filled with ups and downs. After arriving at school and watching the Argentine flag raised again we met in a classroom on the second floor. After moving all the desks to the side we begin the process of acting. First we moved into a big circle and then clapped “passing down the energy”. After that we did the same thing, but with specific emotions. The emotions were sadness, anger, happiness and fear. After passing down the emotions we made acting “pictures” out of a given prompt. To make the pictures we had to set a scene with our bodies then stand still as we were inspected by the acting coach. Then to wrap it, after we had added a phrase to the four emotions then passed it around, we were given a short script which we had to act out. Midway through the groups preparation; however, the acting coach came around again. When he came back around he gave each of the four actors one of the four emotions: fear, sadness, happiness or anger. Then we had to act it out, which we did masterfully.

Afterwards we got to visit the kids in lower school. There we shared information about our lives and our food with the kids. And they did the same to us. After the meet and greet Paul rallied the children around him and had them chanting whatever he wanted them to.

After the meet and greet we left for La Boca, a colorful harbor acting as the mouth to the rest of Argentina. In La Boca we visited a museum where the third floor was dedicated to the beautiful art by the man called Benito. And the second floor was dedicated to art from other Argentinian artists. After that we had half an hour to shop around in La Boca. However, two people missed the memo and almost missed the bus. In the end they were found, and all was ok. On our way to La Casa Rosada we were met with some bad news. We were not able to tour La Casa Rosada because there was a protest in response to the Brazilian president visiting Argentina. Instead, we drove to Puerto Madero, a fancy area of Buenos Aires that had numerous nice restaurants to choose from for lunch. A large group of boys as well as the teachers chose La Parollaccia. They had various pastas as well as some classic Argentinian options on their menu. The food took a while, but in the end it was very good. Afterwards there was a second disaster where one of the two busses broke down. After having moved all passengers to the remaining bus, it was announced that the bus was fixed, and everyone returned. Everyone then returned to the school and ventured to the houses of their exchange students. After relaxing for a bit, many of the boys went to Santiago’s neighborhood to eat some snacks and play soccer. When everyone was done we went to Parque de la cerveceria. It once was a basketball court but it now is a brewery that doubles as a restaurant. All of the parents were there and we hung out there until around 11. After words everyone went home to get ready for sleep (and some to do their blogs).

We started off the day strong! We were welcomed by the whole school in a morning assembly. Guada and Kaplo said very kind words and we followed up introducing ourselves to the school and thanking them for the warm welcome. After the assembly we had a slang class where we learned the difference between Spain and Argentinian Spanish. We also learned common phrases such as Che (hey), vos (you), and quilombo (mess). After we had a welcome breakfast with tons of goodies! There were alfajores, ham and cheese sandwiches, and so much more. We also played ping pong. After we learned how to tango and we danced with people from Quilmes high…boys and girls…. it was fun! Then we watched our instructors dance traditional and classical tango. After we hopped on the bus and ate at Puerto Madero, which was delicious!

After touring some of the amazing places of Argentina we took a tour in el teatro colón. This may be the most beautiful theatre I and i’m assuming many others have seen. It looks like the inside was painted with gold and the floor we lined with red velvet carpet. In this theatre there were 8 floors; 7 floors for the people and the 8th one for the angels in heaven. It was such a cool experience for most of us to even sit inside of the theatre. After this tour we went back to the school, and many of the girls went to a merienda with each other. This is a new part of their culture that we are all experiencing first hand. This idea of 4 meals is really stretching our stomachs to the fullest. Directly after this snack meal, I (Kat) was so fortunate to go watch a dance inside of the teatro colón. I got to experience the beauty that the theatre produced. This was a dance, but what they say is true; the acoustics were phenomenal. I could feel the music right beside my ear even though I was a couple floors away. This theatre was a great way to bring everyone together. In our row there were people who spoke english (me), spanish (just about everyone else), and Italian (the family beside me). This place served almost as a common ground for people of all languages and backgrounds to meet, and enjoy the arts together. Art is such a universal language and we were all able to understand what was occurring on the stage. This was truly an experience I will never forget and I am so grateful for it.

Evan’s Reflection:

So here I am, it’s been quite a day, long too. I’ve settled down quite nicely in Quilmes. Jet lag doesn’t hit till after I’m home, for me at least, so I’ve got that to look forward to. Talking in only Spanish takes a lot however, so I’m a tad tired from that. It’s been a lot of fun though. I can understand everything, or most, on the first go around, but occasionally I’ll have to ask to hear it again. I’m not sure how others are handling the Spanish, but everyone seems alright. Today started off with a welcome ceremony for us Americans. The assembled students of Quilmes high school raised the flag of Argentina and the flag of the high school itself, like they do every morning (or so I’m told). Then a couple of students came up and gave speeches, one in Spanish and the other in English. Then we were called up and introduced ourselves. A couple of us said some words. We had a class on slang with the Headmaster. (Coincidentally, my blog day last year also covered the French Texting Slang day.) We then had a Welcome breakfast much like the one that Cary Academy puts on. After we had a tango class, and after all that we had lunch in Buenos Aires. I tried Morcilla, blood sausage, as well as Chinchulin, intestines. The intestines were delicious, but the blood sausage was…interesting. (I’ll let you draw conclusions from that.) After all that we walked around the city for a bit. We ventured onto a bridge over a river and saw an old boat. We walked around there for a while, while our guide – Laura – talked to us about the history of the area. We soon came across the Casa Rosada, which is Argentina’s equivalent to the White House, though the president only works there, his residence being outside of the city. We then walked to the adjoining plaza, La plaza de mayo, the principal plaza in the city. We also visited a cathedral. It was absolutely spectacular, though we didn’t spend too much time there. We saw a changing of the guard for the tomb of Argentina and Peru and Chile and Ecuador’s liberator. (All one guy – crazy, I know) After walking about there, the group was briefly separated at a traffic crossing, but we managed to find ourselves again and venture off to the local opera house, which Kat will talk about further (or has already talked about depending on where Mr. Lazarski posts my part). After that we journeyed back to Quilmes High School and to our Argentinian friends. I for one, was pretty tired, and I’d assume others were too. Though tired, I had a good dinner then we sat around and talked about life – no, really. Ceci and her brother taught me some new words, and we talked about the differences between the American political scene and the Argentinian one. I won’t go to in depth on political opinion, but the main topics were taxes and abortion. (Apparently a pro-choice bill is going through the Argentinian congress right now.) Anyway, that’s all for now!

When we got to the school this morning, we started off collecting our group by the stairs leading to the classrooms. We were met there by Fer and Freya and while some people were a little bit late to the party, we left straight from there and went to the nursery, where they had babies from 2 months to 5 years old, all dressed in little baby uniforms. We went into a bunch of the different classrooms within the nursery and saw a bunch of tiny babies and we got to interact with them and play with them a little bit. They were all so cute! With one group, they sang us some of their nursery rhymes and we ant them some of ours, and it was really cool to see how similar they are, just in a different language.

The headmaster of the school, Daniel Pauni, took us off campus and led us a few blocks away to a street named after Mitre, who was the first president of Argentina. There, he showed us the Casa Cultura, which used to be a municipal building. Next to this building is a park called San Martín, which is named after a famous Argentinian general, of whom there is a statue of in the center of the park. There are five statues total in the park, and Mr. Pauni explained the origins behind some of these statues. One of the ones that Mr. Pauni showed us was made by the indigenous people of Quilmes who were massacred by the Spanish. After walking through the park, we went across the street to a Catholic Church, which we had the opportunity of going inside of. After visiting the church, we walked back to the campus.

After returning from the Plaza de San Martín we went to the jardín, our equivalent to kindergarten. While we were inside, the kids all sat in a circle and sang some of the songs they sing in the classroom every day, and then we sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” to them. They loved it! Once the singing ceased we split up into three groups and went into the three different classrooms with the kids while they ate their mid morning snack. We sat down at the table with them and ate alfajores and we’re able to talk to them and interact with them, and while it was hard to understand their tiny Spanish, it was an amazing experience seeing how similar they are to kids back home. They all opened up their snack boxes and I was surprised to find that all they ate for snack were something akin to frosted cookies, alfajores, and other very sugary treats.

After shadowing our students for one of their classes, a class on Excel for most but for the students in quinto, a class on Spanish Literature, we went off campus with our students for lunch. Everyone split off at this point and walked to different restaurants around the area. When we returned, we went to the primary school for their greeting for us.

At the primary school, the children held an assembly for us outside in a courtyard. They gave us a warm welcome and hand-delivered poems about Argentina that they had written. After the assembly, we went indoors, where we played with some of the children. We split into four teams and played a life-size board game with people was the game pieces. The object of the game was to be the first team to reach the last square and along the way, we faced tongue twisters, danced, and sung. After the game was over, we said goodbye to the children and went outside to take a bus to Quilmes High School’s sports fields, which are located by a river and is about a 10-minute drive away from the main campus. There, we joined our exchange students for their PE class, which lasts for two hours on Tuesdays. When we arrived, the Argentinians changed into their PE clothes (skirts for girls and white shirts/pants for the boys). Their sports grounds included a gym, fields for soccer and field hockey, a track drawn in the grass, and tennis courts. We were forced to walk a lap around all the fields and then the girls played dodgeball together while the boys played soccer. After our games, we left with our students before the two hours were up while the rest of the students stayed behind. We then took the bus back to the school early so that we could wait to welcome the other half of the group.

After returning from the sports games (or in my case from a very interesting business class), we waited outside on the sidewalk for the second group of people from Cary for a little while. When the finally arrived, the scene was overtaken by hugs, laughter, and happiness. It was amazing to see everyone finally in the same place, and I’m sure the other group was happy to finally make it to Quilmes.

After almost another whole week of waiting because of the flight cancellation, we (the June 2 group) finally went to RDU. We got on the plane to Houston with no troubles and we were there fairly quickly. After 3 delays and a gate change at Houston international, we eventually took off at 1:30 instead of the planned 9:40. The next 10 hours while flying to Buenos Aires were mostly slept through, we ate some plane breakfast which was actually pretty good, and drank a lot of water. After we hit the tarmac in Argentina, we stood in the customs line for quite a while and eventually made it to baggage claim where we picked up our checked luggage from Raleigh. We were slowed down by some banana bread but we finally boarded the microbus, a huge double decker bus for the ten people in our group. In the bus we prepared to go to the Recoleta cemetery. While going to the cemetery, we weren’t exactly sure what to expect other than the usual grassy field with tombstones. Little did we know that the cemetery we were headed to was filled with history and murals that are impossible to describe with words. For each “family” of tombs, there were designated quadrants or areas for which they’re respective members could lie. Some tombs resides above the ground while others were put above the ground for the public to see. Each quadrant was barred off with either metal bars or glass, but all allowed the public to see inside. The most interesting part of the experience was how different this cemetery was than from what we usually see in the United States. We learned that this idea for a “public viewing” cemetery was adopted from France quite a while ago, however this is the first (or only?) public cemetery in Argentina. After visiting the cemetery, we ate at a cafe outside of La Recoleta where we saw a couple dancing a traditional Argentinian dance- the tango. In the cafe we had been given choices of typical traditional types of food such as empanadas, steak, chicken and tiramisu. After eating at the cafe, we got back on the bus and drove through scenic Buenos Aires where we saw La Casa Rosada and a few other historic monuments we had studied in class. After arriving outside of Quilmes High School, we were reunited with our exchange students and met the rest of their families for the first time. After a brief introduction, we went to our host family’s home where we settled in and had dinner (either went out or stayed in).

Exhausted from the unforgettable night at the quinceañera, most of us took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Almost everyone slept in later than 1 p.m., and we spent the rest of the day with our host families. After waking up, many enjoyed traditional asados with extended family and friends. As always, there was a lot of steak and a lot of good company. Some spent their last full days relaxing with host families over Spanish movies, lake fishing, or games of Fortnite on Playstation. Others went to shopping centers to buy dulce de leche, alfajores, mate, and clothing as souvenirs for themselves and their families. In the evening, a large group met at a cinema in Quilmes to catch a late showing of Deadpool 2 in English with Spanish subtitles. The movie was suspenseful and hilarious, but the last night with the exchange students was bittersweet. Everyone had their own experiences in Argentina, but no one was quite ready to depart.

Thanks to everyone who made the exchange experience possible including Sra. Kridle and Mr. Lazarski, Sra. Fer and Sra. Silvia, all the Quilmes students and families, and all the CA parents. We have gained so much from both the hosting and traveling phases and have enjoyed every second. Quilmes 2018 was truly unforgettable!

Since it was a weekend, each of us spent the day with our host students. I stayed at home the day before because I wasn’t feeling too well the day before, but today I was feeling a little better so a got out some. For the  morning I mostly just stayed at home. I had toast with peanut butter for breakfast and hamburgers for lunch at home. From 1 pm to 3 pm, I went to robotics practice with Ciro. Robotics was at school. The students worked on designing and programming objects with cardboard, Arduinos, buttons, and LEDs.

After robotics, I went home to rest before the Quinceañera, which is a long and important party celebrating a girl’s 15th birthday that is celebrated in many parts of Latin America.The party began around 9 pm. The party began in a smaller waiting area with a buffet line and couches where we waited for the main event to begin.

After everyone had arrived, we were ushered in to a larger area which contained our tables, a photo shoot area, a bar, and a central apace that functioned as both a performance area and a dance floor. The night rotated between courses of food, live performances and recordings, and time on the dance floor. The party lasted until about 5 am. Although I was tired by the end, I felt that had a good time and a memorable experience.