Argentina 2

Argentina, your name is humidity! Why didn’t I think about that before? Not that it matters, but today it was misty on and off, and slimy. This is worse than Florida in the summer…because even Florida is sort of dry during Christmas. It’s the Christmas season around here, too, but that means summer vacation is beginning.

The visit to COINED was reminiscent of the visit to Españolé, with the marked difference of having many more students, a larger facility, and an issue that I hadn’t considered. The standard familiar form of address is tú in Spanish, but not here. Everyone uses vos. The verb forms are different, too. In fact, the voseo (use of this form) is present all over America, except the Caribbean countries. However, vos is used here exclusively, to the complete exclusion of tú. The option of having the students learn tú would have to be negotiated. Another point of negotiation would be whether we have a special course designed for SPSU. Berry College did so with their program at COINED. They had a 2-week program developed for them in a maymester schedule during which the students explored the Argentinean culture through the five senses. All students were education majors, so they visited schools, and had activities appropriate to their future careers. I inquired about the possibility of offering SPSU students something similar for December “demi term” with a focus on “Doing business (technically-focused) in Latin America.” More discussion would be needed if we go in that direction.

I really think that when Rich B comes here in March, he will have to meet with the language department at UBA to explore our options there. However, even though I think BsAs offers a lot to our students, I still view this relationship as providing SPSU with students from here. He will have to, with Han, also seek out the Department of Computation. When I dine with Mr. Mascarenhas, I will ask him to help out with this.

The economy here is in crisis mode. The lower legislative body voted today to extend its emergency status. That means that it can continue re-negotiating the agreements Argentina has with other entities. The price of milk, and of public transportation is going up after January 1. In spite of all the fields of wheat I observed from the plane, the crop this year wasn’t what they had hoped for, and there isn’t enough to export. And there is a big brouhaha over retired pensioners’ monthly allotment’s being held back this month.

We went for a long walk around the city, and I kept thinking how much there is to offer a language student here. Little shops everywhere, like the “corner store” I grew up with in Chicago, are in abundance. Little shops of every possible merchandise are also ubiquitous. We passed by bookstores out the wazoo—I was VERY GOOD and kept my wallet in my purse. It was easy to keep it in my purse when we went by a tango shoe store, too. You can get men´s and women´s shoes for tango-ing, along with all the accoutrements. We even passed a milonga—a dance hall where you can see tango performed “para export”—for tourists--, or even take tango lessons and dance yourself. (Rich is willing to go anywhere, but he’s pretty adamantly insisting NOT to go to a milonga.) I think tango provides a lot of psychotherapy for the participants. I’ve been listening to a podcast series for a couple of years now called Tango City Tour, and have come to love the music and the whole tango thing. First of all, the music is composed for those of us of a “certain age” who have been around the block once or twice before, and have been chewed up and spit out by life. The lyrics reflect loss, nostalgia, and sadness—each song is an eensy-teensy opera.

There is theatre here worth seeing. One play I would like to see is “Encuentro en Guayaquil.” It’s about the one time that the two great liberators, Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín met. It also marked the time when it was possible for there to have been a united America, but it was not to be. The negotiating point was Perú. San Martín’s hold on it was tenuous, and he decided to cede it to Bolívar, and then retired. What would/could have happened at that particular moment is sad to think about. Bolívar ended up, after his stint in politics (just like the presidential candidate who is a great candidate, but expressly not prepared to govern) ended up declaring nearly on his deathbed, that Latin America is ungovernable. In a way, Chávez has it right on this score. If Latin America could be come organized into a loosely cooperating unit like Europe, things would be better for all. Just imagine ONE monetary unit across the continent, with richer countries bringing the poorer ones up to par. Standards of health, education, and security shared by all. One free market—now even Chile and Argentina can´t play together. Mercosur excludes Chile, but Venezuela is a member state. And on and on…

The Argentines brag about how their constituents meld together…they come from everywhere—but that “everywhere” is Europe. This is not really a diverse population. On our walk we decided to have a meal at a bar-restaurant. While we were waiting for our food, an interesting event took place. A VERY LONG protest march of indigenous people from Bolivia waving the Bolivian and Indigenous flag, chanting the praises of Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president. How did hey get there? It costs money to travel that far. Why protest against their status, and support Morales in BsAs? BsAs, the city full of Europeans. Their attitude was a mixture of serious purpose and wonder at their surroundings. At the same time, a paneled van went by with “Feliz Janucá” on the side panels, and an electric menorah on the roof, with the central candle and the first candle lit. I was stripping gears. There is a large Jewish population here. Curiosity for me because Argentina during WWII, was not supporting the Allies, and didn’t do so until March of 1945—the war ended on May 8, 1945 (I remember this because it’s Rich’s birthday)-- so they were buying insurance. At the same time, there was an exodus to Argentina by both Jews fleeing the war, and former Nazis escaping the post war search for justice. Go figure.

All in all, an interesting day. They even had today’s market report with “Stars and Stripes Forever” playing. (What does THAT mean?) Tomorrow dinner with Mr. Mascarenhas, and more walking around. We’ve moved into better, cleaner, brighter digs—very condusive for getting over this wretched cough. More later.