Thank god tomorrow is Friday

I have a Spanish test tomorrow, so obviously I have chosen to write a post than review grammar and prepare for the oral section of it. I actually had kind of a crappy day- Spanish class was frustrating because none of us understood an article we had to read for class and I was tired/crabby all morning. After Spanish, I wanted to buy a salad for lunch. Everyone else in Buenos Aires was also on lunch break too; I went into three stores and didn't buy anything because the line was too long. Then I had one of those classic "the subway closes right when you get to the door" moments. It was just one thing after the other! I finally found some tasty pasta, so that did take care of part of my crabbiness. Oh, and my computer cord no longer works. It doesn't charge my computer anymore, so I'll have to pay a little visit to the Apple store this weekend. Oy! Besides today, I have had a great week, so I will fill you all in on that:

On Monday, we went to Monte Chingolo, a community outside of Buenos Aires. The place offers classes and programs for children as well as young adults who have kids of their own. It was really interesting to visit- it is in a poor area and most of the kids never make it to high school. We spent the day there and some of the kids in my group helped paint a mural and others played games with the kids. I opted for the playing- and I got to play soccer! Before I came to Argentina, that was one of my goals, to play soccer, so now I can successfully check that off my endless list of what I want to do here. A few girls and I played with some of the boys there and they were fun, although, they definitely don't see too many female soccer players that often. I also played with some little kids and just had a really fun time. Tuesday, which I know call "empanada day" (we have empanadas every Tuesday because we have class all day and our lunch break is short), was pretty uneventful- lots of class, caught up on some homework, and bought a fresh alfajor. And this wasn't just any ordinary alfajor- it had heaps of dulce de leche inside (much more than usual), AMAZING.

A picture of the mural we painted at Monte Chingolo

Wednesday was el Dia de la Memoria in Argentina; a day that commemorates when the military dictatorship took over the country in 1976. There was a march that started around 2 or 3 and people of all walks of life marched, and by all walks of life, I mean 50,000 children, young adults, and the elderly! It was really cool to participate in; there were a lot of participants with faces of the disappeared with their names on it and another sign that said, "NUNCA MAS," which means, "Never again." There was a huge banner that went on for a mile (at least it seemed like it) with thousands of people's names and pictures of the disappeared on it. I found it interesting that although there were scores of different groups, all of these people were marching together in the same place, together, as a reminder of what their country used to be and how one can still see its effects on the country.

Okay, I should definitely review for Spanish and get to bed at a reasonable hour, so I am going to listen to some Frank Sinatra and study; a little Sinatra can go a long ways...

Muchos besos.