This past week, all us U.S. Fulbrighters in Argentina gathered in Buenos Aires for our mid-year enrichment program. I made the trip a day and a half early to hangout with Leia (ETA mentor, lives in Corrientes, just visited them) to prepare ourselves for the very long days to come. While I was excited to see everyone, I knew I was not ready for the massive amounts of socializing and reflecting and chaos that was about to ensue.
To prepare, Leia and I treated ourselves to vegan food (Leia being the other very strict vegan and gluten free human in the group), predicting that our options during the programmed days would be pretty limited. On night one (Sunday), I met up with Leia at our Airbnb and then hopped into a taxi with a very talkative man from Uruguay who, by the time we made it to the restaurant, had planned out Leia and I's itinerary for our trip to Uruguay (note - we would like to but have no plans to go to Uruguay). Our first stop, was Indian food. While Buenos Aires has a ton of different food options and cuisine from all over, international food isn't quite as common throughout the country, particularly smaller cities, like Puerto Madryn. I very much miss(ed) my weekly meals from Exotic India (I didn't choose the name) in Iowa City, so I insisted we went here first. It was so good and a great start to the week.
On Monday, we both had a few boring errands to run including finding contact solution, making copies, and going to Western Union. We had decided to go to a sushi restaurant for dinner, so basically everything we did on Monday was to keep us busy until dinnertime.
After we ate our hearty little oatmeal breakfast full of fiber (did you know only like 3% of United Statesians eat enough fiber?), we headed out to get some coffee. As an aside, Leia and I are perfect travel companions because not only do we have similar dietary restrictions, but we also both eat oatmeal for breakfast every single day and eat just about everything at the same speed. This first stop, you all may recognize as Futuro Veggie in the dark tattoo parlor/piercing shop/sex store building.
Happy happy vegans!
This wonderful coffee and sandwich gave us the energy we needed to head over to Western Union. I realize I haven't spoken too too much on the financial situation here in Argentina. That is partially because I am no expert on it, so I don't want to butcher it by saying something completely insensitive or incorrect. It's also partially because it's just super complicated. Long story very abbreviated, it's incredibly difficult to access USD here, which has resulted in a "black market" for USD and an unofficial exchange rate called the Blue Dollar. You (I) can really only get this rate if you (as in I) pay in cash extracted from Western Union or exchanged on the down low. I use Western Union to extract cash by sending myself money through my bank account and picking up Argentine pesos at these locations. You can also make payments at most Western Union branches, so the lines can get pretty backed up, especially in big cities like Buenos Aires. The first Western Union we came across had an unbelievably long line. So so very long. It snaked through the building and down the street with twists and turns so as not to backup sidewalk traffic. It had to have been a solid 2.5 to 3 hour wait, and you cannot convince me otherwise.
Needless to say, we sought out another. About 20 minutes away (we walked a ton this day - about 9 miles), we found a Western Union with a slightly shorter line. Don't get me wrong, the line was still as long as all get out, but it was better, and Leia needed money. We filed into the back of the line and watched as three different people tapped out, which was a pretty bad sign. After a few minutes, a woman walked up and sort of appeared next to us. Considering we were at the very back of the line this was a bit confusing, so Leia and I decided to stand our ground and inch closer and closer to the person in front of us. So did this woman. It soon became a battle of who could stand closer to this poor person in front of us, while simultaneously giving each other the evil eye.
Just as Leia was about to give up this quest, the woman said something to the person in front of us, turned around, looked Leia right in the eye, and said "I'm here," gesturing with her hand that that was her place in line before walking off. Fuming, Leia began prepping comebacks for when this line cutter returned. Unfortunately (but probably for the best), our new best friend never returned. We, however, did get to meet a guy from Brazil who was in line behind us. He's in Argentina studying to become a doctor and was a great way to help poor, fuming Leia get their mind off of what had just happened.
After a long hour and a half of the line, we finally had cash and were ready to sit down. We found a place to have a quick, warm snack and relax after our harrowing adventure in line. We went to a vegan place in the back of this super cute market.
I ordered two empanadas made with fake meat, and Leia ordered what ended up being one of the best meals they've ever had in their entire life. It was locro, which is a meal common in Argentina on May 25th and July 9th as a food to celebrate its independence. It's made with corn, white beans, other veggies, and usually meat. I'll admit...it was pretty darn good. We may have been dramatic because we were cold and tired, but I'm convinced it was really just that good and life-changing.
For our dessert, I ordered an apple, cinnamon situation, and Leia was brave enough to try the neon green yerba mate cheesecake, with a little strawberry syrup as a nice extra touch.
This turned out to be as weird as one would expect. However, you really can't turn down yerba mate cheesecake, so it was, in fact, worth the experience.
Worn out from our day of adventures, we rested a bit to prepare for our exciting vegan sushi. I had found this place online during my hour long searches for places to eat. The restaurant, Let it V, was all vegan and gluten free and had random references to The Beatles on the menu.
We ordered a 24 piece dish to start, which I later realized, after eating it all, that we were only given 20 pieces.
The sushi was so good. We were in awe. I have never had sushi this good. I've only had very few meals that have ever been this good. For this meal, we ate slow. Savoring each piece of sushi, wishing and hoping that the plate would refill on its own, sad that the sushi was disappearing. Not to be overly dramatic, but it was so good. Incredible. It was even more fun to experience this with a fellow vegan because other folx may not quite appreciate how freaking good it actually was. For some, it might be good "vegan" food rather than good food, so it was nice to have this shared experience.
It was so good we ordered two more rolls, hoping to try the two we hadn't tried yet. We messed up one of them and got a repeat, but you didn't see us complaining.
To top it all off, we ordered cake for dessert. They were out of the chocolate that I wanted and the cheesecake that Leia wanted, so we settled with carrot and red velvet. Neither of which was really "settling."
We ate these in silence becoming more and more drunk on life? good food? good vibes? probably not the sole glass of wine we both had. Giggling, we became convinced that the sushipeople were staring at us and decided it may be time to head back to the Airbnb.
There had to have been something in that sushi...just saying.
I fell asleep after taking a marvelous shower with incredible water pressure.
Then, before we knew it, Tuesday was upon us. The day the enrichment program started, and the day 30+ United Statesians were taking over the Ker Recoleta Hotel. This was the same hotel that we stayed at when we first got here in March, and my body could tell. The smell of the hotel was the exact same. I cringed every time I had to take the elevator, recalling the time I waited 30 minutes for one to go down to the lobby with my suitcase. The stress of the first 2 days in Argentina all came piling down on me, and I think on all of us. It was impossible to ignore how chaotic those days had been and how chaotic the days ahead of us would be.
Leia and I grabbed a quick lunch with Annabelle before meeting at the commission. When we arrived, we ran into several other Fulbrighters, which resulted in many high-pitched "OMG HI" greetings and hugs. I hugged quite a few people who, at the time, I'd only spoken to maybe 2 times ever in my entire life. I'm sure the people on the street got a kick out of us.
At the commission, they gave us our per diems which made us feel super fancy and rich before shipping us off to a tour of a cultural center and, more excitingly, a wine tasting. It was very silly of Fulbright to choose to have the wine tasting on the very first night. While it was fun and cute, I think the vast majority of us got very tipsy as the workers continued pouring the *free* wine into our glasses and giving us nothing but bread and a little cheese to nibble on.
We got to try 6 different wines: two whites and four reds.
Once significantly tipsy and even more hungry, I managed to lead 6 humans, including myself, to dinner about a mile away. If we're honest, the cold air and long walk was probably very good for us.
I had chosen a restaurant with baos, buns, dumplings, and ramen. Recall, not only was I looking for vegan/vegetarian food, I also needed to find gluten free options. Upon arrival, I managed to find us all a table outside, make sure we had a server, and then move us all inside because we were cold. Once inside, we all laughed at the chaos of day one and the fact that Fulbright gave us quite a lot of wine on day one. Then we went around the table sharing what has been difficult and what has gone well with regards to our time here. Having this conversation after a little wine while eating dinner was significantly more enjoyable than the more serious roundtable discussions we had over the following three days if you were to ask me.
For dinner, I ordered baos and buns, and then a dessert bao.
I was best friends with the guy in this picture behind the bar by the time we left.
Buns and dumplings!
Baos!
My dessert bun!
Then, we went back to the hotel and slept until our bright and early breakfast at 7:30 am.
I won't bore you with too many of the details of all of the sessions we had Wednesday through Friday, but I'll share some highlights.
Each day we had 1 to 2 different roundtables with 6 to 7 other Fulbrighters. In these we talked about our experience in the schools we work at, how we've managed interacting with our referentes and teachers, ways we've engaged with the community, our plans for after Fulbright, etc. These talks were equal parts interesting, motivating, and overwhelming.
I really enjoyed hearing about how other Fulbrighters have been spending their time. It was nice to commiserate on similar struggles and difficulties we've had inside and outside of the schools. It was nice to hear about similar experiences to know that I'm not alone. My thoughts and struggles are valid. These talks were really motivating to me because I got to listen to how other people have engaged with the school and broader communities. Everyone had such amazing, creative ideas - I suppose that's how we all got these Fulbrights in the first place - which gave me a lot of ideas as to what I can do and incorporate into my time here. Listening to what ideas people implemented really gave me the motivation and confidence to do them myself. If they could do x, y, or z, then why can't I? These talks were also really overwhelming because I was constantly listening to what other people have done. This gave me, at least, a bit of a sense of imposter syndrome. Everyone seemed to be doing so many cool, exciting, impactful things with their communities, and here I am just existing.
With that being said, these roundtables and the enrichment experience were an incredible opportunity to see how vastly different each Fulbrighter's experience is due to their own personality, their backgrounds, their placement, the opportunities given to them, the opportunities they seek out, their relationship with the people around them, etc. That means that that feeling of imposter syndrome is just silly because, of course, what I'm doing and how I'm engaging and interacting with my community is different than others. I have the perfect placement for me and the perfect referente for me. I am enjoying my time here, and I have exciting plans for the months to come. That's all that matters.
Another activity that was a highlight from this experience was Leia's workshop! Although I think it took a little longer than anticipated, one of the activities Leia planned for us was my favorite part of this whole week. Beforehand, they had asked us each to send in a picture that we felt stood out during our time so far. Excitingly, almost everyone sent in a picture! Then, Leia presented each picture individually and had the person who sent it in stand up and briefly describe what it was/why they sent it in. It was such a fun moment to see everyone stand up and share this piece of their experience because everyone shared something so happy and wholesome. Every moment was an "awwwwwwww" moment. We've all had uniquely difficult experiences and have talked a lot about what's difficult, so it was really nice to take some time to acknowledge what makes us happy, what's gone really well and to see just a peek into everyone's lives here. Every time someone shared, they were smiling. It was really just a good, wholesome moment in time. I loved how almost everyone shared a picture of them with people here. I thought that really speaks to how important human connection is (especially in new places) and how willingly people here, in Argentina, have reached out to connect with us in our different places. Here's the picture I shared :)
The food was another highlight of the enrichment experience.
Exhibit A:
Ha! I can't really complain too too much because Fulbright heard the plant-based people's calls for help after orientation and had salads with actual substance like rice, lentils, and peas in them. However, while great in theory, the execution was not as great. None of the salads were pulled aside specifically for the plant-based folx, so on day 1, by the time I got to the front of the lunch line, the vast majority of the salads were either gone or picked over. You best believe I ran to the front of the line on day 2 for my cabbage, tomato, carrot, pea, white bean, lentil, chickpea, and bulgur meal (shown above). Interestingly, these were all definitely prepared by someone who is not plant-based because, even as a vegan human, I, personally, do not want 4 large portions different types of legumes in my meals.
Now aside from these lackluster provided meals, I did actually have some really good food during the program. During these few days, my superpower of finding restaurants was put to the test as I, somehow, became in charge of finding restaurants with vegan options, gluten free options, and a few with meat/dairy/egg options, if possible. This led to a little extra work on my end, but I honestly love being the restaurant finder because at this point in my vegan life, I know how to find good plant-based food.
On Wednesday, we were let loose to find our own dinner. I, personally, was in the mood for Thai and made the executive decision to get Thai (after I found a restaurant with both vegan and gluten free options). Therefore, after a fun little Tango dance lesson during which we all stumbled around looking silly while bobbing up and down not so gracefully...
...I led a group of 9 others to a Thai restaurant that ended up being quite a bit fancier than I had imagined.
Here's all 10 of us interrupting everyone else's nice, relaxing date nights as the United Statesians who barged into this nice restaurant without a reservation.
But omg was the food good. I shared the spring rolls and ordered curry with tofu. The curry was so good like I cannot repeat this enough. It was so good and juuuust spicy enough for my sensitive taste buds. Incredible. Amazing.
After this meal, I went with a few others to grab some not pictured ice cream before heading in for a reasonably early night.
By Thursday night, we were all exhausted (sorry, Amanda heehee), yet we still had to fend for ourselves as the animals that we are to hunt down some food.
I declared that pizza was the move and found an appropriately named restaurant, Pizza Vegana. After taking the subte (similar to the metro) and then wandering around a bit lost for a few minutes, I met up with the others where we literally climbed through the door to get into the restaurant. Upon arrival, we, for obvious reasons, thought that it was closed, but oddly enough, two fellow Fulbrighters were somehow in this closed restaurant? Turns out, they were short staffed and didn't want too too many people coming in. Quote of the night was said at the moment of this picture - "Leslie, will this end up on the blog?"
While waiting for our pizza, I played the most epic, long-lasting game of Jenga I've ever played.
Then, we ate some yummy, vegan, gluten free pizza.
Yet again, on Friday, we had to make our own way in the world and fend for ourselves but, this time, for lunch. Amanda and I tag teamed this decision and decided to go to Casa Nueza, which did not disappoint. Even our non-vegan friends were very happy.
I chose the sandwich this time and ordered the chocolate cake as part of my journey to find the best chocolate cake.
Here's a look at all of our meals!
It's a good thing I had this hearty meal for lunch because my dinner was the following...who do you think found this restaurant?
While this salad was yummy,
my *actual* meal looked like it was off the kid's menu.
This was our end of enrichment dinner! So, as you can guess, the restaurant was chosen by Fulbright. Although I whine, in all seriousness, I was grateful that there were two different vegan options on the menu in addition to the salad.
The dinner was actually pretty fun. We dressed up a little and went to this fancy dancy looking restaurant where we got to eat bread and pasta and drink wine all for free! And free is free...even if it is coming from the taxes that I pay.
The five of us (Annabelle, Aly, Arianna, and Amanda - from left to right - yes, I missed the name memo) had a great time acting fancy and playing Truth or Truth because, ya know, a dare would be hard for us rule followers in a fancy restaurant like this.
Here's the whole table.
Here's Amanda *casually* sewing a jacket while waiting for our food.
A semi-food-related highlight was the karaoke bar that about 20 of us invaded after our fancy dinner. Karaoke somehow became a large group event where we all piled onto the same bus headed for what turned out to be a very random, not very karaoke bar. When we arrived, we likely overwhelmed the bar workers who demanded the males of the group pay a cover to get in (a very easy and smart way to make money off a bunch of U.S. kids, so props to them). We were all herded to the back of the bar and started ordering overpriced drinks. Leia, then, gave us all a bit of a concert and was the only person to sing before we were essentially forced out. After playing the YMCA, the bar turned on the lights and stopped playing music. Although no one else there seemed to move a muscle, we all kiiiinda got the gist that it was our time to go. Even though it was hot and we lacked karaoke, it was fun for all of us to somehow end up out dancing and hanging out a bit together!
Another highlight was the screw up Fulbright made (but blamed on the hotel lol). We found out via email Thursday night that we had to pack our bags and check out of our hotel Friday morning because Fulbright had booked the hotel Tuesday the 12th through Friday the 15th rather than through Saturday the 16th. I have a feeling, just a silly little feeling, that they did not know about this screw up until late in the game and very late in the game I might add. Needless to say, we were all a little crabby about it mess up, including myself who asked a little sassily if they planned on getting us transportation.
"It's a little late notice to find transportation," they said when I asked Friday morning.
"It's a little late notice to ask 30+ different people to find taxis to and from the same places," I thought when they gave me that response.
Turns out it wasn't too late because at 4:45, a huge, white charter bus squeezed through the small streets of Buenos Aires and blocked traffic as about 20 Fulbrighters piled on as the tourists we inevitably are. Fulbright must've dished out quite a bit of money for what we called "the party bus." I sat close to the front, and it was hilarious watching everyone's faces change as they stepped on. What does it take to make a Fulbrighter smile and laugh with glee? Apparently a large, lemon-scented bus with blue lights. That's it.
Like have you seen a group of happier people?
This happiness lasted a while because Fulbright's screw up was our [large] gain. We moved up in the world with what was likely a very very pricey new hotel. Not to brag or anything, but it was a 5-star hotel. You know Fulbright was kicking themselves because this was probably the only hotel around that had space for ~35 people during what was actually winter break for a lot of Argentines .
Amanda and I were somehow super lucky, and, unlike many of our fellow Fulbrighters, we ended up in a suite type of deal with two rooms with full-ish sized beds rather than the boring old normal hotel room.
Room 1 and a very tired Amanda:
Room 2:
The weird light switches in the room that gave very little information about which button did what along with a questionable "red x" button that looked very dangerous to push...a humble reminder that "fancier" does not always mean better
The absolute highlight of this hotel was the breakfast. It was incredible. There were 5 different types of seeds to put in your yogurt! There was soy milk! There were like 5 different types of juices! There were whole pears and pineapple and kiwi! There were 5 different types of olive oils!
The elite really do live in another type of world.
After check out on Saturday, Annabelle and I headed to our Airbnb to unload our things before having a lowkey adventure day. To keep things brief since this is getting long, we first grabbed some much needed coffee.
Then, we headed to the Japanese Gardens. It was a beautiful green space with a lot of fun scenery. This was the perfect activity on a cloudy day after a super long and busy week.
Then, we made some origami.
I chose to make the whale for Puerto Madryn :)
Can you tell that we were both very tired humans?
Then, we made wishes and hung them up with the others.
After our relaxing stroll, we went to a mall to attempt to find Annabelle a jacket, got suuuuper overwhelmed, and left immediately to head to a vegan cafe I found!
Can you guess which order is mine?
We headed back to the Airbnb as very content humans and watched a movie while dozing off before heading to dinner. For dinner, a very happy taxi driver drove us to our Peruvian food. Part of Annabelle's family is Peruvian, so she was able to guide me through the menu and tell me which things to order.
This food was absolutely incredible, much like the other food we had this week.
We walked back after dinner and watched a quick show on Netflix before heading to bed. We had to wake up early for some fun visitors who were on the same plane!
To wrap things up, this week was exhausting. This week was also really rewarding and a lot of fun. I'm so grateful to have these Fulbrighters as a support system. While one or two may get on my nerves every once in while (and I'm sure I do the same) because we're human, everyone I've met here has been amazing. Not often do you meet a group of 40 people and can say that you genuinely like each and every one of them. This time around, my goal was to at least say hi to the people I hadn't chatted with during orientation, and I think I can say I succeeded. The lovely humans below are so unique and offer so much to the world, it's an honor and privilege to know them.
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