The past weekend was mostly just relaxing and chilling at the hotel. Friday we didn´t have class - because it´s a holiday here (the anniversary of their revolution, but I am not sure on the exact title). Friday afternoon Mikel (she´s from Missouri and goes to law school at Indiana) and I walked around another part of town, down to a cute little restaurant, thru the park, and past the observatory, natural science musuem, and zoo. That night we had a group dinner at a nice restaurant - horse heads on the wall (not real ones), live music, and great food. On the way home we met a guy from Youngstown, OH. He jumped up on us when we went by, and he told us we were easy targets because it was obvious we are from the US. Honestly, being around him was the first time I had felt at all uneasy down here. Kind of ironic.
Saturday was pretty lazy as well. Mikel was sick, so Chris and I went to get her some medicine, and then he and I walked to one of the outdoor weekend markets. It was in a really nice park - with amazing, artistic wooden bridges (eventually I will get pictures uploaded on here!). Then later that night the three of us plus our professor walked down to the observatory. It was a bit of a shady walk at night, past a huge lord-or-the-rings park, way on the edge of town (we got a taxi back). We were late for the first part of the tour, but we got to go in the telescope and look at the moon. They were letting people look at a star cluster, too, but we left before they got the telescope readjusted because it was taking a really long time. Orion isn´t out down here right now, but I found Scorpio really easy. Jupiter (said hoop-iter here) is really bright just below Scorpio. And they pointed out the Southern Cross to me; it´s a lot smaller than I expected - a lot smaller than the Northern Cross. Oh, also, they had one of the oldest star maps. They said there are two; the other in Europe somewhere. She said it was 1865, I thought it said 1860 - either way, it is old. There are constellations on it that you don´t see on the star maps anymore, not because the stars are gone but because people see the constellations differently now. Anyway, it was a neat evening.
Sunday I met up with Lucia again and we went out to Tigre. There aren´t actually any tigers there, but the story goes that someone saw a leopard looking cat, thought it was a tiger, and the name just stuck. Anyway, this place it a bunch of small islands - supposedly the Venice of Argentina or South America (I don´t remember which). Well, I´ve been to Venice - and this didn´t compare at all. It was still pretty, though. We walked around thru the market, then walked down by the river. We had a nice dinner outside - I ate lenguado (sp?), a local fish. It was good, but the food didn´t compare to Lucia´s mom´s cooking at all! (nor to my mom´s cooking!!!). Then we took a boat tour around some of the islands. I liked the ¨road¨ signs - they looked like billboards. Cracked me up. The houses were all raised; flooding would otherwise be a huge problem. We passed taxi boats, personal residents´ boats, and the supermarket boat. Honestly, my favorite part of the tour, though, was probably the hot boat driver :) He was by far the most attractive Argentine I have seen - tall, dark, and handsome with piercing and captivating blue eyes. And he had a ring on (oh, well - look but don´t touch). After the boat, Lucia and I walked around a cathedral and another market, then had coffee and said goodnight.
Oh, and Lucia told me that I look like an Argentine. We had run into a group of US students, and I had asked her how they can immediately tell that people are from the US. She couldn´t really articulate anything in particular, just that they know. But I apparently blend in - until I speak. Ha ha! Made me feel good. It is nice to be able to blend in. Plus, it is much more safe. BUT, then later Horace (keep reading to find out who he is) told me that when I actually speak Spanish my accent is really good. YAY :)-
Let´s see - Monday: a new professor and a human rights class for the week. I don´t know what we´ve been talking about in there. It is quite uncaptivating. The only thing enjoyable about it so far it that the prof is pretty good looking (even the guys in my program agree). (But he´s not as attractive as the boat guy!) Then Prof Garro is still working on teaching us the civil law system...
After class I met up with Horace - he is an older guy that works at the gym I got hooked up to play volleyball at. Anyway, we went to the cathedral, which is beautiful and also very new - I think just finished in 2000 or 2002. I rode the elevator way up and got a great view of the city. Then we had coffee and lemon pie in the little cafe under the church. It was a nice conversation. We can actually communicate pretty well. He told me that he thought I was perfect. I said thank you. Then he told me that I thought I was perfect without clothes. Yeah - awkward.
Tuesday we had an early class, went to the Supreme Court of the Province of Buenos Aires, and then the province´s bar association. The bar visit was informative - though I think some information got mixed up through translations. One thing it did make me very curious about: the comparisons of pro bono in various countries (perhaps a topic for my upper division writing). Oh, and at the end, the VP of the bar chased me down to tell me that my eyes impact him. Keep in mind that he did it in Spanish. Yeah, my classmates are still teasing my about it.
Then that night I went to volleyball practice. I don´t think I played all that well - hitting and blocking seemed off. However, they do set up a little different than the programs I have played. Plus, I don´t know how they call for the set (honestly, I don´t think they do) - which made it more difficult for me to get in the flow with. I did pass really well, though. And they invited me back for Friday. So it works out.
Today was an early class, and then into Bs. As. We visited a law firm, had lunch on the program, and then went to the Supreme Court of Agrentina and met with the second-in-command justice. It was a really nice building, compared to the others here especially. There was no security screening. Smoking was allowed. The Bible and crosses with Jesus were abundant. It was interesting for me to compare this to the US S.Ct. The US is a lot more established and formal and respected. Interesting note: from 1853 to 1994 the Argentine S.Ct. frequently quoted US precedents. In 1994 they adopted a lot of constitutional amendments, putting international law on a basically even par with domestic law. So now the US cases are not utilized as often because the US still holds domestic laws supreme even over international decrees.
Okay, that´s all you get for now. I know it´s not too detailed, and I know it´s been a while - the internet has been down at our hotel. Anyhoo, I am here and having a good time still. The time is flying by, though - Uruguay on Monday already!
ciao for now.
hugs
