conectando a jovenes por Google Hangout / connecting teens through Google Hangout

What do you think about when you hear "Argentina"? Do you go to a Jewish day school? What are your favorite tv series? Do you feel close to Israel? Any special talents? 

"Do you have a special talent?" Yae can touch her tongue to her nose!

These questions and more are exchanged by teens in Argentina each Monday as they chat with teens from the B´nai B´rith Youth Organization (BBYO) in the US through Google Hangout, a video conference. The project started last year when five of the teens from Hebraica attended BBYO´s International Convention (IC) and came back wanting to still speak with the teens that they had met. They have spoken to teens in BBYO´s New England region, teens that attended BBYO´s International Leadership Training Conference last summer, and teens they met at IC last year. 

Teens from Hebraica in Buenos Aires, Argentina chatting through
Google Hangout with teens from BBYO´s New England Region 

The teens in Buenos Aires love connecting with teens from the US to learn about similarities and differences in culture, make new friends, and practice their English. Upcoming we have a Google Hangout about Israel and Shabbat planned! Here are some of my teen´s thoughts about the Google Hangouts:

Brainstorming questions before a Google Hangout

"I love the hangouts with people from different parts of the world. It's part of the communication that we have to make as a new generation. It's very important because in a globalization context, we have a chance that our parents didn't have. The chance of communicating with other Jewish teens from around the world, the chance to know other cultures and ways to live, the chance to talk head-to-head with young people who could be pretty much as we are, but also could be much different. I enjoy the hangouts and ask many questions to the teens on the other side of the screen."

-Ari Schwartz, 16

"I love google hangouts because we meet new people, we learn a lot about other's cultures, and we have a lot of fun! "

- Mai Stamati, 16

"I like the Hangouts because:
-I learn about the different types of Judaism.
-I realize about other types of routines.
-I improve/practice my English.
-I share an experience with my friends and new people that we probably wouldn’t do by ourselves.
-We can discuss with the teens different topics, like the Middle East conflict or the Syria’s conflict."

-Herni Melinsky, 15

You might remember that my Rosh Hashanah resolution was to really connect this year; at the time I didn't even realize this would include connecting Argetinian teens with teens from the US and around the world! I couldn´t be happier to connect my teens here with other Jewish teens from around the world; technology´s ability to connect us wherever we may be truly amazes me!

saca o pinta tus uñas / remove or paint your nails

I was sitting at work having a meeting with my supervisor, Jessi, when she looked down, stopped what she was saying mid-sentence and continued by saying (in Spanish), "Kate, in Argentina we do NOT let our nails look like that. Either remove your nail polish or paint your nails (saca o pinta tus uñas)." I was not sure if she was being serious or not but looked down at my half-painted bitten nails, chuckled, and said (in Spanish), "Haha sorry Jessi, I will try to do it sometime this week." She said good and we continued our meeting. 

Fast forward two hours. Jessi looks at my hands again, shakes her bit while chuckling to herself, and says "Kate, vamos!".  I follow her out of her office, out of the Hebraica building, and down the street. "Jessi, where are we going?" I asked. "Kate, do you know what a shtetl is?" she replied, "We are two blocks away from a modern day shtetl complete with a very cheap nail salon where I go to get manicures. We are going there to get your nails done. It only costs 30 pesos" (equivalent to about $3 or $4 American dollars). I laugh and continue to follow her the three blocks to the manicurist. "Getting your nails done is very cheap in Argentina compared to the United States" Jessi said to me "there is no excuse for not having your nails look nice...and it is also relaxing!". 

We get to the nail salon. It is closed but a worker is still inside. Jessi knows her so waves at her until she comes to open the door. "Meli, I thought you closed at seven" Jessi says to the worker. "No, Fridays we close at six because of Shabbat" Meli replies. Jessi tells her that I had come all the way from America and we wanted to get our nails done. Meli lets us in and proceeds to give us wonderful manicures, all for the cheap and wonderful price of 30 pesos.  

manicure by Meli

Jessi's manicure

The finished product! Manicure in Argentina...CHECK!

As we are leaving Meli says (in Spanish) "Kate, I will see you soon, try not to bite your nails anymore".

Moral of the story: I guess to fit in I have to try and do a better job of keeping my nails looking nice in Argentina...

Message to Mom: I may actually break my habit of biting my nails this year! (maybe)

¡dos meses aca! / two months here!

Today marks the day...I have officially been in the southern hemisphere for two months! 

This past month has been full of adventures including the beginning of spring (aka shorts weather),

celebrating "El Dia De La Madre" (Mother's Day) with my cousins at their club Macabi,

inspiring new projects at work, 

Teens from Hebraica, a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires chatting with members of BBYO in Boston

plenty of delicious asados (Argentinian barbeques), 

visiting with old friends,

I was so happy to see Fed, a fellow Wahoo, and meet his family that lives in Buenos Aires

reading my first "real" book in Spanish,

As I read, I've been underlining the words I do not understand so I can look them up at a later time.

thought provoking talks with the madrichim from Hebraica from a VP in McDonalds in Latin America, the founder of a new political party in Argentina, and a leader in the arts,

sampling the "best empanadas in Buenos Aires" (according to my Spanish teacher),

The empanadas even came with a "guide" so we knew which one was which.

lots of Shabbat celebrations,

Celebrating Shabbat at the Hillel in Buenos Aires 

and learning a bit of tae-kwon-do from my new friend Ibo.

Ibo is a member of Hebraica, where he participates in programs with hundreds of other Jewish kids every Saturday.

I have even started teaching English to my co-worker from Hebraica, Dani. We meet once a week for a couple hours and have been going over basic things such as asking questions or explaining how her day went. Last week while we were sitting in a cafe, our waitress came over and asked "Sos una profesora de ingles?" (Are you an English teacher?). I told her no, I'm just from the United States so just know English pretty well. She proceeded to hand me her card and asked if she could take classes with me. I wasn't sure what to say but gave her my email address and said she could email me and we could figure it out. So we shall see, I might become an English tutor! 

Ten months left to go on this crazy adventure and I am loving every minute of it. Thank you JDC Entwine for sending me and giving me this opportunity to connect with such an amazing community!

cabalgata en los andes / horseback riding in the andes

Our third and final day in Mendoza was spent in the "precordillera", the Andean foothills. We got picked up from our Bed & Breakfast and driven to "Puesto Los Amigos" to meet our horses. Mercedes, Plaza Italia B&B's owner had told us the horseback riding tours usually had about a dozen people, however when we got to Puesto Los Amigos, we realized the tour was only for the three of us! After our gaucho (Argentinian cowboy) guide Diego set us up with our horses, we were on our way. Throughout the two hour ride we took in the beautiful scenery, got to try galloping, and learned a bit more about Mendozian history, what animals and plants (cacti!) are most common in the area, and about the gauchos.

After we finished the horseback riding part of the tour, we enjoyed some mate, a traditional Argentinian hot tea that you drink out of a calabash gourd with a metal straw, while Diego prepared the asado, Argentinian barbeque. Hugo, our driver, only spoke Spanish which impelled us to practice with him. He quickly turned into our teacher for the afternoon, correcting our Spanish and teaching us some new words and phrases. After enjoying the delicious food and wine, we headed back to the city to pack before we had to head to the bus station.

Sam with Hugo, our driver and Spanish teacher for the day.

waiting for our bus to go back to Buenos Aires

Our three days in Mendoza were amazing; I could have spent weeks there and I already want to go back! If you like wine, adventure sports, the outdoors, or beautiful views, I highly recommend visiting Mendoza!

bicicletas y bodegas / bicycles and vineyards

Day 2 in Mendoza. Emily, Sam, and I get driven out to Maipu, Mendoza, a town about thirty minutes outside of the main city of Mendoza, and dropped off at Mr. Hugo's bike shop. Mr. and Mrs. Hugo rent out bikes to tourists, outfitting them with a bike, helmet, map of the area, suggestions, and discount coupons. After we were all registered and paid, Mr. Hugo himself gave us a pat on the back, a warm smile, and wave telling us to enjoy our day.

We started riding our bikes on a quite busy road towards our first stop of the day, Bodega La Rural. La Rural is a very large and very old vineyard; they also own many other vineyards including Rutini and San Felipe (which have two of my favorite wines!). After turning off the main road, we got our first sight of greenery as we drove on a beautiful street with vineyards on both sides towards La Rural.

 After propping our bikes at the "bike parking", we took a tour of the vineyard and its museum (in Spanish) to learn about the history of the vineyard, the wine-making process, and at the end got to try a couple of different wines! La Rural was a great first stop of the day, but we were ready to move on.

Our next stop was at Entre Olivos" which makes olive oil, products with olives, chocolates, and liqueurs. I enjoyed trying a couple different types of olive oils, dulce de leche and banana liqueur, and lemon and strawberry chocolate. My friend Emily is a huge chocolate lover, this was her favorite stop by far!

Biking fun!

Next, we headed to Familia Di Tommaso which is one of the oldest vineyards in the area.  It is so old that they don't even make wine at this location anymore, instead they store wine bottles inside of their tanks. We took a tour of their vineyard (this time in English) which finished with a wine tasting with an extremely knowledgable sommelier.

never ending vineyards - Familia Di Tommaso

 At this point, we were starting to get quite hungry so headed to the vineyard Mevi for lunch and more wine tastings.

 On the way to Mevi, we had passed the vineyard Vina el Cerno so we decided to check it out on our way back. "Bienbebidos" wins my award for best sign of the day!

 Our last stop of the day before returning our bikes was at the cutest beer garden literally in the middle of nowhere. We relaxed underneath their canopied garden 

On our way back from the beer garden, we realized a truck was slowly following us and at second glance, realized it was a police car. Sam and Emily stopped (while I casually kept riding) to ask the police officer if there was a problem. He told them no problem, just want to make sure you guys are safe so I'm going to follow you...a bit sketchy. We all started to ride a bit faster because we weren't sure if it was a hoax, if it was normal to have South American police officers casually following American/British tourists riding their bikes, or really what was going on. As we turned a corner, I politely told the police officer we didn't need his assistance anymore but thank you so much. He drove away but when we arrived back at Mr. Hugo´s, he was there talking with Mr. Hugo (cue picture with the police truck).

 Mr. Hugo and the police officer never said anything to us so we still don't quite understand what had happened. So we can now report that we had a police officer escort in Mendoza which added a bit of adrenaline to our day.

This pretty much sums up our day of wine tasting...it was the best day
I´ve had in Argetina so far!