la noche de risotto / risotto night

I'm still taking Spanish classes with Roberto who's philosophy is people can only learn Spanish by having fun and  loves teaching Spanish by having his students use Spanish. Last night three of his students (my friend Allie, Cian, and I) had a cooking night/class with Roberto. Cian's mom is an awesome chef in Ireland and has a cookbook, From Lynda's Table. Roberto uses this cookbook for his classes sometimes by having students pick out a recipe and translate the recipe out loud for him. 

El cocinero y sus asistentes (The cook and his assistants)

I happened to pick the Buttnernut Squash Risotto recipe a few weeks ago and said something along the lines of "yum can I take a picture of this recipe, I want to make it". Roberto replied saying better than that, lets have a night where her son (another of Roberto's students) cooks it for us while using perfect español. Soon we had planned a risotto night. Allie and I were put to work by Cian cutting copious amounts of butternut squash while the risotto started to cook. After some yummy malbec wine, pureeing the butternut squash, and about an hour of mixing a lot of risotto, the butternut squash risotto was ready. 

 Wow was it delicious, I can't wait to make it again!

las frases españoles / spanish frases

My life in Argentina is full of Spanish words, phrases, mannerisms, etc. In many ways it has become natural for me to speak, listen, read, and interact in Spanish. But every once in a while I get a good laugh when I hear people saying certain phrases that we use in English or that just make me giggle. Here are a few of my favorite spanish phrases (you might recognize some of them): 

¡Abre te sésamo! - Open Sesame

Tiene hormigas en el culo - have ants in the bottom (our version of: have ants in your pants)

No me rompas las pelotas - Literally: Do not break the balls - Means: Do not bother me

Lo tengo en la punta de la lengua - I have it at the tip of my tongue

¡Que tengas dulces sueños! - Have sweet dreams!

Tu cara dice todo - Your face says it all

Cuando el gato no está, los ratones bailan - When the cats not there, the rates will dance (our version of: when the cats away, the mice will play)

Etiquetame - Tag me! (usually used for tagging on social media) - my teens loving saying "Etiquetame" while I'm taking pictures at our programs

un día en tigre / one day in tigre

Just 17 miles north of the city of Buenos Aires lies Tigre, a delta town full of tourists and residents alike. I had been to Tigre a couple times before but went again yesterday with a fun group of friends to take in the last bits of summer as Buenos Aires turns into fall. After an hour long train ride from the Buenos Aires city center, we arrived in Tigre and scoped out how to spend our day. For 55 pesos roundtrip (about $5.50), you can take a boat to many of the inlets and islands, hopping on and off as you please. Although the water in the river delta looks quite brown, it is really only brown because of the tierra and sedimientos (land and sediments). We visited Tres Boca, walked around, sat in the sun, and ended the day with some delicious Argentine ice cream. A perfect day trip and the closest one can get to being by water in Buenos Aires, Tigre is fun, calming, and beautiful.

los mundos chocando / worlds colliding (JDC Entwine & Brody Jewish Center in Argentina)

This past week was a special one for me as I got to welcome a JDC Entwine Insider Trip from the University of Virginia´s Brody Jewish Center to Argentina. Since I am a proud alum of UVa and an even prouder alum and friend of UVa´s Hillel, the Brody Jewish Center, I had a very special week where I felt my two worlds colliding. The idea of the trip was for the Hillel students to get to know Argentina's Jewish community, engage in meaningful service, and learn about the needs and strengths of our global Jewish community. We spent the week divided between Rosario, Argentina (4 hour drive from Buenos Aires) and Buenos Aires, Argentina. We visited Jewish schools, played with lots of cute kids, learned about the needs of Argentine's Jewish community, painted houses of vulnerable Jewish families in Rosario, spent time with the lovely residents of Lador Vador eldery home in Buenos Aires, Argentina, got to meet Argentine peers, toured around Rosario and Buenos Aires, and had intense discussions about community, responsibility, and how to bring the experience home. 

 We also got to celebrate Shabbat with a beautiful rainbow and Purim complete with masks and delicious hamantaschen.  

 Above I used the words: worlds colliding. I felt this multiple times throughout the week. I was spending time with people I had spent my past four years with at the University of Virginia but sharing my experience, my work, and my live in Argentina with them. It was the Brody Jewish Center that introduced me to JDC back in 2010 when I went on a similar short-term trip to Israel and it was my experiences at the Brody Jewish Center that made me want to spend this year in Buenos Aires with the JDC. 

I feel so lucky and thankful that I got to share this experience with the twenty students from UVa this past week. I hope the trip opened their eyes to our responsibility to Jews around the world as mine were opened back in Israel in 2010. Maybe this experience even inspired some of them to take a next step with connecting with our global Jewish community, whether back in Charlottesville or among another Jewish diaspora community around the world. Only time will tell...

Thank you JDC Entwine and Brody Jewish Center for letting me share this experience with this wonderful group!

seis meses a través de Facebook / six months through Facebook

I'm over halfway through my year-long adventure with JDC Entwine in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Throughout my time I've used social media (this blog, my Facebook, and Instagram) to share my adventures with family, friends, and other readers. In honor of my over halfway point, I wanted to share my time thus far through a different medium starting in May 2013 when I found out I would be heading to Argentina:

Here's to the continued adventure!

las palabras de sabiduría / words of wisdom (mid-year seminar)

JDC Entwine Fellows with the legend Ralph I. Goldman

 “Whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved the world entire.”  

While at the JDC Entwine Mid-Year Seminar in Israel, we had the opportunity to hear from Ralph I. Goldman, a JDC Honorary Executive Vice President and a man who has dedicated his entire life to humanitartian work, Israel, and the Jewish people. One of the fellows, Erica, asked him about how he persevered when things were difficult or when he felt a bit hopeless to all the challenges in the world. Ralph answered by quoting the Talmud and saying  “Whoever saves a life, it is as if he has saved the world entire.” I first explored this concept on my first JDC Entwine trip many years ago and I loved that he brought up this concept. Doing one thing for one person is just as important and relevant as helping the multitude. I hope to carry and live these words each day.

"We don't have the answers coming from the outside - we have the passion to help." - Jacob  Sztokman, Founder & Director of Gabriel Project Mumbai

Jacob Sztokman, founder of Gabriel Project Mumbai, said these palabras de sabiduría during a session at our Mid-Year Seminar. There were in a response to a question from JDC Entwine Fellow Lucie about how to help a community when coming in as a foreigner. Jacob's words really resonated with me. I am serving in Argentina for one year and while I see challenges the community is facing and many times think to myself "oo I know how to help fix that", it is not my place. First because I am a foreigner, second because I am only here for one year and any sustainable change cannot be carried out by me as I'll be leaving, and third because honestly it is not my place to have the "answers". Instead I can bring my passion and add a fresh perspective, ideas, alternative solutions, and help to implement ideas that the community wants to implement.

Glocal - synergy between global movement and thinking locally

This is a topic we discussed at Mid-Year Seminar with Justin Korda, Executive Director of ROI Community. As a fellow, I find myself constantly thinking about the synergy between global and local. I am living and working with one community but constantly find myself wanting to include a global perspective in our programming. I think this mainly occurs because of my experiences and connections with our global Jewish community and my passion to create these connections for others that I meet. In these next six months I want to really utilize my global connections through the other JDC Entwine Fellows and the BBYO community to share what is going on in Argentina's Jewish community and bring the world's Jewish communities to my community in Argentina.

el medio del año en israel / mid-year in israel

If you have been following any of my social media feeds, you might have noticed I was recently in Israel. Remember how I've said previously that I have the best job in the world? 

Well part of my year-long fellowship with JDC Entwine includes a week-long seminar where JDC Entwine brings together all of the 26 fellows who are serving in different places around the world to Israel to reenergize, reflect, and learn new skills in ירושלים Jerusalem.

My time in Israel included many highlights including time in the south, all of the delicious Israeli food, getting my new "thankful" Hadaya bracelet, seeing the beautiful Israeli beaches, and spending time in the old city especially at the western wall. 

But as I said before, I was in Israel for a reason…to join together with the other JDC Entwine fellows from across the world for our Mid-Year Seminar. One of my favorite moments of the seminar was going to visit a school that one of the fellows, Ron, works at. It is a religious school in a more at-risk area in Bat Yam (close to Tel Aviv) with about 1/3 Syrian Jews, 1/3 Ethiopian Jews, and 1/3 Israelis. We painted masks for Purim, took part in a zumba class, got to learn from the sixth graders, and shared a bit about ourselves. If you want to learn a bit more about Ron's students, check out this page on his blog which has some photos and stories Human's of New York style (it's incredible)! 

 

 During the seminar, Amanda Silver of Amanda Silver Consulting led some skill building and reflection sessions for all of the fellows. Our first session included us thinking of two "peaks", high points, and two "valleys", low points, from our time serving in the field. During the session one of the fellows, Hannah, said something that resonated with me. Hannah said it was harder for her to think of more recent valleys because the things that had been difficult/low points at the beginning of the placement did not seem so difficult anymore. This really resonates with me because I have had a similar experience. I have come to embrace Argentina's culture so the things that I had previously found difficult do not faze me in the same way they used to. I did share a vulnerability of mine with the group (not an easy thing for me to do) that I was at somewhat of a valley before coming to Israel because I had just spent about two weeks in the United States and found it very difficult to leave.

Spending time with the fellows at the seminar invigorated an energy in me that had somewhat faded. Hearing about their experiences, successes, challenges, and stories was incredible. Sometimes I find it hard to share my experiences with my friends and family back in the US but sharing with the other fellows did not drain away my energy as it does with my friends and family because there is a common understanding and background level that made it much easier to share for me. I found myself having deep conversations with the other fellows about their placements, hopes, futures, and insecurities and asking even more questions than usual (I'm a pretty inquisitive person). I left the seminar feeling thoroughly reflected and reenergized to come back to Argentina. I can't wait to see what the fellows continue to do in their respective placements and I also can't wait to see what my next few months brings in Argentina.

el sur rojo/ דרום אדום darom adom / red south

Last year, the University of Virginia had an Israeli Shlicha, basically an Israeli young adult who travels to the states/around the world through an organized program (Jewish Agency) with a focus on Israel engagement for children/youth/college students through educational, social, cultural and advocacy initiatives. Ultimately, strengthening the bond between the children/youth/college students and Israel.

I became really close with Ayala while she was at UVa and she always raved about the Negev, Be'er Sheva, and Israel in general. When I realized I would be heading to Israel, I made sure to reach out to Ayala and she invited me to come visit her in באר שבע, Be'er Sheva. My visit happened to coincide with Israel's "red south", דרום אדום darom adom, where fields throughout the south fill with beautiful red flowers during the month of February. Ayala, her sister, and I spent a day among these beautiful flowers with a delicious picnic.  

Thank you SO much Ayala for showing me around Be'er Sheva, the Negev, Omer, and the red south! It was even more beautiful than you said!

Beautiful Be'er Sheva sunsets