Rotarians to the Rescue and Anniversaries

Hello Rotarians,

You'll be pleased to know I passed my midterms. Graduate school is no joke, there is a ton of reading! I am now back into the full swing of things so as to be prepared for the final (which takes place in a mere two weeks)!

Now, I have a story that at first seems unpleasant but has a happy ending. To all future scholars out there who may be reading my blog, renting an apartment in Buenos Aires is a nightmare. The rental rates of four years' ago no longer exist and so living economically in Argentina over the long term is difficult. Many landlords have bought their properties in the last few years with the specific purpose of charging foreigners astronomical rents as the rentals are now the landlords' livelihoods. For example, in my current neighborhood, an Argentine would pay around 900-1,000 Pesos per month for a one bedroom, which is about $300 US dollars per month. However, if you are not Argentine, you will either need to pay double or triple that price or put a year's money down in cash as a "guaranty" for the property.

I knew renting was difficult coming into my apartment hunt, but what I was not aware of were the fees and negotiations involved with the "inmobiliaria" (the property management company). I recently had a run-in with an inmobiliaria here in Buenos Aires and had it not been for my Host Club's Rotary President, I would be singing a different tune. Without going into the whole month-long process, in short I faced losing a lot of money and potentially being sued!! I could not believe how this situation had deteriorated into such a hostile negotiation process and so I called up my Rotary club's President, Monica, and she saved the day. Monica is a lawyer and had offered to help me in any way she could including reviewing rental contracts. With Monica's help, I was able to establish that I had no legal liability to the property management company and that their veiled email threats where just that. Having Monica by my side during such a stressful situation really reminded me of why the Rotary family is so important. Had I been left on my own, I most likely would have figured it out eventually but I would have risked some serious monetary loss and mental anguish. Likewise, my host counselor, Guillermo has been great with doctor and dentist referrals as his family has been going to the same two for years. I feel lucky to have such a strong network around me.

Last night, I experienced some more Rotary bonding as I attended the 40th anniversary of the Caballito Rotary club www.rotarycaballito.com.ar. You may recall I had attended the 40th anniversary of my own club, Villa Lugano, about a month ago. However, Caballito's festivities were a bit more elaborate with a tango band, Jazz ensemble, and tango exhibition for the guests. The Tango show was interactive and the dancers asked for volunteer dancers. Five women volunteered but no men!! Finally, one man volunteered but no other men stepped up to the plate. One of the partygoers mentioned that the tango has been revived due to tourism and that not a lot of Argentine's actually know how to tango, which perhaps explains the men's hesitance. The women seemed to know how to tango, though.

My friend Beth and I sat next to the President of a different club, Monseratt, and two lovely people, Hector Nuñez Castro and Marina Inés Bussio, who run the local neighborhood paper "Horizonte" www.caballitotequiero.com.ar. They invited Beth and I to write a piece on our experience thus far with Rotary in Buenos Aires. I'll be sure to forward it to you once it's published. They also offer a free guided tour of the barrio of Caballito the last Sunday of every month, for those of you who may be visiting BsAs in the near future. Beth and I hope to go tomorrow.

The pictures are of last night's party. I hope you enjoy the scenes from an Argentinian Rotary Club's fiesta!

Un beso ,

Alethea

Feria del Libro and Midterms

Hola Rotarians!

First off, I can't believe it's May! I am just now realizing how I do not have to exert as much effort in forming my Spanish sentences and this has come as a nice surprise. Just shy of three months here, if I keep this up I will definitely reach my language goals by December. A big thank you for that!

This past Wednesday, the other Ambassadorial Scholars and I met up to peruse the Feria del Libro which is one the biggest books fairs worldwide: http://www.el-libro.org.ar
The fair is almost a month long and is enormous. It's reminiscent of what I would imagine a world expo must be like; there are rooms after rooms of giant "Pabellon's" which are color coded regions of the fair, by topic, era, or country. An interesting custom I noted when I first arrived here is that all of the university texts are copied, with not one eyelash batted at international copyright laws. One of my classmates told me that copying texts was one of the fallouts from the 2001 financial crisis. Since people were just trying to make ends meet, it was no longer lucrative nor practical to import or spend money on books. Well, if the book fair is any sign of Argentina's economic recuperation, then the country is headed in a good direction.

The book fair was not only a bookworm's delight, but a cultural event as well. Throughout the night, different musical bands played in the main and side rooms, adding a festive atmosphere.

The book fair was my one reprieve from my study schedule for ANOTHER midterm coming up this week. After this midterm, I hope to be out and about much more, so look out for new posts.

Un beso,

Alethea