Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Picture Problem
My photos aren't uploading, so until I figure out the problem, they will be on Facebook, though so far it is nothing exciting.
First Post from BA
I made it. The weather here is Amazing, and, though I cannot tell much about the city yet, I have a very good feeling. However, let me start at the beginning.
My flight left from JFK, and my Dad decided to take advantage of that and kill two birds with one stone; on the way to the airport we (my father, the bottom half of the brother chain, and I) stopped in Queens to get Arbah Minim and shwarma. I had no appetite; I could barely finish a falafel. My body must have been nervous, because I otherwise would have wolfed down a shwarma in a laffa like it was no body's business. It's a strange thing though, when your mind isn't nervous (I knew that the worst that could happen to me after arriving is getting cheated out of a couple of bucks; in the ends I saved a TON of money, but more of that later), but I had many of the physical symptoms of being nervous. Very strange.
Anyway, my grandfather came to meet us in the shwarma place and, so as to expedite my younger brothers' bedtime, we decided that my father would go home and my grandfather would drive me to the airport. After a quick goodbye to my magnificent Uncle Bartholomew and awesome Aunt Sara, it was off to the airport, and with a goodbye to my grandfather, it was into the airport.
The next few hours were nondescript. The usual checking in, waiting for security, crying babies, etc etc. The one thing that separated this flight from all other previous flights is that I was so tired I actually slept the entire first leg of the journey! Seven hours of sleep between JFK and Lima, a first for me for sure. Lima was also uneventful; we were only there for an hour and half, and, by the time I got to the gate and davened (I am willing to bet not many people in Lima have seen tefillin) they were calling us to board. This flight was a little less uneventful. I spent most of reading the Let's Go Buenos Aires tour guide cover to cover (thanks Samantha!) and watching the first half of the Simpson's Movie (not that great), staring at the Andes (amazing!) and wondering what I felt about the trip. I really didn't feel anything; I wasn't nervous or excited, apprehensive or happy. Maybe because I did not plan at all and no idea what to expect, I just had a void where some emotion should have been. I assumed though, that I would be a tad nervous and apprehensive at first before I transitioned into excitement and happiness. I was quite wrong. As we began the descent and I saw the city, any potential fright fleetingly faded, sloughed off like a snake shedding it's skin, and, weirdly enough, I felt completely in my element! As if this is what I was made for. It was a great feeling, and, even though I don't speak the language and don't know the city (or perhaps because I don't know the city), I felt a surge of confidence.
Disembarking from the plane was where things started to get interesting. On the plane, on the way to the bathroom, I noticed two other kippot on the plane, though one was watching TV and the other sleeping, so I did not approach them. However, as we left the plane, I made sure to confront them. The first I met was a very tall version of Chaim Yerushalayim Nemetyoff (my father's cousin). It was very surreal, and he was a tad surly. All I was able to discover is that he lives in Buenos Aires and was visiting family in New York before we were separated by the security officials (tourists to the right, residents to the left). The other frum fellow lived, until recently, in Baltimore, near where Saarei Zion used to be (no, he did not know any of my relatives there). He told me he had recently moved to Cuzco, and was on a business trip looking for hair. Yup, hair. He and his wife run a shaitel (wig) business. We were separated as soon as it was my turn to go through security. Thank God, all the red tape security shmecurity customs shmustoms went without a hiccup and (after exchanging money and futilely trying to find a SIM card for my cell phone (I have yet to accomplish that task) I was outside and trying to find transportation to the city.
I was told to take a company called Tienda Leon, but of course, as soon as I got out of the airport I was assaulted by the cab drivers, who offered upwards of 95 pesos (3 to the dollar). I asked about Tienda Leon and was told it is a shuttle service that takes you to the city center for 45 pesos. The hostel, said the nice cabbie, would be another 40 pesos ride from the city center and it would be two hours before I got there! Luckily, I spotted another kippa from afar. I ran over to them and asked them the best way to get to Belgrano (the neighborhood I am staying in) and after a bit of chatting in Hebrew, they drove me to the subway and for 1.10 pesos I took the subway right to the hostel! For the record the Zayat family of Buenos Aires (no relation, supposedly, to the Zayats of Teaneck) are amazing. Not only did I get a ride and saved at least 80 pesos, I got a new contact and a great tip on where to buy Arbah Minim.
The hostel is nice; there is WIFI, a kosher kitchen, breakfats and shabbat/chag meals included, and they are now building the sukkah. The rooms are dormitory rooms (five to a room) and I have not seen the bathrooms yet, but it seems a great place (though we shall see how things go for the long term). I have yet to call my contacts here, as I have yet to buy a SIM card, but I will do that as soon as I finish typing this message. Then it is relaxing time until tomorrow, when I have my oral Spanish placement test at 11:30 and my first class at 1:30.
Ciao for now!
My flight left from JFK, and my Dad decided to take advantage of that and kill two birds with one stone; on the way to the airport we (my father, the bottom half of the brother chain, and I) stopped in Queens to get Arbah Minim and shwarma. I had no appetite; I could barely finish a falafel. My body must have been nervous, because I otherwise would have wolfed down a shwarma in a laffa like it was no body's business. It's a strange thing though, when your mind isn't nervous (I knew that the worst that could happen to me after arriving is getting cheated out of a couple of bucks; in the ends I saved a TON of money, but more of that later), but I had many of the physical symptoms of being nervous. Very strange.
Anyway, my grandfather came to meet us in the shwarma place and, so as to expedite my younger brothers' bedtime, we decided that my father would go home and my grandfather would drive me to the airport. After a quick goodbye to my magnificent Uncle Bartholomew and awesome Aunt Sara, it was off to the airport, and with a goodbye to my grandfather, it was into the airport.
The next few hours were nondescript. The usual checking in, waiting for security, crying babies, etc etc. The one thing that separated this flight from all other previous flights is that I was so tired I actually slept the entire first leg of the journey! Seven hours of sleep between JFK and Lima, a first for me for sure. Lima was also uneventful; we were only there for an hour and half, and, by the time I got to the gate and davened (I am willing to bet not many people in Lima have seen tefillin) they were calling us to board. This flight was a little less uneventful. I spent most of reading the Let's Go Buenos Aires tour guide cover to cover (thanks Samantha!) and watching the first half of the Simpson's Movie (not that great), staring at the Andes (amazing!) and wondering what I felt about the trip. I really didn't feel anything; I wasn't nervous or excited, apprehensive or happy. Maybe because I did not plan at all and no idea what to expect, I just had a void where some emotion should have been. I assumed though, that I would be a tad nervous and apprehensive at first before I transitioned into excitement and happiness. I was quite wrong. As we began the descent and I saw the city, any potential fright fleetingly faded, sloughed off like a snake shedding it's skin, and, weirdly enough, I felt completely in my element! As if this is what I was made for. It was a great feeling, and, even though I don't speak the language and don't know the city (or perhaps because I don't know the city), I felt a surge of confidence.
Disembarking from the plane was where things started to get interesting. On the plane, on the way to the bathroom, I noticed two other kippot on the plane, though one was watching TV and the other sleeping, so I did not approach them. However, as we left the plane, I made sure to confront them. The first I met was a very tall version of Chaim Yerushalayim Nemetyoff (my father's cousin). It was very surreal, and he was a tad surly. All I was able to discover is that he lives in Buenos Aires and was visiting family in New York before we were separated by the security officials (tourists to the right, residents to the left). The other frum fellow lived, until recently, in Baltimore, near where Saarei Zion used to be (no, he did not know any of my relatives there). He told me he had recently moved to Cuzco, and was on a business trip looking for hair. Yup, hair. He and his wife run a shaitel (wig) business. We were separated as soon as it was my turn to go through security. Thank God, all the red tape security shmecurity customs shmustoms went without a hiccup and (after exchanging money and futilely trying to find a SIM card for my cell phone (I have yet to accomplish that task) I was outside and trying to find transportation to the city.
I was told to take a company called Tienda Leon, but of course, as soon as I got out of the airport I was assaulted by the cab drivers, who offered upwards of 95 pesos (3 to the dollar). I asked about Tienda Leon and was told it is a shuttle service that takes you to the city center for 45 pesos. The hostel, said the nice cabbie, would be another 40 pesos ride from the city center and it would be two hours before I got there! Luckily, I spotted another kippa from afar. I ran over to them and asked them the best way to get to Belgrano (the neighborhood I am staying in) and after a bit of chatting in Hebrew, they drove me to the subway and for 1.10 pesos I took the subway right to the hostel! For the record the Zayat family of Buenos Aires (no relation, supposedly, to the Zayats of Teaneck) are amazing. Not only did I get a ride and saved at least 80 pesos, I got a new contact and a great tip on where to buy Arbah Minim.
The hostel is nice; there is WIFI, a kosher kitchen, breakfats and shabbat/chag meals included, and they are now building the sukkah. The rooms are dormitory rooms (five to a room) and I have not seen the bathrooms yet, but it seems a great place (though we shall see how things go for the long term). I have yet to call my contacts here, as I have yet to buy a SIM card, but I will do that as soon as I finish typing this message. Then it is relaxing time until tomorrow, when I have my oral Spanish placement test at 11:30 and my first class at 1:30.
Ciao for now!
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
It's a Rush
I am in the last whirlwind minutes of packing. I do hope I have everything that I need. I definitely have enough underwear and socks; all the rest is commentary. No, I am not entirely done packing and yes, I am leaving for Queens in a half an hour. Seriously though, I just realized that I am going to a country with an entirely different country, where I don't speak a word of the language, and where I am only bringing what can fit into an internal frame backpack (I may fold and take a duffel). It doesn't help that the manager of hostel where I will be staying for the first night asked me if I was Israeli, and when I told him I was American he paused for a bit, made an 'oh' sound, and finally said (in Hebrew) "Well, it's really all Israelis that come here, but I am sure you will be fine." Oh boy. It will be a bit crazy, but it will be awesome. Many people have been asking me why I am going, and, besides for the desire to learn Spanish, the desire travel, the raves I have heard about Argentina, my need to get out of my parents' house (that one's a joke) and the sizable Jewish community, I am doing this in order to put my self in an uncomfortable position. I want to be pushed to the limits of what I can do and past it; it is the only way, I think, to grow, and above all, that is what I want to do this year. The only reason I do want to get out of my parents' house is because I am comfortable there, too comfortable.
Anyway, this is a bit rushed, because I do have to go and finish packing and shower. Shoot, I forgot to pack myself food! Okay, signing off for now, catch you on the other side.
Ciao!
Anyway, this is a bit rushed, because I do have to go and finish packing and shower. Shoot, I forgot to pack myself food! Okay, signing off for now, catch you on the other side.
Ciao!
I will post soon...
I will post soon, I promise, but I am not packed yet; once I am done I will be back.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Test Post
Hello all. I've decided, in anticipation of not having that much internet access down in Argentina, that instead of trying to keep in touch with everyone individually (sorry folks) I would write a blog whenever I can and let any interested in knowing what I am up to. For example, I am now listening to my brother telling me that I may become a drug dealer (seems to be from the Schmooze magazine).
Anyway, I should take a step back. If you are reading this, you may know that I am going to Argentina, first to Buenos Aires, for the next 4 months. I have a year off between college and medical school (this is, by the way, the reason behind the name of my blog; liminal is anything to do with the finishing of one process, right before the beginning of the next. In my case, my limin is a year long), and I want to see, do, and have as many new experiences as I can. I also want to learn Spanish, which is why I am going to Argentina.
I'm leaving in less than two weeks (why am I going again) and, as yet, I don't really have any plans. I've got a couple of contacts down there, but I don't speak the language, have a place to stay, take classes, have arbah minim, haven't gotten vaccinations yet (I need to get vaccinated for yellow fever, what fun!), or have really any idea of what I am doing. Psyche! All I know is that other people have done it and have survived, which only takes a little away from the fun of it.
I'll post next when I get more news.
Ciao! (That's what they say in Argentina for goodbye)
Aaron
Anyway, I should take a step back. If you are reading this, you may know that I am going to Argentina, first to Buenos Aires, for the next 4 months. I have a year off between college and medical school (this is, by the way, the reason behind the name of my blog; liminal is anything to do with the finishing of one process, right before the beginning of the next. In my case, my limin is a year long), and I want to see, do, and have as many new experiences as I can. I also want to learn Spanish, which is why I am going to Argentina.
I'm leaving in less than two weeks (why am I going again) and, as yet, I don't really have any plans. I've got a couple of contacts down there, but I don't speak the language, have a place to stay, take classes, have arbah minim, haven't gotten vaccinations yet (I need to get vaccinated for yellow fever, what fun!), or have really any idea of what I am doing. Psyche! All I know is that other people have done it and have survived, which only takes a little away from the fun of it.
I'll post next when I get more news.
Ciao! (That's what they say in Argentina for goodbye)
Aaron
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