Presentation to Castro Elementary School

Hello Castro Elementary School!

I wanted to walk you through some of the cool places that I've been to visit in the last couple of years, and I thought I would use my Google Blogger account to do so.

ARGENTINA






















URUGUAY











CHILE







BRAZIL











PERU

Happy Birthday!

On the eve of my 24th birthday, I thought it was high time to start writing on my blog again. A lot has changed since I moved back to the Bay Area after spending all of last year in Buenos Aires. I am working in a challenging field and am constantly learning new things. Although I get overwhelmed at times, I am so blessed to learn something new every day. There is a never a dull moment :)

I also moved to San Francisco and am living with one of my good friends from highschool. It's been a really wonderful living up here. I've been exploring new restaurants with friends, getting to know our neighborhood (when I don't stay late at work,) and am trying to meet new people.

I will be posting to the blog much more regularly and welcome comments!

Check out my webpage!

Hi everyone!

I'm going to keep updating my blog, but I wanted to let you all know that I know have a website as well! Please visit and continue to leave comments on this blog as well.

http://leslieahernandez.googlepages.com/home

Toto Concert

We went to the Toto Concert here in Buenos Aires at the Gran Rex Theater. Christina and I met up with Olaf and Mirko for the show-- it was absolutely hilarious :) I had to include concert footage because the show was great!



Hold the Line



Africa



Crowd at the Gran Rex Theater

Mom's *Second* Trip to Argentina

My mom just spent 10 days with me in Buenos Aires and we had an absolute blast. I took her to a pretty eclectic set of events and destinations, but I think she had a good time :) She was here during Halloween, which is not a widely celebrated holiday in Argentina. Fortunately, there are enough foreigners who live here to keep the tradition alive. I spent Halloween at Milion with a lot of expats and went as Minnie Mouse!



Robert and I.



Olaf and Mirko-- Olaf stole my ears!



Olaf and I-- ears back where they belong :)

Here are some other highlights from mom's trip-- I think the funniest thing I took her to was my weekly AIDS outreach class at the AIDS Foundation here. I won't go into the details of what she witnessed, but needless to say, she got a very progressive view of Buenos Aires!

We attended a soccer match at River Plate Stadium, which was amazing. The entire stadium was full of River fans because they played a team from Uruguay.





We also went to Tigre, which is a beautiful town along the delta leading to the Rio Plata. It's a series of waterways with restaurants, houses and hotels. We splurged and hired a private boat to take us out to La Gata Blanca for lunch. It was a beautiful day.





We had the most spectacular day in the country watching polo at the Hurlingham Polo Club. The weather could not have been better.







We also spent a morning at the Rose Garden.





I took mom to Costanera Sur while I did HIV/AIDS education and outreach with the AIDS Foundation here.



She and I also attended a lecture with former President, Raul Alfonsin regarding the state of human rights in Argentina since 1983.



A little blurry (he's in the middle.)



Right before I got to shake his hand-- what a thrill!

Needless to say, mom did a lot while she was here. My time in Argentina is coming to an end and I have been so fortunate to spend eight months here. I have had so many great experiences in South America that I will remember forever. That said, I cannot wait to come home!

Argentine Expressions

My friend, Jorge, and I were discussing a book called "Che Boludo" which goes through Argentine expressions and give their literal and contextual definitions in English. We went through a ton of expressions and fun words that I want to document, so they're going up on the blog :)

Tirarse a la pileta: to take a leap of faith
El no, ya lo tenes: the worst they can say is no
Esto en pedo/ Me agarre un pedo barbaro: I'm buzzed/drunk
Transar: to bribe (verb)
Arreglo: a bribe (noun)
Ni a palos: used to describe something you wouldn't normally do
Fulanito/Fulanita: John Smith/ Jane Doe
menganito: person X
No me va: It's not for me
Entre espada y la pared: between a rock and a hard place
Me mande un moco: It was my fault
Guaranga/o: Uneducated/common
Muletilla: Space filler/used like we use "ummm" in English
Boludo: idiot
Genio: someone with athletic prowess/a hero
Caprichoso/a: Spoiled
Hacer la vista gorda: To look the other way
Cosecharas lo que sembras: Yo reap what you sew
Cara de culo: butthead
Hecho mierda/Estoy hecho mierda: Dead tired
La tengo clara: I have it down
Por las buenas/ por las malas: politely/ rudely
Tumulto: very full (i.e. party, subway car)
Apretujados: squished can't moved
No se priva de nada: Not missing anything/ enjoying everything
Correcaminos: Roadrunners

I'm sure there will be more up soon since I'm getting my copy of "Che Boludo" on Wednesday :)

Oktoberfest 2007!

I just got back from an amazing weekend in Villa General Belgrano, which is in the state of Cordoba in central Argentina. This was a big three-day weekend in Argentina so everyone was traveling somewhere **see pictures of Retiro bus station below** Every year Villa General Belgrano hosts a wonderful Oktoberfest. The town literally is overrun with Oktoberfest activities. We went with a great group of expats, drank some fantastic beer, ate delicious German food, partied with Argentines from all over the country (as Americans, we were very much a novelty at a predominantly Argentine Oktoberfest) and had just a crazy weekend. Here are some of the highlights.



The group waiting for our bus which ended up leaving two and a half hours late :)



The insanity that was Retiro bus station on Friday night.



Sarah, Florencia, Hernan, and Sergio pumped for the nice long bus ride to Cordoba :)



Me, Kurt, and Lynn equally excited for the bus ride.

We arrived this morning and had an interesting time finding a campsite that still had space. Luckily, we ended up at Nido Gaucho, sent up the campsite and started enjoying the festivities.



Lynn, my lovely tent buddy, and Sarah



Christina and I on our first night out



The craziness that was Oktoberfest





Lots of music, lots of dancing. Basically, they pumped music through the entire town the entire weekend. There was definitely a range in quality of the music that they played, but it contributed to a really fun atmosphere.



Kurt showing off his injuries



Most of the group



Kurt and I with our glorious steins :)



Hmmm, what do we have here?



Oh, right. This is how amusement parks roll in Argentina. Something breaks? Temporarily suspend the ride, bust out your blow torch, "fix" problem, re-open ride two minutes later. The samba was a centrifuge-like ride with no seat belts or safety harnesses of any kind-- refer back to Kurt showing off his injuries, all from the samba :) We all went on this ride the first night with no problem. The second night, however, they decided that something needed to be fixed and busted out the blow torch. I stood there with my tickets in hand to get on the samba for another whirl but could not bring myself to actually get on the ride after I watched the man with the blow torch "repair" whatever "problem" he had found.

And there you have it , Oktoberfest 2007. Too bad the Argentine rugby team lost to South Africa :( People are still passing around photos so there might be more posted soon :) Have a great week!