waiting...

I've been here almost a month now, but it doesn't feel like nearly that long. I'm getting used to the language and the city, but I still feel like I'm waiting around for something to begin, in a more official sense. While this may be a greater existential issue I'll eventually have to deal with, for right now it mostly has to do with my internship.

I spent the first three weeks in the office, reading materials from their library and listening to people's conversations about the work they were doing, but without having any particular assignment. I've been able to attend a couple of talleres, (trainings or workshops) for the women in the barrios associated with the MEDH, but that has so far taken up about one day a week.

I am trying to adjust to a slower pace of life and different expectations, but also get involved in as many other activities as possible, so that I'm not just in the house all day. This week I will be starting a course in Argentine political history at the Universidad Popular Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, which I am excited about. The Madres are a very activist organization, and I'm pretty sure I'll get a perspective in this class that it would be hard to find in a typical university in the US.

Here is a link to their website:
http://www.madres.org/univupmpm/univumpm.asp

...and a photo (actually one of Laura's photos from when she was here):


I've also been exploring my neighborhood, and one of the first things I ran into a couple of blocks away from my house was this:





The sign says, "On this site, the clandestine detention, torture and extermination center 'El Olimpo' functioned from August 16, 1978 to the end of January, 1979." The memory of the time of the dictatorship is still very present everywhere here.