Even when I think I'm going to have the same schedule, that I have my classes nailed down and I know what to expect from the week, things always change.
In the beginning, this instability really annoyed me.
More than that, it drained me.
It was exhausting to feel like I never fully knew what to expect. I have spent basically my whole life either as a student or working in education, with practically every hour of the day tightly scheduled. I had reliable routines that I could stick to. And having that suddenly taken away... it was really really hard.
At some point, though, I guess I got used to it... and now I actually kind of like it. Some of the time.
I like that I can spontaneously decide to spend a couple hours chatting with a new friend and not have to worry that it's cutting into my carefully blocked-out work time. I like that I don't have to set an alarm in the morning and I can wake up when I feel rested. I like that I can book last minute tickets to go on a weekend trip.
Every day is, truly, an adventure.
And I've been feeling like my adventures are becoming a little more successful as I become more adept at navigating the unexpected.
The past couple weeks, I worked on a short series of lessons at a secondary school about cooking and how-to vocabulary. I brought in a video about how to make lemon bars (along with some actual lemon bars to share), we watched it and they had to identify the different verbs used to describe each action, and then they had to match images of the different utensils with their names. We watched the video several times, and broke down the structure: introduction (why make this recipe?), chronological step-by-step instructions (with measurements and verbs), and finally conclusion (how did it turn out?). With this outline, the students had to make their own recipe videos.
I was honestly really impressed with what they created. This is a large class (33 students) in a public school, and the English proficiency level is all over the place. But these kids obviously have more cooking experience than I did as a 14 year old, and they made some pretty impressive recipes ("beat to stiff peaks"? I definitely wasn't very good at separating egg whites and beating them the correct amount at that age!)
At the beginning of this, I wasn't sure how many classes we would have together, what exactly I was supposed to cover, or where to find the classroom. But I made some plans that could be extended or shortened as needed, made choices about content that seemed relevant and important, and... well, wandered around the school building without the ability to contact the teacher until I finally found the classroom and got started about 15 minutes late.
I also switched classes at my regular institute on Monday to give a presentation about the education system in the US, which was fantastic-- I learned a ton doing research, was reminded of how passionate I am about the topic, and had some great conversations about differences and similarities with the Argentine students.
And I made a last-minute presentation on Halloween, which I ended up splitting into two separate presentations and skipped around the slides totally out of order, but made something coherent out of it and got across the main ideas to the students.
I also did not check the weather and got caught in a huge rainstorm on the way to my aerial class and walked in totally soaked (but happy) and found that most of my fellow aerialists love the rain like me and were also feeling giddy and energetic because of the lovely dark grey clouds up above.
With that energy I decided to try something I had done on the rope back in high school, and for the first time I was able to show my classmates something new and they were actually impressed by it (this is legit the first time this has happened, usually it is totally the other way around).
There are, of course, times at which the unexpected can be inconvenient and frustrating and stressful. And as much as I might expect the unexpected, I never know exactly what kind of unexpected to expect (haha try saying that 3 times fast).
This week I had to renew my 90-day tourist visa, which expires on November 7. I had gone in a month ago to try to renew it, and they told me I was literally too on top of my shit and I had to come back a few days before it expired. So I went back on Wednesday, November 1, thinking the process (of trámite, as they call these bureaucratic paperwork procedures) would take maybe a couple hours.
Of course, I was wrong.
I arrived at the Migrations office a little bit before noon, went upstairs where I had been told to go, knocked on the door to ask for assistance, and told them I needed to renew my 90-day visa. They asked me to wait "un minuntito," just a minute, and I waited a little over an hour until they finally printed a piece of paper saying that it would cost 900 pesos... and then told me I had to go pay the fee at the national bank, about 20 minutes away. Also I had to get a passport-size photo taken. By this time, it was siesta, so almost everything was closed down (even in the city center). I walked around for about 15 minutes before I finally found a kiosko that was open that could take my photo, and then I made my way to the bank. I got there at about 1:40pm, only to find that it closed for the day at 1:30pm and I'd have to come back again the next day.
So I did. On Thursday I left my house earlier in the morning and arrived at the bank shortly after 9am. I asked where to pay and was directed to the DMV-like waiting room on the main floor, where I grabbed my number (C050) and sat down to wait until I was called up (the screen was on B038). I was called up around 10:30am, made my payment quickly and easily, and then headed back to the Migrations office, thinking I was finally on the last step.
No, Lizzy, of course that was not the last step.
I once again knocked on the door upstairs, showed them my paper proving that I had paid, waited again for about an hour (at this point it was about noon), and then they came out, gave the paper back to me, and told me to go downstairs to get another piece of paper...
So I went downstairs, had no idea what the system was, found a little ticket machine with numbered tickets, grabbed one, and when I was called up I was told I didn't need a ticket and that I would be called by name. This wait felt like the longest yet, although it was broken up by a few random conversations, one with a binational student from Honduras and Peru who wanted to study at one of the oldest and best universities in South America (University of Córdoba), and another short interaction with a couple from Portland, Oregon who were moving to Argentina with their adorable 2-year-old.
Finally my name was called, I signed a paper and scanned my fingerprints, and went back upstairs... to wait some more!
It was after 1pm, I was starving and bored and tired, but they finally came back out, handed me a piece of paper saying I'd been certified to stay for another 90-days, and I was able to leave that building... hopefully once and for all.
All of this because my visa would expire just 3 weeks before I left the country. *sigh*
Everyone I talked to said that this was pretty standard-- they never expected to finish a trámite in a single day. My housemate started singing Maria Martha Serra Lima's "La tercera es la vencida" (third time's the charm) when I came home feeling tired and frustrated on Wednesday (my second try to renew the visa), and she was right. In the end, I did manage to get what I needed.
There was another unexpected event this past week that could have been awful, but somehow everyone handled without any major issues: after a series of wildfires followed by the sudden storm that had gotten me drenched before my circus class, the water purification plant that provides water to most of the city of Córdoba Capital got clogged with debris and water was cut off in many parts of the city. Luckily there was water in the water tanks so that people could still rinse dishes and have drinking water, but schools had to shut down because they couldn't depend on there being enough reserve water in the tanks.
The unexpected holiday allowed me to spend time with my fellow Fulbrighter here and celebrate having made it through a wild 8-month ride.
I've only mentioned him a couple other times, I think... once when I commented on the fact that he had so many suitcases that I had to help him carry them when we first arrived.
For the first few months, we mostly did our own thing. We're very different people in some ways, and I think we didn't really know how to interact with each other-- not to mention we were each going through a bunch of other things along with the transition to this new city.
But I always knew that he was there, in the city in with me, the only other person who was really in a similar situation... and when we came back after the Rio Conference, I guess something clicked and we started talking.
Now, I don't know what I would have done without him here... I think Córdoba was one of-- if not the only-- city with two Fulbrighters, and I am so, so grateful.
Since classes were cancelled, I spent the evening at the new place he had moved into during the last part of the grant, a residencia for extranjeros, foreigners. We talked a lot, cooked dinner, darted out into the rain and bought some wine from the kiosko next door, and played tipsy Jenga (pronounced "schen-ga" here) until early in the morning.
As frustrating and difficult as it may be sometimes to wake up each morning not knowing what this day is going to throw at me, it's also a little bit freeing. I think I have released my grip on the expectation that I need to do everything, all the time, and do it perfectly. And I think it took a certain level of letting go of my rigid expectations to begin to really flourish.
Pics/videos of the week:
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| "Cellulite is normal and you are beautiful," a body-positive sign up in the secondary school bathroom where I work |
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| "Attention: Your image in this mirror may be distorted by false stereotypes of beauty," another awesome poster in the bathroom. (Underneath it there is also a take one/leave one box ford pads and tampons) |
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| La Salle school, an elementary/middle school that is basically a castle. Visited to see my professor's daughter perform on the aerial silks-- video below!! |
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| After the aerial silks performance I went over with my professor's daughter and played on the silks a bit... may have forgotten that wearing jeans is not the best idea on silks... ooops... (they were old jeans anyways) |
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| These gorgeous purple flowers have been blooming all over the city. I've taken about a million pics of them because they are so pretty and they make me happy. |
A glance at what a public secondary school classroom looks like in Córdoba, Argentina
A quick tour around the space where I do aerial arts here. Wall art: "Love is in the air... climb up to look for it." / "Overcome your limits."
Professor's daughter and her classmates performing on aerial rope... to the Spanish version of "How Far I'll Go"!! (yeah I got way more excited about that than the actual kids were...)
Spontaneous dancing at the residencia where I hung out with my fellow Fulbrighter and friends (sorry it shows up sideways and I can't make it rotate...)
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