Where did the time go?

I'm preparing my final papers and studying hard for my neuroscience exam, but I find that I'm asking myself where did the time go? This semester flew by faster than any other semester I've had. It's sad, I'll be leaving Buenos Aires in about a month and this semester will be history, as they say.

I have much to post about--trips, knitting, reflections, photos--however no time right now. Hopefully Saturday when I have no more classes or assignments, I'll have time to start updating things.

¡Chau!

The last piece of cake!

Aren't the last pieces of cake always sad? It usually means it's the end of another celebration. For me it means that my time in Argentina is running out, too.

My Birthday - June 14

This is my birthday group at La Cabrera. Matt, Dave (me), Lindsay, Stephanie, Holly, and María (from left to right). María arranged a special birthday toast of champagne after she told our waiter that it was my birthday.

Saturday was my birthday when I turned 22--another year for the wiser! I had a really fun and special birthday. It started the night before with a cocktail at midnight at Milion, which is a classy bar in Buenos Aires.

Saturday morning María woke me up and surprised me with a lovely cake topped with Strawberries. She told me that it was "my" cake.

I went to Chinatown with Matt for lunch and returned later in the afternoon. In the evening 4 friends, María, and I went to La Cabrera which is a fantastic parilla (Argentine steak house) in Palermo. The food was great. I have pictures of our entrés in my birthday web album.

This is a special picture of my host mother and I.

I decided to share my cake and invited my friends back to the apartment to share my birthday cake. Afterwards Steph, Matt and I went out to a bar for a little. What a wonderful birthday. My 22 birthday will always be special since I celebrated it here among friends in one of the neatest places in the world!

My birthday Picasa Web Album is in this link. Check the photos out!

Artwork - San Telmo

"Puerto Madero" by Angel Carrasco, 2008, acrylic on paper, 15 x 15 cm.

I bought this small painting at the San Telmo Fería on 5/18/2008. I was very attracted to Carrasco's use of color and value. It reminds me of a painter my friend Faith used to admire when I took art lessons with her.

I really liked a different work of Carrasco's, but it was beyond my budget. My goal is to collect small paintings of Argentine painters on a student's budget--con suerte. I need to find some tango paintings that aren't so merchandised...

La bolsa mercado - Market Bag Project

This is the bag filled with yarn for my scarf project, yes, hanging from the ceiling fan.

I have finished this project for some time now, but I haven't had a chance to blog about it. I whipped this up right after I got here because I found myself going through all of these plastic bags--Argentines notoriously wrap and bag everything. I try to be as environmentally conscious as possible, so I wanted to cut down on the number of plastic bags I used.

Here's a close up of the bag.

Janelle, one of my knitting buddies from Gburg recommended the project to me, too, since I have been wanting to make some lace. This is a lace pattern of sorts, and it uses cotton yarn--there's no shortage of cotton yarn in Argentina.

I chose Elisa's Nest Tote that was posted on the Purl Bee's Blog. It is a very easy pattern to memorize since its really only 2 pattern rows and they are highly repetitive. I could have easily finished the bag in one sitting, but it took longer since I am not sitting and knitting a whole lot right now. I do it in between things or right before bed.

I do have some comments about the pattern that I have fixed in my second bag. After you make the body of the bag, I would highly recommend to seam the bag inside out so that you don't see the seam from the outside.

Also, the pattern calls for you to cast-on the handles with a traditional cast-on and then Kitchener them together at the end. I think this would be accomplished much easier by using a provisional cast-on (that Janelle thankfully explained). I used Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on, but you could use whatever you'd like. I provisionally casted-on the stitches and the Kitchenered them when I finished the handle.

Ravelry Link

Photo speaks more than words.

This photo was taken at Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay behind the boardwalk.

I've had rants about graffiti before and likely will continue to have them, sorry Morgan. I think it's really interesting when I see graffiti in English in a Spanish-speaking country. This was right behind the boardwalk at Colonia del Sacramento. I have to wonder what the intention of the people putting the writing on the wall must have been.

Do you think they were apathetic to government? A group of high school hell raisers? Or quite possibly an American tourist. It's something to ponder...How does graffiti effect you?

Rachel Ray Ad

Rachel Ray and Dunkin' Donuts created an ad where Ray is wearing a scarf that is traditionally worn by Arabs. These scarfs are called kaffiyehs. The company has stopped the ad in result of right wing bloggers and commentators saying that the scarf represents characteristics that terrorists harbor. Since when does a scarf--or any other clothing--mean anyone is a terrorist?

It is ridiculous that an ad was removed over this scarf. First off--my friends and family will vouch--I really dislike Rachel Ray's show; in fact if its on the TV I switch it off immediately. I dislike her over-animated and giddy style. Even though I dislike her show, I think there's a niche for her on Food TV and now on daytime television.

I think it is insane that any article of clothing insight's terrorism, or is representative of terrorism when the clothing is usually worn by a collective culture. I mean that would be like saying all blonds are horrible people--that statement makes no sense. Furthermore, I find it ironic that the kaffiyehs scarves are fashionable. They should be since they're beautifully made and have pretty designs on them.

For the Associated Press article: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Dunkin-Donuts-Ad-Pulled.html?scp=1&sq=dunkin+donuts&st=nyt

If Ray is a terrorist, then most of my friends are too. All of them seem to have multiple scarves, since its part of popular fashion right now in the US, Europe, and, believe it or not, South America.

Furthermore, I think this demonstrates our misunderstanding of Arab culture more than anything. Part of the reason why they're the fashion now is that the handiwork of these scarves is amazing. In America, we are a nation built by the complex mix of people from all walks of life and all parts of the world. We're supposed to harbor this respect to all of the cultures and integrate them into our unique mixed American identity. We are a country that was born out of varied identities, why would a scarf be a threat now?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfMLqHCsEf8&feature=related
This is an excerpt fromt The View talking about it.

I like one of the points that was made on the view about the Holocaust. In Denmark the president during WWII wore a yellow star. Therefore everyone else in the country did, too, which made it impossible for the Nazi's to know who was Jewish and who wasn't. (I don't know the validity of this claim, I want to do some checking). However the point remains, we all should buy these scarves and wear them.

Fellow bloggers, blog about this. Ask people to also encourage wearing the scarves as a sign of cultural unity.