Buenos dias!

I arrived in Buenos Aires early on Wednesday morning. My cousin, his wife and their son met me there and we took a ride around the city. It was a pretty relaxed first day and at the end of it, my cousin drove me to my new apartment. I had to be at the Help Argentina office at 12:30pm the next day and I need up being 45 minutes late. I left at the right time, asked for directions several times, and had to take several subways but I finally made it to the Help Argentina office. We had a very brief orientation because I was late but then we left to go to Crecer con Amor.

Crecer con Amor is located in Lomas de Zamora which is an area just outside of the city. Mercedes works for Help Argentina and she was showing me how to get there and introduce me to the people of Crecer con Amor as part of my orientation. We took a subway, then a train, and finally a colectivo (bus) to get to Lomas de Zamora. Once there it reminded me a bit of the Dominican Republic when I was doing community service there. A lot of the ground was sand and there was a lot of trash. This is a very poor area and when I told people where I was working, they acknowledged that.

Mercedes and I arrived at Crecer con Amor and met the director Jacqueline. One can tell that she truly loves this place and loves her job. We met the other teachers and one of the other volunteers for Help Argentina, Erika. She has been working there for 5 months already and will be there for another 5-6 months. Volunteers for Help Argentina usually help the teachers with their classes. There are four classes divided by age group.

I brought some English children´s books to help with their English lessons but then I was told that they don´t have an English class there anymore because the man who taught English there does not work at Crecer con Amor anymore, although he visits often. Since I have some experience teaching ESL, I may be helping to start English classes again at Crecer con Amor, including helping to coordinate the English lesson plans for possibly the next year! I am very excited about possibly taking this on as a project for Crecer con Amor. I will be discussing it more with Jon Teel, the on-site volunteer coordinator once he gets back from the United States.

It is a two hour commute from Palermo (my neighborhood in Buenos Aires) to Lomas de Zamora which I will be taking twice everyday Monday thru Thursday and sometimes Friday depending on my energy level. I definitely think it will be worth the commute though to volunteer and help teach. A typical weekday for me will consist of Spanish class at Alem Spanish School which is about 12-15 blocks from my apartment from 9-11am, then I work at Crecer con Amor from approximately 1-5pm, but because of the commute I need to leave almost immediately from the Spanish school to Lomas de Zamora. I will get back to my apartment around 7pm.

I am very excited to begin taking a Spanish class and volunteering on Monday. Tomorrow I am going to Tigre with my cousin and his family which should be fun.