This summer, I am spending a winter in Argentina with 5 students and a university intern. In the last week we have been working on a school garden project at Pilares School, and we painted a beautiful mural at the school.  I have also been adopted by a loving and friendly family who refer to me as brother, son, grandson, and nephew by my respective family members. Though I had envisioned tall Andean Mountains when I thought of Argentina, we are living in a land as flat as a board, surrounded by two large rivers, the Parana and the Salado. On the outskirts of town are the ¨country clubs, ¨ where gated communities are filled with large, gorgeous trees, and green fields. In between here and the center are the ¨villas, ¨ the ghettos.  These projects are vast and are distinctively marked by layers and layers of trash where the government paid workers refuse to go to pick up garbage.

Let me explain my typical weekday to you thus far.  I wake up at 730am, and wait for the students to arrive at my house at 8am.  I have cereal for breakfast.  We take a bus to Pilares school where we teach English lessons, paint the mural (pictures), and work to create a healthy vegetable garden.  We eat lunch at Pilares (its a K-12 school with 350 students) with the Kindergartners. In the afternoon I teach workshops on composting, amending soil, and building a greenhouse with the students. We have been well received.  At 3:30pm we return to ISDI, the English Institute where Virginia and Edit (our GSE Argentina Directoras) work.  We often teach workshops to local students.  In the evening we have various activities: tango lessons (picture), trips into the city, and just hanging out with our families.  I eat around 10 pm and usually stay up talking with the family at the table until around midnight.

The family dynamic here is unbelievable and has nearly brought me to tears.  As I mentioned, my family has adopted me, told me I have a place to live anytime I am in Argentina, and called me their son, brother, grandson, and nephew. We eat together and will stay at the table talking untill midnight.