Upchuck Online

2011-11-20T03:36:00.001-03:00

No one seems to be updating their blogs lately- myself included. There's nothing on TV and my neighbors are playing their stupid techno really loud (it's 3:30 in the morning). It really is stupid music. I don't get it, the same line repeated over and over and over again? Maybe I'm exaggerating. I am grumpy when I'm tired.

My friends and I went to see the Gounod opera Romeo et Juliette the other night.

Can I just say, even from the nosebleeds I was smitten. Romeo was amazing; I'm glad I paid the extra five dollars to rent binoculars.

I think the techno stopped. Maybe I should go to bed now... before I am tempted to buy the magic jack. The Tummy Tuck Belt people already got me.

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

2011-02-12T22:34:00.001-03:00

Today my friends and I went for afternoon tea. Tea parties are as fun for grown women as they are for little girls. We went to the Scarlet Tea Room on Green Street in Pasadena.

The next time I'm at Ross I'm going to buy a fancy hat to wear for our next tea party.

The tea service began with a sweet raspberry sorbet- "to cleanse the palate."

As part of the tea service each of us chose a different tea "infusion." Cristina chose Eve’s Temptation - An infusion of blood orange, mango & apple; for Lisa- Once Upon A Tea - An infusion of chocolate bits, vanilla, mint & a secret. I chose Really Raspberry - Raspberry, rose hips, orange peel, hibiscus, fruit blend, berry leaves & pomegranate. They were all very good, but my favorite was Eve's Temptation.

I have to admit that I liked having my own tea pot. It was fun.

It was also fun using gold tongs to handle the sugar cubes.

We enjoyed a scone...

The scone was accompanied by fresh, whipped cream, strawberry preserves, and lemon curd.

The small, dainty sandwiches were just like the ones you read about in Jane Austen novels (or if you are like me you see them in Jane Austen movies).

They varied from walnut, chicken pesto and Parmesan to fig and goat cheese, sun-dried tomato and mozzarella, to green apples and cheese, salmon and chive spread, and brie, walnut and watercress.

I don't think I need to elaborate about dessert- this picture is enough.

Just when we thought the tea service was done, the waiter came out with fresh berries and whipped cream. I LOVE whipped cream.

It was so much fun. I think the only males in the entire joint were the waiters and the pianist.

I'm totally serious about getting an outrageously fancy hat for the next time we have afternoon tea.

"This website is the brainchild of my brainchild, Ryan. It is my brain-grandchild."- Michael Scott, The Office

2011-02-07T23:30:00.006-03:00

This semester I am working in a lab that studies Alzheimer's disease. This lab is WAY better than the last one I was in. There are no cranky, pregnant, French, wenches that take delight in making my life miserable. My boss is really cool- President Obama thinks so too- he gave her a citizen's award because she started a program that gets minority, high school students involved in scientific research.

I am taking a systems physiology class; we are currently talking about the nervous system. The professor brought some human cadaver brains for us to see.

I'm sorry if this grosses you out. (Well, not that sorry because, hey, I took pictures and posted them online). I've recently been learning to dissect mouse brains. There is a "mouse model" that parallels Alzheimer's disease in humans, so basically the mice get Alzheimer's and we learn about the disease (and hopefully develop treatments for it) by studying them. Taking the brains "out" is really creepy and gross at first. I feel guilty and like I'm going straight to hell every time I dissect out a brain.

Once the brain is out you don't really associate it with the animal that died- you run your experiments and do cool stuff with it...

... Cool stuff like fluorescently labeling a 10 micron section of brain to look for specific molecules and their interactions with other molecules within a cell.

When I held the cadaver brain in the pictures above, it was really fascinating and cool, not creepy. It would be totally different if I would have had to remove it from the cadaver- actually seeing the person it came from. I bet more people would be vegetarian if they had to butcher their own cows and chickens- it's a whole different feeling when you see the animal die. Then again, maybe it's not. A lot of people go deer and duck hunting. I'm not opposed to hunting- let me clarify- I'm not opposed to other people hunting.

I like to eat meat, but I don't want to see where it came from. I like to do cool experiments but I don't want to be the one to kill the mouse (I'll do it, I just don't want to). Maybe this makes me hypocritical, maybe not. If it does, I guess I'm okay with being a hypocrite.

What are your thoughts?

2010-12-28T00:55:00.007-03:00

"It's a great day for America everybody, yes it is!"

Jordan and I had 2nd row seats for a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson a few weeks ago. It was awesome, we were only a few feet away from Craig. Neil Patrick Harris was the guest- he's okay, I was just there for Craig.

I love when he does his Prince Charles impressions.

I've been in Provo for the past few weeks...

Luckily the snow has almost completely melted. I really don't like snow. I am happy to be in Utah with my family and friends though.

My first semester in graduate school went well- at least I think it did. My two classes (cell bio and human genetics) didn't wipe me out. I ended up working in the lab that studies cancer. It could have gone a lot better than it did. I didn't really get along with the post-doc that was training me. I don't think she liked me very much, but that's okay, she's not my favorite person either. Next semester I am working with a professor that studies Alzheimer's disease. I think I'm going to like working with her a lot.

I've been watching so much football lately, I almost know what's going on. My dad has a thing for Faith Hill.

He never misses the Sunday Night Football song.

¡Sí se Puede! - Yes We Can!

2010-10-24T21:55:00.000-03:00

President Obama spoke at USC on Friday. It was a really long day filled with lines and standing around, but it was totally worth it.

The zoom on my camera was pretty good. I wasn't that close to the podium, but considering it's the President of the United States I was in a good spot.

President Obama gave a really good speech.

President Obama's slogan of Yes We Can, was borrowed from the United Farm Workers' slogan- Sí se Puede. César Chávez helped come up with the slogan when he organized the Farm Workers in the '70s.

Jamie Foxx was at the rally too. He announced Barbara Boxer, and Jerry Brown. He was trying to get the crowd excited about voting.

It was a really neat experience and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go.

Nerd Speak

2010-09-27T03:12:00.003-03:00

Last week at church they called me to the break the fast committee. Today (fast Sunday), I was in the kitchen cleaning up when a guy who is new to the ward (like me) came in to heat up the fried rice he brought.

This guy is also a new PhD student, but he goes to Caltech and studies math/rocket science. Before you know it he's asking me questions about my program and we are talking about genomes and stem cells. But we weren't just "talking" about it, we were engaged in full on Nerd Speak.

One of the bishopric members was also in the kitchen doing something else; I know that the small smirk he was trying to hide was aimed at us.

Because of the Nerd Speak.

Piled High Deep

2010-09-16T18:37:00.001-03:00

So far school is going good. This week I have been meeting with professors to discuss their research. I have to choose three people that I would like to work with throughout the year; on Monday we have to submit our first choice.

Do I work with the guy that studies heart development? Or the guy that studies the genetics of Autism? Or the guy that is developing cancer drugs that will be going through clinical trials soon?

It's a hard decision because the topics are soooooo detailed. If I end up in the heart dude's lab, I could spend YEARS studying how some molecule affects this other molecule, that makes the outflow tract form correctly. Or how the defect of one molecule can screw everything up.

I don't know if I like hearts that much, or if I want to work with mice. I've worked with mice before and it made me feel guilty as hell- I wasn't even the one who had to anesthetize the mouse and then, well, you know...

I'm going out with my friend to get a Chinese foot massage a.k.a reflexology. It's only 15$ for an hour, and it's not just your feet, it's a whole body thing. (We went last week too).

I'm sure I'll be able to make a good decision after I've had a massage.

A good massage is the secret to life's problems.

Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-10T00:08:00.001-03:00

My mom came to visit over Labor Day weekend. We had so much fun!

We started at the La Brea Tarpits and museum.

Then we headed off to Beverley Hills; we came across my mom's street.

Then we bought a star map to stalk Russel Crowe and Tom Cruise. They all have huge fences, hedges and bushes- you are lucky if you can even see the roof of their house. We did see Russel Crowe's trash and recycling though. Exciting huh?

A picture of my cat. It doesn't have anything to do with my mom's visit, but it's a cute picture.

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!"

Are you singing along? Come on, you know you want to.

I love Disneyland. We especially love the teacups in fantasy land.

Watch the video below, you won't be sorry!

Venice Beach

2010-08-20T23:11:00.002-03:00

Venice Beach is awesome!

The drive was insane. I'm not used to major highways weaving in and out, ending and merging in every direction, and a bazillion cars trying to enter and exit all at the same time. I'll get the hang of it though.

Venice Beach is great for people watching. The Ocean Front Walk is hippie heaven.

No, I didn't go in...

There were fantastic murals painted by local artists.

There was a lot of touristy, manufactured-in-Asia junk that could be bought anywhere. If you looked really carefully though, you could find some really neat hand-made jewelry or hand-painted art.

I bought this really cute cat painting from the guy in the picture above. I LOVE it.

There are some good boogie boarding waves.

I bought another cat painting from the guy in the picture above. Can you tell I miss my cats???

I took pictures of these dudes at Muscle Beach for my dad because he is a bodybuilder too.

I had so much fun!!!

By the way, I start my Ph.D program on Tuesday. I'm thinking medicinal marijuana might not be such a bad idea after all.

Charlie bit my finger - again !

2010-07-11T01:28:00.002-03:00

This is the third most viewed video on Youtube. I can't believe I haven't seen it before now. I watch it over and over again.

I love the look on the kid's face, and then how Charlie laughs.

“Are you insane? Or are your pants too tight?!”

2010-06-24T19:16:00.003-03:00

Whoever can tell me what movie the title/quote comes from gets a prize.

The other day I was getting ready for work when I received a text message from one of my sisters, it said:

“I sat down and [my pants] cut off the circulation to my upper body.”

I tried not to laugh, but then I realized she probably sent the message to make me laugh. Don’t you just hate it when- in the words of Chingy- you have to “jump up and down just to put ‘em on, wiggle it around just to put ‘em on, [and] lay back on the bed just to zip them up?”

I sure do.

I swear I’m not obsessed with diets and big butts. It’s just that my shorts are a smidgen tight around the waist and I got to thinking…

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

2010-06-22T12:26:00.005-03:00

I love Elvis.

I'm listening to Elvis on my ipod right now.

I think I might name my first child Elvis- boy or girl. Elvis is a cute name for a girl, right?

Okay, maybe I wouldn't name a girl Elvis.

I first started listening to Elvis in high school- high school in Malaysia, not Provo High.

During art class, Mrs. Butler would let us listen to whatever we wanted when we were working on our projects. There were two students in the class so I got to choose the music a lot.

One day, we were listening to Elvis when Loh walked in. Loh and Mrs. Butler were good friends, he would often stop by to visit.

Loh was one of the security guards that worked at the front gate of the school letting people in and out. In fact, he was the head security guard. I found this picture of Loh online-it's amazing the stuff you can find using Google.

Loh was a big fan of Elvis too. He told me which movies to see and which Elvis movies not to bother with. Loh even made a mixed CD for us to listen to.

From then on, every time I saw Loh at school he would mention something new about Elvis. Or he would sing.

"Isn't it Satisfying to Take Care of Your Own Car?"

2010-06-20T01:18:00.008-03:00

Tonight I washed and detailed my car-by myself- for the first time since 2007. My dad coached from the sidelines... he's a pro because he washes it for me all the time. He reminds me to check the oil and add air to the tires. The only thing I do is pay for it- even then he takes the money out of my account every month and makes the payment.

While I was scrubbing away, Dafoo would ask me,

"Isn't it satisfying to take care of your own car?"

I'll admit, it was somewhat satisfying to finally vacuum my car and get rid of the dust. You know what is even more satisfying than taking care of my car??

My Obama dashboard-bobble head that I got in Hawaii.

I love kitschy crap like this.

But I digress...

I have the greatest dad in the world. We rarely call him dad...it's almost always Dafoo. When we lived in Malaysia we took Mandarin lessons because so many of the Chinese in Penang spoke Mandarin; Dafoo is the Mandarin translation for David.

My dad is so good to us. He's never yelled at me or my sisters- I don't think he's ever really punished us either. He's threatened, but that's about it.

Happy Father's day to the greatest dad in the world!

I love you Dafoo!

Juicy Double

2010-06-17T19:35:00.001-03:00

I have been on a diet for a few months. Yes, a DIET, not a "healthy life change" or whatever euphemism people like to use for the four-letter word. I think it is working, my Grandparents noticed when I last saw them. My Grandmother gave me a great piece of advice,

"Lose all the weight you want, just don't lose that big butt of yours. Big butts are really in style."

Who doesn't like being in style?

Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce know all about style.

I added a more recent photo because JLo's badonk-a-donk isn't as big as it used to be.

I can't remember what point I was getting at.

I've Got Gas...

2010-05-24T21:05:00.002-03:00

Gas laws that is.

Do you remember...

PV=nRT?

Pressure x Volume= number moles (R constant 0.08206L/mol*K) (Temperature in Kelvin)

Neither did I.

(ok maybe I did, I just hate sounding like a know-it-all.)

Christina is making up some chemistry worksheets so the teacher will raise her grade from a C+ to a B (she needs B's or better to get a specific scholarship). Christina has had all year to complete her chemistry worksheets but here we are-4 days before the school year ends- working on the chemistry worksheets (I can't really blame her, I wait until the last minute too).

Imagine a 17-year old, drama queen using her high-pitched "helpless" voice:

"Malaina!!!!! Help me!!"

Often times "help me!" is Christina-speak for "Do my homework for me, I don't really care about learning this stuff." I didn't really care about learning this stuff when I was in high school or when I was a freshman taking Chem 105 at BYU.

I guess I'm glad I know it now, it helps with all the biology stuff.

First Blood

2010-05-16T19:00:00.001-03:00

I saw First Blood today.

It was AWESOME.

I almost didn't make it to church because my eyes were glued to the TV. Rambo came on after, I set it to record and headed to church. One of my family members stopped the recording after 45 minutes.

Figures.

I'll have to get it on netflix or something.

2010-04-09T02:05:00.002-03:00

I'm going to a live taping of Craig Ferguson when I get to L.A.

The Royal Family of the Guitar

2010-03-30T22:00:00.001-03:00

The Romero family is known as the Royal Family of the Guitar.

They are all virtuosic classical guitarists.

In the video below, Pepe Romero plays Recuerdos de la Alhambra (memories of the Alhambra).

The Alhambra (literally means 'the red one' in Arabic), is a palace/fortress built in the 14th century by Moorish rulers. It is located in Granada, Spain. Recuerdos de la Alhambra, is a piece written by Francisco Tárrega- my favorite guitar composer.

Some day I'm going to Spain, and when I do I am going to see the Alhambra. I'm also going to learn Recuerdos de la Alhambra, it is one of my favorite pieces.

I found out today that Pepe Romero is a classical guitar professor at USC. So is Scott Tennant, a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. I first saw the LAGQ when I began taking classical guitar lessons- they came to Salt Lake and played with the Utah Symphony. He also wrote this book:

I totally own it. Everyone owns this book.

USC has a FABULOUS classical guitar program. I'm pretty sure I want to go to USC. They came back and offered me a 1,000 dollar gift card to the bookstore (hello, new computer). They also have a really good program for what I want to study. But then there's the University of Utah...they're going to give me a good deal and they have a good program too.

Anyone watching American Idol? I like Didi, but I am so sick of her crying and tearing up. It's getting old.

You know what else is getting old? Kara DioGuardi. I'm kinda sick of listening to her too.

Time for a new show, or at least time to cut TV out of my life and do some homework.

2010-03-19T15:10:00.002-03:00

L.A. Not So Confidential

2010-03-07T00:00:00.003-03:00

Did you ever see L.A. Confidential? It was pretty good AND Russell Crowe was in it.

Anyways....

I went to L.A. this weekend for a graduate school interview at USC. At first I didn't really want to go because it's becoming a pain in the butt to take so much time off school and work. I also didn't think I'd really like L.A.

Turns out I was wrong. I LOVED L.A. I really like the program at USC, and I definitely like the weather.

The campus is really nice too.

I even made some friends- this is my new friend Stacey. She's from Arizona but currently lives in California.

They wined and dined us. Seriously though, who doesn't like a little wining and dining every once in a while?

It's kind of nice that the students aren't the only ones kissing butt, the school has to kiss a little butt too. Most schools give out a certain number of offers each year and based on how many people accept, the school gets certain incentives or ranking increases. Because everyone is interviewing at numerous places, the schools have some incentive to focus on recruitment.

I made up for not drinking the wine by pigging out on food.

We each had our own rooms at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. This bed was one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in. I wanted to stash the pillows in my suitcase.

There were cool pictures all over the place.

Before this trip the only athletic club I'd ever heard of is the one in The Young and the Restless. Nothing goes on in Genoa City without everyone meeting at the athletic club at some point.

The highlight of the trip was eating at Yoshinoya. I haven't had Yoshinoya since living in Malaysia-even then we'd have to drive 4 hours to Kuala Lumpur to get to the closest Yoshinoya.

Yoshinoya is famous for their gyudon- or beef bowl. It's so good- especially with pickled ginger and some chili. I LOVE gyudon and haven't had it like this in years.

The Yoshinoya I went to was run by Mexicans, and filled with Mexicans. It was so great listening to the woman call out numbers and take orders in Spanish. It didn't quite have the same charm as the Yoshinoya in Tokyo, but it was a lot of fun.

One of my best friends from high school-Shinobu-is from Tokyo. I'd always tell her about my crazy obsession with gyudon and Yoshinoya. She told me that she had never been to Yoshinoya- apparently in Tokyo only businessmen eat at Yoshinoya and usually just during lunch breaks. It's really not as common for women or families to eat there. She was right too- when we went, it was nothing but businessmen in suits.

I really like L.A. I don't know about the traffic and living situation- apparently they recommend you don't live too close to the graduate school campus because the neighborhood isn't too safe. You've also got to be careful about where you park your car. I'd have to commute to school/work everyday if I ended up at USC.

The food might be worth it though.

It's All About The Fermentation

2010-02-26T01:31:00.007-03:00

I went to Denver last weekend for another graduate school interview. The people at the University of Colorado in Denver were a lot more down to earth and friendly than the people at UC San Diego. Too bad it's cold and snowy in Denver.

After interviews, the current graduate students took us downtown to look around. We crossed Larimer street; my grandma lived on Larimer street when she was a little girl. Her father owned a dress shop on Larimer and she would roller skate up and down the street.

I love listening to my grandma tell stories of her childhood, they all include Larimer street.

I was under the impression that we were going to walk around and go to a couple of malls or museums.

Before I knew it, we were passing the Rockies stadium and heading into a microbrewery. Only they didn't brew there, they just sold the beer. Wanna know what's more boring than watching while everyone else is sampling beer? Listening to them talk about beer and their favorite pubs while they drink the beer.

It was decided that we'd take off and walk to another microbrewery called The Great Divide. They actually brewed there.

Apparently you can attend brewer's school to learn about the process. They basically boil the grain and then feed the sugar water to the yeast; the yeast ferment it into booze.

The beer ages in kegs for some time.

Here's where they bottle it.

Don't forget though, it's all about the fermentation.

I eventually broke off from the group and headed to the 16th street mall. Exploring a new mall or shopping center is never boring.

We've been having a lot of fun watching the Olympics, especially the figure skating.

We're so glad the American won gold.

The speed skating has been really fun too.

Blah blah blah

2010-02-17T00:00:00.001-03:00

I don't want to do homework.

My homework for the past weekend has been studying this:

Exciting huh? Hemoglobin transports oxygen throughout your body... it makes your blood red. You know how the rock and dirt in southern Utah is bright red? It's from the oxidized iron- the iron in the dirt basically rusts and turns red. Blood is red because there are iron molecules that bind to oxygen.

I took my first biochemistry test today. I bet you can't guess what was on it.

I have a test in Greek mythology tomorrow. You've gotta love GEs. Ironically, I haven't read any of the Greek myths assigned to us. Okay maybe it's not ironic, just lame.

I'm know, I know, this is the most boring post ever. I don't want to do my homework. I have a presentation to give in plant physiology tomorrow, and an assignment due in ecology.

San Diego

2010-02-06T12:00:00.012-03:00

Just before my flight to San Diego, my Grandma lovingly fixed the hem on my pants. My mom bought me a nice suit for my interviews at UC San Diego- I spent like 3 or 4 hours the night before screwing around with hem tape and then trying to simply stitch the pants when the tape didn't work. The end result looked like a sloppy Home Ec. job. What can I say? My whole life seems to be a sloppy Home Ec. Job, I don't even know how to iron-it seems like when you get one part ironed it wrinkles in another. I know, it's lame.

My grandma says that ironing is the secret to a good hem. My grandma is really good at ironing and sewing.

Did you know my grandparents are famous?

Their picture appears in numerous Ensigns, Friends and Lesson manuals.

Check out page 65 of your Teaching of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith manual- they recently appeared there too.

Thanks Grandma for fixing my pants!

I think the interviews went good. I met with 5 different faculty members and had a 40 minute interview with each. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I'm competing with Harvard lab workers and other Ivy- leagers for a position at UCSD- it would be cool if I got in.

Here's a view of the Salk Institute- named after Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine. If I'm admitted to the biology program I would have the option to pick an advisor whose lab is there. I could probably spend five years researching in this building...

Citrus trees at the Salk Institute

View of the ocean from the Salk Institute. There are some stairs leading down to the beach.

This is a view from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, if I was accepted to the program I might be able to do a lab rotation here.

They closed the Scripps Birch Aquarium to the public and hosted a private dinner there for the Biology "recruits." We had drinks (or diet coke) and cheese/crackers while we socialized with the faculty. Just before dinner, I took off to look around the aquarium.

Look at these creepy-ass eels. I tried to get some more pictures but they turned out too dark. I didn't want to freak out the fish with the camera flash.

Here's another picture of the UCSD campus on some benches between two of the biology buildings.

We went on a harbor cruise and saw some of down town San Diego (UCSD is located north in La Jolla).

I'm glad the whole interview weekend is over- it was stressful acting intelligent and alert to put on a good show for the faculty. I really hope they let me in.

Shawna Barker Rollins

2010-01-30T19:58:00.005-03:00

Today was Shawna's funeral. It was a beautiful service. She touched the lives of so many people, and so many people love her and will miss her.

I'm sobbing even as I type this. I loved her so much. Our whole family loved her, and we love her husband Brad. Shawna was like family. This is the first time I've lost someone really close to me, and I've been having a really hard time dealing with it. I've been praying for her family and for Brad; the Lord is really helping me through this. It's hard to believe she's gone, but it's comforting to know that I'll see her again.

I'm so grateful for my wonderful family-it's a blessing to know that we are there for one another. I'm also grateful for wonderful friends who care for me. I'm grateful for the Lord, I honestly don't think I could have gotten through the past week without His love and help.

Brad and Shawna

2010-01-25T01:13:00.005-03:00

Brad and Shawna are our next door neighbors. We have known them for years-they call us their three daughters next door. Whenever one of us has a big event like going to prom or homecoming, or a birthday, Brad and Shawna come over and take pictures, and Brad interviews the guys (after my dad does). Shawna loves to babysit our pets when we go out of town; she fell in love with my Betta fish while watching over him while we were in Hawaii. Shawna would place him on the counter and turn the TV on for him. It excited her that the fish would get excited and swim to her when she went to feed it (because the fish didn't do so with Brad).

One time my parents went out of town over night, and the three of us had a sleep over at Brad and Shawna's. We ate pizza and watched Jaws. I can remember Brad rewinding one part over and over-the part where Brody tells this one dude that it was a massive shark killing the swimmers and the guy goes, "A Whaaat?" He says it in a real high-pitched voice and I laugh when thinking about how many times Brad rewound that part. Shawna told Brad it was ridiculous and to stop rewinding it. I have so many fond memories of Brad and Shawna together. At the time, Brad was working for a frozen pizza company or something so those were the pizzas we were eating. Shawna said she wanted the good stuff and made Brad order a pizza from Brick Oven. When the Brick Oven pizza finally arrived Shawna was ready for bed and told Brad to stick it in the fridge for the next day. Brad just smiled.

Shawna had a massive coronary on Thursday and has been in a coma since then. They found out today that she has lost a lot of brain activity; it is only a matter of time before they turn off life support. Shawna was so full of life, it's hard to see her in the hospital hooked up to a million different tubes and a respirator. I like to think of Shawna in her shorts and hat walking her dogs around the neighborhood. I like to think of Shawna driving around in her convertible; we all had turns driving it when Brad and Shawna first got it (I think we were all under 16 at the time). When I think of Shawna, I'm going to think of her laughing and full of energy.

I am so heartbroken to lose her. I am heartbroken for Brad and their family. Everyone loves Shawna so much. We are blessed to have had her in our lives, and we are going to miss her a lot. The Lord sustains us in our trials, I know He will take care of Brad and the loved ones Shawna leaves behind. I am grateful that this is not the end, that we can see Shawna again.

I fell asleep in class today...

2010-01-20T22:47:00.004-03:00

I was up really late last night reading Alexander Pope's Essay on Man, and Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. I had an essay on the readings due in class the next day. You know, it was like reading a foreign language at first. I haven't read any intellectual English literature since high school, I've been too busy with my science mumbo jumbo. When I have free time I can promise you I don't read Alexander Pope or Jonathan Swift, I read a bunch of mindless fluff.

Anyway, I was up late last night and fell asleep in my humanities class today.

I probably looked a little something like this:

Except there was drool running out the corner of my mouth. Yep. Drool. There was drool on my shirt when I woke up. Who knows how many people saw me! My class is an honors class-it's really small so I KNOW the teacher did. He probably wondered who the loser was with the drool coming out of her mouth and puddling on her shirt.

I wish I could say that this was the first and ONLY time this has every happened, but it's not.

How is a person supposed to stay awake when the lights are dim, the teacher talks really soft and there isn't a smidgen of caffeine to be found on campus? Seriously people, I need some ideas.

Bumpits

2010-01-18T00:00:00.005-03:00

This is Springville/Utah County hair. (I stole the pictures from other peoples' blogs, I didn't put the rats nest comment but I don't totally disagree).

Please notice the Poof in the back and the straight hair in the front.

That's right, plastic hair inserts to poof up your hair.

Jordan and I were feeling sorry for ourselves so we decided to go

"From Flat to Fabulous in Seconds!"

We went to Walgreens and invested in some Bumpits. We were bound and determined to get Springville hair. Jordan went all out and put on a tube top.

A variation of Springville hair. Poofy ponytail.

I tried soooo hard to get Springville hair but it didn't really work. I just couldn't get the poof!

You can barely see the bump! My head is so round and huge that the Bumpit evens it out. I'm totally NOT going to wear it out in public though.

Though I didn't totally accomplish the Springville look, we had fun with our Bumpits!

I've found a new respect for Springville poofs, they're harder to create than you would think!

I'm In Love

2010-01-09T20:15:00.008-03:00

No, not with Mark Sanchez. But can I just say "WOW!" I think I will start watching football more often. My dad and I watched the Jets/Bengals game and I discovered Mark. At first I was rooting for the Bengals because their helmets are cool...but I think I can live with the fact that the Jets won.

He was the star quarterback for USC... I applied there for graduate school. He's Mexican, I'm part Mexican. Maybe this is a sign that I should go to USC if they let me in, and that I should watch football on a regular basis.

I'm in LOVE with my new cats!

This is Dean. He is about four or five months old and very playful. He's as feisty and cute as can be.

This is Keegan, he's about 1 year old. Keegan is an Irish/Gaelic name that means "small flame, or ardent."

Keegan is kind of shy, but very cuddly. He sits real happily in your arms and purrs while Dean runs all over chasing things. Keegan is so lovable.

My Mom and Jordan drove out to Kanab, to visit the Best Friends Animal Society. They are a shelter that accepts all strays and doesn't euthanize them. They go into situations where animals are mistreated and rescue cats and dogs. They even care for animals that are unadoptable because of cabrónes like Michael Vick; some of those dogs will never be able to go home with people because they are so messed up. They have a home at Best Friends though. Everyone that works at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab is happy and loves all the animals. My Mom said that four people came out to say goodbye to Keegan when they found out he was being adopted.

Keegen was found by park rangers on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. He was huddled in a dilapidated barn; it had recently snowed and there were no footprints around so they knew he was hiding in there for a while.

Dean was dropped off with his brothers and sisters to the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary when they were 10 days old.

Check out my dad's "guns." He works out.

Thank you Best Friends, we are all so happy! I still miss Sugar and think of her a lot, but I'm happy to have my new cats.

I still can't sleep

2010-01-05T01:54:00.005-03:00

It feels like I haven't slept in ages. I lie awake all night exhausted but unable to fall asleep.

I told this to my mom last night and then asked her if she'd give me one of her Ambiens. She said:

"Yeah, sure." and pointed towards her bathroom and continued,

"On the far right in your dad's medicine cabinet you'll find his prescription... it's marked Ambien CR. They're little round blue pills... did you find them?"

I helped myself to one of his pills and went to bed. I woke up at midnight and threw up (I guess that's your punishment when you skip Relief Society to go to out to eat with your sister and friends).

I finally fell back asleep only to wake up a few hours later with the cramps from hell. Sorry if that's too much info... the name of my blog is Upchuck Online after all. That's the great thing about blogs; you can write anything you want even if you don't have anything significant to say-especially if you don't have anything significant to say. I look back over my old posts and it turns out I don't have anything significant to say. Seriously, I blog about my coats! How lame is that? Now I'm blogging about puke and cramps.

I need something inspirational to blog about. Hmmm...

Okay, how about this:

Did you know that you can clone a mouse from a stem cell? You can totally bypass the whole sperm and egg thing, and grow an entire mouse. A stem cell is a type of cell that has the potential to become any type of cell in the body-like a skin cell, or a heart cell, or a kidney cell. Now scientists are showing that stem cells can become an entire organism- a clone of the mouse you took the stem cell from.

Get this, you can take a skin cell or a heart cell or a kidney cell and turn it into a stem cell. You add certain DNA that programs the skin cell to revert back to a stem cell. It's called an Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell or an iPS cell. I worked on helping to make iPS cells over the summer in Mario Capecchi's lab-did I mention I worked for 2007 Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi? Okay, I did. Like a million times.

Now scientists are taking iPS cells, and cloning entire organisms from them! They took some skin cells off of a mouse tail (or whatever I don't remember what cells they used), turned them into stem cells, and then took the stem cell and grew an entire mouse! Theoretically, I could snatch one of your hairs, turn the living cells at the follicle into stem cells and then clone you.

Watch out.

That may sound kind of like the twilight zone, but I think it's inspiring. Some day they are going to be able to use this kind of technology to grow hearts and livers for people, or to treat diabetes. Scientists will be able to take skin from your body, and grow you a new liver that your immune system won't reject.

This kind of stuff is so fascinating to me- it's why I want to go to graduate school and be a molecular biologist.

I Can't Sleep

2009-12-29T03:08:00.002-03:00

Don't you hate when it's the middle of the night and you can't sleep because a million different things are running through your mind?

After cyber-stalking people on Facebook and checking everybody's blogs I mustered up the courage to check my grades. This past semester wasn't my greatest. Oh well. At least I passed physics- I was afraid that I would have to retake it (I got 39% on the final... you'd think I'd be too ashamed to let you all know my score). My senior year at BYU is starting to be affected by the "I-don't-shiv-a git- syndrome" that plagued me senior year at Dalat International School in Malaysia. I do want to get into graduate school so I guess I'll shape up next semester. I'm taking biochemistry... doesn't that sound delightful???? I worked with a biochemist over the summer- he said it's cool stuff and that it's different from organic chemistry. I'm still suspicious because it is chemistry after all.

I went and saw Where the Wild Things Are at the dollar movie.

I really, really wanted to like it, but it was soooo depressing (much like this post?). I also fell asleep through part of it, maybe I missed something important. I couldn't wait for it to end.

On the other hand,

Avatar was AMAZING!

My little sister's boyfriend Brandon has a good review here. He sure knows a lot about movies.

Check it out!!! I went and got a pedicure today.

Ugly toes are unacceptable-they are an abomination. Even in the middle of winter when you can't wear sandals and people don't see them. You might think my toes are pretty ugly-pedicure or not. Don't tell me though because it would offend my sensibilities and injure my vanity. This obsession with feet stems from my parents. My whole family is obsessed with feet. The first thing we look at when people step on the elevator or pass us as the grocery store is their feet- if they've got sandals on. I'm pretty sure I've posted about feet before. You don't have to get expensive pedicures but if you're going to wear sandals the least you could do is cut your nails and clean the dirt out of them.

I was hoping to see some whales while in Hawaii.

I didn't see any, but then again I didn't look very hard. I laid around like a beached whale-it's about as close as I got. I don't even know if killer whales migrate to Hawaii. I bet other whales do. I think whales are my new favorite animal... right up there with elephants.

I'm getting sleepy. Hope my rambling didn't make you sleepy.

"Laying around all day sure takes a lot out of you"

2009-12-24T02:20:00.009-03:00

Mele Kalikimaka!

We are in beautiful Hawaii! Upon landing Sunday afternoon we were all shocked to see how much Hawaii resembles Penang. It's kind of weird to be in a tropical climate, but still in America. At times it looks like we could be in Malaysia or Singapore, but it's America. Everyone speaks English and drives orderly.

We went to Pearl Harbor yesterday. It was amazing to think of the thousands of people that lost their lives, and the hundreds still entombed in the USS Arizona. I love to travel and live in other parts of the world, but I'm proud to be an American. A lot of people have sacrificed so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have.

There are some amazing views and sunsets in Hawaii..

And some pretty hideous ones too. (look in the background...yes, we laughed and took photos because we Gaddis's are just like that)

Here we are boogie boarding.

I made a new friend while walking around Waikiki

Jordan looks pretty hot huh?

More to come later.

I am NOT a hoarder...

2009-12-20T01:05:00.000-03:00

My mother has literally been begging me for permission to take pictures of my room: Please Malaina! I'm begging you!!! PLEEEAASSEE!!!

Why? You might ask...

Because she wants to send them to Oprah or Dr. Phil to get me on one of their shows about hoarders!!!

Apparently, Oprah will see my disastrous mess and send her staff out to Provo, Utah to help me get organized. My grandparents came by for a visit earlier today- my mother brought them down to my room for a freaking tour. Now, my grandma is begging me to let my mom send pictures to Oprah. She says, "They'll fly you out for the show and put you in a hotel. A really fancy hotel. Man, if I had a room like that I would send pictures in a heartbeat."

It's not that bad. At my house, we don't tidy or clean... we "de-shit-sify." Truly, we do. My mother has used that term for as long as I can remember. Well, I deshitsified my room in less than an hour. All I really had to do was wash some laundry, hang up my amazing technicolor dreamcoats, put my shoes away, and throw out garbage. A lot of garbage.

The following is directly taken from wikipedia:

There is no clear definition of compulsive hoarding in accepted diagnostic criteria (such as the current DSM), Yet, Frost and Hartl (1996) provide the following defining features:^[3]

the acquisition of and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value (I get rid of stuff all the time... guitars and gold purse are not useless!)
living spaces sufficiently cluttered so as to preclude activities for which those spaces were designed (I can sleep and get dressed in my room just fine!)
significant distress or impairment in functioning caused by the hoarding (I'm not distressed over my room)
reluctance or inability to return borrowed items; as boundaries blur, impulsive acquisitiveness could sometimes lead to kleptomania or stealing (I don't steal, and I return things I borrow... okay, maybe the library books racked up to a $16 fine because I was a little late getting them back... but that doesn't count).

This is a picture taken off of wikipedia of a real horder. Maybe my room was slightly reminiscent of the room pictured above and I just provided an image from the least disastrous angle. That doesn't mean I'm a hoarder- maybe a big, fat, lazy, slob- but NOT a hoarder. We are all given talents... housekeeping is not one of mine. I can play guitar and spout off a bunch of random science mumbo-jumbo, but I'm not good at keeping things tidy. I'm good at paying people to keep things tidy... my little sister gets $20 a month for cleaning the bathroom... I honestly don't remember the last time I cleaned it. Problem solved. Someday when I'm rich I can extend maid services to my room.

Switching to a whole new topic:

We went to Temple Square tonight- it was cold, but beautiful.

some yahoo in shorts...

Megan playing around

I love this picture of Megan!

Jordan was cold and cranky... and sick of all the photo-taking.

I ran into my good friends Joyce and Devonne. It was so good to see them.

Happy are we.

"It's frickin' freezing in here Mr. Bigglesworth!!!" (name that movie).

Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Mele Kelikimaka.

I'm going to Hawaii tomorrow so I guess I should pack. Maybe I'll blog, maybe I won't. Depends on whether or not Jordan will let me use her laptop.

Seriously though,

Merry Christmas!

Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoats#2

2009-12-14T17:52:00.007-03:00

My amazing technicolor dream coats are becoming a pain in the ass. I switch coats so often that I forget which coat pocket I left my keys in. I'm locked out for the second time in 3 days.

I was going to wear my purple peacoat but then thought, no it's not cold enough for that, today is a pink leather jacket kind of day. Well I'm sitting on my front step in my pink jacket and my keys are in the pocket of my purple coat in my room.

I'm thinking about getting my dad's ax out of the garage and pulling a Jack Torrance on the front door.

At least it's not snowing.

Malaina and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoats

2009-12-06T23:50:00.001-03:00

Instead of working on my semester paper for English 316 (due tomorrow), I've decided to blog about my crazy obsession with coats.

I can't seem to stop buying them. Buying a new coat is as exciting as buying a new pair of shoes or a new purse. Just when I tell myself, "OK Malaina, this is the LAST coat, you don't need any more!"- I see a one-of-a-kind, hot pink leather jacket in a shop in Buenos Aires, or a vibrant, orange pea coat that's on sale because of Black Friday. How am I supposed to pass up these opportunities? It's not like I'm going back to Buenos Aires anytime soon, or Black Friday comes more than once a year- you gotta' strike while the iron is hot!

People tell me I'm ridiculous, but the only thing ridiculous is my shockingly small amount of closet space.

Soap Box

2009-11-21T21:30:00.003-03:00

I am taking an evolutionary biology class and lab as part of my biology major requirements at BYU. It has been one of the most interesting biology classes I've taken- it's like everything has been building up to this one class. The theory of evolution really is the "all-encompassing" theory in biology- it includes genetics, molecular biology, ecology, anatomy- everything having to do with biology. The theory of evolution and LDS doctrine are not incompatible. Though we don't know for sure how the Lord created the world and man, I think He used evolution.

The BYU College of Life Sciences is not allowed to advertise campus-wide guest lecturers or seminars dealing with evolution. It kind of irritates me that anything having to do with evolution is "stashed away" in the biology building. This means that when really big and important guest lecturers in the field come, they get stuck in some dinky little room because we're not allowed to use one of the big auditoriums on campus for discussions on evolution. BYU will, however, advertise all over campus when creation "scientists" come; creation science is not science and I think it's dumb that BYU gives it more attention than an actual scientific theory. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that we were created by God, I just don't think science can be used to prove it. Science and religion offer two very different ways for knowing things.

I'm ready to step off my soap box now.

In my evolutionary biology lab, we studied behavioral traits and evolution with betta fish (males are very aggressive and will kill each other if put in the same bowl). Don't worry, we didn't pull a Michael Vick, the fish were treated very humanely. They stayed in separate containers the whole time.

In what other class would you get to take a fish home as a "handout"? All I get in my stupid archaeology class are some lame papers I'll never look at again.

This is Trixie (it's a male but I like the name Trixie).

After class, I carried him all over school (instead of crazy cat lady, I was crazy fish lady)...

... and then transferred him to his new home when I got to my house.

I think Trixie is more purple now than when I first got him.

This here is a female betta fish:

Ladies: have you ever woken up in the morning, looked at yourself in the mirror and thought, Damn. Men don't have to mess with their hair or put on a ton of makeup to look decent.

What I'm getting at, is that males are really the fairer sex, not females. Look at the majority of species in nature- males are more flashy and beautiful- peacocks, ducks (females are the ugly brown ones), betta fish, and humans (I would argue). I finally found out why this is- it's called sexual dimorphism.

Females devote a lot of energy, resources and time to producing offspring. They have to gestate (or lay eggs instead), give birth, and then raise the offspring- a lot of times in nature males will do their thing and then run off. Males do not typically devote as much energy or resources when they reproduce. Females are really choosy when it comes to mating- they put all this work into producing offspring so they don't want any old male.

The male has to attract the female- get her to choose him... males evolved to be more beautiful for this reason. The male needs bright colors, feathers, big horns, display behaviors or whatever, to get the female to choose him. What's interesting, is that if you find a species where the male puts more energy into reproducing, the female will be more attractive than the male because she has to get him to choose her.

Hawkeye=Frontier Hotness

2009-11-13T22:49:00.000-03:00

The Last of the Mohicans with Daniel Day-Lewis is one of my all-time favorite movies.

During a battle scene when Nathaniel "Hawkeye" ran through the battlefield to save Cora, my mom stepped out of her room to watch through the doorway. When Hawkeye obliterated the fool that tried to slit Cora's throat my mom exclaimed,

"That there is some frontier hotness!"

I totally agree...

The waterfall scene:

"Stay alive! No matter what occurs, I will find you...

No matter how long it takes, no matter how far.

I will find you..."

Sigh....

Thanks to youtube you can watch it too!

Mika-Big Girl

2009-10-24T23:43:00.000-03:00

My mom mentioned in her blog that she was a big fan of Mika.

I looked on youtube after reading her blog and found this video- I really like it :)

I'm Going to Dallas

2009-10-14T13:57:00.004-03:00

I'm sitting in the Salt Lake airport right now. I'm going to Dallas for a research conference- I'll be presenting a poster on the research I did over the summer in Mario Capecchi's lab.

The last few days have been completely insane! I think I'm going insane. Don't ask me why but I waited until last night to re-format my poster. Could have been the midterm in advanced molecular biology and a midterm in physics that ate up my entire weekend. I thought it would take a few hours... HA! I was up until 3:00 messing around with it and frantically trying to print it out at Kinko's around 8:00 this morning.

It looks pretty good right?

I started throwing clothes into a suitcase around 3:00AM...hopefully I didn't forget anything important.

I'm excited to see the friends I made over the summer and to get away for a while.

I'm also curious to see if everything really is bigger in Texas.

In Loving Memory...

2009-10-01T00:36:00.011-03:00

Sugar has been part of our family for nearly 11 years. She passed away tonight from pneumonia. I loved this cat. We all loved her- she was well taken care of.

Not many cats have traveled across the world and back. Everyone loved Sugar, you could tell they were amazed by her voluptuous size.

Every morning when I'd get up and start getting ready for the day Sugar would waddle over and "talk" to me. I would always talk back of course.

She's not going to be there tomorrow morning and that makes me really sad.

2009-09-18T12:13:00.003-03:00

So I was watching the Russel Crowe, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams movie- State of Play. Russel Crowe was a journalist, Rachel McAdams a blogger for the newspaper they worked for, and Ben Affleck was the politician they were investigating.

Russel Crowe didn't care for the story Rachel McAdams published on her blog- he said it was

"Upchuck online."

I laughed really hard. You know how some things strike you as really funny when it's really late at night and you are tired?

I decided it would be funny to make that the title of my blog. Maybe it's not funny to you but I'm kind of a dork and I'm still chuckling at it. But whatever.

Random

2009-08-31T02:27:00.004-03:00

I haven't had official classes at BYU since last December. You could kind of count Argentina as school because I got some research credit but that's not the same.

Some times I feel like I'm ready to go back, and some times (like right now) I feel like I'm not. I'm taking 18 credit hours- the maximum amount BYU will allow you to register for. I'm working, and I'll be volunteering in a research lab- which I'm not allowed to talk about because it offends my younger sister's sensibilities. We work with mice and she is really into animal rights. That's a whole other story....

But can I just say, it's not like I'm not for animal torture (and it's certainly not what we do in the lab). Shoot, I buy free range. I've given up KFC because they are inhumane when slaughtering their chickens (even though I've been jonesing for a two-piece for like weeks now). Isn't it human nature to want what you can't have???? Not only does Colonel Sanders torture his chickens but Christina would flay my ass if she found out I went to KFC.

I haven't blogged in a while... nothing really "blog-worthy" has happened lately. I guess that's not true. We went to see Green Day a few weeks ago- it was one of the best concerts I've been to. And I've been to some good ones... Aerosmith, Kiss, AC/DC, Ozzy, Metallica... to name a few.

Say Shava Shava!

2009-07-31T02:36:00.004-03:00

I love Indian food! My friend and I had been talking about going to get Indian food throughout the whole program (she had never tried it before and I of course told her she MUST).

We sent around an email to the rest of the program to see if anyone wanted to go. I was pleasantly surprised that so many came along. We had a really good time (though the food wasn't as good as India Garden on Center Street in Provo). No one really knew what to order or how much of it to get... this worked out good for me because I knew exactly what I wanted (and I got it because everyone let me take charge).

For many of my friends (from Puerto Rico, China and other various places in the U.S.), this was their first experience with Indian food- I think they liked it.

Maritza y Martha- two of my roommates I've had a great time with this summer.

Below is the FAMOUS Bollywood Actor Sharukh Khan

Click on the link above to see a special Bollywood clip- Shava Shava. It was from the first Bollywood movie I ever saw- the first time I saw it I didn't know what to think. Bollywoods grow on you and are a LOT of fun becuase they make you want to get up and dance. You can picture me bouncing around my dorm room to Shava Shava. Sharukh and Bollywood bring back memories of highschool and living in Malaysia (where there were fabulous Indian people with great food, clothes, festivals and Bollywoods with Sharukh in them). Eating Indian food also makes me feel nostalgic for Malaysia and Penang's Little India.

Basket Case and more Science Mumbo Jumbo

2009-07-23T01:15:00.013-03:00

Do you know that Greenday song- Basket Case?

The first verse goes:

"Do you have the time
to listen to me whine?
About nothing and
everything all at once.
I am one of those
melodramatic fools.
neurotic to the bone
no doubt about it."

I swear this verse describes my life this week; sometimes it's hard to be female. At least I'm going to see Green Day next month!

Did I mention that I am working for Nobel Laureate Mario Capecchi this summer?

Just kidding, I know it's all I can talk about and you are probably sick of hearing about it.

Anyway, Dr. Capecchi (because I'm too chicken to go up to him and say "Hey Mario, what's up?") had his Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) review last week. What happens is the PI (Principal Investigator) has 30 minutes to give a presentation/review of how their lab's work is going- they get a 10 second warning before the microphone shuts off. The PI presents in front of a review board of 25 other scientists who ultimately decide whether or not to continue funding the PI's lab.

I love listening in to people's conversations while I'm doing my thing in the lab... you hear so many interesting things. Kay (the lab manager) was talking to Matt (post-doc) about how Mario came to her at 5:00 the night before his review to ask her to change a PowerPoint slide for him if it wasn't too much trouble. He told her that he was planning on about a minute a slide (*at this time he had over 70 slides). Last thing Kay heard was that Mario had narrowed down the slides to about 35 or 40. Mario spent A LOT of time preparing- he even read the latest papers/publications of everyone on the review board (let me just tell you, scientific papers are NO easy reading- at least for me).

It was Kay (and pretty much everyone else's) opinion that after you get the Nobel Prize you can kind of "relax" when it comes to the HHMI review because they aren't going to cut funding (apparently HHMI gets certain bragging rights when one of their PI's gets the Nobel Prize). Mario didn't "relax" in his preparation- he went in knowing his stuff... I guess that's how you get to be a Nobel Laureate.

We found out later that day that his presentation went good and that the panel of 25 scientists questioned him for two and a half hours. Mario came back to Utah and we had lab meeting the next day- HHMI doesn't tell you right away if your funding is continued.

Friday afternoon we hear the news.... funding is continued for the next five years! (I really don't think anyone was shocked). Lesson to be learned: even Nobel Prize winners get nervous.

I come to find out that the "funding" is over 1,000,000 dollars a year! (imagine Dr. Evil saying one million dollars!).

We had happy hour yesterday in the lab to celebrate... I was sitting at my bench and I look over to see Dr. Capecchi wheeling a cart of beer into the cold room (there's a walk in fridge that is like 20 below). I had my BYU-student-Diet Coke.

Today I learned the hard way how lab work differs from any other job I can think of. In the blink of an eye, two days worth of work can go down the drain!

This is a gel electrophoresis chamber/power supply. For those of you not fluent in dork, allow me to explain:

You boil a powder with some buffer in a microwave and when it cools, it forms a gel- imagine you are making Jello- except the gel is a lot stiffer than Jello.

You put your DNA in the gel and then run an electrical current through the gel... it separates the DNA by size so you get this:

Can you see the different bands (is anyone still reading this? I'm rambling.)? By looking at the different bands and measuring their size you can figure a bunch of stuff out about your DNA.

I spent two days growing a bunch of yeast samples, extracting the DNA (which took forever), quantifying the DNA, calculating restriction digests, setting up the restriction digests (cutting the DNA with enzymes), and then running the gel. When I went to look at the gel, it slipped out of the damn tray and splattered all over the floor!!! We were going to do a Southern Blot (transfer the DNA from the gel onto a piece of paper to radio-label it to see how many copies of our gene were put in the yeast clones). A Southern Blot is like a two or three day process by itself! I felt like a big idiot but Matt was cool about it- he said it's happened to him and to everyone else. At least no one saw me drop the gel on the floor.

I'm going in early tomorrow to extract some more DNA and start the process all over again.

Something Fishy

2009-07-07T00:56:00.003-03:00

So my last post was pretty angry. What can I say? A pervert broke into my apartment, I was pissed. We're doing better now but we're still creeped out.

On a much happier note...

Last Friday my dad and I went to Strawberry Reservoir...

We got two doubles...

...and a total of 17.

I broke in my new fishing pole real good.

Everyone around us was looking over trying to see what bait we were using; I can't describe in words how fun it is to be catching more fish than everyone else. We were the people to hate... we would know because a week earlier we were the losers looking on while another boat was catching all the fish.

Some SOB Pervert Broke Into My Apartment...

2009-06-30T01:58:00.006-03:00

I heard a loud scream at about 4:45 in the morning last Friday; at first I thought it was someone messing around so I rolled over to go back to sleep but then I heard my roommate Martha yell "Are you okay? Are you alright? What happened?"

I got out of bed, took out my earplugs and pulled my face mask up on the top of my head and headed over to my other roommate to ask her if she was okay. She told me that a noise woke her up; her room was completely dark- she had a sheet over the window to block the light. When she grabbed her phone and opened it, there was just enough light that she could see a man on his hands and knees going through her drawers. He got up and groped her and that's when she screamed- he said "It's okay" and then ran out of the apartment. Freaking SOB perv.

The police came over. Then the detectives (dusting for prints below)

(I know, only a freak would be taking pictures with detectives, policemen and locksmiths over doing their thing.)

My other roommate thought she heard someone trying to get into her room (which was locked) around 2:00 or 2:30 AM. She even called out "who's there?" - but brushed it off and went back to sleep because she thought it was me or whatever. Basically we think the SOB pervert was in our apartment doing who knows what for 2 or 3 hours; he made off with some of my roommates underwear... freakin' sicko. My room was unlocked; I don't know if he went in or anything... I'm hoping not (it was so messy he would've tripped on shoes or something... I hope he took one look and turned around.)

We moved apartments but all of us are still creeped out. We don't know how he got in... did he have a key? They haven't found the pervert yet. We've had trouble sleeping, we check in closets, under beds and behind doors- we're paranoid. We've boobie trapped the front entrance. We don't feel safe and it sucks!

Things could have been a whole lot worse and we are grateful to be safe and unharmed. Be careful... you never think anything's going to happen to you but there are a bunch of creeps out there.

Moab

2009-06-12T02:01:00.004-03:00

The first week in the lab was great; I've already learned so much. Dr. Capecchi was really nice- I'm working closely with one of hist postdoctoral fellows and a lab technician.

The other day we had a required seminar to attend for my research program. One of the administrative workers for the summer research program asked me "are you turning mice into bats yet up there in Capecchi's lab?" and laughed. I thought she was joking.

So far I have been learning a lot of techniques and pieces of things; today I got a general overview of two main projects we are working on. One of the large projects is focused on transferring an entire bat chromosome into a mouse stem cell with the hopes of creating a transgenic mouse that expresses the bat DNA- turning a mouse into a bat! The other day I got into the lab and Matt (the postdoc I work with) told me Mario needed to meet with him most of the day and wouldn't be around so I would need to get help from Joan (lab technician). Apparently Mario had a meeting with Bill Gates in a few days to get some more grant money to fund the project and needed some presentation materials from Matt... I know, right?!! Too cool.

We went to Moab last weekend as part of this research program. We had a lot of fun river rafting down the Colorado River.

I'm making some new friends...

The weather was perfect- not too hot and not too cloudy.

We hiked up to Delicate Arch; the wind was blowing so hard with a bunch of sand in it that it was probably as good as a microderm abrasion treatment. Too bad you can't really see the arch in the picture; we were too busy fighting the wind to check and make sure we got a good shot.

I Speak Dork...

2009-06-02T00:41:00.001-03:00

My family has always kind of teased me because I am such a dork. Whenever one of them spouts off a random question or wandering, I tend to spout off some scientific explanation. I can't help it, I am a dork. I was the science club president in high school and did science fair projects... enough said?

In 2007 Drs. Mario Capecchi, Oliver Smithies, and Martin Evans were the cowinners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine for pioneering transgenic "knockout" mice technology.

If you know what transgenic mice are then you probably speak dork too.

This is Dr. Capecchi, co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine:

I was accepted into the University of Utah Summer Undergraduate Research Program (well not really, I applied for it but they put me into another program for minority students; basically the same thing). I was in Córdoba working in the lab on a geometric morphometrics project (that's "dork" for I was studying shapes of flowers) when I checked my email and frantically read:

Hi Malaina,

Since we didn’t hear from you (see below), we are assuming you’ve decided not to join us this summer. We will be withdrawing your offer as of 3/16/09 if we don’t hear from you.

"Below" was my acceptance letter and a request that I formally accept their offer by March 9th... I received the email on March 13th! I didn't get the acceptance email! I had been waiting and waiting for some kind of reply to my application but didn't receive any kind of email until this "final notice" email. In absolute horror I wrote back something to the effect of "I didn't get the email, please still let me come!"

I skyped my family and was about ready to sick them on the U's butt with emails and phone calls so they wouldn't withdraw my offer (I was afraid my emails weren't getting there from Argentina)... luckily my contact at the U replied and said she got my email and that all was well, I was accepted into the program.

My next task was to send in some forms and list my TOP 5 faculty members I wanted to work with this summer...

Two years earlier while sitting in my Bio 240 molecular biology class, my teacher- Professor Bridgewater- was lecturing on stem cells and "knockout" mice. During this time they announced Dr. Mario Capecchi as co-winner of the Nobel Prize for his work on knockout mice. Dr. Bridgewater worked with Dr. Capecchi while doing her graduate degree or post-doc- sometime in her career. She told us what a great guy he was to work with and that if we ever got the chance to work with him we should...

I remember thinking to myself, "Yeah right, like that's ever gonna' happen."

Back to picking my TOP 5:

I'm in Argentina reading over faculty statements because I needed to choose five; I remember Dr. Bridgewater's statement about working with Dr. Capecchi and I put his name down as my number one choice, and then my other 4 choices.

Low and behold:

I'm on some dumpy hostel computer in El Calafate, Argentina checking my emails and I come to find out my research mentor for the Summer Undergraduate Research Program is...

drum roll please....

duh dada duh...

Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Mario Capecchi!

I didn't actually think I'd get in because I figured EVERYONE would put his name down and someone with more lab experience would work in his lab (if he even accepted undergraduate lab grunts).

So it's the night before I meet Dr. Capecchi and he introduces me to the lab in which I will work this summer, AND I'M NERVOUS AS HELL!

What if I go in there and make a complete idiot of myself??? He's probably a nice guy but he is also a Nobel Prize winner who studied under James Watson- Watson of Watson and Crick! The dudes that discovered the structure of DNA- even if you don't speak dork you've probably heard of them.

I gotta' go to bed. Send some good Qi (chi) my way if you don't mind...

"You may carry a backpack but you are no 'backpacker'..."

2009-05-20T00:35:00.000-03:00

I'm back in good old Provo, Utah. I meant that too, Provo is my home. It may not be the most diverse and I realize people get culture shock coming out to Utah County, but I love it just the same.

After we got back from our backpacking trip throughout Argentina things were crazy and I didn't make time to blog about my adventures so here it goes now...

I should start of by admitting that I am NOT a real backpacker. I proudly admit that I am a fake, a backpacker wannabe.

I carried too many clothes because I refused to "make do" with two outfits.
I refused to camp.
I bought things everywhere I went... let's just say that real back-packers are a lot more frugal.
I tried eating really simply to save money (because eating out gets expensive)... cheap empanadas and sandwiches from kiosks. It lasted ONE day before I said to hell with it
and ate what and where I wanted.
I forked out 130 pesos for a private room. It was towards the end of the trip after two weeks in hostels. I walked into our 6-person, female-only, hot and humid, smelly, hostel room and there was some weird Israeli guy lying in bed with a girl in her undies. Wouldn't you have said "oh hell no!!!" and gotten your own room too?
I insisted on cama-suite for every bus trip we took (like taking first-class instead of coach when traveling by bus).
I whined about my ugly toes. I desperately needed a pedicure.

Even though I am not a real backpacker, my backpacking trip was amazing just the same.

Stop One: San Carlos de Bariloche

We arrived after a 25 hour bus ride from Cordoba. We decided to do laundry, pack, buy bus tickets, say goodbye to our Spanish teachers and book a flight the day we left for our big trip. We basically planned the trip the day we left (after having stayed out all night saying goodbye to friends from church), but don't worry, we made it to the bus station 10 minutes before the bus left. I was neurotic and ready to strangle one of the bus conductors because he wouldn't let me take my back pack up with me- he made me check it under the bus. I've decided last-minute doesn't work so great for me (yet here I am blogging while I should be doing my homework that I've just about put off until last-minute).

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous throughout Patagonia. As we got about an hour away from Bariloche I started looking in my travel book for things we wanted to do, places we wanted to eat and also for a place to stay.

After checking into the hostel we took a tram to the top of a hill to get a scenic view of beautiful Bariloche and Nahuel Huapi Lake.

We woke up early the next day and set out horse-back riding. I had so much fun... my horse was kind of a dud the guy leading the tour had to kick his butt into gear to get him going but it was fun all the same.

Later that day we took a small bus ride out to Hotel LLao-LLao-

I don't remember why the tour book recommended it but it was a neat trip that only took a few hours. Someday when I'm rich I'm going to stay at hotel LLao-LLao instead of some rotten old hostel (okay hostels aren't that bad I'm just not a real backpacker, remember?).

The next day we took a really neat tour and saw some more scenery and lakes

behind me is Mount Tronador- a glacier

Up close view of the glacier

It was really amazing. You can see where glacier has fallen and melted down in the water below.

We then walked up to see a waterfall... it was really lovely.

We had fun in Bariloche.

Stop Two: El Calafate- Perito Moreno Glacier

We took another 30 hour bus ride from Bariloche further south to a town called El Calafate. It is the gateway to the Glaciers National Park.

We started the day by going out to see the famous Perito Moreno (expert Moreno- named after the geologist Moreno who was an expert I guess). It is one of three glaciers that is not retreating... it still is moving forward with ice chunks fall off into the lake. It was amazing, while we were there we heard and saw a bunch of ice chunks fall off and crash into the lake.

It was cold and windy... very windy. You can see Amanda through the front window of the tour bus hiding out from the cold and being a wimp.

The glacier was absolutely incredible- I have never seen anything like it.

We took a ferry across the lake and strapped these "crampons" (I know, it sounds like tampons) onto our shoes.

Can you see the hooks?

We didn't actually strap them on, the tour guides did.

We went hiking on top of the glacier. It was expensive but completely worth it! It was scary at first because I was sure those silly little crampon things weren't going to hold me and I was going to go plummeting to my death, but they turned out to be pretty sturdy.

The consistency of the ice on top of the glacier reminded me of regular ice you'd buy at a gas station- it wasn't like solid ice, but gravely pieces about the size of regular ice cubes.

There were deep crevices where the glacier was melting... they were so incredibly blue and clear! Absolutely amazing.

The water was so refreshing and clean tasting

When we got to the end of the hike the tour guides had a little "bar" set up. Everyone had whiskey on the rocks (glacier rocks of course).

Us little BYU chicks had ice water... it was fun all the same.

I absolutely loved Perito Moreno. Ironically I planned my Argentina trip for winter semester so I could avoid cold and snow... I didn't know I'd be going so far south and that I would encounter extremely cold weather and humongous chunks of snow...

Tomorrow (or whenever I get around to blogging again) I will add more pictures from El Calafate and then talk about Iguazu Falls, and the ruins of San Ignacio.

I'm in Bariloche

2009-04-19T21:36:00.004-03:00

Hello everyone who reads my blog,

I'm in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina (you should google it).

I have been so busy the past few weeks and haven't had time to blog. I have all kinds of fun things to write about but will do so later. I spent last week frantically finishing up my research in the lab and writing my paper... I think it turned out okay.

We took a 22 hour bus ride from Córdoba to Bariloche and got here yesterday. After Bariloche we are heading further south to El Calafate to see some cool glaciers. We decided to travel around Patagonia instead of Machu Picchu; it would have taken three days (by bus) to get to Peru and we just didn't have time to do it. I guess I'll have to come back to South America, oh darn.

I went horseback riding today... not sure how the cowboys were able to do it all day because my tookas is SORE after only three hours (maybe because I don't know what I'm doing?).

more adventures to come later.

Quebrada de Humahuaca

2009-04-06T17:25:00.000-03:00

I'm too lazy to re-order my photos. When you upload them onto blogger it puts the new ones at the top; basically the photos from the beginning of the day are going to be at the end of this post.

We ended the day (day after Purmamarca) in San Salvador de Jujuy inside the justice building in the flag room learning about the flag of Argentina, and some other really old flag that General Belgrano (important in the Argentine war of Independence) made and gave to the province (I think? It was in Spanish and I wasn't listening that closely).

I do remember that the face of the sun is Incan-inspired; the straight lines of the sun rays represent European influence and the wavy lines are indigenous influence (if you are Argentine and reading this, correct me if I'm wrong).

View from the Plaza of San Salvador de Jujuy- looking at justice building.

Some nice scenery (on the way to Jujuy)- our tour guide Juan and Marie (Marie and her husband traveled with us the second day).

Along the highways they have tolls and different check-points; sometimes you get pulled-over and sometimes you don't. This time we did; I'm pretty sure Juan is passing 10 pesos to the guy under his license (to avoid some kind of ticket). I had to do the touristy thing and snap a photo.

This is Humahuaca. It was a very important stopping point when travelers went from Buenos Aires to the Spanish Viceroy in Peru. The tour guide explained that there were other routes they could have taken but this was the easiest because it wasn't as high in altitude as the other route (the animals carting everyone around could find stuff to eat). There was a third route they could have taken (can't remember where) but it was more jungle and was dangerous because of pumas and venomous bugs and mosquito's and so on.

This is a monument to Argentina's independence.

View of the city:

Pucará de Tilcara (fortress of Tilcara)

We stopped along the Quebrada de Humahuaca (gorge of Humahuaca) at the Pucará de Tilcara (I think Pucará is a Quechua word signifying fortress).

These buildings/ruins were re-built in the 1950's (I think with the materials from the original ruins that date back to the 15th century). Before the Spanish brought adobe bricks to South America, they used stone- like with these buildings. The roofs were made out of mud and madera de cardón (wood from them big cactuses you see in the background).

Along with homes, there were corrals (for llamas) and agricultural fields and so forth.

I wish I had written this a week ago when I remembered more.

EL ROBO

2009-04-01T19:33:00.002-03:00

As I was walking back from the travel agency in Alta Córdoba (our barrio) and texting the agent a message to confirm that Amanda would leave the money (for the trip to Salta and Jujuy) with her sister (who is our Spanish teacher) some SOB, B@$#@&d came up behind me and stole my phone. Can you tell I'm still bitter, not quite over it yet?

He drove up behind me on the sidewalk, plucked it out of my hand and drove off. I know I should have been paying attention and not texting while walking but still, I'm pissed. It seems the exact same thing has happened to everyone I talk to. People snatch their phones while they are talking or messaging. The phone was old (I bought it in Malaysia 5 years ago) but it was MINE and I knew how it worked.

Don't laugh- I filed a police report. (and took a photo of it so I could post it on the blog... yes I'm lame)

I was more interested in seeing how the process worked than in getting actual justice- I didn't actually think anything would come of it. There was a police station literally TWO blocks from where the guy stole my phone. I told the cops what happened in my broken, gringo *gringa cause I'm a girl* Spanish and they let me drive around with them in the back of their truck (in case the guy was still in the area).

More than anything they were probably trying to calm the freaked out foreigner- they knew and I knew, that the guy and phone were long gone. I'll be more careful from now on.

In the words of my Grandpa Martin,

"Shit happens"

Salta y Jujuy Day 2

2009-03-31T23:14:00.000-03:00

We got up bright and early for a long day. We stopped to see some viaduct bridge that some engineer built (he was born in America and moved to Argentina, I don't remember his name...now if he were a biologist I might be able to recall it). The guide told us that a lot of people died during the construction of the railway (extensive railway that includes this bridge) and are buried along the way.

It was COLD... especially because it was morning. Argentina is going into its fall season and the altitude was really high- I should have thought to take a jacket or something but everything about the whole trip was last minute. In fact, I went to the travel agent and arranged everything the day we left.

Now to the fun parts of the trip:

The scenery was gorgeous:

We stopped to see pre-Incan ruins near Santa Rosa de Tastil. The people of Tastil lived here in the 1400s and up and disappeared one day- no one really knows why (similar to the story of the Anasazi in the U.S.).

Can I just say I LOVE this kind of stuff? I could have spent hours here walking around and exploring. If biology wasn't so cool I'd be an archaeologist (do I sound like a dork or what?).

You can see the ruins of the buildings and houses that were once here; I think it housed over 2000 people.

There were all kinds of pottery sherds laying around! It was also fun to look for flakes. Maybe my archaeologist friend Brian could leave a comment and explain why it's pottery "sherds" and not "shards"?? - If he's reading this.

So fun in fact, I couldn't take the time to look up and smile.

We stopped in the town of San Antonio de los Cobres for lunch. There were women outside selling things... I bought a nice shawl or ruana hand made out of llama wool.

As we drove to the next site we saw the llamas.

The little ribbons and bows tied on signify which llama belongs to which owner.

We tried some llama while up north... It was actually pretty good.

We next headed for Las Salinas- the salt flats.

The little pueblitos along the way were more interesting to see than the salt flats themselves- we have salt flats in Utah.

Here is a chapel and some other buildings of a tiny little pueblo we stopped at just before the salt flats.

There were some cute kids...

This little boy was smiling the whole time... really sweet.

My favorite part of the whole weekend was seeing little pueblos like this one. It was nice to get out of the big cities and see what rural parts of Argentina are like.

So we got to the salt flats...

and there were groups of men selling rock etchings of different scenes of the region- I bought a cool etching of vicuñas

Vicuñas are part of the camelid family including camels, llamas, alpacas, and guanacos.

We saw some vicuñas on our way to the salt flats... they are very similar to guanacos but guanacos have black faces.

The guide was telling us that the parents and grandparents of these people worked around the salt flats (the salt is mined and the "dirty salt" is used commercially to cure leather) went blind from the intense glare and reflection of the sun. He also said that in the future these men would probably go blind from being out there all day everyday... it was sobering to think about.

Amanda was really starting to piss me off...

So I decided to smoosh her and bite her in half.

On the way to Purmamarca- the town where we spent the night, we went through the mountains. The highest elevation was 4170 meters, or 13,681 feet. The elevation in Salt lake city is about 4,330 feet- about three times less than where we were at. The air was thin- we were passing out and falling asleep in the car. When we'd walk up a few stairs or a tiny hill we'd be huffing and puffing.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous!

We stayed the night in Purmamarca.

There were all kinds of fun things to buy in the city's plaza. There is a phrase from one of the greatest Metallica songs ever written:

"Anywhere I roam,

where I lay my head is home"

Well,

Anywhere I roam,

I shop.

It was chilly- I needed an alpaca sweater and a sheep's wool, hand-woven blanket.

Purmamarca is famous for its beautiful landscapes and for the famous Cerro de los Siete Colores, or hill of seven colors.

It was a busy day but we stayed up late and went to a bar/restaurant to listen to some folk music. The music of northern Argentina is very similar to that of Bolivia- they use a lot of the same instruments and rhythms.

We woke up slightly less early the next day and prepared for another day of adventurous sight-seeing...

Salta

2009-03-30T22:46:00.006-03:00

Fuimos al Norte por el fin de semana pasado.

We went North over the weekend- to the provinces Salta and Jujuy (pronounced who-whooey). It was absolutely gorgeous!

It seems EVERY city big or small has a plaza in the center; this is the Plaza 9 de Julio (July 9th marks the date of Argentina's Independence from Spain). Most plazas have a cathedral, cabildo (like a city building), justice building, statue(s)/water fountains, and then restaurants and other businesses.

In the Plaza there was a tent with veterans from La Guerra de Las Malvinas (war Argentina fought with Britain for the Falkland Islands). I found out today from my Spanish teacher that this Thursday, April 2 is a dia feriado (holiday) commemorating La Guerra de Las Malvinas.

There were posters and pictures as well as the veterans with old newspapers explaining things from their point of view.

This is the cathedral...

I don't remember what building this was (below) but the architecture was really beautiful.

Lots of students were on break and hanging out in the Plaza.

"Niños del Llullaillaco"

There was a really incredible museum (El Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña) in the Plaza that told of the archaeological discovery of three Incan mummy children found in the Andes- "Niños del Llullaillaco." Llullaillaco (name of a volcano) is a Quechua (native dialect) word "Llulla" signifies lie/false, and "llaco" is water- put together it's "false water" or something like that.

If you google the Niños del Llullaillaco, it says that three Incan children were sacrificed almost 500 years ago; according to the museum and information presented there, Incans didn't believe they were "sacrificing" the children or feeding them to the gods. The Incas performed religious ceremonies before putting the children (while alive) into the ground; when the children went into the cavernous structures, the Incas believed they went to paradise with the gods and didn't die (according to the way we think of death) - it was considered a great honor.

These "sacrifices" didn't occur often and the Incans chose children because they were considered to be the most pure. The museum mentioned that the children were from noble families because their skulls were slightly cone-shaped (from wearing a device that bent the skull that way).

Here is a picture of a 15-year old girl nicknamed La Doncella (the maiden). She was the only mummy on exhibit (the museum rotates them so they aren't all on exhibit at the same time).

The archaeological site where these mummy children were found is the highest altitude site in the world; the children are the best preserved Incan mummies as well. They were frozen- DNA analysis and analysis on their blood and organs has been done.

Though a lot of the information was in Spanish, there were some English translations. It was all very, very fascinating. Visiting the museum was probably my favorite thing we did in the city.

We then went to the city museum; it was a collection of a bunch of random stuff... Amanda wasn't very interested.

This is a picture of one of the cathedrals in Salta. It was built in the 1700s (I think) and was described as the most "outlandish" cathedral in Salta.

We ate at a place across from the cathedral; we tried humita en chala. Humita en chala (en chala meaning wrapped up like this in corn husk) is quite different from a tamale but very good. The masa is wetter- the waiter said it is made with fresh corn, not dried corn masa as used in tamales. It had fresh corn and cheese in the middle; humita is regional food but can also be found in Córdoba (it was really good).

We went back to the hostel relatively early (11:00 ish) because we had to get up way early the next day (6:00 AM). Y'all may not think 6:00 AM is that early but it is when regional custom is to go to dinner around 10:30 PM or later.

Dia Feriado "Holiday"

2009-03-30T22:40:00.009-03:00

I've been wanting to blog about a recent holiday that was celebrated on March 24- a day set aside for remembering the Golpe de Estado (coup) of 1976, when the military dictatorship took over.

I have two main informants here in Argentina- Gaby y Laura. They are the people I ask questions about all things Argentine- the culture, customs, where to buy something, the history the politics (I also learn Spanish from Gaby y Laura). The day after the holiday, Laura brought in some information about La Dictadura to read and discuss during our lesson. I learned many interesting things- as we were discussing, it eventually became Laura narrating to me what things were like (though she was born just before all of this occurred). I'm going to talk about what she told me (keeping in mind that she gave me general ideas and not precise details)

Isabel Perón was the second wife of Juan Perón (his first wife being Eva/ "Evita" of course) was elected president of Argentina after Juan died. During her presidency many economic, social, and political problems arose; Laura told me there were military/political factions fighting- killing each other, bombing and kidnapping, things were in chaos.

Proceso de Reorganización Nacional- El Proceso

When the military dictatorship took over they called their reforms the National Reorganization Process- what is referred to as El Proceso.

Laura told me that during this time (1976-1983) approximately 30,000 Argentines disappeared- they were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. A few main provinces such as Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santiago del Estero(?) were affected by El Proceso- provinces with lots of students, political scientists, and journalists. I was told that students, journalists, political scientists- anyone who expressed sentiments or ideas opposed or not in-line with those of La Dictadura, were taken, killed, or tortured.

This sign was posted before the holiday on a building directly behind the mall- very close to where we work.

It signifies: 33 years since the coup, neither forgotten, neither pardoned.

On the 23rd of March, I was walking through the Plaza San Martín and I saw people painting these in preparation for the holiday:

The night of the 24th, there was a large march/parade with all kinds of people carrying banners and flags (FYI- pretty sure the rainbow flag here is a symbol of Andean culture, it was common to see it up north). Some of the banners had messages against violence, abuse- many were for derechos humanos (human rights).

In the Plaza San Martín, some celebrated by sitting in a circle and sharing a joint (no! we weren't "some")

There was choripan...

There were couples gettin' friendly (we always take pictures because we're still not used to the fact that PDA's are totally acceptable- you see people seriously making out on side of the street all the time).

Many children were taken during El Proceso- they were kidnapped and often times given to families of military members or to families with connections to the military. Pregnant women were tortured and their babies taken.

Madres de Plaza de Mayo

When El Proceso ended, a group of women calling themselves the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo organized and would protest in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires- I've posted some picures from my Buenos Aires trip:

They would march outside this building (like the White House of Argentina except it's the Pink House- literally, it's the Casa Rosada where the President resides). The Mothers are a group dedicated to finding children and other loved ones that disappeared during the dictatorship and reuniting them with their families.

My Spanish teacher Laura told me the story of a little girl that was playing in her house while her family's maid was sweeping the floor with the TV on. There was a news special with a woman being interviewed in the Plaza de Mayo. The woman was holding up a picture of her lost granddaughter that had been kidnapped during the dictatorship (the girl's mother was killed); the maid watching the TV stopped in shock and started crying because it was the same little girl inside the house playing! She reported to the newspaper and helped reunite this little girl with her real family.

Laura told me that there were many cases like this, and many cases where children didn't want to leave their "military" families or have anything to do with their real families. Imagine growing up and then finding out your "family" kidnapped you from your real parents that were probably tortured and murdered.

Loco para Criollos

2009-03-25T20:00:00.002-03:00

It started when we went with our professors to have an asado in Cuesta Blanca...

and now,

It's an Obsession

We tried criollitos (criollos) for the first time in Cuesta Blanca and now we eat them, think about them, dream about them... ALL THE TIME!

This is a criollito con azucar from the asado lunch in Cuesta Blanca:

Since then, we have made a point of going into a bunch of panaderias (bad, bad idea-I know!) to try their criollos. Criollos are unique to the Córdoba Province, they can only be found here.

This my friends and loved ones back home,

This is the one.

The panaderia where these are made is on the way from Spanish class to the lab. Every time I walk past, the door is open and a welcoming scent envelopes me; I mosey on in to have a look. What do you know? A pan of criollos is sitting on the counter- in the pan they were baked in. Warm, flaky, buttery, a bazillion calories- but who's counting?

These aren't just any criollos...

They are criollos hojaldre... hojaldre is puff pastry. Can you now understand my obsession? To my understanding, puff pastry is a special dough with tons of butter folded in to get that flaky texture.

Can you see the layers?

Not All Criollos Are Created Equal:

The only reason we didn't toss this one right away, was because I needed it for this post, so I educate you all on the art of the criollo (I know, I'm full of it but don't write me off yet). It was dry, hard, and not made with butter... It was made with some other type of fat. It is a criollo común.

Don't get me wrong, criollos común are very good. The ones from the panaderia on the way home are the best criollos común in Córdoba (so I was told by my professor as we stopped in one day).

This is a better example of a criollo común.

Another criollo hojaldre (from a different panaderia). Very good, but not as good as

The One.

They're supposed to be very easy to make; I will learn before coming home so you too can be

Loco Para Criollos

Peña

2009-03-25T09:15:00.003-03:00

Check this out:

I took this at a restaurant/bar where there was live folk music. The singer was playing a "chacarera" and asked if anyone in the audience knew how to dance it; a mother and her son volunteered.

¡Marco Antonio Solis... Estoy Tuyo!

2009-03-20T14:45:00.000-03:00

This is Marco Antonio Solis.

He is a Mexican singer/songwriter that is famous throughout Latin America. I was a fan of his music before coming to Argentina and was excited to see pirated DVDs of his music videos sold along the streets here.

I was so excited when a friend told me that he was coming to Córdoba!

So were all the middle-aged/old ladies!

They would rush to the front of the stage to hand him teddy bears and flowers. A woman behind me was yelling "Estoy Tuyo!" (I'm Your's) and "Te Amo!"(I love you... but you probably knew that).

There was an occasional husband...

I wasn't the youngest person... let's just say Marco's got a more mature fan base- but no importa, I love him anyway.

I couldn't find ANYONE to go with me (it's mostly my fault, I waited until two days before to ask people if they wanted to go, and by then the affordable seats were gone). Everyone I talked to said they were fans and wanted to go, but couldn't make it for whatever reason.

So I went by myself. The day before the concert I asked my Spanish teacher/friend Gabby which bus to take to get to the Superdomo- I made my way up there and after asking two or three different people I found the boleteria (ticket counter- which was across the street in a shopping mall and hidden in some wacko department store).

I saw a picture of Marco and there was a white piece of paper over it with something written on it... my heart sank, I had a feeling it said "sold out!" I asked anyway.

They told me there were no tickets left... I asked again real let-down and whiny

"No hay nada?"

Another girl behind the desk overheard and said that yes, there were 3 tickets left! They were on the floor and expensive- but no importa right? (They were actually quite a bit cheaper than when he came to Salt Lake a few years ago). I bought one, and a lady and her son behind me bought the other two.)

At first I was hesitant about going alone (and debated going to a church dance instead) but then I thought to myself, Why the hell not go? I'm in Argentina, I've got to live it up!

I am SO glad I went.

He has an amazing voice and was excellent live. I don't completely understand Spanish (songs are tricky for me because you can't translate all the words literally- there's a lot more you have to puzzle out to get the entire meaning) but the music was absolutely beautiful.

I had been listening to his CD days before (and now as I write this post).

I LOVED IT...LOVED IT...LOVED IT!

We all went home happy.

Vamos Instituto!

2009-03-19T19:25:00.004-03:00

(I'm posting this Sunday night but backdating it so it looks like I updated my blog Thursday)

Martín is a lot of fun. We were in the lab working and mentioned wanting to go to a football game... Martín is an Instituto fanatico (Instituto is one of the teams in Córdoba- they aren't like a "major league" team but that doesn't seem to matter to their fans.

We got to the cancha (stadium) about 15 or 20 minutes before the game... it wasn't enough time because we didn't get in until 15 or 20 minutes into the game. I didn't mind because it was very entertaining to watch the crowd's reaction. Men would yell and whistle, shout obscenities and so on; even though Martín had earphones and was listening to the game, he was anxious and couldn't hold still because he wanted in.

We were literally hearded into a single-file line before entering the cancha.

The minute we got into the cancha Instituto scored a goal...Martín literally ran, jumped and shouted- as did the rest of the audience. I enjoyed this game more than the one in Buenos Aires; it was smaller but we went with locals and sat with people that desperately rooted for their team. The Riverplate game in Buenos Aires was fun, but we didn't get as close to the action.

Amanda and I had to be the only extranjeras in our section... we were there snapping photos and recording video while everyone else was intently watching the game.

I snook this photo of Martín; there 10 minutes or so of the game and he kept his fingers crossed willing Instituto to hold the lead until the end. Ironically, his girlfriend Marisel is a fanatica of the Talleres- Instituto's rival team; she didn't come with us to the game.

I'm telling you, watching the audience was the funnest part!

I'm thinking I might try to sneak some flares into the next BYU game I go to... bring a little "culture" to good old Provo.

Martín said he'd teach us the canciones/cheers for the next time. We listened really closely but just couldn't pick out the words.

Instituto won! The cheering and song singing didn't stop after the game... crowds of people were jumping and cheering as they exited the stadium; as we walked home (the cancha is 12 blocks from our house) people were cheering and waiving Instituto banners out of their cars.

I forgot to make my Provo, Utah banner to hang on the fence... next time.

Folklore and Argentine Boys...

2009-03-18T00:20:00.017-03:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I celebrated with my 3 dollar pair of green Ralph Lauren shorts. I'll admit I thought they were kind of ugly when I first saw them at Dillard's (at their original price). A few months later they were put on the three dollar rack- they didn't seem so ugly then (Ralph Lauren's for 3 bucks!). For that kind of deal I was going to "make it work."

Amanda had a little bit of green on her bracelet so I refrained from pinching her.

I had another folklore lesson today (I've also seen it spelled folclore but who knows?).

This is my teacher Luis

We were learning about the chacarera- this drum is a bomba leguero. A legua -or league- is approximately 5Km; this drum is so named because when played en al campo (countryside) it can be heard 5Km away.

The chacarera is a type of rhythm from the Argentine province Santiago Del Estero- directly north of the Cordoba province. (I think it's also from the Salta province)

This is a charango- a small high pitched little instrument that originated in the Andes- in Bolivia I think. I'm enjoying learning about the different instruments and rhythms and the various provinces they are from.

We played a really pretty song called "Chacarera del Chilalo." Chilalos are little birds (the actual word is from an indigenous dialect of Quechua); the rest of the lyrics talk about the beautiful mountains, aromas of the flowers in bloom, indigenous plants and trees.

There are a few lines in the third estribillo (chorus):

Se entreveran los tum-tum
de bombos legüeros
de hachas, de malambos
y de criollos morteros.

That talk about the "tum-tum" of the bombos legueros, sounds of axes (cutting wood or whatever), malambos (folk dancers- malambo is a type of dance), and of morteros (mortar and pistil grinding wheat or herbs).

mortero

malambos

Malambo is an Argentine folk dance for men only. I did some research (google) and found out that during the 19th century gauchos would show off their dance skills with the malambo (around pit fires and at parties). When we visited Buenos Aires a while back, we went to LA BOCA; I remember there being malambo dancers as well as tango dancers performing on the stages at the little cafes. There was a lot of jumping and pounding with the feet- I can easily see why it was compared to the sound of the bomba leguero and axes chopping wood.

I'm really enjoying my folklore lessons and I can tell Luis enjoys teaching me. He is excited to show me new rhythms, draw me maps of Argentina showing me where the rhythms are from, he explains the lyrics of the songs and why the lyrics are important. Folklore from the northern regions talks about the countryside and carnival whereas folklore from Mendoza (the wine province) will compare things to vino (wine) and vineyards and so on. Songs with the chamame rhythm from the provinces of Corrientes, Misiones, and Entre Rios (near Buenos Aires and south of Brazil) have lyrics talking about the rios (there are two main rivers) and about fishing and so on. It's all really interesting.

*So, my dad teases me over the phone. He tells me to take my new, fancy guitar and play it on the street in front of our house- so I can catch me a cute Argentine boy. Well...

Amanda, Mareen (our new roommate from Alemania- Germany) and I were walking home last night and I had my guitar with me (after my folklore lesson). As we walked past the corner kiosk, two guys said something to get my attention- I looked back and they started asking about my guitar. We start talking (and Amanda comes back to see what held me up) and they ask if I have time to sit and play- I did.

After playing the first song they clapped and then we started talking some more- their names were Cristian and Alejandro, they lived a few blocks away (we didn't tell them where we live) and they were our age. They started asking if I knew any folklore music (lucky that I did right?) and then Alejandro asked me what other types of music I listened to (at this time Amanda was talking to Christian). All of a sudden we saw our tango teacher- Francisco- walk across the street to his car (Amanda LOVES Francisco and swears she will kiss him before leaving Argentina); Amanda ran across the street to say hello and Christian's brother drove by so Christian went off after him to say hello.

Are you still with me?

Amanda is across the street with stars in her eyes talking to Francisco, the biologist with a P.h. D who teaches tango in his spare time...
Christian is down the street a quarter of a block talking to his brother...
Alejandro is sitting next to me and asking me questions while I mess around on the guitar...

(5 or 1o minutes earlier before Amanda and Christian left)

Alejandro: you have very pretty eyes...

Malena: Awwww, thank you... (look away and go back to my guitar)

Alejandro: Do you have a boyfriend?

Malena: No.

(Back to when Amanda and Christian walked off)

Alejandro: Can I have a kiss?

Malena: swallow... Ummm, a beso? (mind you- he was speaking Spanish so I did a double take)

Alejandro: Sí

Malena: NO! (awkwardly avert my eyes and go back to playing)

NOT even a few minutes later...

Alejandro: please, un beso...

Malena: Ok...acá. (point to my cheek)

He kisses my cheek

Alejandro: a kiss for me?

I kiss his cheek. (awkwardly go back to my guitar)

Amanda comes back with a dreamy look in her eye. Alejandro says something about loving the way I play or loving my playing. I cue Amanda that it's time to go; we say our friendly goodbyes and go home.

I don't know that my dad realized there was some truth in his words when he teased me about playing on the street. (This isn't the first time I've been invited to sit down and play... after my first lesson, a street vendor selling movies had me sit and play. Another guy my age stopped and talked to me... I even made a small tip!)

Villa Carloz Paz and Choripan

2009-03-16T02:02:00.004-03:00

I haven't updated my blog in a while so I am posting three blogs tonight and back-dating them so it looks like I've updated my blog.

(Here we are waiting ever so patiently for the trolley-bus)

We went to Villa Carloz Paz yesterday- it's about an hour bus ride from Cordoba. We wanted to go swimming. After asking a bunch of people at the bus terminal in Carloz Paz which bus to take, and then taking the bus to find out 15 minutes later we were going the wrong direction, getting off and back tracking, then asking the tourist office where to go, we found:
A Cabalango.

A lot of people go to this river to swim and soak up the sun.

So the bathing suit styles are a bit different- I guess it's better than the no- top-at-all swim suit style the European travelers in Phuket modeled. I'm also glad to report that there were no speedos (my high school in Malaysia was on the beach and next to a hotel- I have terrible memories of walking to art class and seeing fat (I'm talking really fat) British men in speedos through the gate).

It took us forever to get there but once we did it was wonderful. The water was refreshing and it felt good to lounge about.

We left for Cordoba around 7:30 or 8:00.

We originally had plans to go bungee jumping with Daniel and Carlos (friends from church) but that didn't pan out (long story, but we might go next weekend). Daniel (in the car with Carlos and their friend Melisa) got a hold of us when we got back into town and invited us to a coche corre- an auto race of some sort. He picked us up (literally we got off the bus and into the car) and headed towards the airport because the stadium was supposed to be nearby. As we got closer we stopped and asked numerous people for directions- we soon found out that the races are on Fridays, not Saturdays.

Plan B was to go get a Coke or something and walk around a park. When Daniel, Carlos, and Melisa found out that Amanda and I had never tried choripan, we headed towards Parque Sarmiento and "the best choripan in Cordoba."

Chorizo (type of sausage-not the same as Mexican chorizo) + pan (bread) = choripan.

It was hot off the grill and full of flavor...

Not exactly a bratwurst, but it was similar. There were all kinds of toppings- lettuce, tomato, onions, pickled onions, mayo, hot sauce, other pickled veggies and so on. The bread was toasted on the grill... I snarfed the whole thing.

We had a great time! It felt so nice to have friends call us and invite us to go out with them. We still aren't understanding everything so communicating is kind of hard- people are really patient though.

The church is the same anywhere you go. It's wonderful because you immediately find people your age that have the same beliefs and same things in common.

We're Half Way Through... Where's the Time Gone??!!

2009-03-15T01:00:00.001-03:00

Time is flying by, it seems like we arrived just yesterday! Amanda and I are finally starting to make friends- they are texting me and inviting us to things.

We asked our friends in the lab about peñas- places where Argentine folk music is performed and you can get something to eat. Andrea (our friend from the lab) was really sweet and went to the trouble of arranging a night to go out and inviting everyone from the lab to come. We went to a nearby restaraunt called Alfonsina's- we had pizza, locro, and humita (will blog about locro and humita later).

Sebastian- a friend from church- came along. He likes my guitar a lot and jokes about me giving it to him (half the time I don't know what the hell is going on so I just smile, nod my head, and say sí). I've since learned the verb dar (to give) and the word regalo (gift). I've also learned that taking your index finger and pulling your bottom eyelid down while looking at someone means "I'm watching you" or "watch out" - I did this the other night when a bunch of us went for ice cream. My guitar was placed in a safe spot and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that he was moving it- I pulled my eyelid down and he caught my meaning and laughed. Snaps for me because I made my first chiste (joke) in this culture and it was funny (but you had to be there).

(from the left: Andrea, Martín, Evangelina, Valeria)

The plan was to go to a peña but there was a group from Brazil setting up at the restaurant so we stayed and listened to them.

We stayed until like 2:00 in the morning- we were tired and goofy towards the end. Amanda looks normal but Sebastian and I couldn't take a good shot to save our lives.

(There was a protest earlier that day- they set off all kinds of noise bombs and blocked the road. I was told that protests happen often and are usually effective because they clog traffic and cause havoc with bus systems in the center part of the city. Because we are part of a BYU program we aren't allowed to get close (I guess common sense also suggests that it isn't a good idea to get involved since we aren't citizens here)- we were walking to the lab and took this photo from across the street. As much as we wanted to, we kept our distance and didn't go over and ask what the protest was about.)

(Daniel)

These are some photos from our ice cream outing. We went with a large group of people from Institute.

Carolina y Amanda

Field Trip- Ichu Cruz

2009-03-12T22:11:00.012-02:00

Our professors- Andrea and Alicia- teach an intensive two-week class on floral biology. Amanda and I went with the class on a field trip one of the days to a small town called Ichu Cruz- we learned about flowers of the region.

We had fun talking to the other students and getting to know them. I knew enough Spanish to ask people where they were from, what they were studying, what they wanted to do after school and so on- the same types of questions we typically ask (in the U.S.) when first meeting people.

We stopped near a river to eat lunch...

The cool water felt sooooo good!

I find it really fascinating to see just how important mate really is to this culture. Many people carry around a thermos of hot water, their mate/bombillo, and the yerba so they can drink it throughout the day- it doesn't seem to matter how hot it is outside either.

(A few days later I went back to this class to hear some friends from the lab talk about their work. There were three or four mates being passed around- it seems that three or four people bring theirs to class and then share it with friends. There are certain unsaid "rules" about the whole mate sharing thing- you NEVER swirl the bombillo (straw/filter thing) and you don't take too long with it when you are sharing with a group. A couple of girls I met during the field trip passed me a mate and I- the extranjero- didn't want to look like a fool so I immediately started drinking with a big gulp. It scalded my mouth and made my eyes water- I couldn't taste anything for two days and probably still looked like a fool. At least now I now that I like mate con azucar (sugar) better than amargo (bitter) - it was the first time I tried it with sugar.)

We saw some wildlife.

We also saw a really neat church or shrine at the top of this hill.

I haven't taken any kind of botany class so not only was I learning new Spanish terms, but I was learning some new things about floral anatomy.

It was a really fun day- everyone was really nice.

Me Gusta Asado...

2009-03-09T02:09:00.001-02:00

Our professors- Alicia and Andrea- were really kind and invited us up into the Sierras Chicas (mountains- but they were more like hills) today to have an asado. The name of the pueblo was Cuesta Blanca- it was near a more widely known town called Carlos Paz. We had a wonderful time- it was so nice of them to include us. I feel like I experienced the "real" Argentina today by attending an Argentine family dinner; I like having these types of cultural experiences- they are the reason I wanted to come to Argentina

Andrea's parents have a really nice summer home next to a river.

There was a family gathering...

And a table with large cutting boards, around which silverware and glasses were placed.

This is Don Alfredo- Andrea's father; he explained his nickname "Don" and how it has a different meaning than in the context of Spanish nobility... didn't quite pick up on everything. He and is wife Nora were kind enough to have us over. We really appreciated their hospitality.

This is Leo- Don Alfredo's grandson- he lit the fire and stoked the coals...

And then there was asado...

And one really happy and spoiled dog named Taco. He was so named because his parents are Mexican. I dropped a piece of potato and he wouldn't touch it- he had all kinds of scrap meat at his paws and was choosy.

Asado is a specific name for beef that is cooked on a grill similar to the one above; though an asado is a type of grill... you could also say, "have you tried an asado yet?" meaning have you had a piece of meat off the asado? We shared large cutting boards. Leo- the guy tending to the meat, would cut up chunks of each type of meat (morucha (ribs), vacio (flank stank), morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo, mollejas (sweetbreads- yes my friends, I tried sweetbreads and actually knew what they were because I watch Top Chef), and pork) and then send it around on a huge cutting board.

I've had more beef this week than I usually eat in an entire month. It was all REALLY good though.

A picture of the kitchen inside...

Criollito (*remember that the "ll" in Argentina is pronounced somewhat like a "j" in English)- a wonderful, magical, buttery, flaky, salty, sweet little biscuit that is unique to the Cordoba Province.

We learned a new game- sapo- or frog.

You throw the fichas (or little metal coins),

and aim for the holes or frog's mouth- you earn points depending on where they fall. The coins go through the holes and into slots with different point values marked on the outside.

There was also swimming, climbing, jumping, and diving...

And later that night a jam session.

But not really, I don't exactly rock out on my guitar. Sebastian is a friend we met at institute- he was kind enough to bring over some tango music and show me some Argentine folk guitar. I've played classical guitar my whole life- never really learned to strum or use a pick. I'm learning to strum now! (but not with a pick)

Did I mention that I bought a pink leather jacket while in Buenos Aires a few weeks ago?

It was calling my name. Had to have it.

I´ve Been Cutoff...

2009-03-04T17:48:00.010-02:00

Not from Daddy´s fortune...

from the internet!

We haven´t had internet at our apartment or in the lab since last Saturday. I never realized before how addicted I really am. Facebook, Google, Hotmail, Yahoo, Blog... you name it.

On Saturday we woke up early (for us anyway) and headed to the only ATM we know will take our Visa cards. We had plans. La Cumbre is a small town about a 2hr bus ride from us- we were going to parapente.

(one guess what it means...)

It seems the cosmos had different plans because the ever helpful Utah Community Credit Union turned off my card and the ATM took it and refused to spit it out. The bank was closed, there was no phone around to call the help number, so I pulled out my cell phone, stuck in the sim card I recently bought, made Amanda run across the street to buy a minutes card at a kiosk, and then guarded that ATM like a pit bull.

Right as I started to upload minutes on my phone so I could call the help number and get my card back, the battery died. At this point I was panicking... the ATM had my card!!! I decided to chance it and hope that the ATM kept the card; I took a taxi home so I could call my bank and make sure the card was turned off or whatever (just in case).

You think I could get a hold of ANYBODY at the UCCU? Nope, it was Saturday and the bank was closed; I was stuck with a million different recordings telling me to push a number. I told them two or three times before leaving that I would be in Argentina so please don´t flag my account and turn my card off (this had happened to my folks in Malaysia). Yeah, didn´t do any good. My mother was inspired and sent me with a backup card for emergencies so it wasn´t the end of the world, I was able to get some cash.

*Maybe I called my dad and had a meltdown... a whole bunch of things had been building, building, building and then this whole ATM business set me off. KABOOM! My dad talked me off the ledge and told me he´d take care of calling the bank (thank you Dafoo) and to go have fun. I calmed down, washed my snot-nosed face, and then got ready to go. By this time it was too late in the day to go do parapente so we went to La Falda instead.

It was a charming little town about an hour and half from where we live. We walked past a hotel and under the sign it said SPA- the magical three-letter word that seems to be the same in every language.

I got a massage with hot oil and these smooth, hot stones. I´m happy to say that the massage was way better than the pedicure fiasco; it was so good, I decided to get a facial too. Suddenly things didn´t seem so bad.

I´m happy to say that things have been really good (post meltdown). I got my card back, I´m going to take some guitar lessons (to learn some Argentine music), and I´ve set up Spanish classes for the rest of the month. I´m really enjoying myself...

Antigua Casa Nuñez

2009-02-27T00:04:00.008-02:00

The first thing we did after arriving in Buenos Aires and checking into the hostel was take a walk up calle (street) Sarmiento to the guitar shop Antigua Casa Nuñez. I nagged and nagged Amanda to go to Buenos Aires because I wanted a guitar; even though we are going to be here 3 months we HAD to go to Buenos Aires within the first few weeks. Before coming to Argentina I had researched this guitar shop- it was established in 1870 and has made classical guitars for famous guitarists such as Andres Segovia. I KNEW that if I was going to get a guitar in Argentina, it was going to be from this shop...

Below is a signed picture of Segovia playing on one of the the shop's guitars; it was hanging on the wall along with many other framed autographs of famous guitarists of Argentina. Segovia is one of the most famous classical guitarists; he was an amazing player, teacher, and he edited/transcribed a lot of music for the classical guitar.

I told Carlos (the guy in the background) that I already had a cedar guitar and would like to try a spruce guitar.

I played many guitars. One of the most expensive spruce guitars was brought to me the first day and I played it; I thought it was the one I was going to buy. After returning to the hostel for the night I emailed Larry Green (my guitar professor at BYU) and asked for any tips or advice about buying another guitar. I'm glad I contacted him because he mentioned that there can be major problems when buying a guitar in a humid climate and then taking it back the always dry Utah. Another person in my ensemble bought a guitar in South America and the body cracked when he took it back to Utah; Larry helped me contact a luthier in Utah who has made guitars for him and others at BYU so I could ask about the humidity problem.

I wanted to to find a cheaper guitar because I would be devastated if the nicest one cracked when I took it home. The cheaper guitars just weren't doing anything for me.... Carlos handed me another guitar that was hand made by the same luthier- Bartello- and I started to play. The stain on the guitar was really dark- dark enough to look like a cedar guitar. After I had "the moment" when you discover that this is the guitar, I asked how much it was (thinking it was one of the cheaper ones) and it turned out to be about 1500 pesos more than I thought. It was cheaper and not as nicely made (there are a few nails- nicer guitars are entirely glued) but it was more enjoyable to play and it sounded nicer than the expensive guitar.

I've had teachers explain that everyone who plays an instrument will have times when they don't make mistakes, the tone sounds wonderful, the dynamics and expression are working out, and you connect with the music. You just have "a moment," and these "moments" are the reason you struggle through the times when your sound sucks and you don't feel like practicing. Well, I had "a moment" with this guitar (below) and none of the others- that's when I knew it was the one...

To make a long story short, I bought the guitar (pictured above) and have worked out the humidity problem. It sounds nice and the deluxe, fancy case was thrown in for free- un regalo (gift). I spent more than I intended but I figured that I would have this guitar for years to come so why buy a piece of crap instead of the one I really wanted? I went back to the shop three times and planned my whole weekend around when the shop was open and when I should buy the guitar (because I didn't want to keep it in the hostel, yuck!). *speaking of hostels, they are okay for cheapo students like me (honestly it sucked), but when I'm rich and established some day, it's going to be nothing but the J Dubya Marriott. P.S. I don't consider the "hostel" in Cordoba a hostel... it's more of a really nice apartment.

Carlos charging my purchase (I have to believe they don't sell 3,000 peso guitars everyday and that he made a nice commission). I figure if anyone really, really wants to know how much I spent, they can google the conversion rate.

I didn't realize the guy taking the picture didn't actually get the guitar in the picture. Oh well, you can see the neck and some of the photos and guitars in the background.

I may upload video some other time so you can hear how it sounds.

Buenos Aires

2009-02-24T22:59:00.016-02:00

Recoleta

We went back to the Barrio Recoleta and to the cemetary; it was worth a second trip back. We've read that to be burried in this cemetary you've got to 1. be rich, 2. famous, 3. have connections.

It was really beautiful and quiet because we had gotten there before all the big tour buses. As soon as the people started crowding in and getting in the way it wasn't as fun. I was kind of suprised how recent a lot of the burials/entombents were.

We went by Evita Peron's mausoleum; I'll admit, at first I thought it was her father's or a relative of hers. I was expecting it to be one of the huge, grand, and elaborate mausoleums that we had seen earlier.

Juan Peron had Evita's body in Spain (when he was in exile) after Peron died, Isabel Peron had Evitá's body returned and buried in her family (Duarte was her father) tomb. Even her husband-the president- didn't make the cut to be placed in Recoleta.

After Recoleta we asked for directions to another neighborhood in Buenos Aires- San Telmo. San Telmo has one of the best artesan markets in Argentina. We didn't go there first because it was raining that morning and the information desk at the hostel said it would be closed.

We started walking towards the subte (subway) and took a left instead of a right and got lost and had to backtrack. by the time we got on the subte and at the transfer station to another line it was too late. We had to be back to our hostel by 4:00 to meet a group to go to a football game. I was sad that we didn't make it to San Telmo- next time we'll make it.

River Plate vs. Banfield

We left from the hostel like 3 1/2 hours early. I guess the guide knew what he was doing because there were 3 or 4 different security checks we had to go through.

In my opinion watching the crowd was the funnest part of the game.

At first we were in the "tame" part of the crowd- there was some cheering but it was laid back enough for parents to take their small children and for people to sit down and watch the game. I watched as a group of guys spent at least a half hour trying to hang their ¨"La Salda" banner on the fence in the background (picture above). A lot of people took banners with the name of their barrio or names of players and hung them; I was talking to my mom the other night and we´ve decided that I should make a Provo, Utah banner to take with me to the next game.

Amanda and I decided to sneak further down into the standing crowd during halftime; it didn't feel like we were getting the real experience in the upper part of the stands. We wanted to be where everyone was shouting, throwing papers around, and jumping up and down. The next game we go to we are going to aim for the middle part of the stadium (picture below); this was where the real action was. Amanda snook over for a few minutes during half-time but decided to come back over where I was after she saw a guy sniff some cocaine.

Right before the game started an informal drumline marched out with people waving flags and banners. There were song-like cheers all throughout the game; when the opposing team (Banfield) came out there was a cheer calling them second class or number two- something like that. The next time we go to a game we want to learn some of the cheers before.

After River plate won the game, there were some flares nd more cheering. Each section of the stadium had to wait to be escorted out; I guess there had been some problems in the past with people getting trampled. They also didn't allow alcohol inside the stadium- one of the guys in our group was pulled over for a breathalizer test and almost wasn't let in because the genius downed almost a liter of beer on the bus ride over.

LA BOCA

A neighborhood in Buenos Aires settled by Italian immigrants from Genoa; it is believed by some that La Boca is named after a Genoa neighborhood called Boccadasse, however the more conventional explanation is that the neighborhood sits at the mouth (boca) of the Riachuelo.

The Caminito is the name of the walkway that is famous for the brightly painted shops and apartments. Today the caminito basically a tourist attraction with shops and tango dancers on the side of the street. Though it was nothing but tourists and restaraunt owners trying to recruit you to their cafe, we had a lot of fun.

*So I couldn't keep a strait face; this guy was looking so intently into my eyes while I was trying not to laugh. I wish I could have held a straight face for at least one shot, it would have made it even better.

They made me take my hair down and stick it through... a nice touch in my opinion.

We stopped for a drink and snack at a little cafe with a live tango show. They invited us up to pose.

Another guy posing with one of the tango dancers...

Overall, La Boca was very touristy but fun.

We split up after La Boca; Amanda went to El Tigre, and I walked around San Telmo (I'll post photos after our next trip to Buenos Aires and after the La Feria de San Pedro Telmo- the artesian fair that we missed because it is only open Sundays). I didn't want to get tied down to a tour group because I had some purchases to make.

Stay tuned because tomorrow is all about the new guitar and pink leather jacket.

"It's Only Monopoly Money"

2009-02-22T01:13:00.009-02:00

Argentine pesos are so much easier to spend than US dollars. Pesos are still so foreign looking to us, it feels like we are spending Monopoly money.

Purse Vendor: "It's 110 pesos..."
Malaina: "OK! I'll take it!"

See... spending money here is "easy as pie." (name that movie!) But seriously, I'm blowing through cash faster than I can "pass go and collect my $200."

Today we kind of slept in. I got up and booked it to the guitar shop; I've been emailing my guitar teacher at BYU and he's made me aware that there could be a problem bringing a guitar from a humid climate to a dry climate. A friend in ensemble bought a guitar in South America and it started to dry out and crack when he brought it back to Utah; I don't know how diligent he was with putting a humidifier attachment in with the guitar when it was in the case. I found another guitar that is cheaper and that I like a lot more than the more expensive one I tried yesterday. I'm emailing a guitar luthier/friend of my teacher and asking him about the whole humidity/climate deal; I hope he gets back to me before Monday and tells me what I want to hear (i.e. climate will be no problem... have a fabulous time buying the guitar).

Amanda and I ate lunch at a parilla; I just got a piece of chicken but Amanda got a whole side of beef (ok not really but there was a lot). We ventured on the bus and made our way to the neighborhood Recoleta- it's home to the famous Recoleta cemetery where famous people like Eva Peron are buried.

There was a fabulous market/fair outside the cemetary.

We got a tinsy bit side tracked and by the time we got to the cemetary entrance they were kicking people out because it was closed. Ok so we are totally lame for getting there too late; we will go back and see the cemetary before leaving Buenos Aires. Tomorrow we get up EARLY! We are going to a Football game tomorrow and we need to see La Boca and San Telmo tomorrow.

We were walking down the street and found a classical guitarist playing with an amp... I had to stop and listen. He was really good... his technique looked good; I wasn't awed or anything but it was really nice to listen to.

We went to a dinner/tango show at a theater that was litterally one block from our hostel (we are so close to everything, it really is a fantastic location).

You can see part of the theater in the background...

We were both awed by the dancing...

The video below is only a small fraction of what we saw...

Amanda and I had to be the youngest ones in the theater. It was expensive but we both decided that we couldn't leave Buenos Aires without having gone to a tango show.

Buenos Aires

2009-02-21T02:19:00.008-02:00

We took a night bus that left Cordoba at 10:15. We bought "full-cama" seats or seats that recline into beds; they were a lot bigger and nicer than airplane seats- except there was a big wad of gum on my seat. Needless to say, I (or I should say Amanda) didn't notice it until after walking around the bus terminal; she asked me what was all over my butt and then couldn't stop laughing. I didn't think it was that funny. I did think it was funny that she forgot to pack underwear though...

The food was nothing special. After the bus worker (I don't know what to call him) finished picking up all the trash, he came by with a tray full of some type of drink. He repeated it a couple of times but we just COULD NOT UNDERSTAND what he was saying; Amanda (afraid to miss ANYTHING) immediately took a cup- she still didn't know what it was. We were thinking it was some Argentine tea or herbal drink or something we just hadn't come across yet. I took the cup from her and we both sniffed it- it smelled different but we couldn't figure it out. I took a sip and it was pretty nasty; Amanda took a big gulp and it started burning. Ok, so maybe we really are two naive little LDS chicas and not the grand world travelers we'd like to think we are... it was whiskey.

After our "nightcap" we had a good laugh and slept most of the way to Buenos Aires; we arrived around 7:30 the next morning. It wasn't too bad... I slept about the same as I would have on a 10 hour flight.

Buenos Aires is absolutely incredible! We went to our hostel (it's located right in the middle of everything) dropped off our stuff and then headed towards the guitar shop (which turned out to be a few blocks up the street from us). I think I've found the guitar; it's really expensive so I have to think about it and decide by Monday.

We then headed towards the Plaza de Mayo which commemorates a resolution that lead to Argentine independence from Spain. The Plaza de Mayo was also made famous by a group of mothers that would march in protest because their children disappeared during the dirty war (period of military dictatorship 1976-1983).

This is the main cathedral in/near the Plaza

Ok so I just realized most of the pictures from the Plaza de Mayo are on Amanda's camera- I'll post them later.

We also went to the Plaza de la Republica where the big Obelisk is. It was constructed to commemorate the 400th aniversary of the first founding of the city.

Across the street from El Obelisco waiting to cross like 10 lanes of traffic...

We walked along Corrientes which can be compared to New York's Broadway. We found a musical version of Othello and decided to get tickets.

I love this shot... it's of us eating across the street from the theater after the show; you can see the theater "Teatro El Nacional" in the background.

Please note the white sandals. We had an hour and a half before the play started and the only shoes I had with me were my orange birkenstocks. We were a ways away from the hostel (and we had to run back to change and clean up) and I just wasn't finding the right shoes... I was being picky. I wanted some nice leather shoes and nothing was "speaking to me"- time was running out so I settled for some rubbery/plastic white sandals that are actually starting to grow on me. I am liking them a lot.

After intermission we snuck down from our cheap seats and sat where we could feel the air conditioner and have leg room to stretch our feet.

The whole thing was very nicely done. Othello was a Shakespeare that I never read in high school (my teacher preferred 1,000 page Russian tragedies where you get all the way through just to find out they throw themselves under a train).

We both got the gist of what was going on.

Tomorrow we go to Recoletta, La Boca, and maybe a tango show...

The Worst Pedicure EVER!

2009-02-18T12:41:00.012-02:00

The whole culture shock thing is setting in. Who am I kidding? I've felt twinges of it from the beginning; at least I knew it was coming and I knew what to expect. When we moved to Malaysia I was a neurotic mess at the beginning- I was neurotic before we even got there! (but that's a whole other story) At least here the bouts of homesickness and culture shock last for a few hours and then pass on so I can go on with the rest of my day. It is always so much easier to blame your problems and frustrations on everyone else- that's why I have to remind myself that I'm the foreigner, the guest in this country that doesn't speak the language and doesn't know what she's doing.

Everyone here has been extremely nice and helpful- I'm just frustrated with me. Not being able to do the simplest things- like take a bus (because there are a million buses and I can't even remember how to say ¨bus stop¨ to ask where one is), or think of a single intelligent thing to say to the girls in the lab (I probably sound like a five year- old child) or figure out how to chew out the pedicure lady for torturing me (I'm getting to that, BELIEVE ME). Enough with the self-pity. I know I'm going to get to the point where I'm not so awkward and things come easier- it just takes time. This is all part of living abroad; does three months count? I say it counts

So I had to have a pedicure...

I kept an eye out, asked around, and finally found a place that advertised manicures and pedicures. In my wildest dreams I was hoping that pedicures in Argentina would be as nice and affordable as they were in Malaysia; NOT SO.

Normally when you get a pedi you soak your feet in a hot bath to soften everything up. At this joint they pulled out a freaking sander and went to work! I know my feet were a tad bit calloused but come on! Does this remind anyone else of that scene in Dumb and Dumber when they pull out the saw to trim Harry's toe nails? (My feet weren't that bad- promise)

A photo of the torture weapons...

So I'm not very proficient with Spanish- I figured sounds like "Ouch!" or "AH!" or audible gasps of breath combined with moving my foot away, were universal for "Damn lady, that hurts! Lighten it up a bit will ya?!!" Sadly, these signals were not universal.

I'm the dumbie for not walking out. I couldn't though- as bad as the whole experience was, I was morbidly fascinated. The whole process was unlike anything I'd ever seen; I kind of sat there and stared with my mouth hanging open- drool about to escape at any moment. At least now my curiosity has been appeased and I KNOW that I'm not missing out on anything.

After the whole fiasco, I stopped by a grocery store to get some baking powder and some shortening... I had my great grandmother's tortilla recipe in hand; I was on a mission. I found the baking powder, but what about the shortening? I knew I wasn't going to find Crisco, but I looked and looked for some kind of equivalent. I finally broke down and asked the girl at the pastry counter- I knew enough Spanish to describe what I needed (snaps for me!) and she found me some lard. It then occurred to me that even though the recipe called for Crisco, they probably didn't have the chemically- manufacterd/partially- hydrogenated/trans- fatty goodness of Crisco back when my great grandma made tortillas. I'm going to take a wild guess and say that she used lard? My grandma will let me know.

I've never made tortillas before but I think they turned out good.

They tasted really good...

We were both quite happy.

Amanda and I are leaving for Buenos Aires tonight (above picture is of us buying our tickets); all we have left to do is book a hostel. I probably won't be blogging for a few days but who knows? All I know is that I'm coming back with a guitar...

San Valentín in Alta Gracia (cuidado, it's a long one)

2009-02-14T21:41:00.022-02:00

We took a little day trip yesterday to Alta Gracia- it's about an hour's bus ride away from Cordoba. There was an old Jesuit estancia and a chapel. We went inside and saw a large crowd of people with two at the front- we were able to see the end of their marriage ceremony.

We waited outside to doors and Amanda snapped this photo as the happy couple made their way outside. We went to Alta Gracia with two other girls from our language school- until one of them said, "How sweet, they were married on Valentine's day!" I had forgotten all about the holiday.

I loved how the photographers followed them and took the photos as they made their way out- there wasn't really any posing. Whenever I've been waiting outside for couples to come out of the temple, its been followed by family shots, friend shots, bride's maid shots, groom shots and a million other combinations- not that there's anything wrong with that. As soon as people started throwing rice, I hopefully asked Amanda, "do they let you do that outside the temple?" We both kind of doubted it. The couple didn't stick around long; within 10 minutes they were in their getaway car driving off. I bet they had a fantastic party later with friends and family.

Alta Gracia was a really charming and quiet little town... the perfect place for a simple wedding with your friends and family in attendance.

We next headed over to Ernesto Che Guevara's childhood house. He was born in Rosario in the Santa Fe Province of Argentina; his family moved to Alta Gracia when he was a child because he had really severe asthma and the doctors thought the air in Alta Gracia would help.

Che Guevara met Fidel Castro in Mexico, and then later agreed to join his 26th of July movement by helping invade Cuba and overthrow Fulgencio Batista; the two had a long-lasting relationship. "To some Che Guevara is a hero that fought for freedom; to others he is the spokesperson of a failed ideology, and a ruthless executioner who didn't afford others the legal process" (wikipedia, because where else do you research stuff?).

The image above (turned into a monograph) has become a pop culture symbol (outside of Latin America) and is often seen on shirts, hats, bags and whatever else you can think of. To many it's a symbol of dissent, rebellion, political awareness, or civil disobedience and less a representation of Che Guevara's politics/ideology.

Che Guevara's house:

Amanda and I broke away from the other two girls that went with us because I wanted to go to the Manuel de Falla museum and I could tell the other two girls didn't care about going one little bit. Amanda hadn't really heard of Manuel de Falla but was upbeat and happy to go with me- that's one thing I appreciate about her, she's always upbeat and ready to go try anything.

Manuel de Falla was a composer from Cadiz, Spain. After the Spanish Civil War ended, Manuel de Falla moved to Alta Gracia where he died in 1946- I'm pretty sure he moved there (at least in part) for health reasons. His house (now a museum) was a few blocks away from Che Guevara's.

Manuel de Falla wrote operas, symphonies, piano concertos and... GUITAR MUSIC! I think a lot of the classical guitar music has been transcribed from other instruments but whatever, it still counts. In the classical guitar world there is a large competition through the Guitar Federation of America- winners of this competition and other international competitions come through Salt Lake City every few months and play recitals (or concertos with the Utah Symphony). I always try to make it to these concerts- I LOVE going. Anyway, these world- class guitarists play pieces by Manuel de Falla all the time; they are pieces I have heard over and over and still enjoy listening to. One day when I'm a master guitarist I will play them.

So we weren't supposed to take pictures inside but...

I absolutely had to...

Look! A piece composed JUST for the classical guitar... an homage to Claude Debussy.

I may as well just come out and say it: I enjoyed the Manuel de Falla museum WAY more than the Che Guevara museum even though the Guevara museum is more popular (we were the only ones at the de Falla museum).

After the Maneul de Falla museum we went back to the Jesuit estancia to look around.

There was a really neat and sophisticated irrigation system (which I can't show you because they wouldn't let us take pictures inside- don't know why). This estancia was built in the 17th century and offered economical support to the Colegio Máximo which is now known as the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba- the oldest school in Argentina, and second oldest school in South America.

The other two girls we were with wanted to meet up at a parilla after we were done looking around; I'm glad it wasn't open because I wasn't that hungry and didn't want to strap on the feed bag just then. The other two girls bought some nasty sandwich at a kiosk but I'm glad I held out because there was a salami (en español: salame) vendor across the street.

It was amazing... you can tell by the way my eyes are glazed over.

I even made friends with Luciana- the vendor that sold us the salame. She's from Córdoba but lives with her grandparents in Alta Gracia- she's got a lot of family in Alta Gracia. Her favorite movie is The Terminator with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The only downer to the trip was that one of the girls had a bad attitude towards the end of the day. We couldn't find the bus depot and ended up walking at least 45 minutes out of the way- in her defense it was hot and humid and she was probably tired- but when you're in a foreign country and don't speak the language very well, you're going to walk in circles and get lost. You just are. She said something pretty nasty that totally embarrassed me because a local family was walking by and heard; at first I didn't quite believe what she had said but then I asked Amanda later and it turns out I heard right. She might as well have stamped "Ugly American Tourist" on her forehead- ours as well because we were with her! That's the last trip I do with ANYONE from the language school; at least with Amanda I know she's got class and wouldn't act like that. It didn't occur to me ahead of time that something like this might happen. Live and learn.

Other than the incident mentioned above, we had a really fun day.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

2009-02-12T23:50:00.003-02:00

I NEVER buy it at home.

I haven't eaten it in YEARS.

But tonight I made Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

The food in Argentina is amazing- the beef is superb. You can get pastas, pastries, ice creams, amazing fruit (I eat two or three peaches every day), pizza, sandwiches, yogurts- all foods familiar to an American palate. As amazing as all the food is, nothing, I repeat nothing, is the quite the same. I don't want it to be the same, that's why I came to Argentina.

When I was packing before my trip, my mother told me specifically to put some macaroni & cheese, peanut butter, and Cup of Noodles into my suitcase because "they'd sound good" when I got there (I also stole some Cheerios from my parent's food storage, and then bought some Reese's at Albertson's). Having lived in Malaysia for two years, we knew that there are certain quintessential American foods- like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese/peanut butter- that are somehow comforting when you are away from home. At home I eat a PB&J maybe once a month and Reese's only at the movie theater when Jordan sneaks them in. However, in a month or so a Cup of Noodles and a Reese's is really going to hit the spot.

I'm all for trying the different foods, eating what the Argentines eat and not complaining when things are different, or you can't find what you want and so on, blah, blah, blah...but I'm an American.

Sometimes you just need something that is quintessentially American.

"The longest dinner ever...but it didn't even feel that long!"- Amanda Martinez

2009-02-12T01:31:00.006-02:00

Forgive the title of this post, it's 1:30AM and we just got home from dinner. Our professor invited us to a dinner to say goodbye to a friend of hers from Colombia that was working here in Cordoba. We got an email about it a week ago but didn't really take much time to read it- we both scanned it but missed the part that mentioned it also being a welcome dinner for Amanda and I.

Pía is sitting next to me, and Andrea is across from me; Martín is to her right. Sandra is hidden by Martín (she is Dr. Sersic's friend that is going back to Colombia), and Dr. sersic is seen behind Martín. I don't know the guy's name on the far end, but Marcella (his wife) is holding their really cute baby. Next to Marcella, Andrea (Dr. Sersic's husband) is sitting next to Amanda.

Pía is really sweet and patient; she takes time to speak to me and help me understand what's going on. Andrea is also really nice, she spent some time helping me speak tonight and I really appreciated that.

We met Martín for the first time tonight (Sandra is sitting next to him); he was funny and really nice- he offered to take Amanda, Pía, Andrea and I to a football game next weekend

We went to a parrilla or Argentine grill/barbeque; we had morcilla (blood sausauge- kind of different but not bad), chinchulines (intestine- chewy, that's all I'm gonna say), vacio (sirloin/porterhouse), pork, another really thin piece of beef, papas fritas con huevos (french fries with eggs- surprisingly good). Everyone ordered el diente liebre- all you can eat sampling of everything off the asado (grill). The whole dinner and conversation process went on from 9:30pm past 1:00am.

It turns out that the most famous basketball team in Córdoba- Atenas- was eating at the same place. I was walking in with Pía, Martín, and Sandra when Martín noticed Diego Osella standing outside. I was told that Diego Osella is the most famous player of them all:

We went over for a photo... (there was one with me but half my head was cut out)

It turns out one of the players was from California; Amanda was talking with him and ended up giving him her email- he said he'd email some free game tickets. We're hoping he doesn't forget.

Earlier today I participated in my first, real "pass-the-mate-around" ceremony (I don't know what it's called). A mate is filled with yerba and hot water and then shared among friends; when it's your turn you drink it (without swirling the straw around) until it "slurps." It then gets refilled and passed around a circle- it was more bitter than I remember, but it was good (and it helped wake me up).

Ok, it's late, more later... Buenas Noches.

2009-02-10T23:38:00.005-02:00

Amanda and I have been really busy since our Spanish classes started yesterday; we take about a 45 minute walk to school, spend four hours working on Spanish, walk to the lab and then spend another 5-6 hours working there. I think the Spanish classes are helping- I'll need lots more practice but they are a good review.

We went out to dinner last night with some people from our language school- we went to a tango/milonga restaurant. We had drinks (without alcohol for us two LDS chicas), empanadas, and chicken. Tango classes are taught at this place and a class got out while we were eating so they turned up the music and people started dancing. To be honest, I just wasn't that into it. Everyone was friendly but I'm not an extrovert so if I don't butt myself into a conversation I'm usually content to sit and listen; Amanda is completely opposite- always upbeat, singing something, talking and seeking out the next activity. When I don't get a lot of sleep there's very little that makes me happy- I get depressed and feel sorry for myself. I wish it wasn't so, but I've just always been that way; Amanda must think I'm insane.

More about the lab work:

Right now it seems like I'm going to be analyzing a bunch of data; I'm building a database of photos to plug into a computer program. We're trying to quantify the average shape of a species of flower; there are samples from about 30 different populations of this flower from all over Argentina. We are going to use the photos to calculate shape- which is more specific than just measuring the width or height; we are looking for variations in morphology (shape) between populations and the factors that cause this variation. Dr. Sersic's lab focuses on pollination biology- in my case we are looking at how pollination of Anarthrophyllum desideratum (my flower) by different birds in various regions of Argentina contributes to changes in morphology. Different pollinators, geographic features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains- all contribute to speciation (new species branching off from each other); the over-all project is aimed at finding out what factors cause speciation in Patagonia.

Me at la computadora:

Un photo del laboratorio (are the prepositions correct? I don't know, that's why I'm taking Spanish classes!)

Everyone's mate cups; I guess mate is as important to Argentines as coffee is to most Americans (though you can't actually buy mate at a cafe or restaurant). Yerba-literally herb-goes into the mate (the actual cup) with hot water (I've had it before, it's not bad- tasted like herbal tea to me but what do I know?). The straw is called a bombilla- it filters the herbs from going up.

Did I mention that La Universidad Nacional de Cordoba is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site called the Jesuit Block? Jesuit missionaries settled and built these buildings in the early 1600's but were later kicked out. We finished with our lab work and walked around outside for a bit... we found this really beautiful hibiscus plant/tree.

We shared a lomo (Argentine steak).

Today was a good day.

Me llamo Malena

2009-02-09T01:52:00.000-02:00

I've decided that while in Argentina, I will go by Malena. I think it's a lot easier than going by Malaina because Malena is a lot more familiar to people here, and it's easier for them to pronounce...

It's also fun to go by Malena- it rolls off the tongue nicely. We saw this poster for a missing dog named Malena (have to italicize it, don't know why, but I have to) when we stopped for a drink last night.

We found the most AMAZING handicraft market last night; it was like going to the Salt Lake Arts Festival or Portland Saturday Market and being able to afford to buy stuff! I was TWITTERPATED (twitterpated: 1. to be completely enamored with someone/something. 2. the flighty, exciting feeling you get when you think about/see the object of your affection.)

I found a purse...

And talked to the artist that hand-crafted it.

It's a soft, beautiful leather purse, with a hand- painted portrait of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (who was married to Diego Rivera). I asked about it, and she said excitedly, "Me encanta (love) Frieda Kahlo!" or something to that effect. (did you notice the hand-blown glass earings that I bought only moments earlier?)

The purse also has really beautiful hand stitching. I LOVE this purse, it's exactly the type of thing I was looking for- good quality/handcrafted; this doesn't mean I won't buy another one...or two. I'm also in the market for some nice leather shoes... good thing the market is open every weekend.

Earlier that day:

We were walking around the city and nothing was open. All of the shops in the area were closed, and street vendors with jewelery, clothes and pirated DVDs were out.

We decided to do the tourist thing and take a city tour on one of those double- decker buses.

As we first began the tour we were thinking, "great... tourist trap." It turned out to be a lot of fun though- everyone is so friendly. Five or six different groups of guys waved, honked, or shouted, "Hola Chicas!"

On the tour we stopped to see another really neat cathedral. This one was built in the 1930's but was architecturally designed to look Gothic (there are really, really high walls and vaulted arches). There is only one steeple- representing the perfection of God; the side without the steeple represents the imperfection of man.

There were some beautiful stained glass windows.

Later that night (after the awesome handicraft market) we walked through the Plaza San Martin to briefly watch the tango dancers.

I originally recorded some of the dancing, but for some reason can't figure out how to rotate the frame so you can watch it right- side up. I'll post some dancing later- Amanda and I are going to a tango class Monday evening at a cafe/hang-out near the handicraft market. We are also starting our Spanish classes at the language school tomorrow- I'm hoping to really improve this week.

We went to church this morning; everyone was extremely nice to us. I love the South American tradition of kissing acquaintences and friends on the cheek when you meet and say goodbye. After church was over, it seemed like we kissed everyone two or three times as we made our way towards the door.

More to come later, I gotta' go to bed.

2009-02-05T22:45:00.003-02:00

We started the day by seeking out a language school because we want to take Spanish lessons (Translation: I NEED to take Spanish lessons). I feel like all I do is listen, smile, say "Sí" or "Está Bien." Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

We then went to La Universidad Nacional de Córdoba- the National University of Córdoba, and found the lab where we will be working while we are here. Valería, Andrea, and Pía are all PhD students that will be working with us and teaching us what to do. We got to the lab early so we asked Valeria and Pia (in broken Spanish) what restaurants around the school are good. They were very sweet and walked us to a favorite of theirs called Alfonsia.

I ordered Ňoquis de Papas or potato Gnocchi. I figured that I wasn't being picky by choosing a food that is relatively familiar to me because a lot of Argentines are of Italian descent, so Italian food therefore, is Argentine food. I also had seen Giada de Laurentiis make them on the Food Network and had always wanted to try them- they were good and enough for lunch the next day. The Ňoquis were thicker and softer than a regular noodle and the bolonese sauce was good.

I had read in the travel book before coming that being a waiter in Argentina is a profession, not just a job to get you through school; it is very obvious by the service that this is true. When ordering drinks (specifying with ice) they bring them on a nice tray, the ice in a bucket with tongs, they set each drink down one at a time, place the glasses down, open each bottle of water and pour separately. The whole process is kind of graceful and relaxed- very unlike a rushed American waiter trying to get the food out before people complain. The waiters also take the leftover food into the back and package it up nicely for you- it doesn't appear to matter whether or not the restaurant is a fancy place or a student hang-out.

We went back to the lab after lunch and met Valeria, Andrea and Dr. Sérsic. We spent time talking (or at least trying to) and getting to know one another before they started to outline what our individual projects are. Everyone seems really nice and willing to help us with the language- they know enough English, and we know enough Spanish to get the basic idea.

After we finished at the lab, we walked around some of the many shops and came upon the church/cathedral of San Francisco.

It was very beautiful- there were pigeons in the courtyard, and people dozing on the benches under the shade.

The inside was very beautiful (for course credit one of my "tasks" will be to research Baroque/Neoclassical architecture so I can sound like I'm somewhat educated when I report back on my day).

We started in the general direction of La Plaza San Martin (where we were yesterday) and found a really neat store with wallets, purses, bombillos de mate (more on mate later), and a bunch of other neat things all made in Argentina. I found a nice leather wallet for about 13 US dollars- which is great because it was made with genuine Argentine leather- I'm holding out for the right purse. A big, fancy, leather purse. We met a very nice gentleman (50s or 60s) who asked where we were from, told me I was "linda" (lovely) and gave us each a friendly kiss on cheek when he left. I like Argentina, it's good for my ego.

We walked passed a confecteria and Amanda stopped for a pastry and I a water because let's face it, I do not need to be eating pastries, ice creams and fancy desserts every time I turn a corner.

I did steal a bite though... it was chocolate and dulce de leche with a flaky, fattening crust.

This is a view of the road we take to get home from down town.

On our way home, we got our first catcall from a car full of guys while we were waiting to cross a busy intersection....