Day #4, July 29

Marce and I left at around 9:30 to go to her school. This would be the first day back for teachers and students after a winter break. The break was longer than planned due to the H1V1 epidemic as well as an unusually cold winter.

There was a lot of excitement when the students entered, partly due to returning after their break and partly due to having a visitor. I met all of the teachers and visited the classrooms. I was bombarded by questions in broken English and Spanish.

There are two four-hour shifts at the school. One group enters at 8:00 and leaves at 12:00. The other group enters at 1:30 and leaves at 5:30. There is a new group of teachers for each shift, also. It is illegal for teachers to work double shifts, unlike Mexico. As in Korea, students work for 50 minutes and then get a 10 minute break every hour.

I met Marce's principal, Susana. She was very pleasant. I also met Cristina, a teacher who is filling in as a second vice principal while the other one is on leave. The three administrators share an office about half the size of my office. The three sit around one desk.

After the afternoon shift arrived Marce and I left. We went and got a bite to eat then met a friend of hers, Andrea, in the city center. With Andrea we visited a museum in an old Capuchino monastery and the church of Buen Pastor that is run by the Capuchinos. After we went for coffee/tea at a bar located in a new building constructed behind the old facade of a building that had belonged to Miguel's grandfather. Marce and Miguel actually had lived in the old building for a year.

We returned home and had a late cena before going to bed.

Day #3, July 28

After breakfast the group went by taxis to the Ministerio de Ciencias y Tecnologia. There we met with representatives from that ministry as well as from the Ministerio de Educacion. They gave welcoming presentations and explanations about their work. We then gave our presentations - introductions about our schools and our work. Our counterparts (Marce included) joined us at the ministry offices. It all ended with a presentation of welcome gifts by the head of the technology/science ministry.

We all went back to the hotel to get our luggage. Marce and I got a taxi and went to her house. I will be staying in comfortable apartment behind their house. They wanted to give me privacy. It will work well. I met her family: Miguel, her husband, and her two children, Consuelo (15 years old) and Santiago (12 years old). Santiago was very eager to practice English with me. Consuelo, not so eager.

We had a late cena of pasta and wine capped with a traditional drink of Fernet and coke.

Day #2, July 27.

We began our day by taking taxis to the Fulbright office. There we met all of the people we had been in contact with through the internet. Norma Gonzalez spoke to us at length about the state of education in Argentina. She said that she wasn't too concerned about us spending so much time in the schools. She was more interested in us speaking with community members, getting the word out about the importance of funding education.

After hearing presentations about Fulbright in Argentina each member of the group from the USA was asked to give a short introduction. We took group pictures and were then left on our own for lunch.

Since we were in the area where I had stayed with Lois, I knew some places to eat. I led the group to Cumana, a criollo (traditional Argentinian food) restaurant. Everybody seemed to be quite pleased with the choice after we ate.

At 4:00 PM a van picked us up at the hotel and took us to the airport. We flew from Buenos Aires to Cordoba. When we got to Cordoba, Marcela and her family were waiting to welcome me. That was very nice of them since I won't be staying with them until tomorrow.

Another van and Marisol from Fulbright took us to our next hotel, Hotel de la Canada. We went out for cena at a restaurant called La Nieta de la Pancha. It served nuveau Argentinian food in a bohemian atmosphere. It was great.

Day#1 - July 26

I met with the group in the lobby of the hotel. Carina, from the Fulbright office was there to welcome us. She went over the first days of the agentda with us and then introduced us to our tour guide, Monica. Monica led us to a tour van that took us around the city to see some the historical sites, places I had seen before. It was interesting to see the sites with Monica's commentaries as her political perspective was different from anyone else's I had ever spoken with. After visiting the Cemetery of the Recoleta, Monica left us. We walked to a restaurant for dinner. The restaurant was right around the corner from the apartment where I had stayed with my cousin Lois. The hotel was only 5 or 6 blocks from the restaurant. After eating we walked back to the hotel and I collapsed in bed, tired after a long journey.

The group I am with is very diverse professionally. I think we will learn from each other as well as from our counterparts.
1. Hector - a high school principal from NYC. His school is a small options-type school
2. Diane - a superintendent of a small district in upstate NY.
3. Joyce - a high school Spanish teacher in Connecticut.
4. Barbara - a high school Spanish teacher in the Seattle area.
5. Elizabeth - a high school Spanish teacher also from the Seattle area.
6. John - a high school teacher from Hector's school in NYC.
I am the only elementary school person in the group.

Fulbright Administrator Exchange to Argentina - the Journey

I left Chicago on Saturday, July 25th, at 2:00 P.M. Maria H. gave me a ride to O'Hare. I flew to Miami and from there I got a connecting flight to Buenos Aires. I arrived in Buenos Aires without difficulty. I slept well for about 4 or 5 hours on the plane. At the airport there was a little confusion. I was under the impression I would be picked up at the airport. When I got there no one was there. I waited for an hour and decided no one was coming. I then realized I didn't have the name of the hotel with me. No problem, I will look it up in my emails from Fulbright. I went to a Telecommunication Center in the airport. I could sign in to my personal account but not into my school account where I have the Fulbright information. I called my counterpart, Marcela, to see if she knew anything. She did not but was going to try to call people. She had the same problem I did. She only had office numbers of the Fulbright staff and the offices were all closed. What to do! I went back into the internet and played around finding a way to sneak into my CPS account through a "back door". I found the name of the hotel and took a remis (limo) into the city. I checked into the hotel and took a shower before meeting with the group at 1:00 PM.

Day #6 - July 11

After getting my suitcases ready I decided to take one last walk on the beach before heading to the airport. As I crossed the street from the hotel, I ran into Mikeong. She was on her way to the hotel to see me before I left. She came with me on my walk and ended up being an excellent tour guide.

We walked to the APEC House, a place we were scheduled to visit on our first day in Busan but never did. This was a modern structure built on the shore of the Yellow Sea specifically for the meeting of world leaders that was held in 2005. George Bush attended this meeting. He arrived by boat and stayed at the Westin Hotel across the street from our hotel.

We returned to the hotel. I said good-bye to Mikeong and checked out of the hotel. We put our suitcases on the bus then walked to a near-by restaurant for our last Korean meal.

The bus brought us to the airport and dropped us off at 2:30 PM. We left Busan at 4:30 and arrived in Chicago an hour later at 5:30 PM. Time travel!

Day #5 Photos