Dear Worried Parents,

On day three of our Argentine journey, we are having a great time! We started of the day of Tuesday, March 15 waking up at the g-dforsaken hour of 7:45. We then proceeded to have a wonderful Continental breakfast of croissants, hardboiled eggs, fruit salad, and our personal favorite, carbonated yogurt (which Ruth has yet to try—peer social media pressure Ruth!). From breakfast, we split into two groups (odds vs. evens, positives vs. negatives) and headed for AMIA, or the Asociación Mutual Israelista Argentina. There, we toured their monument to the 1994 bombings of the original AMIA building as well as their new headquarters.
After AMIA, we took our buses to Tzedaká, an NGO, which supports the children, youth, and elderly of the Jewish community. After ascending through an old-fashioned gated elevator (which Bubba quickly took to the top), we arrived at their offices, where they gave us a presentation on what they do for Argentine Jews. From there, we went to UBA, la Universidad de Buenos Aires, where we took a quick tour of the campus and the new Economics building and then got a snack at an Argentine McDonald’s and an Argentine Starbucks equivalent. After that, we proceed to Hillel Centro, a Hillel in the middle of Downtown Buenos Aires. It was very modern in architecture and we had a lunch of tortillas españolas there.
After a quick-but-tasty meal, we sat down with some members of L.I.F.E., an organization that works with kids from broken homes to provide structure and positive influence in their lives. They told us what they are all about, then dropped the bomb: we would be accompanying them to the shantytowns, lawless alleyway villages for the impoverished, to play with these kids for the rest of the day. This news was greeted with both excited and nervous faces. On the one hand, we were finally starting to do something worthwhile, which was the main reason we all signed up for this trip. On top of that, we really loved working with kids, many of us being summer camp counselors over many summers.
On the other hand, we were told this area was in the most dangerous part of the city. No wallets, watches, or cameras were allowed to come with us. The dogs were not to be approached. The older boys in the alley were to be avoided. After all these warnings, some of us were a little nervous. Yet, upon our arrival, our fears were almost instantaneously replaced with incredible enjoyment. The kids greeted us with smiling faces, for L.I.F.E. meant new paint for them to make pictures with and a new fútbol to play with in the yard.
Adam and Bubba arrived at an indoor day center for children with the rest of their half of the ASBers. At first, there were very few children there. The workers claimed that they hadn’t been told we were coming. However, rather by word of mouth or the natural progression of the day, soon enough there were well over 30 children to play with. We did all sorts of things with them. Adam attempted to teach a group of 5 year olds how to play checkers (damas) and failed miserably. Bubba became a jump rope master. Many others helped the children paint, meanwhile a station was dedicated exclusively toward face painting. The most elaborate request of the day was for a picture of Spider-Man on a boy’s arm. After painting, we took to the outdoors. Anna played soccer with a group of older boys. Several others played a version of racquet ball. The visit ended with a 20 minute round of “Monstruos” (monsters), where the strong members of the group picked up children around their backs and necks and wreaked havoc over the rest of the landscape. The children seemed to respond extremely well to our presence and we were sorry to have to leave.
Dan, along with the other group at a different shantytown, found himself in the middle of an intense game of soccer with about 10 of the kids, ranging from 7-13 years old (although one of the kids tried to convince us that he was 17—;) not a chance). They were really good, too. The other ASBers and Dan got schooled time and again, but they really enjoyed having new buddies to play with. During the game, they made a little small talk, during which the Argentine boys proceeded to make fun of our “ugly” long hair. Only when told that the hairdo attracts the ladies did they seem satisfied. It was very entertaining. After about an hour and a half, they decided to challenge us newcomers straight up: 4 vs. 4, Argentina vs. Los Estados Unidos. The battle of the countries was on. After we jumped to a quick 2-0 lead, they turned it around and scored three in a row on us. They wanted to bet a bottle of coke on the match, but we (unfortunately) hadn’t brought anything with which to wager. After the game we sat and talked (albeit with broken Spanish) for a little while. They liked telling us about the girls in the area and asked us questions about California. They liked that Dan was wearing basketball shoes while playing soccer. Most of them were barefoot. Anyways, it was really rewarding to have such a fun day with these kids, and a nice reminder that sometimes the simplest things in life can bring the most joy, even if you don’t have a big house, fancy education, or even shoes on your feet.
After a quick refresh, we finished the day with a delicious meal at a kosher Argentine restaurant called “Asian”. We had incredible chicken, well-seasoned potatoes, and a baked apple cake dessert. Sponsored by Hillel, the incredible meal was completely free. After our tasty meal, we parted ways for the night and began looking forward to our late Wednesday wake-up call as well as a new day of volunteerism, this time with Iealdeinu. Until tomorrow, ciao!

Sinceramente,
Bubba, Dan, and Adam