Wednesday, March 12th

Howdy y'all. I'm Nathan Kaufman, a freshman meteorology major from San Antonio, Texas currently attending Texas A&M University and I've been suckered in to telling you about our Wednesday. Well, Maybe not suckered; I volunteered.

It started off like the others, early. Of course we were tired, we had an awesome night with some of our Buenos Aires Hillel peers the night before. However, today was a busy day. We started by returning to the Marc Chagall School and continued our work there. The indoor mural had to be postponed due to classes taking place, so some of us worked on an outdoor mural at the playground. I must say that it turned out very well. It is a long, wavy white band with the Hebrew alphabet inside the band. Some others worked on the playground equipment that needed repainting. The remainder, along with me, worked upstairs in the gymnasium, repainting walls, doors, and benches.

Some had the opportunity to help out teaching English classes in the school today while everyone had the opportunity to fulfill the mitzvah of writing a Torah when a scribe came today and let us write (or in my case, guide his hand while he wrote) some letters. I chose a nun for my name, Natan.

We hurried off to visit one of the JDC run welfare centers and were able to hear stories from some of the elderly that the center helps. We also got to ask lots of questions about a variety of subjects from the economic crisis to movies to girlfriends. There was also a short discussion on tzedakah.

The evening took us to a touristy area called Boca Tango. It is reminiscent of the Boca area of Buenos Aires and while dinner takes place, a tango dancer patrols the dining area, taking pictures with guests in possibly not too flattering poses. After dinner, there was a short play and then a tango show. The tango show was really neat because it showcased the dance style and included a live band and singers. The tango dance itself is a very sensual dance that is a lot of fun to watch.

Well, I believe that is all. It's past 1:30 and I must email the paranoid parentals and check Facebook before catching a couple hours of sleep and starting yet another crazy day in Buenos Aires.