el 22 de mayo: Greeks in Argentina!

Who knew that an active Greek Orthodox church exists in Spanish-speaking Buenos Aires, Argentina? Now I do!

After some googling, I found a Greek Orthodox church in walking distance of my apartment and had to check it out. I arrived at 9:30 am without knowing what time anything would start, and saw this.

Upon looking through the bars, I saw this!

Catedral de la Dormición de la Theotokos

A young woman who I believe was the custodian opened the bars for me, let me into the church, and said “no tenemos Padre,” meaning, we don’t have a priest. Wow. I came to church on a Sunday morning and there wasn’t even a priest. She didn’t tell me things correctly, because they DO have a priest, he just wasn’t there yet because Orthros/Matins started at 10 am. He walked in around 9:50 pm, and we conversed about the liturgy, the parish and the Greek community of Buenos Aires. He told me it was very small, but I was shocked that they have the funding for such a beautiful church. The liturgy would be a mix of Spanish and Greek.

The inside of the church

Next, the chanter walked in, and spoke a little bit of English too. He also serves as the consultant or the Greek Embassy of Buenos Aires, and gave me his business card and phone number for future events and to learn more. Promoting Greek name stereotypes, his name is Georgios Pappas, and the priest is Padre Ioannis. I was dying inside at the reality of this concept. I’m in the middle of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and there is a parish of individuals who for the most part, grew up in Greece, moved to Argentina and learned Spanish. I was definitely the youngest person in the church by at least 30 years. The service was great for me—because it was a mix of the liturgy I’m used to and the liturgy at Project Mexico, in Spanish! St. Luke’s in Columbia has taught me the Creed in Greek, so I even fit in with the older parishioners as we spoke in both Greek and English.

Many of them introduced themselves to me after the service, and even offered to meet me for lunch. The comical thing about the service was that because there wasn’t more than 20 people, everyone is very close. And they did a great job of doing everything you would expect from Greek Argentineans. For example, five women were at the chanting stand most of the service, and the main male chanter literally stopped in the middle of the doxology to greet one with a kiss on the cheek. Just stopped chanting, and the priest is used to this! They were turning the lights on around the church, and one of the older women in the pews just screamed that it needed to be on in the middle of a hymn and it was normal. I had to hold it all in.

I’m glad that I stopped by a few days after arriving because I’m adjusting to the Argentinean dialect and accent, so Padre Ioannis even said I “sound like a castellano.” I stopped for some pan and empanadas on the walk home and look forward to seeing more Orthodox churches when we’re not on weekend trips!

Our Sunday afternoon activity was going to the Centro Cultural Borges. It’s inside of the Galería Pacífico, a three-story upscale mall. One of Elizabeth’s internships is promoting “espectaculars” or shows at the Centro Cultural, so we spent the afternoon at its art museum. There were four main areas—one of paintings, a photography collection, an exhibit on artwork depicting hair, and miscellaneous modernist works.

Paintings in the Centro Cultural de Jorge Luis Borges

My favorite photo there today--Horacio Coppola's "Calle Corrientes desde Reconquista hasta Plaza de la República." It's cool to see this street then and now as we walked on it after!

The internet in our apartment isn't working, so my roommates and I are at our favorite place to use free WiFi--Freddo. Think of it as our Starbucks, except with helado (ice cream) and sandwiches instead. Conveniently located only a block away, this is our third time here! I'm crying of laughter because couples in Argentina show a lot of PDA (public displays of affection), and Stacey's parents just called her on Skype to work out her wallet being stolen situation. The computer beeped so loudly that a couple kissing on the couch just got up in shock.

As frustrating as it is, it's pretty nice to not have internet sometimes because it requires us to do all of our computer work at once, then go relax. Looking forward to reading and starting intensive Spanish classes tomorrow!