It's been quite a while since I used this thing. Life is great, school is winding down, and it genuinely feels like the first couple days of Spring because, well, in the Southern Hemisphere it is.
A couple weeks ago some friends and I attended "la bizarren," which loosely translates to "bizarre party" in a big club. We all wore masks or some sort of disguise and got to ride a psychedelic train/bus there. I wish my internet connection allowed me to upload photos but it just takes too long. They're really necessary for this party. There was an overweight male stripper, enough said.
Yesterday we went to watch Club Atletico River Plate host Club Atletico Boca Juniors in the "superclasico," basically the biggest game you could ever want to see in the Argentine Football Association (AFA, could stand for something else?). It made the previous football game I'd attended look like a Lafayette Fall Fair. Over 50,000 people packed the stadium. We got there about 3 hours early (actually a good decision because I'm sure transportation/getting into the stadium gets out of control closer to gametime). Both clubs had their b-teams playing which proved to me, once and for all, that football (latinoamericano) isn't the most boring sport in the world. B-team football is.
Anyways, the story behind this game is intriguing. You have Club Atletico River Plate (River) whose stadium is in a very nice area of the city. They even call themselves "los millionarios." Boca Juniors come from "La Boca" (the mouth) at the mouth of the river here. The houses are made of various recycled, differently colored materials that give it a happier vibe on magazine covers than you'd probably encounter there at night. Tango originated there, making it a necessary stop on any city bus tour, but you wouldn't want to hang there the whole day.
Basically, the fan bases are exact opposites and seem to really hate eachother. In place of overly-commercial artificial sound and videos literally polluting American stadiums for any sport, football here is basically completely silent. A seriously outdated scoreboard with blurry writing would occasionally pimp some insurance company, but apart from that, the sound comes all from the fans. From an hour or earlier before the game started, the 50,000 River fans, proudly donning white and red jerseys and occasionally a cheap fedora with "Soy millionario" (I'm a millionaire) printed on them, would berate Boca's visiting fans (who happily occupied two massive sections in the upper deck, surrounded by as much barbed-wire as a jail yard and bordered on both sides by empty sections to prevent the fans from throwing shit at eachother) with chants ranging from (paraphrased) "I'm proud to be a River fan" to "You Boca fans are all dirty Paraguayans and Bolivians." Thousands of Boca fans would jump around, throw things on River fans below, and sing back in familiar melodies but lyrics I could never even try to understand given my distance from them.
After the game (a 1-1 snoozer, for what it's worth), things get a bit more complicated than both fan bases cheerfully serenading the other. They've devised a system here where all (and I mean all) home team fans in the entire stadium are prohibited from leaving while they evacuate the away fans onto buses to be zoomed back to their neighborhood. We saw no violence, but watched helplessly as the Boca fans took about an hour to file out (with the assistance of not-so-cheerful riot police). By the time they allowed us to leave, there were no blue and yellow jerseys in sight.
I asked my friend at work what happens after these football games that they're so damn scared of two groups of fans crossing each other.
He said if a group of the other team's fans cross you in the street, and there are more of them than you, they'll assault and rob you. Rob you of what? All your clothes. Apparently it's not too unheard of to find an unlucky "hincha" (fanatic) naked and lying in the street. Sad...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Already missing Buenos Aires
I only have around a month left in Buenos Aires before returning to the big, bad United States and I'm already realizing how much I will miss this place.
Though my sporadic and scant blog updates and lack of Skype-ing may suggest otherwise, I'm really having the time of my life here and everyday I'm thankful for this great opportunity.
And now, for the comedy. This is a picture of me trying to sell Red Bull in bulk to four random girls on the street.
Though my sporadic and scant blog updates and lack of Skype-ing may suggest otherwise, I'm really having the time of my life here and everyday I'm thankful for this great opportunity.
And now, for the comedy. This is a picture of me trying to sell Red Bull in bulk to four random girls on the street.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Mountains everywhere...
Since 10 AM yesterday morning, I've spent around 20 hours in buses. Because my mind is dull from wine, my legs are tired from climbing mountains, and my thighs are chafed from riding horses, I'm not in the mood to type a lot. Pictures from my trip to Mendoza (capital of the Mendoza province, West of Buenos Aires at the foot of the Andes) will carry me through this post.
Americans don't dress their dogs nicely enough.
They show everyone the winery, but you have to pay the big bucks to get to see the meth lab in the cellar.
This is where, after laboring for about 30 minutes trying to understand, in Spanish, how they make wine, you actually get to try the product.
Huge wine-holding devices.
Part of the wine tour was visiting an olive oil factory. What's more interesting than olive oil? Some of the murals painted in the factory's courtyard.
Wine bottling in process. Check out that cart full of bottles!
Bad news: I was bored enough on the way to horseback riding to try lying in the middle of the road. Good news: I survived with a photo.
This is me standing near the fire pit set up by the base camp for the horse people (what do you call people that take you on horse-driven tours?).
We only lost one person on the tour.
Ugliest dog I've ever seen.
The asado waiting for us after the morning riding session. We ate it at this table...
Wine, food, and laughing followed. Seriously, though, it was probably the coolest place I've ever eaten a meal.
I met Sarah Palin there.
I met Sarah Palin there.
One example of how beautiful the Andes are.
Seeing this really made me want to go skiing. I've only been twice, and not since 8th grade so that's saying a lot.
I think the idea was to get to the top of that thing.
This was the beginning of our 5-6 hour "trekking" experience from yesterday. Walking on the railroad was easy. Walking on the surface of three feet of snow? Not so easy.
A mountain stream I drank from and washed my face with.
View from (almost) the top.
Blogger's-eye-view up to the top of the mountain. It's tough to communicate in words on the internet how difficult this was both mentally and physically.
It was a really steep climb, but worth it if just for the photo opportunity.
It ended up taking much longer to make this post with all the pictures than if I had just written about everything, but I hope you enjoy it. I will write again later in the week, for sure.
Be easy.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Gaza war crimes?
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "There is evidence that both the Israeli Army and Palestinian militants committed war crimes, the U.N. said."
Really?!
Basically, both sides say they're acting in "self defense." Some examples of these alleged crimes?
-Israeli soldiers shooting civilians as they calmly walked from their houses waving white flags
-Hamas leaders killing members of the rival Fatah party/group
-Hamas shooting rockets into areas with high numbers of Israeli civilians
-Israeli bombings of Palestinian mosques... during times of prayer
-The wanton destruction of food supplies by Israeli soldiers
-Both sides using captured enemies as human shields
-Israeli troops detaining Palestinian women and children in sand pits
And people say the United States is a ruthless country? Please.
Really?!
Basically, both sides say they're acting in "self defense." Some examples of these alleged crimes?
-Israeli soldiers shooting civilians as they calmly walked from their houses waving white flags
-Hamas leaders killing members of the rival Fatah party/group
-Hamas shooting rockets into areas with high numbers of Israeli civilians
-Israeli bombings of Palestinian mosques... during times of prayer
-The wanton destruction of food supplies by Israeli soldiers
-Both sides using captured enemies as human shields
-Israeli troops detaining Palestinian women and children in sand pits
And people say the United States is a ruthless country? Please.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The Shoe Thrower
The Iraqi journalist who threw his (reportedly size 10) shoe at George Bush during a press conference has been released from jail, the New York Times reports. He claims to have been tortured by high ranking Iraqi government and US Army officials. Why doesn't that surprise me?
After the event, Bush himself quipped, “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves."
...and then they're tortured.
The guy now fears for his life and that of his family. They plan to flee the country and release the names of those who practiced torture.
I love the United States of America as much as the next guy, but way too many people have suffered and died in the botched "liberation" of Iraq and I'm glad this guy was brave enough to deliver what I consider the ultimate poetic justice. Seriously, I never thought Bush was a bad guy but you have to admit it's kind of messed up for so many people (Americans, Iraqis, and troops from other countries) to die as a direct result of his decisions and for him never to physically suffer any more than a mild headache or lost sleep because of it. It's just a shoe, but I think it was appropriate.
I struggle with the controversy over torture, I really do. The way I look at it, if I was 99% sure information gained through torture from one individual would save even some of the lives lost on September 11, 2001, I would have to authorize it. But it's still an illegal deprivation of that person's human rights, and a violation of international law, so what do you do? It's like the question my religion class in high school was always asked: "If you had to kill one person to cure cancer, would you?" It's a really, really difficult question.
I think the "shoe-thrower" case is interesting, though, because it shows us that allowing torture at the highest level of anti-terrorist efforts may save lives and may only hurt those most guilty of plotting against the USA. However, it also leads to a slippery slope of wishy-washy legality and culture within our military and, for instance, the Iraqi government where all moral authority is lost and you can't possibly stop torture from happening to a guy that just threw a shoe.
I wonder what Austin Powers would think of the journalist?
"Who throws a shoe? Honestly! You fight like a woman!"
After the event, Bush himself quipped, “That’s what people do in a free society, draw attention to themselves."
...and then they're tortured.
The guy now fears for his life and that of his family. They plan to flee the country and release the names of those who practiced torture.
I love the United States of America as much as the next guy, but way too many people have suffered and died in the botched "liberation" of Iraq and I'm glad this guy was brave enough to deliver what I consider the ultimate poetic justice. Seriously, I never thought Bush was a bad guy but you have to admit it's kind of messed up for so many people (Americans, Iraqis, and troops from other countries) to die as a direct result of his decisions and for him never to physically suffer any more than a mild headache or lost sleep because of it. It's just a shoe, but I think it was appropriate.
I struggle with the controversy over torture, I really do. The way I look at it, if I was 99% sure information gained through torture from one individual would save even some of the lives lost on September 11, 2001, I would have to authorize it. But it's still an illegal deprivation of that person's human rights, and a violation of international law, so what do you do? It's like the question my religion class in high school was always asked: "If you had to kill one person to cure cancer, would you?" It's a really, really difficult question.
I think the "shoe-thrower" case is interesting, though, because it shows us that allowing torture at the highest level of anti-terrorist efforts may save lives and may only hurt those most guilty of plotting against the USA. However, it also leads to a slippery slope of wishy-washy legality and culture within our military and, for instance, the Iraqi government where all moral authority is lost and you can't possibly stop torture from happening to a guy that just threw a shoe.
I wonder what Austin Powers would think of the journalist?
"Who throws a shoe? Honestly! You fight like a woman!"
Monday, September 14, 2009
Dawgs win!
When asked what Georgia's 41-37 win will affect Coach Mark Richt's upcoming week, he replied, "I don't know. I'll probably smile more." He's definitely not the only one.
A lot of stuff is going on here. I wish I could blog more, but sometimes I just forget.
On Sunday our group went to an "estancia" ("ranch" in English, I believe) about an hour and a half outside the city. It was named after a certain tree that covered the property when the owners decided to turn it into a tourist spot. We also toured the small surrounding town. Highlights included orange trees and a general store. Also, a store with a lot of knives.
Back at the ranch (get it?), we ate beef and french fries for lunch and got to see a band play a show consisting of many different Argentine musical styles. Two great dancers accompanied the band, and a little dressed up boy performed an amazing dance routine. It was a lot of fun.
After that, we went to see jousting. I'm not saying Argentine's are soft, but in my day a joust meant lining up opposite another guy on his horse and trying to kill eachother with swords. These guys seemed to think it meant riding horses at top speed and grabbing something from a wire? I can't be totally sure because I was so busy being audibly disappointed no blood would be shed. The gauchos seemed really nice, though, so I guess I'm happy no one was hurt.
We rode horses, also, but I spent the entire time either trying to convince the horse to go faster or praying to God that the thing would slow down.
I have a lot of work this week, but it'll be over by Thursday and we're going to Mendoza. It's wine country and I'll get to see the Andes, a dream of mine since I realized they would coincide with a trip to wine country.
Oh, and I had a lot of fun on the bus ride back from La Estancia because it gave me an opportunity to recite lines from Dave Chappelle stand up routines. Is there anyone funnier than him?
A lot of stuff is going on here. I wish I could blog more, but sometimes I just forget.
On Sunday our group went to an "estancia" ("ranch" in English, I believe) about an hour and a half outside the city. It was named after a certain tree that covered the property when the owners decided to turn it into a tourist spot. We also toured the small surrounding town. Highlights included orange trees and a general store. Also, a store with a lot of knives.
Back at the ranch (get it?), we ate beef and french fries for lunch and got to see a band play a show consisting of many different Argentine musical styles. Two great dancers accompanied the band, and a little dressed up boy performed an amazing dance routine. It was a lot of fun.
After that, we went to see jousting. I'm not saying Argentine's are soft, but in my day a joust meant lining up opposite another guy on his horse and trying to kill eachother with swords. These guys seemed to think it meant riding horses at top speed and grabbing something from a wire? I can't be totally sure because I was so busy being audibly disappointed no blood would be shed. The gauchos seemed really nice, though, so I guess I'm happy no one was hurt.
We rode horses, also, but I spent the entire time either trying to convince the horse to go faster or praying to God that the thing would slow down.
I have a lot of work this week, but it'll be over by Thursday and we're going to Mendoza. It's wine country and I'll get to see the Andes, a dream of mine since I realized they would coincide with a trip to wine country.
Oh, and I had a lot of fun on the bus ride back from La Estancia because it gave me an opportunity to recite lines from Dave Chappelle stand up routines. Is there anyone funnier than him?
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Favorite quote of the week is...
"... you'd have sex with a gender-ambiguous dragon?!"
I won't tell you how Meagan and I got to that point in the conversation, only that it totally wasn't my fault and it was pretty inappropriate for her to say.
I'm in a great mood because we just bought our bus tickets to go to Mendoza, Argentina, which is apparently at the foot of the Andes and I've read websites that call it an "undiscovered Napa Valley." Since the only time I've been to California was to transfer flights in the LA airport, I can't really comment on the accuracy of that comparison but if websites say it, it must be at least partially correct. Anyways, it's a 13 hour bus ride but we'll leave at night next Thursday and I think it'll be a good time.
Classes stunk this week- they're just too long- but they're over for now so I think I'm going to go to the gym, have some dinner, and try to figure out something good to do tonight.
I love my internship, I wish I could work there full time because I know my Spanish would be great and the people are really nice and fun. Some of us might go out on Saturday with a guy from the clipping room named Gabriel who is apparently "borrowing" his dad's car that night. Should be a lot of fun. He also gave the other two girls at our "pasantia" (internship) three sheets of paper with translations of common words used here. For instance, he told us the Spanish translations for:
"very drunkard"
"marijuana cigarette"
"hangover"
None of which I'll be using while I'm here, because I generally act as if Jesus is watching.
Have a good weekend.
I won't tell you how Meagan and I got to that point in the conversation, only that it totally wasn't my fault and it was pretty inappropriate for her to say.
I'm in a great mood because we just bought our bus tickets to go to Mendoza, Argentina, which is apparently at the foot of the Andes and I've read websites that call it an "undiscovered Napa Valley." Since the only time I've been to California was to transfer flights in the LA airport, I can't really comment on the accuracy of that comparison but if websites say it, it must be at least partially correct. Anyways, it's a 13 hour bus ride but we'll leave at night next Thursday and I think it'll be a good time.
Classes stunk this week- they're just too long- but they're over for now so I think I'm going to go to the gym, have some dinner, and try to figure out something good to do tonight.
I love my internship, I wish I could work there full time because I know my Spanish would be great and the people are really nice and fun. Some of us might go out on Saturday with a guy from the clipping room named Gabriel who is apparently "borrowing" his dad's car that night. Should be a lot of fun. He also gave the other two girls at our "pasantia" (internship) three sheets of paper with translations of common words used here. For instance, he told us the Spanish translations for:
"very drunkard"
"marijuana cigarette"
"hangover"
None of which I'll be using while I'm here, because I generally act as if Jesus is watching.
Have a good weekend.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Busy...
Monday is my busiest day of the week. I've done a really poor job of keeping in touch with people back home- mainly my family- and I can't really write any long blog right now but I just want to tell my mom, sister, and father that if you're reading this I love you and I promise I'm going to call soon.
Now I'm off to the gym and then three hours of class.
Now I'm off to the gym and then three hours of class.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
El Tigre Manana
This week went on forever. I started my "pasantia" (internship) for real, though, and it was really cool. I just get to sit in the "clipping room" at a public relations firm with some really cool people and read whatever magazines/newspapers I like. The only catch is that I'm supposed to mark pages with a post-it note if I find a reference to one of the company's clients; these clients include Apple, a traveling Anne Frank play, and local car dealerships (I only found Apple mentions my first day). Anyways, it should be a great way to practice my Spanish and meet people. One guy told me if I came out with I'd have "mucho exito" with the girls at the club...
Classes are a drag on the day, but I'm getting better at reading Spanish so the assignments are definitely feasible, if still terrible boring. My Argentine football class had a special guest speaker this week that was supposed to tell us about youth soccer in the country but he spoke too fast and his Powerpoint presentation included way too many pictures of pubescent penises. I'm not sure what point he was trying to get across, it just kind of grossed me out. I told some people we learned about penises the whole class (3 hours), and they didn't really believe me. Or they thought I was being perverted. So I asked Meagan, the only other "gringa" in the class, "Hey Meagan, what'd we learn about yesterday in football class?!"
"[pause]... Penises?"
In our "Advanced" Composition class (I can't put enough quotes around "advanced"), the teacher taught us how to order coffee at cafes here. Obviously, she doesn't know me that well as I definitely learned that through practice the second day in Buenos Aires. Then, today she was mad we started speaking to each other in English when she left the room for a minute and said we were acting like children. I guess she had a point?
Football starts tonight. Football starts in like 2 hours. Less! I'm worried I'm the only one on the trip obsessed with college football, so I'm just going to have to find some sort of patchwork of friends to sit at the American bar and watch with me. Wish me luck.
Speaking of football, some organization of referees has suggested that all the teams shake hands before their first games. The Oklahoma State coach has already decided it wouldn't be a good idea in their opener against Georgia. However, UMiami and Florida State have decided to try it. That's going to be must-see TV right there.
Tomorrow we're going to El Tigre really early in the morning.
PS: She won't read this, but happy 21st birthday, ANITA.
Classes are a drag on the day, but I'm getting better at reading Spanish so the assignments are definitely feasible, if still terrible boring. My Argentine football class had a special guest speaker this week that was supposed to tell us about youth soccer in the country but he spoke too fast and his Powerpoint presentation included way too many pictures of pubescent penises. I'm not sure what point he was trying to get across, it just kind of grossed me out. I told some people we learned about penises the whole class (3 hours), and they didn't really believe me. Or they thought I was being perverted. So I asked Meagan, the only other "gringa" in the class, "Hey Meagan, what'd we learn about yesterday in football class?!"
"[pause]... Penises?"
In our "Advanced" Composition class (I can't put enough quotes around "advanced"), the teacher taught us how to order coffee at cafes here. Obviously, she doesn't know me that well as I definitely learned that through practice the second day in Buenos Aires. Then, today she was mad we started speaking to each other in English when she left the room for a minute and said we were acting like children. I guess she had a point?
Football starts tonight. Football starts in like 2 hours. Less! I'm worried I'm the only one on the trip obsessed with college football, so I'm just going to have to find some sort of patchwork of friends to sit at the American bar and watch with me. Wish me luck.
Speaking of football, some organization of referees has suggested that all the teams shake hands before their first games. The Oklahoma State coach has already decided it wouldn't be a good idea in their opener against Georgia. However, UMiami and Florida State have decided to try it. That's going to be must-see TV right there.
Tomorrow we're going to El Tigre really early in the morning.
PS: She won't read this, but happy 21st birthday, ANITA.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Finally... it rained!
It rained for the first time (that I can remember) here last night. My host mom explained that every year at the end of August they have a big storm and it has a name, I just forget it at the moment. My classes are still for the most part incredibly boring but I like reading for them because that's where I do most my learning, I believe.
Yesterday we went to MALBA, the museum of Latin-American art (definitely, definitely not to be confused with NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association). It was a really cool place and it didn't have as much art as I thought it would but I've overheard cultured people speak with eachother and I'm pretty sure it is the quality, not quantity of art that's important. That's hearsay, though- completely inadmissible.
Friday we go to El Tigre, and if there isn't atleast one tiger there I'm going to be dissappointed. I can't imagine there won't be atleast one, though, so I'm excited for the day trip. And football starts Saturday (actually, Thursday night. I'm on top of it). This week will be busy with the trip and my first solo attempt at working for the PR Firm Colombo-Pashkus, but it'll all be worth it when I'm chilling in the bar watching Georgia beat Okie State... I hope.
I'm going to try and start to write some postcards that I found yesterday at the Museum. Yeah, postcards are definitely outdated but I think they're probably a little more effective at showing people you care about them than Facebook Chat (again, just something I overheard from other people).
Be easy!
Yesterday we went to MALBA, the museum of Latin-American art (definitely, definitely not to be confused with NAMBLA, the North American Man-Boy Love Association). It was a really cool place and it didn't have as much art as I thought it would but I've overheard cultured people speak with eachother and I'm pretty sure it is the quality, not quantity of art that's important. That's hearsay, though- completely inadmissible.
Friday we go to El Tigre, and if there isn't atleast one tiger there I'm going to be dissappointed. I can't imagine there won't be atleast one, though, so I'm excited for the day trip. And football starts Saturday (actually, Thursday night. I'm on top of it). This week will be busy with the trip and my first solo attempt at working for the PR Firm Colombo-Pashkus, but it'll all be worth it when I'm chilling in the bar watching Georgia beat Okie State... I hope.
I'm going to try and start to write some postcards that I found yesterday at the Museum. Yeah, postcards are definitely outdated but I think they're probably a little more effective at showing people you care about them than Facebook Chat (again, just something I overheard from other people).
Be easy!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Museo hoy
Today we're going to the Latin American Art Museum here. I'm pretty excited for it because it has some pretty big-name artists. Everything has been good, but it's getting a little hot for my liking. Between tonight and tomorrow it's supposed to rain one or two inches and the weather will cool down again after that- can't wait.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Some links for the doubters
Japanese Men with Body Pillow Girlfriends
South Carolina "Gypsies"
Engineering the Weather
Buenos Aires has been beautiful, like always.
And it's only a week until college football, but it still seems like forever. Here's a picture of A.J. Green- a quarterback's best friend.
South Carolina "Gypsies"
Engineering the Weather
Buenos Aires has been beautiful, like always.
And it's only a week until college football, but it still seems like forever. Here's a picture of A.J. Green- a quarterback's best friend.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Busy
Yesterday, the Argentine Supreme Court officially decriminalized (I feel like, by definition, "decriminalization" is unofficial) the possession and use of marijuana in the household. I expected to walk outside today and see people smoking joints on every street corner but it seemed to be business as usual. Hmm, what does this tell you?
Today we learned to tango. Kind of.
Tomorrow, I'll take more pictures. I just got my camera up-and-running today. It took a while. Above is a picture of my street.
Monday, August 24, 2009
Nice lake, guys!
Yesterday we went to los Lagos de Palermo (Palermo lakes) on what was probably the prettiest day since we've been here. It felt like walking around in a mixture of New York's Central Park and Washington, DC's Tidal Basin. There were tens- if not hundreds- of thousands of people out rollerblading, riding bikes, or attempting to body surf on skateboards being pulled by others on bikes or rollerblades. To save the embarrassment of riding in a paddleboat, my group chose to row. I'll tell you from experience it's actually much harder than it looks in the Olympics, but that may just be because our equipment wasn't state-of-the-art.
Afterwards we ate empanadas at a cafe then visited an Irish Pub... for a while.
Today I had linguistics class in the morning and then my first Universidad de Palermo class: "futbol argentino y mundial." I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard time understanding the guy if he spoke English, but he doesn't, so I understand it less. I'm going to be patient and just try to get better everyday at this Spanish stuff.
Oh yeah, and we had our orientation at Colombo-Pashkus, the PR firm I'm interning at while I'm here. It seems like a really well-run, connected company and I'm going to enjoy working there even if it doesn't exactly sync up with my major back at UGA. Plus, they have accountants and financial analysts there just like any other company, so maybe they'll teach me some tricks. Also, we'll basically start out in the "clipping room," meaning we go through papers and magazines and find things written about the companies clients and clip them out. I like reading and it'll help my Spanish, too. I'm just worried they won't have left-handed scissors.
I played basketball with the UP team tonight from 10-12 and I'm really tired now so I'll stop.
Afterwards we ate empanadas at a cafe then visited an Irish Pub... for a while.
Today I had linguistics class in the morning and then my first Universidad de Palermo class: "futbol argentino y mundial." I'm pretty sure I'd have a hard time understanding the guy if he spoke English, but he doesn't, so I understand it less. I'm going to be patient and just try to get better everyday at this Spanish stuff.
Oh yeah, and we had our orientation at Colombo-Pashkus, the PR firm I'm interning at while I'm here. It seems like a really well-run, connected company and I'm going to enjoy working there even if it doesn't exactly sync up with my major back at UGA. Plus, they have accountants and financial analysts there just like any other company, so maybe they'll teach me some tricks. Also, we'll basically start out in the "clipping room," meaning we go through papers and magazines and find things written about the companies clients and clip them out. I like reading and it'll help my Spanish, too. I'm just worried they won't have left-handed scissors.
I played basketball with the UP team tonight from 10-12 and I'm really tired now so I'll stop.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
QB of the Future
Of Jason Campbell's performance in the Redskin's second preseason game against the Pittsburg Steelers, Jason Reid (with Barry Svrluga) writes: "Campbell appeared shaky throughout three series in a 17-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, stirring more concern about the team's unproductive first-team offense and No. 1 quarterback. Although it's only the preseason, Campbell completed one of seven passes for 10 yards."I don't know all that much about football, but I don't think there's another starter on the Redskins that could have produced as sparingly as Jason Campbell has over the last 5 seasons and still be "the man." I wish my teachers used the NFL in school to illustrate or exemplify Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection because desperate, violent competition and job insecurity, by definition, produces the best starting lineup possible given your roster.
So, when the starting quarterback can only lead the offense to three points in two games, then he says, "I don't worry about numbers. A quarterback would like to get in a rhythm, but tonight is just about trying to take shots," you have to wonder if the right pressure is being applied.
Anyways, that's enough of that. Buenos Aires is still great. I ate some really good pasta at a restaurant called "il Gatto" (the cat, in Italian) last night. The wine we ordered went well with the meal, too. I almost left the restaurant at first, though, because I was worried every time a dish was followed by "il Gatto" on the menu it had something to do with the meat being from a cat. Needless to say, it was a relief when we decided it was probably just the restaurant's signature on certain meals (... I think).
I didn't go out last night because I've had a rough week as far as that goes. I won't publish my batting average, but it was akin to the first week of any semester. Friday night we went, at Maryella and Karolina's suggestion, to a bar called Wherever Bar. The people they had already met on the trip were really cool when we met them, and the bar was really fun. The bartenders also liked me because of my "curly W" Nationals hat that was the exact reverse of the bar's "W" logo. I'm still going to wear baseball hats no matter how American I look.
After that, one of our new Beatles-addicted friends, Kiki (sp?), got us into a club called Roxy Live where a band was playing American songs with Spanish lyrics and doing a good job of looking like rock stars. After they finished, the place turned into a dance club and the rest of the night is a blur of sober fun.
Today we're going on a boat or something!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
I could do that
We went to see a contemporary ballet (or something) today. Intermittent applause ruined my sleep, but I'm glad I saw that kind of thing once. I learned two things: dancers are strong and they apparently don't sweat.
A bunch of UGA people went to a bar/club called Shamrock last night. I doubt it'll ever fail to amuse me seeing Argentinian dudes trying to book out-of-towners. To their credit, the girls were loving it (maybe because they had the perfect opportunity to practice Spanish? I don't know). I practiced mine by talking with two guys outside that the bouncer wouldn't let in, and by the end of the conversation I had learned that in two weeks there will be a party in a museum somewhere with Argentinian girls who are crazy but not as crazy as Brazilian girls. Oh, and that it gets hot here in November.
After the ballet, we went to eat deep dish pizza at a place whose logo portrayed the nearby obelisk (think: mini Washington monument in middle of 10-lane road) rising out of the center of the pie. I laughed, and I hope you understand why because I'm definitely not writing about that any further.
In conclusion (the next paper/essay I write will have a conclusion paragraph starting with this; at this point it's probably pretty unique), I will give you a quick sampling of the pizza toppings our group ordered.
Ham slices
Tomato
Blue cheese
Onions
Olives
Ok.
A bunch of UGA people went to a bar/club called Shamrock last night. I doubt it'll ever fail to amuse me seeing Argentinian dudes trying to book out-of-towners. To their credit, the girls were loving it (maybe because they had the perfect opportunity to practice Spanish? I don't know). I practiced mine by talking with two guys outside that the bouncer wouldn't let in, and by the end of the conversation I had learned that in two weeks there will be a party in a museum somewhere with Argentinian girls who are crazy but not as crazy as Brazilian girls. Oh, and that it gets hot here in November.
After the ballet, we went to eat deep dish pizza at a place whose logo portrayed the nearby obelisk (think: mini Washington monument in middle of 10-lane road) rising out of the center of the pie. I laughed, and I hope you understand why because I'm definitely not writing about that any further.
In conclusion (the next paper/essay I write will have a conclusion paragraph starting with this; at this point it's probably pretty unique), I will give you a quick sampling of the pizza toppings our group ordered.
Ham slices
Tomato
Blue cheese
Onions
Olives
Ok.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
What the hell is linguistics?
We had our first class today: Spanish Linguistics. There's really nothing special to say about it. We started the class by listing in groups of three Spanish words commonly associated with a university setting. Examples include: desk, pen, computer, etc. Yeah, it was fun.
After that we went to eat in Palermo Viejo (that might be wrong) which was even cooler than my neighborhood, Recoleta. It had a bunch of really cool houses and restaurants. And when I say cool, I don't mean as far as South America goes. I mean they would stick out as nice in Georgetown. It only took us a couple of seconds to describe mimosas to the waiter and then only a couple more moments to convince him we actually wanted to drink champagne at that hour. They were strong.
We wandered around that area for a while, finding a little art gallery to explore and a leather shoe store... for women (awesome!). Someone spotted a winery- or whatever a store with a lot of wine is- and we talked to the owner who invited us back whenever we wanted to do wine tastings for a pretty good price. He didn't say whether or not he'd provide cigars also, but I'll keep you posted.
A sports store displayed way too few basketball shoes.
"Blogger" must rake it in.
I read the sports page from La Nacion, which I understood surprisingly well. So what's happening in Argentine sports?
-Maradona is really short.
-They spent $500,000 pesos modernizing the stadium in Rosario where Brazil will come to play Argentina on September 5 in World Cup Qualifying. The coolest addition? HOT TUBS IN THE CLUBHOUSE!
-Argentina soccer is to Brazilian soccer as Wizards basketball is to Cavaliers basketball.
-My host brother disagrees that an NFL team should sign the World's fastest man, Usain Bolt, to play wide receiver. He told me that I don't understand, because once you train for a sport, that's the sport you know and you just don't change. I don't know how to explain, in Spanish, what goes down in college football recruiting, especially in the Southeast. Basically, though, there are plenty of runners that can be taught to catch the ball. I probably lost the argument when I said, "Well, if I owned an NFL team..."
OK, that's all. I'm going to try and go out tonight because I don't have class until 11:30 in the morning.
Peace and love.
After that we went to eat in Palermo Viejo (that might be wrong) which was even cooler than my neighborhood, Recoleta. It had a bunch of really cool houses and restaurants. And when I say cool, I don't mean as far as South America goes. I mean they would stick out as nice in Georgetown. It only took us a couple of seconds to describe mimosas to the waiter and then only a couple more moments to convince him we actually wanted to drink champagne at that hour. They were strong.
We wandered around that area for a while, finding a little art gallery to explore and a leather shoe store... for women (awesome!). Someone spotted a winery- or whatever a store with a lot of wine is- and we talked to the owner who invited us back whenever we wanted to do wine tastings for a pretty good price. He didn't say whether or not he'd provide cigars also, but I'll keep you posted.
A sports store displayed way too few basketball shoes.
"Blogger" must rake it in.
I read the sports page from La Nacion, which I understood surprisingly well. So what's happening in Argentine sports?
-Maradona is really short.
-They spent $500,000 pesos modernizing the stadium in Rosario where Brazil will come to play Argentina on September 5 in World Cup Qualifying. The coolest addition? HOT TUBS IN THE CLUBHOUSE!
-Argentina soccer is to Brazilian soccer as Wizards basketball is to Cavaliers basketball.
-My host brother disagrees that an NFL team should sign the World's fastest man, Usain Bolt, to play wide receiver. He told me that I don't understand, because once you train for a sport, that's the sport you know and you just don't change. I don't know how to explain, in Spanish, what goes down in college football recruiting, especially in the Southeast. Basically, though, there are plenty of runners that can be taught to catch the ball. I probably lost the argument when I said, "Well, if I owned an NFL team..."
OK, that's all. I'm going to try and go out tonight because I don't have class until 11:30 in the morning.
Peace and love.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Blogging?
Hi, this is the first blog I've done on the internet so listen up. I'll basically just be talking about my experience living and studying and doing whatever else in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
So far? A lot has happened. I arrived to Ezeiza International Airport Monday morning and was brought by van to the Recoleta neighborhood where I met my host family- Ignacio, an 18-year-old aspiring sports writer I'm going to try and turn into a modern, Argentine version of Hunter S. Thompson and his mother, Alicia, who plays golf and is better than most of my friends back in DC or Georgia.
Yesterday my roommates and I walked around for a long time. We saw Universidad de Palermo, our host university, and the famous Recoleta cemetery, where Eva Peron was buried. The weather here is a welcome change from the hot and muggy East Coast. Buenos Aires is probably the busiest city I've ever visited and it's incredible to see thousands of people walking, driving, or taking buses who knows where. DC is cool, but I like chaos and there's a lot more of that here.
Today, I woke up after way too little sleep (sad to say, because most Argentinians my age were probably up way later the night before) and got to go on a bus tour of the city. A headache and general fatigue definitely made me uncomfortable, but if I wasn't uncomfortable I would've fallen fast asleep on the bus and missed what was a pretty good tour of the city. My favorite place is the stadium in the La Boca neighborhood. I've always liked large sports stadiums and this one looks like amazing. It's more intimate than American stadiums with stands at almost dangerously steep angles leading down to the pitch. Maybe like a cooler version of Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium? My host brother says the Boca Juniors are poorly run but whoever is designing these 100,000 seat stadiums on American campuses could learn a thing or two from this place. I almost cringe when people brag about how many people a stadium can seat- that's definitely not what it's all about. The season here starts next week, though, so I'm going to get to a game as soon as possible and try not to be killed in a riot in order to better report on the experience.
Well, enough about a stadium I've never even been inside. But I don't have much else to write now.
To clarify, I feel awkward writing a blog about this trip, but I think it'll serve as a good way to organize my thoughts and a fun thing to look back on. Also, I think journals are tedious and outdated... for the first time in human history.
Check back for more...
So far? A lot has happened. I arrived to Ezeiza International Airport Monday morning and was brought by van to the Recoleta neighborhood where I met my host family- Ignacio, an 18-year-old aspiring sports writer I'm going to try and turn into a modern, Argentine version of Hunter S. Thompson and his mother, Alicia, who plays golf and is better than most of my friends back in DC or Georgia.
Yesterday my roommates and I walked around for a long time. We saw Universidad de Palermo, our host university, and the famous Recoleta cemetery, where Eva Peron was buried. The weather here is a welcome change from the hot and muggy East Coast. Buenos Aires is probably the busiest city I've ever visited and it's incredible to see thousands of people walking, driving, or taking buses who knows where. DC is cool, but I like chaos and there's a lot more of that here.
Today, I woke up after way too little sleep (sad to say, because most Argentinians my age were probably up way later the night before) and got to go on a bus tour of the city. A headache and general fatigue definitely made me uncomfortable, but if I wasn't uncomfortable I would've fallen fast asleep on the bus and missed what was a pretty good tour of the city. My favorite place is the stadium in the La Boca neighborhood. I've always liked large sports stadiums and this one looks like amazing. It's more intimate than American stadiums with stands at almost dangerously steep angles leading down to the pitch. Maybe like a cooler version of Virginia Tech's Lane Stadium? My host brother says the Boca Juniors are poorly run but whoever is designing these 100,000 seat stadiums on American campuses could learn a thing or two from this place. I almost cringe when people brag about how many people a stadium can seat- that's definitely not what it's all about. The season here starts next week, though, so I'm going to get to a game as soon as possible and try not to be killed in a riot in order to better report on the experience.
Well, enough about a stadium I've never even been inside. But I don't have much else to write now.
To clarify, I feel awkward writing a blog about this trip, but I think it'll serve as a good way to organize my thoughts and a fun thing to look back on. Also, I think journals are tedious and outdated... for the first time in human history.
Check back for more...
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