Week 2

*Update*
In great haste I neglected to mention in my Introduction that I’m going to be an Uncle in May. Corrections (and apologies) have been made and my excitement grows with each day.

As for this week, I’m not really sure where to begin. Now that some of my childlike wonderment has worn off I’m trying my best to attain some objectivity, at least in my blog if not my life. I keep telling myself that I’ve only been here two weeks and that I’m still in tourist mode but can’t seem to shake this overwhelming sense of enjoyment. I have started to notice a few frustrations that are beginning to grow, one of which is the Argentine’s overemphasis on sex. This can be consistently seen throughout the day, from pamphlets for shows to newsstands displaying inappropriate images for all to see. There’s also a disturbing amount of cat calls, whistles, and ogling. It didn’t take me long to block out most of these pesterances by the simple act of ignoring them, but there was one that has seemed to permeate my screen and effect my life: computers. There are tons of computer labs here, which is nice since I don’t have wireless yet. However, most of them have more monitoring software than Southern Baptist in Louisiana. If I type a curse word, it comes up as ####, if there’s a bad word in an email sometimes it will shut down my entire email, if a friend sends me the facebook page of the girl he’s dating and there’s beach picture it closes immediately. I can’t even research bars without netNanny telling me there’s adult content and the page will be terminated. PLEASE!!! Anything but the bars.

SOCIAL: With the exception of Friday night, I think I did a much better job of blending my social life with cultural experience. Tuesday we went to a wine bar with live music. An argentine band played local tunes and it was quite enjoyable. Kevin “Kevbo” Kilroy came in town Thursday and we went to Copa Telmex that night (see pictures), a four nation tournament among pro players in south america. Afterwards we went to Palermo Soho to grab a night cap. This area appears to me to be one of the swankier areas and I’m hoping to live somewhere in the hear vicinity. Saturday was a tour of Tigre, which is about an hour north of the city and costs a whopping 2 pesos round trip via train. Once I stepped out of the station I immediately took to the city as there was a lot of green, open space, and a body of water. We explored a bit and walked along the water and briefly perused the Feria, an huge open air market with everything from Futons to Fruit and I’ll definitely be going back. We also took a 1.5 hour tour through some of the rivers and islands on the coast. The area was filled with a unique tranquility, forged through a combination of river simplicity and sheer beauty.

TANGO: In the evening we made our way to a tango show. A couple ladies in the language school are taking Tango classes and their instructors were performing in a local venue. This was my first live tango, and the experience as a whole was a bit cheeky. There were a couple live singers that were more like MC’s and reminded me of the guy hosting the Little Miss Sunshine contest from the movie of the same name. The Tango, however, was impeccable. It’s a very hard dance to describe since there’s no set rhythm (left foot, right foot, etc). A large emphasis is placed on the lower half of the body and there are very few turns or dips. The legs, however, move together with an almost symphonic fluidity that appears, at times, mesmerizing. I wish I had brought my camera along as words won’t do it justice, but I’ll definitely be re-visiting a tango show, and perhaps even take some tango lessons.

FRIDAY NIGHT: Was nothing special: dinner, bar, club. I don’t really feel any of the details are important enough to share except for one: the beef. Up until now I’ve only tried the lesser cuts of meat (short ribs, flank, etc.) and enjoyed them frequently. This evening, however, I decided to splurge on the $7 tenderloin and it was UN-REAL. Not only was it about 12 oz, it was certainly the most tender thing I’ve ever had in my life. A general economic principle exists that each additional bite of something you take provides less utility (enjoyment) that can be extended to the point where it actually becomes negative utility (think of eating too much until your stomach hurts). Well my friends, this tasty morsel defies the principles of modern economics. Not only was the last bite as good as the first, it may have actually been better. So good, in fact, that I almost ordered a second one despite being completely full; social appropriateness, however, helped me restrain myself.

A NEW FIRST: I had my first knife pulled on my Sunday. Kevin and I wanted to check out La Boca, which used to be a fishing village and kind of reminds me of the French Quarter due to the colorful buildings. It’s also quite famous for the Boca Jrs., the local soccer team. Outside of the tourist areas the barrio is not so nice. On our way in town a man approached our cabbie at a stoplight asking for money. After he was denied, he looked at Kevin and I and asked. After he was denied this time he pulled out a rather large fishing knife and started sputtering out curses. Despite the fact that Kevin’s window was halfway down our cabbie didn’t seem too worried and decided against accelerating. The twists and cuts the man made in the air didn’t seem too threatening as none were made in our general direction, though I guess I should say it was as non-threatening as a knife threat can be.

APOLOGY: In an effort to blame anyone but me for my poor writing I’d like to say it’s a direct result of almost no time, no space, and inconsistent internet access. I should be in a place within two weeks and promise my writing quality will improve.

First Week

Week recap: There’s absolutely no way I could express all of the events that have transpired over the past week short of writing a miniature novella; therefore, I’ll be forced to provide you with only the major details and highlights below:

Travel Woes: I’d have to say my trip down here was a complete disaster and took fifty hours, door-to-door. After Continental lost my flight (don’t ask me where it went) I decided to make the best of the situation by having one last night out with some good friends. Little did I know that in an effort to keep from inflicting physical pain on the next airline attendant I saw I would be drinking my blues away that night, and I did a fantastic job of it. I awoke the next morning feeling all sorts of hung over and almost missed my flight since I thought it was a 2:55, not 2:25. I flew through Houston with what can only be described as a lovely four hour layover. Continental did, however, reward me for all of these mishaps by giving me a middle seat on the bulkhead (no leg room) for my twelve hour flight to Buenos Aires during which I was being hit on by a male steward.

First Week: After recuperating from both anger and exhaustion I decided to explore the city a little. I’ve made it out to about seven of the 44 barrios thus far and have enjoyed them all as they are both interesting and unique. I started my language school this past Monday and feel like my Spanish is improving quite a bit. To my surprise, there are actually other Rotary Scholars in this language school, even ones who will be studying in other parts of the country. There are four of us in total (but we’ve also been hanging out with an Irish girl who’s also in the school) and we’ve managed to have quite a time in the past week.

Social Scene: Argentina is truly the city that doesn’t sleep. For those of you who are die hard New Yorkers and somewhat offended by my comment, humor me. Our first night out we managed to meet a local who took us to a kiosk bar (think seven eleven meets random sketchy bar) near the city center. It was nothing special but it was nice to establish a local connection. Thursday night we went into Palermo and met some friends of friends at their amazing apartment. They live on the 22nd floor and have a huge place with a balcony and a view of the Parque, airport, entire city, and they water/Uruguay. Between the four of them they pay $1,100 US each month. After a few beers and many amazing views we went out in the barrio to a local rooftop bar and had too good of a time until 3AM. Friday night was our big night out and we decided to do a celebratory dinner. We went to a Parrillada (a typical Argentina barbeque restaurant) and, between the four of us, had four bottles of wine, an appetizer for all to split, and twice as much meat as any of us could eat, all for less than $20US. I think I’m going to like Argentina. We finished dinner at 1AM and headed to a pub since the “going out” crowd usually doesn’t make it out until around 3AM. Once we finally made it to a disco our group split up as a few of us didn’t want to pay the outrageous cover of $10 US. I made it home around 4:30 AM that night as I was still a bit jetlagged. Saturday was our “low key” night and we headed to a pool hall where every booth has it’s own tap. It was a bit expensive (about $3 a beer) but well worthy the novelty and hilarity of being able to pour your own beers the whole night. We ended up meeting some more local Argentines over some games of pool and didn’t pack it in until 5 (which is still considered early by Argentine standards).

I need to remind myself that this is a marathon and not a sprint, but there’s just so much to do and everything is so affordable. I’ve also done a bit of exploring of the cultural parts of the city. I made it down to Puerte Madera, the port area with post modern architecture and over to Parque de 3 de Febrero, Buenos Aires equivalent to central park. Of all the countries that I’ve been to I’ve never taken to one easier. Having an immediate pier/friend group has certainly helped. If I could change one thing it would be to expand this group to a greater number of locals, but I think/hope that will come with time (especially after starting classes in the university).

I can myself slowly shaking off the rust of this whole “blog update” concept and promise to work on improving writing/information. In the meantime, check out the pictures I have posted and enjoy some of the fun facts below:

FACT: My average bedtime (including school nights) is 3:30 AM

FACT: In college the saying used to be “Thursday is the new Friday,” well in Argentina the saying is “Wednesday is the new Thursday.”

FACT: The currency exchange is 3:1 and awesome. The dinner alone in our big night out would have cost me well over $150 in the states. The dinner, wine, pub beers, and two cab rides cost me $60 US.

FACT: After said dinner we saw lights and cameras outside our restaurant, like they were setting up for a photo shoot. I think it was the four bottles of wine that gave us the courage to just walk right up to them and ask if we could be in the picture, they agreed. It was pretty much your standard photo, reasonably dressed people standing and smiling. Afterwards, however, when we inquired as to the nature of the photo shoot we were told it was for a Male porn movie. Go us.

FACT: My apartment is small. My bed is only 6 ft long, with a head board and footboard. I’m 5’11.75” so no problem right? WRONG. I lose about a quarter of an inch in pillow space and my feet press outward when I sleep, so I’m pretty much locked into my bed. Waking up with a swollen knee every morning is fun.

FACT: My personal bathroom is roughly 3’ x 4.’ No problem except for the fact that it contains a sink, toilet, and shower. Every time I go in there it’s like a fun game of Frogger as I shuffle between various obstacles.