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.