GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL!

*check for pictures*
Perhaps an apology is necessary for the last entry as I needed to clear the air. I'll also apologize for the fact that my blog, right now, is a bit more superficial than I'd like it to be. Between visas, the aforementioned class issue (which has been resolved), and guests in town, I have had little time to focus on more than day to day activities. Recently, however, I have started to bring a journal around with me to make better note of cultural differences and points of interest that go beyond my daily life. I'm hoping I can provide better inside into the land that is Buenos Aires starting very soon. Until then...

This week I had a few guests in town: Fred and his girlfriend Emily. Fred is a long time friend of mine, we grew up together, and I was extactic that he was coming to visit. Although I was yet to meet Emily, she surpassed all forms of flatery mentioned of her. They arrived on Monday, St. Patrick's day, which we chose to celebrate in Ex-Pat fashion. Apparently Argentina has one of, if not the largest Irish population in a non-English speaking country. Additionally, Argentine animocity towards the British (think Faukland/Malvinas Islands)has fostered a great bond with the Irish. Just last year the city chose to make this celebration official, blocking of a small area of the city to traffic and essentially having a party in the street. We were able to weezle our way into Kilkenny, the predominant Irish bar in BsAs, and had a rather good time. In hind sight, it wasn't much more than what a typical bar might have to offer in the States for St.Pattys day (except they also lacked Green beer), but it was interesting to see Argentine's celebrating an Irish/American holiday. I have since been told by locals that it's really just an excuse to drink beer, like I've ever needed an excuse?

As my language classes continue on top of my university classes, I generally find my days pretty full. Most of the evenings are still spent dining out and having a few drinks and I am still struggling to find balance in my daily life. I keep telling myself things will settle down, but am having such a good time that I find it hard to initiate such actions. This week was also Semana Santa, holy week. Good Friday is a national holiday and thursday is an optional work day (optional here means nobody works). Argentina is a predominantly Catholic country, with numbers ranging between 70% and 90%, depending on who you ask. Despite the fact that there is a clause in the Constitution saying the government should support Roman Catholicism, I have seen very few "practicing" catholics. I have been inside some homes and the presence of symbolism and imagery is quite apparent, but there don't appear to be many churches or individuals who go to them.

I've also changed my mentality a bit here in respect to the one I adopted in Europe. That trip was for a very limited amount of time and I refused to allow myself to do anything American. Here...not so much. I'm going to be here for a year and there are a few luxuries that I just have to allow myself. The first one being, of course, NCAA basketball. I tried to start a pool down here, which failed miserably, but still filled out a bracket and watched a fair amount of the games. Fred and I met up in an expat bar on Friday to pull for Davidson and every other underdog as our brackets had already been shot (on the second day, pretty sad huh?) This place totally catered to Americans with dishes like chicken wings and Nachos, and though I won't be making a frequent habit out of it, I loved every second. That night I went set out to two of my favorite places here: Desnivel and Azucar. Desnivel is the restaurant that I previously made mention of when talking about the steak. Although the food is terrific, the ambiance is also great in that you can pretty much be as loud as you want. I believe I have also noted Azucar before, the Salsa club where you can dance until the sun rises. I think and hope all had a great time that night, I know I did.

The absolute highlight of the week, however, was attending a futbol (soccer) match on sunday. I just had some new friends arrive in town that morning, whom I'll make mention of in my next entry, and it was Fred and Emily's last day in town. Futbol is absolutely massive here and there are about twenty clubs within the region that is Buenos Aires. Really, however, there are only two: Boca Juniors and River Plate. The English element in their names actually stems from the turn of the century as they were initially founded by English teams/owners. These teams, however, divide the city. I'm told when tey play that they actually have to re-route traffic so that the fans never cross paths. I'd believe it too. We went to a River Plate vs. Velez game and it was absolutely nuts. We sat in the nice seats, which meant that the only thing keeping us from making our way onto the field was barbed wire and something that appeared to be a moat. The general section (with the crazy fans) was impeded by a 30 ft. fence and police in riot gear. I understand why, it gets absolutely crazy. The fans never stopped singing or jumping up and down, the entire game, and I'm really hoping you are able to access my videos to see only a small part of this enthusiasm. I'm also pretty sure that not a single minute passed where curse words weren't beeing slung at the refs and players. In addition to the experience, the game was also quite exciting. It's much faster live and it helps that my team, River, won.

A few final notes:
-Embarazada here doesn't mean embarrassed, it means pregant. I'm sure you can imagine that quite a few girls have made that mistake before, leading to even more embarrassment.
-"Happy Easter" here is Felices Pascuas. I've asked several and nobody can seem to tell me why it's pluralized. I'm really just upset that I haven't been able to find a word that sounds like Pascuas but actually means derier.

Happy Keyster :)