Estimados,
I want to let all of my local friends who are working on their Spanish game know about a great new blog that's written by my former Spanish teacher in Chicago. Juan's approach is all about keeping it simple. When we have time to think about what we're saying, most of us extranjeros do a pretty solid job. But in the moment, we can get confused and mix things up. The key is of course getting practice. But if you can follow Juan's advice, keep things simple and learn the rules in way that makes them stick, you're nearly there.
It's gone through a few name changes, and it's currently called El Diario de un Profesor de Español. I highly recommend bookmarking the page as every time he posts something it either solidifies what I thought I already knew, or corrects me where I've been wrong.
Still no internet en casa. Hopefully we'll get this situation figured out soon. At least it now appears that the lavaropas disaster has been "ironed out." Jajaja.....ja. Ja.
Saludos!
A
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Where You Been?
Hi Gang,Sorry for the utter lack of posting in this and the other two blogs for, well, about a month now. I have moved. I do not have internet at home. My company has gone fascist and decided that large portions of the internet shall be off-limits. This includes the place where I create postings. So, I write this note to anyone who may be coming back here, expecting updates on my life and other ramblings. There is SO MUCH to discuss, but no way to blog about it yet. Anyway, sit tight and we should have this crap figured out soon. I hope so, anyway.
Just for the sake of giving you a taste, here's a view from my window (many, many more to come):
Monday, August 17, 2009
The End Is the Beginning
Credit: The majority of the photos here were taken by Karen and posted to Facebook. She did a fantastic job with them.
I've written here many times about Ultimate here in Argentina, though it's been a little while since I've given you an update. But there was recently big, big news. The Fall League was the most organized and competitive the country of Argentina has seen. There were early stumbles with the securing of fields and occasionally ironing things out between teams. But with a lot of heartfelt effort by the leaders of this organization, things eventually progressed. We had regular league parings every Sunday, and nearly all of them came off without too much trouble. This is assuming that spirited disagreements with the local futbolistas doesn't constitute much trouble.
Big Red dropped the last game of the previous season to Discosur and then a hardfought season opener to Cadillacs. But since then, we had been on a real tear, winning the rest of our games, most of them by a healthy margin. But the team really earned those victories. We began practicing once a week on Wednesday nights, rain or stars. We added Saturdays as well, working on the Ho Stack, zone D, conditioning and a litany of other in-game pointers. As always, Mike shared his knowledge with a positive attitude. By the end of the season, we were a well-oiled machine. We were confident, but in the playoffs anything could happen.
Partly because of the Swine Flu and vacations for some of their key members, The semi-finals were set for Saturday against Cadillacs. Unfortunately, there was a mix-up on the timing and the two teams did not arrive at the same time. We technically could have asked them to forfeit, but a near unanimous vote meant the game was on and the winner would go to the finals. We came out on fire, being sufficiently warmed up, and cruised to a 15-3 win. Cadillacs were short on ladies, but did their best to keep playing hard through the last point.
Waiting for us in the finals was Aqua, the newest team in Argentina. Led by a Colombian nicknamed Chapi, they had also been practicing and shown a lot of improvement. Chapi wasn't there the first time we played them, and was battling injuries in the second go-round, so this was an entirely new game. What transpired was the most intense game I've played in any sport since I was in high school. That's a good thing. Normally when people stroll by the park and see these crazy young people runing around throwing frisbees, they think we're crazy. With the intensity ratched up, lots of fans in attendance, and everybody screaming the whole time, we seemed all the more certifiable.
Big Red went up early (5-1), but Aqua fought back the whole game, cutting the score to 8-7 right after halftime. The key plays all blur together. Carlos making an incredible D in the endzone. Checho coming out of nowhere to sky behind me and my faulty knee for a huge point. Martin playing like an unleashed animal, continuing his fine performance from the semis. Dani faking a throw, knowing Chapi had no choice but to make a play for the block, then calmly throwing for the score. Fer getting open in the corner of the endzone for a key point... and many more plays I can't remember. Every single player made a huge contribution.
As the game drew to a close, we capitalized on Aqua's few mistakes, and tightened our game. Up 13-10, Chapi poached off of me, and I darted to the endzone. I nearly dropped the disc, but managed to haul in Point #14, just barely over his outstretched arm. Soon after, a wide open Emi was sprinting to the other endzone's front corner where he caught the game-winner, putting the fall season into the books.
After a pretty wild celebration in the endzone, we did the spirited thing and congratulated Aqua on a great game. Both of these teams had improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season, and deserved to feel proud.
But now that the most official season in Argentine history was completed, how to go forward? This is a difficult question. Clearly, the season was a great success, but the league is in many ways still like a toddler in the great scheme of things. I suggested some ideas and was subsequently invited to a planning meeting disguised as an asado. That's my favorite kind of meeting! Maxi had 11 of us over to his house, made some excellent meat, and cooked it all in the rain. In sum, we had six Argentines and six extranjeros, three players from each team. We still have a ways to go when it comes to planning together, but everyone clearly cares a ton.
Now there's a foundation. We still have a lot of growing to do, but there are a lot of people contributing. The first step was an excellent hat tournament held this weekend. Unfortunately, mal clima (bad weather) and Pepe Nielsen conspired to keep me from participating the second day. But with six teams of at least 10 people each, it's clear that the momentum is continuing. Spring league, a possible trip to Medellin, and a likely return to Monte Hermoso are all indicators that there's a future for the sport here, and I'm really happy to be a part of it. We celebrate because we won the title. But we haven't stopped practicing.
I've written here many times about Ultimate here in Argentina, though it's been a little while since I've given you an update. But there was recently big, big news. The Fall League was the most organized and competitive the country of Argentina has seen. There were early stumbles with the securing of fields and occasionally ironing things out between teams. But with a lot of heartfelt effort by the leaders of this organization, things eventually progressed. We had regular league parings every Sunday, and nearly all of them came off without too much trouble. This is assuming that spirited disagreements with the local futbolistas doesn't constitute much trouble.
Just like me, the league is looking for space to land
Big Red dropped the last game of the previous season to Discosur and then a hardfought season opener to Cadillacs. But since then, we had been on a real tear, winning the rest of our games, most of them by a healthy margin. But the team really earned those victories. We began practicing once a week on Wednesday nights, rain or stars. We added Saturdays as well, working on the Ho Stack, zone D, conditioning and a litany of other in-game pointers. As always, Mike shared his knowledge with a positive attitude. By the end of the season, we were a well-oiled machine. We were confident, but in the playoffs anything could happen.
Partly because of the Swine Flu and vacations for some of their key members, The semi-finals were set for Saturday against Cadillacs. Unfortunately, there was a mix-up on the timing and the two teams did not arrive at the same time. We technically could have asked them to forfeit, but a near unanimous vote meant the game was on and the winner would go to the finals. We came out on fire, being sufficiently warmed up, and cruised to a 15-3 win. Cadillacs were short on ladies, but did their best to keep playing hard through the last point.
Waiting for us in the finals was Aqua, the newest team in Argentina. Led by a Colombian nicknamed Chapi, they had also been practicing and shown a lot of improvement. Chapi wasn't there the first time we played them, and was battling injuries in the second go-round, so this was an entirely new game. What transpired was the most intense game I've played in any sport since I was in high school. That's a good thing. Normally when people stroll by the park and see these crazy young people runing around throwing frisbees, they think we're crazy. With the intensity ratched up, lots of fans in attendance, and everybody screaming the whole time, we seemed all the more certifiable.
Dani outstretches Chapi for the disc
Big Red went up early (5-1), but Aqua fought back the whole game, cutting the score to 8-7 right after halftime. The key plays all blur together. Carlos making an incredible D in the endzone. Checho coming out of nowhere to sky behind me and my faulty knee for a huge point. Martin playing like an unleashed animal, continuing his fine performance from the semis. Dani faking a throw, knowing Chapi had no choice but to make a play for the block, then calmly throwing for the score. Fer getting open in the corner of the endzone for a key point... and many more plays I can't remember. Every single player made a huge contribution.
Checho wins the battle
As the game drew to a close, we capitalized on Aqua's few mistakes, and tightened our game. Up 13-10, Chapi poached off of me, and I darted to the endzone. I nearly dropped the disc, but managed to haul in Point #14, just barely over his outstretched arm. Soon after, a wide open Emi was sprinting to the other endzone's front corner where he caught the game-winner, putting the fall season into the books.
Point 14
After a pretty wild celebration in the endzone, we did the spirited thing and congratulated Aqua on a great game. Both of these teams had improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the season, and deserved to feel proud.
Todos con buen espiritu
But now that the most official season in Argentine history was completed, how to go forward? This is a difficult question. Clearly, the season was a great success, but the league is in many ways still like a toddler in the great scheme of things. I suggested some ideas and was subsequently invited to a planning meeting disguised as an asado. That's my favorite kind of meeting! Maxi had 11 of us over to his house, made some excellent meat, and cooked it all in the rain. In sum, we had six Argentines and six extranjeros, three players from each team. We still have a ways to go when it comes to planning together, but everyone clearly cares a ton.
Maxi, el asador - undeterred by the rain
Now there's a foundation. We still have a lot of growing to do, but there are a lot of people contributing. The first step was an excellent hat tournament held this weekend. Unfortunately, mal clima (bad weather) and Pepe Nielsen conspired to keep me from participating the second day. But with six teams of at least 10 people each, it's clear that the momentum is continuing. Spring league, a possible trip to Medellin, and a likely return to Monte Hermoso are all indicators that there's a future for the sport here, and I'm really happy to be a part of it. We celebrate because we won the title. But we haven't stopped practicing.
Ladies and gentlemen, your fall league champions. Vamos BIG RED!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
A gripe on the populous
In some ways, it would be fair to call could call Argentina a dirty place. This applies to the air pollution, the fact that nobody curbs their dogs, and most certainly the politics. After a busy and fun week in Chicago (post coming when I get around to it), we returned to Buenos Aires to find that the entire country was gripped with a fever of concern over the Influenza H1N1 (aka swine flu or gripe porcina). 80% of local news coverage is devoted to it, and suddenly major precautions are being taken. This was an abrupt change. When we left, there were a few mentions of the issue, but nobody was taking it very seriously.
I've been here long enough to say that Argentina is my home. As Josh eloquently put it, I'm living in Argentina, not just having a brief jaunt around the world. And as you can hopefully tell from the rest of this blog, I really love it here. But of course there are things I wish were different. The interesting thing is, nearly everything that's wrong with this country is evinced by this situation with swine flu.
Some of you may recall that over my first five months in town, I got sick six times. It was a steady practice of bedrest with a whole lot of nose blowing mixed in. I attributed it mainly to the probable slew of germs new to my immune system mixed with my attempts at living the Argentine lifestyle of staying out later than the moon and stars every weekend. While these were likely the main causes, other factors were likely culprits as well. The level of preventative hygiene, particularly surrounding food and drinks is completely different here. And by different, I mean lower. People regularly drink from the same glasses, or when sharing mate, the same straw. Same goes for food. For instance, I recently saw employees at Blockbuster sharing a half-kilo of ice cream and only using one spoon between the three of them. It's part of the charm. There's just no premium on cleanliness here. I can't count the number of times a waiter has put my fork on the table by holding the tines directly in their fingers. I'm not exactly Howie Mandel, but I have been accused of being a bit of a germ freak before. While these saliva-sharing habits gave me the willies a bit at first, I readily embraced the new culture and hoped for the best. And yes, I was sick six times early on, but I've been healthy since Christmas and haven't changed my habits.
So I was extremely curious about all the new behavior that greeted my return from Chicago. Before we were allowed to deplane, everyone had to don surgical masks and hand a form saying we had no symptoms to two young ladies wearing white labcoats. Then we were allowed to remove the masks.
While this was a rather cursory check that wouldn't stop anyone who wouldn't readily volunteer their condition anyway, when I got to the office later that day, I was surprised to see some major changes. Alcochol-based hand disenfectant had been dstributed to every room in the building. Signs were posted in the building instrucing people on how to wash their hands, and why it is so bloody important. Not only that, people were actually doing it a lot more than before. Some refused to shake hands or even greet in the normal kissing fashion. When someone on the streets would sneeze or cough, others would jump away as if they were spilling sulfuric acid before casting dirty looks at the person who was obviously trying to maliciously murder the whole country.
But why such a sudden change? The conventional wisdom is that with an impending election, the government hid the real figures from the public regarding how many cases of swine flu had occurred. The original indications were that there had only been a handful of cases, but after the election they released the "real" numbers and suddenly there were 60 reported deaths. This conventional wisdom falls in line with others such as the government-published rate of inflation versus the figures presented by independent organizations. While inflation is one thing, this is a whole different level. How can the government in a country with a large population of people who live at very low income levels be so craven on such an important and dangerous issue? In the elections, the reigning party got beat pretty badly, so it either didn't work or people have become fed up with them.
But all of this leads to the more important question of whether they are still lying about the numbers now. Rumors abound, and there are wide opinions on every side of the issue. Some say "it's all a show, this is no big deal." But others are legitimately worried because they have connections to some who have gotten sick or died. Honestly, we really don't know what to believe. My opinion is that things are overstated, and some other news event will soon knock the swine flu off the front pages. But I know some very intelligent and educated folks who are taking every precaution and very nervous about the situation. I always washed my hands before eating and after riding on the colectivo, so other than making sure I get a morning orange juice more frequently I haven't changed my behavior or outlook very much. This too shall pass.
The sad thing about all of this is the reaction of the citizens. They should be outraged. Don't get me wrong, it's not like George Bush didn't pull this kind of crap all the time with the terrorist threat level, but even he and Cheney didn't intentionally go this far. The government put everyone living here in serious jeapoardy to score some political points. But when I ask about it, most of my friends and coworkers smile, shrug, and say "It's Argentina." They are resigned to put up with this kind of thing because they just assume that whoever would step in to replace the current leaders would do an equally terrible job. Nobody thinks the politics will improve no matter who's in charge. OK, so maybe there's no hope for the political future of Argentina (at least, nobody ever seems to have any), but will the hand-washing be a permanent change? And maybe restaurants can clean the silverware every now and again? After all, we pay just to sit down. This extranjero would really appreciate at least some good to come of this, and the overall improvement in health of a nation would be ideal. I'm not optimistic, but just in case I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and clean).
I've been here long enough to say that Argentina is my home. As Josh eloquently put it, I'm living in Argentina, not just having a brief jaunt around the world. And as you can hopefully tell from the rest of this blog, I really love it here. But of course there are things I wish were different. The interesting thing is, nearly everything that's wrong with this country is evinced by this situation with swine flu.
Some of you may recall that over my first five months in town, I got sick six times. It was a steady practice of bedrest with a whole lot of nose blowing mixed in. I attributed it mainly to the probable slew of germs new to my immune system mixed with my attempts at living the Argentine lifestyle of staying out later than the moon and stars every weekend. While these were likely the main causes, other factors were likely culprits as well. The level of preventative hygiene, particularly surrounding food and drinks is completely different here. And by different, I mean lower. People regularly drink from the same glasses, or when sharing mate, the same straw. Same goes for food. For instance, I recently saw employees at Blockbuster sharing a half-kilo of ice cream and only using one spoon between the three of them. It's part of the charm. There's just no premium on cleanliness here. I can't count the number of times a waiter has put my fork on the table by holding the tines directly in their fingers. I'm not exactly Howie Mandel, but I have been accused of being a bit of a germ freak before. While these saliva-sharing habits gave me the willies a bit at first, I readily embraced the new culture and hoped for the best. And yes, I was sick six times early on, but I've been healthy since Christmas and haven't changed my habits.
So I was extremely curious about all the new behavior that greeted my return from Chicago. Before we were allowed to deplane, everyone had to don surgical masks and hand a form saying we had no symptoms to two young ladies wearing white labcoats. Then we were allowed to remove the masks.
Deemed clean enough.
While this was a rather cursory check that wouldn't stop anyone who wouldn't readily volunteer their condition anyway, when I got to the office later that day, I was surprised to see some major changes. Alcochol-based hand disenfectant had been dstributed to every room in the building. Signs were posted in the building instrucing people on how to wash their hands, and why it is so bloody important. Not only that, people were actually doing it a lot more than before. Some refused to shake hands or even greet in the normal kissing fashion. When someone on the streets would sneeze or cough, others would jump away as if they were spilling sulfuric acid before casting dirty looks at the person who was obviously trying to maliciously murder the whole country.
Employees anywhere and those without jobs should really be doing this kind of thing anyway.
But why such a sudden change? The conventional wisdom is that with an impending election, the government hid the real figures from the public regarding how many cases of swine flu had occurred. The original indications were that there had only been a handful of cases, but after the election they released the "real" numbers and suddenly there were 60 reported deaths. This conventional wisdom falls in line with others such as the government-published rate of inflation versus the figures presented by independent organizations. While inflation is one thing, this is a whole different level. How can the government in a country with a large population of people who live at very low income levels be so craven on such an important and dangerous issue? In the elections, the reigning party got beat pretty badly, so it either didn't work or people have become fed up with them.
But all of this leads to the more important question of whether they are still lying about the numbers now. Rumors abound, and there are wide opinions on every side of the issue. Some say "it's all a show, this is no big deal." But others are legitimately worried because they have connections to some who have gotten sick or died. Honestly, we really don't know what to believe. My opinion is that things are overstated, and some other news event will soon knock the swine flu off the front pages. But I know some very intelligent and educated folks who are taking every precaution and very nervous about the situation. I always washed my hands before eating and after riding on the colectivo, so other than making sure I get a morning orange juice more frequently I haven't changed my behavior or outlook very much. This too shall pass.
The sad thing about all of this is the reaction of the citizens. They should be outraged. Don't get me wrong, it's not like George Bush didn't pull this kind of crap all the time with the terrorist threat level, but even he and Cheney didn't intentionally go this far. The government put everyone living here in serious jeapoardy to score some political points. But when I ask about it, most of my friends and coworkers smile, shrug, and say "It's Argentina." They are resigned to put up with this kind of thing because they just assume that whoever would step in to replace the current leaders would do an equally terrible job. Nobody thinks the politics will improve no matter who's in charge. OK, so maybe there's no hope for the political future of Argentina (at least, nobody ever seems to have any), but will the hand-washing be a permanent change? And maybe restaurants can clean the silverware every now and again? After all, we pay just to sit down. This extranjero would really appreciate at least some good to come of this, and the overall improvement in health of a nation would be ideal. I'm not optimistic, but just in case I'm keeping my fingers crossed (and clean).
Monday, July 13, 2009
Cariló's Way
Because I am so far behind on my postings in this space, this one is going to consist largely of photos and my usual silly captions. Not long after our trip to Villa General Belgrano, Belu and I took another writing sabbatical weekend to another peaceful and picturesque locale here in Argentina. This time, it was Cariló, an oceanfront community that has no paved roads and a lot of wealthy tourists. For this weekend, I suppose that included us. We drank mate, ate a ton, played on the beach (but not in the frigid water), failed to find a way to tune in to the Bulls' last playoff game, and I even got some writing done. I highly recommend Cariló, but only if you're staying in a nice, secluded place and don't hang out all day downtown to fight the crowds of self-important folks. Anyway, that's how we played it. The photograpic evidence:
Downtown Cariló in a more peaceful moment.
Breakfast delivered to the house every morning. Gooooood stuff.
Atop these tall trees, there were many, many birds nests with many, many little birdies. You could tell when the parents were away gathering food because the birdies were going berserk, tweeting their brains out. Not so different from a typical Argentine child at any moment during its existence.
I don't know what these birds were, but they were poking around in the ground for food. Maybe they needed to fill up before flying back to the noisy nests.
This snail is not here anymore, but he left us his old clothes as a gift.
Who knew mushrooms could grow in sand? By the way, this thing was huuuuuge.
With your pizza, you can get a Kokicola or Eleven-Up (I'm kidding - probably).
Belu at the front door to our place for the weekend. Muy lindo!
Abuela Goya makes some really good helado. Belu tries to magically get more from her.
...while I'm busy trying to make nice..
We, uhhh, got fondue twice. Once with meat/oil, and once with cheese. This is the cheese version. Belu is in charge of the long fork at the moment and will heretofore have an additional nickname --> The Fondue Master. (McRae, we ate this in your honor both times.)
I guarantee you that this dessert is bigger than it looks in this picture. By the way, we Uncle Frank'd it. For those who don't know (ok, nearly all of you), that means we didn't leave a single morsel, even though we knew of the negative health consequences.
They sell a LOT of sweets in this town. This is a chocolate store with loads of good stuff including rows and rows of chocolate huevos.
I'm smiling because I thankfully can't feel my feet anymore. The first 30 seconds were frighteningly painful.
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