A New Chapter

And thus begins a new chapter in the lives of Julia and Josh's Trip to South America (one day we will leave Argentina and fulfill this promise to visit other unknown lands of this southern continent). The nine month anniversary of our arrival came and went as any other Tuesday would have. I went to work at eight am and taught another class at four. We ate homemade pizza and empanadas for dinner and had guests. However, as we ask on Passover, why was this night different from all other nights? Because one of the new people at our big wooden table that weighs more than Santi was not a guest but our new flatmate Stephanie (aka Fanie). To get ready for her arrival I rearranged her furniture and built her a closet (my specialty: fruit crate furniture - one day this will be more than a hobby) and thought the place looked a bit more homey.
She arrived at night and slipped in like Cinderella's foot in that glass slipper. Her immersion into the house was seamless and yet is noted in the considerably lessened Frat House atmosphere that had been cultured in the petri dish that is Casa Cochobamba when Brian lived here and I was the only female occupant. I have found myself making crude frat joke of late, and the arrival of this vibrant female could not have come at a better time.
To say the least, I am fond of this girl and her arrival comes at a great point to metaphorically end one chapter and begin another of our lives here. Sorry, there was no cliff hanger. I'll try harder next time for the suspense novel enthusiasts.
It also happened to be the end of the fall league in Ultimate and it ended with a tournament to see which team deserved best team in the league bragging rights. I'll save you the suspense on this one. Its not us. Actually, we are the worst team in Argentina when looking at the stats, but Frisbee is of course about so much more, so I still like to think of us as the best at everything else that matters like churipan eating and beer guzzling.
So Saturday was one of my worst days that I've had in a while. We played Big Red. I knew this team had been training, but man did it show. They kicked our little tucheses. And while I never enjoy loosing the day was more of a personal struggle for me. I was ill equipped to handle the Big Red girls. They all arrived in Argentina with more experience than me, they are all faster than me, and they all have been training a lot harder than me. Don't get me wrong, I've been to all our practices, but our coach hasn't been able to make them for months, and my rapid improvement has slowed of late. As my breaths became more rapid and more difficult to make, I felt the frustrated kind of tears rising up in the back of my throat. All I needed was a good five minutes on the sideline to take some water and calm down a bit but seeing as we only have two girls that was not an option. So cry a little I did and this led to more frustration at what a baby I was being and the rest of the game was a struggle to get through and I was happy when the game finally ended at 3-15. When I found out the next game was at 10 am Sunday morning I started to complain like only I know how and kept on going till 10 am the next morning. Josh's patience was at its breaking point and I had succeeded in making him almost as miserable as I was.
But the sun was out, and my aching body loosened as Nick lead us in our first few laps around the field. I had forgotten how much fun Discosur is to play even if Sabina runs around like a wild banshee and tires me out like a bucking bronco. My habitual smile returned to my face and I thoroughly enjoyed the game even though I again had to play for the whole game. We didn't loose nearly as badly this time, and afterwards there was the promise of a giant meat sandwich!!!
Nick, Josh and I hobbled over to the Parilla that is our home away from home and ordered our various sandwiches. Josh got Lomito, I got bondiola, and then we traded halvsies for variety.

I love me some meat sandwich

I also came to the conclusion that I am officially a bondiola fan and will now be able to focus all my energies on my sandwich of choice. This realization is kinda a big deal...
Beers in hand we watched the finals on the sidelines with members of Discosur and I got to enjoy a beautiful afternoon while watching some of the best Ultimate I've ever seen. It was great to hang out with all my friends from Discosur after an absence of hangout time of late, and we passed the afternoon in that most enjoyable way.
We left after a round of team photos and 130ed it all the way back to San Telmo where I caught some much needed nap time on the couch while we waited for Nick and friends to arrive. Finally, we headed to the park to toss a football and play a little wiffle ball while drinking maté with two random 16 year old porteñas. Why not take the best of what both worlds have to offer? We wiffled until dark and headed back for what turned into a party. Shocking, I know. A party in Casa Cochobamba? Unheard of. We were 12 in all, so Fanie, Camilla and I headed to Leader Price to aid Stephanie in her first attempt to feed the masses. Along the way we stopped to watch a little Tango in Plaza Dorrego and bumped into our old student Alejandro, and waved hi to many of our new vendor friends as we wandered down Defensa. It felt cool to be in with the vendor croud, the only crowd really worth being in with in my book.
At Leader Price Fany bought all the ingredients she needed for 60 pesos! and we headed back to make stir fry.
As the cooking commenced beer pong competitions broke out. The onda was hot and the beer plentiful. Amazingly we fit everyone around the table and we feasted on Phanie's culinary commencement.
Of course things went from great to amazing and a dance party ensued. The strobe light was on, as was Michael Jackson. I somehow wound up going to Amerika, finally my first adventure in a gay club, and I somehow found a leeeeetle bit of energy to shake my tusch with the rest of 'em. I then somehow lost a close game of rock paper scissors to Dan and ended up doing to MC Hammer on the little wooden stage in the middle of the dance floor, and then Dan tricked me into walking miles to the 29 but he sweetened the deal with empanadas. I was in ecstasy as I fell into my bed at four am and with my last drops of pilas (energy) I pulled the covers up to my chin and fell fast asleep.

Wiffle: pronounce it Wiflé in Spanish and you sound and look so much cooler