Torneo de Playa 2009

Summer is here, and do you know what that means? Beach Tournament!!!!!!!! Loyal readers with amazing memories, and those who were there, will remember that on Dia de La Virgin in 2008 we were on the beach at Monte Hermoso for Uliti Fest en la Playa 2008. Many also remember my famous YouTube clip involving very broken Spanish in a hopefully endearing if not slightly humiliating interview for the local news.
This year Dia de La Virgin was badly timed (it was a Tuesday, not a Monday, so no 3-day weekend), which coupled with the tournament in Colombia, made us think for a time that there would be no Beach Tournament '09. I was sad but moving toward acceptance when it was announced that there would be a beach tournament after all at a very "top" beach five hours outside of Capital Federal called Pinamar. This was a slightly unfortunate twist of events since Nick, Josh, and I had already made plans to spend Christmas there!!!! We almost didn't go because we decided we couldn't afford it, but Ian (one of the organizers and our friend) wouldn't hear of it. So we sold banana bread and will sell some more to pay for Christmas and headed to meet the bus Friday night. Because this is Argentina and Frisbee people are always late and Sabina was waiting to get out of an exam we left an hour and a half late and stopped on the way. We arrived at four in the morning.
Pinamar should be a really nice beach. Its very long, has beautiful sand, rolling dunes, and only a little bit of trash. There isn't much of a city, just a downtown area so the lights are dim at night and I don't think I've ever seen so many stars in the sky at once. Not to mention the biggest meteors I've ever seen. While there is very little light pollution there is something strange that I've never seen on a beach before. There are more cars, four wheelers and dirt bikes riding back and forth all day and night that you feel like you are actually sunning yourself next to a sandy highway. And its even more expensive than Capital Federal, which I didn't think possible. On the beach there was a restaurant where we used the bathroom and had dinner on Saturday night. Hamburgers sold there for thirty pesos!! A small beer was twelve, and I don't even want to know what a whole liter cost. Of course nobody could pay for it, so when lunch time rolled around on Saturday we stopped one of the guys on the Tatu Empanada four wheelers and ordered empanadas for three pesos a piece. That's still a little pricey but not as bad as thirty pesos a hamburger. The owner of the restaurant got so mad that we weren't buying her food! and she yelled at Diego. Not a fan of capitalism. So the next day we all made sure to bring out own sandwiches and I brought my hard boiled eggs. MMMMMM....protein...

Watching games in the sun

Una ronda de Blackjacks!!

There were six teams this year. My team captain was Mike Foster (who is providing all of the photos for this post) and the rest of my team was made up by Fernanda, Ian, Emiliano and a newby Gabriel. It was an amazing team of people I'd never played with before but who I had played against many times. Mike is the best captain ever and I learned more from him in those two days than ever before.

Nick taking a little nap

For those of you new to the Ultimate scene, picking a good team name during a tournament is a big deal and shows what kind of spirit you have. We were having a hard time coming up with one and when I asked Mike what he thought he was in the middle of filling up his maté with Yerba from Uruguay. How about Abuelitas? He asked. (Uruguay has the craziest brand names for their Yerba. I bought a bag of La Mulatta while I was over there. Its just so inappropriate). Abuelita means little Grandma, and so the Little Grandmas we became. The name stuck and we embraced it with a Grandma dance. What is a Grandma dance you might be thinking? Its when you team lines up and pretends to be walking with a walker to a rhythm. Its great.

Diego, captain of the Cadillacs, making some moves

I was having so much fun playing that as usual I wasn't really caring whether or not we won, but we kept winning!! Under Mike's coaching our flow was amazing. I haven't been on a winning team for a while, so the unexpected feeling of winning was refreshing and made me want more!!!
After Saturday's games came to an end we headed back for some much needed showers and warmer clothes (the beach was unseasonably cold due to a wind from the South). To my surprise, there was a heated pool behind our hotel full of Frisbee players by the time I got back from the market so I hopped in with the hope of helping my tired muscles out a bit and then Diego made an impromptu asado because its not Ultimate without Choripan!!!!! We then headed back to the beach for bad pizza, good Quilmes and dancing.

Nick's hair has never looked better. I worry it will never look this good again.

I love being on the beach at night, and in between dance numbers I headed out with a few friends to do some star gazing and I couldn't believe how many shooting stars I saw. This of course prompted funny comments reminiscent of college talks about far away the stars how and how some might not even be there anymore...


The second day was warmer and not as sunny and we played a good game against Josh's team the Blackjacks, and won with our unbeatable flow that Mike Foster fostered. We were already in the championship round after that but played a fun game against Anana where most people were kinda laughing the whole game as Antonio feigned an overly aggressive desire to win. I think it was feigned.

Mad layouts

We played the Aceitunas in the Championship round, and my right leg was pretty sore. I was having a little trouble walking around let alone sprinting for discs in the sand or jumping for them. But out of no where came this endless source of energy that ended all to quickly once the game was over leaving me with nothing left for the walk to the restaurant. It was the best game I ever played. I was blocking and diving, throwing and catching, and handling the s*#* out of that disc against Aceitunas zone defense.

Actually catching the disc!!

Mike, my captain for the weekend


Una ronda de Abuelitas

Diego after he found out that Bonfield, his soccer team, won the championship for the first time in history and a sprint to the sea

We won, and it wasn't a close game, but they made us work for it. It was all I could do to keep myself from falling asleep at the closing ceremonies, but I had to get up and receive my prizes (emphasis on the s) because we also won the Spirit award!!! So we won a cool t-shirt and awesome Ultimate shorts. This was particularly exciting to me seeing as I've made a reputation for myself as the girl with one pair of shorts, them being green shorts. Now I've got a black pair to wear as well!!

Award ceremony

I'm paying for my fun with a cold as usual, but it was an awesome beach tournament. Now I'm wondering how I can somehow make it back for next years...

The whole crew

Dia de La Virign

Dia de la Virgin - translation: The Virgin's Day. Yes, she has her own day, and in Catholic countries like Argentina it is not just a holiday but a day off work! Like I need that, I don't need that, but did I take advantage of it? Yes!!!
Erev dia de la Virgin Josh and I were invited to our first real adult party. As in we were the youngest ones there who weren't under the age of eight. It was pretty cool. We were invited by Marcela, the mom of my seven year old student, who had somewhat adopted me and feels like surrogate Argentine Mom. She tells me not to use my i-pod in the street, she feeds me copious amounts of food, and gives me mommy advice when I don't ask for it. I love her. (Real Mom - I love you more, I swear) She now also invites us to her parties. The party was in her mother's apartment which is in her building but occupies the entire roof top. It has a sweet view, an amazing parilla and a balcony that wraps all the way around. It even has an upstairs room for their maid.
And these people know how to party. They grilled delicious meet, served really good wines, had guacamole and picada, and hired a karaoke dj type and a tarot cards reader who came in a complete witch's get up. It was professional. I mean, her hat was shiny and purple, and her giant dress cape thing had a giant woman's symbol on it. She even had long, black, curly hair. Josh and I stayed away from the witch, but we did stray dangerously close to the karaoke and got roped into singing a few numbers. One of my older students is related to Marcela by marriage, and she was there too. She told me yesterday that she was VERY impressed by Josh's ability to sing in Spanish. I tried to hold my own, but the Macarena is surprisingly fast and is way more wordy than one would imagine. I've heard that song one hundred times, and I realized that the only word I knew was La Macarena. I now know about five more of the words.
It was actually pretty cool though because they only played Spanish songs, and while I would have loved to rock out to some Bon Jovi, it was one of the most authentic (if Karaoke in Argentina can ever be considered authentic) experiences I've had, and the most unadulterated by US commercialism and musical proliferation.
So we ate too much food, drank good wine, and I finally got to hang out socially with one of my favorite students and it wasn't tooooooo awkward. It was great. Afterward we returned to Felipe's house to finish off our night with Colombian traditions. In Colombia everybody lights candles of different colors and lets them melt to the ground. Children scoop up all the melted wax they can and make colorful balls that turn muddy brown as they grow bigger and bigger. Josh decided to channel that inner child and got a pretty impressive wax ball going that he proudly brought home with him that morning.

Untitled #1 (Wax Ball)


Untitled #2 (Wax Ball)

The next day I woke up at noon to make my two o'clock class with Guadalupe, Marcela's daughter. I was met with tired smiles and a big leftover asado sandwhich and went over the boring details of Guadalupe's English Aladdin test she was to have the next day. Next I headed over to Felipe's and he invited me to have some ice cream with him. We trotted off to a little corner shop where I enjoyed Tropical Lemon and Bariloche chocolate ice cream (Felipe pictured above in the shop). I then walked for a ways until I reached Jeremy's house where a small party was underway. There I met up with Josh, Nick, Jonno (the new British roommate who has been living in Dan's room) and a few other people from England, Buenos Aires and France. We enjoyed freezing cold beers, sunshine and choripan. Nothing could have made the day any better except for the fact that Jeremy's porteño friend drove us in his car to the finale for the Jazz Festival that had been taking place over the weekend.
We made it just in time for the last act at the Recoleta Cultural Center where they had a big stage set up on an outside terrace with free entrance. I had been the night before to see a band that brilliantly performed some of the classics by Ellington, Gerschwin, and Ray Charles. This night we saw a group that performed a mix of acapella jazzness that featured some instrumentation. OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH yes. I did dance and it was great. Not many people we dancing, but we did and it was so much fun!!! We had brought a few cold ones with us and enjoyed our free entertainment on a beautiful breezy night. What a wonderful city this is.

Jazz stage

The eighth of December is also the day you set up your Christmas trees. That night we came home to a spotless house that Fanster had cleaned the hell out of in anticipation of her British friend's arrival and this beautiful Christmas tree. Remember that beautiful green tree that used to grace our patio that had to be cut down because the roots were growing into our neighbor's kitchen? Well it is green once again thanks to Uli's trip to Once and his and Fani's perseverance in the art of decorating. Ain't it a beaut? Its my first Christmas tree, and I kinda like it. The lights give off a festive glow at night, and while it doesn't invite presents to gather below it, maybe we could place our secret Santa presents in the tree and it could evolve into a find your present secret Santa situation. Vamos a ver. This idea could be brilliant.

PS I'd tell you who I am buying a present for but we aren't supposed to tell anyone. I'll let you know on the 19th when we do the Casa Cochobamba Secret Santa gift exchange. All I can tell you is my idea is great!

Celeb Sighting of the Week

Fani saw Hugo Chavez walking into the Casa Rosada today!!!!

Life After Patrick

Its been a long week since Patrick left, and I've been trying to catch up on sleep and work. I lost two students this week as well, which is sad but that's life. I don't think it was because of my teaching so that's good. When the weekend finally came we headed to Camilla's for supper and made a night of it. Josh and Fani and I spent Saturday in the living room watching Mad Men and finally we finished with the amazing "Adventure Land." I HIGHLY recommend it. Its the romanticized tale of a college graduate whose plans for a European adventure are dashed by his father's alcoholic failures. Instead he gets a job at the local theme park and falls in love.
Now back to my all too real life...
Josh and I sold chocolate chip cookies and banana bread in the market today and made about 70 pesos after cost!!! He was a pretty good assistant and we had fun walking up and down Defensa. Afterwords we headed to our teammate's recital. I always knew Milagros was an opera singer, but I'd never gotten to hear her perform so I was pretty excited when I found out the recital was in San Telmo and free!!! The performance was fantastic, and while I don't know much about opera, I was very impressed. I was also impressed by the number of people who showed up for her. Frisbee people made up around half the attendees. Afterwords we all headed to Nonna Bianca for the Merienda (tea time) and now we are back at home making pizza. Tuesday is the Day of the Virgin so the offices are closed and we've been invited to one of my student's mother's home for a party tomorrow!!! I've been told there will be Karaoke...I'll keep you posted.

More Proof Patrick Came to South America...

and, I might add, that I'm still alive and well. Just been busy with work and law school applications, but what better occasion to call me out of semi-retirement than a visit from the one and only Patrick Hennessey! Let the fun begin, albeit a week and a half late!

Julia and Patty on the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, from where we hopped on a bus for the two-hour trip to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo. We'd been considering making a weekend out of our tri-monthly, self-imposed exiles to Uruguay, and Patrick's visit lining up with Julia's expiration date gave us that excuse. I don't think we'll be making it back to Uruguay since we will try to renew our visas in Chile when we go to the end of the world in less than three months (but more on that later), so let me take this time to thank Uruguay for all it has done for us over the past year or so. We couldn't have (legally) done this without you, I hope you know that.

Our first stop on our tourist day: La Plaza de la Independencia, or Independence Plaza. As you can tell, Saturday was not a pretty day. It rained off-and-on throught Saturday, which wouldn't have been as big of a deal if most of the streets had little to now pedestrian traffic. Basically, the city could have been seen as a little...depressed. Our friend Brian described Montevideo as Buenos Aires's "younger, uglier brother who's addicted to heroine". If this were true, Saturday would have been a day when little Monte couldn't get his fix. Now, if you know Brian, you know this isn't exactly an insult but just a funny way to describe a city that looks like a little like Buenos Aires, just smaller and without the energy. In general, Uruguyans live at a more relaxed, content pace than Argentines -- especially porteños -- so this shouldn't come as a surprise that their capital was slow and vacant on a rainy Saturday. (Note: That last assertion, while true, doesn't make sense considering Uruguyans drink more mate than I though humanly possible. They walk down the street with their own mate, thermos wedged in their armpits, filling up their gourds on the go. Just amazing. I think my teeth would be ground to their roots if I drank that much mate...or I would get more done. Who knows.) Either way, I really liked Montevideo, even if it isn't always pretty when it comes down. But hey, no one is.

The site of Patty's first foray into meat: El Mercado de la Puerta, the Port Market. Here we indulged in every vegetarian's wet dream: a tender cut of beef covered in ham, cheese, and a gooey fried egg. Although initially overwhelmed by the chivito, Patty polished of his plate like a champ. And as Julia's post show, it would prove not to be the end of his carnal endeavors.

On Sunday we rented bikes and did a huge lap around the city, weaving in-and-out at our leisure to check out some other back streets and a huge flea market. We enjoyed a lunch of meat, salad, pasta, and the best fish I've had in ages, only to discover upon leaving that we (read: Julia) had accidently forgotten to grab my camera out of my bike's basket. But, lo and behold, it was still there! I love Uruguay! However, the Gods struck back at our (read: Julia's) reckless ways by punishing us with a flat back tire on Julia's bike. Notice how she was the one punished, not Patrick nor I. A difficult 2 kilometer walk ensued, with the photo above demonstrating the preferred method of walking with a bike that has only one tire. Needless to say, it wasn't very fun.

But Gods rewarded us in the end! We arrived at the river beach -- although locals refer to it as the sea -- and the sun came out not too long later. We spent the rest of the afternoon sprawled out on the soft sand, even venturing into the semi-salty water for a dip. Now we can check off "Rio de la Plata". Next up? The strait of Magellan!

PASTA

Oops...when I got up from writing the last post I felt dizzy, and there was no more fruit with which to make juice...I'm currently happy and heating pasta...

Juice Cleanse: Day Three - The Home Stretch

When Patrick got sick he had the idea in his head that it was because he was eating sooo much meat. This could be true. He announced that when he returned home he was going to do a juice cleanse. "Hmmm, a juice cleanse," thought Fani and I simultaneously. We'd been hearing a lot about this juice cleanse lately. Our friend Willy had done one after a slew of asados spaced to closely together. I'd read about it online, and we were intrigued. While we couldn't do the strict juice cleanse Patty explained to us (water, lemon, maple syrup and cayenne pepper) we decided to do nothing but juice. It's now day three and I'm pretty tired of the whole thing, and hungry, but only a few more hours to go!!! And its actually been pretty fun. We've made fruit juices, vegetable juices, and beleive me when I say that my wrists are tired from all that juicing!!! But my body really does feel cleansed, and I'm ready to start a new month with a healthier diet and a healthier life. I think the timing is also kinda funny. We are resolving one month too early, but no one actually keeps their New Year's resolutions so December seems to be the perfect month for fresh beginnings. Josh even shaved his mustache.

Beet, carrot, lemon ect madness

Fani's a choppin'

Josh may not be on the juice train, but he's eatin' healthy too!!

This post was brought to you by Maté and our blender.

In Which Patrick Gets a Tatoo at Bond Street and Buys a LOT of Thrift

Patrick has been talking about the various tattoos he's wanted since we lived together in that lovely apartment in Dupont. He finally got one before he left DC. For those of you who've seen it, you know that it kinda kicks tattoo ass. Its big, its hard core, and it took four hours.
Ever since then, Patricio's been talking about the other tat he's been wanting: a broken crown. When I told him the prices here were way cheaper on tattoos I peaked his interest. "What a great souvenir!" he thought. With Uli's help we found a great artist at the famous Bond Street in Recoleta not far from where Uli works. We headed back there on Friday to take care of business. With my surprising translation skills we got the idea across to Gustavo and we headed upstairs.

Waiting for Gustavo to finish his drawing

The trace

Gustavo at work

Patty checks out Gustavo's work in the mirror

He decides its pretty f-ing sweet

All wrapped up and ready to go!

A collection of tattoo shops, punk shops, and general mecca for the alternative youth scene

Oops...needs more cash...

The reason why Patty needed more cash was because the next stop was 5ta Avenida, another collection of stores but this time filled not with punk but with thrift. It was thrift heaven. Many many many floors of thrifty thrift. Patty went a little crazy.

Amazing pullover bought at 5ta Avenida

Later at Nick's: Paola puts on many of Patrick's new items

So does Fani

And so does PJ

That night Patrick got a little sick and never felt 100% again (I'm hoping he feels better now). Unfortunatly our plans of dancing until the sun came up were not realized...guess those will have to wait for next time. And then it rained all Sunday and the San Telmo Feria never really happened, but we got ice cream at Nonna Bianca and a picada at Bar Britanico and we cuddled and watched "500 Days of Summer" and it was nice. He's gone now, and I'm catching up with work and life but I wish he could have stayed!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2009 (WITH PATRICIO)

And so we begin where we left off...

Thanksgiving '09

Its was my third Thanksgiving away from home, and it never gets any easier. But as usual I was surrounded by a group of amazing people who are my non-technical family in Argentina. This year it was a good mix of people from the US, England and Argentina, and for the first time for a Thanksgiving abroad we had a Turkey!!!
But let's start at the very beginning. When we left for Montevideo the oven had broken, and it remained so when we got home. Our trusty Uruguayan handy man has disappeared so things were looking bleak. We got the go ahead to use rent money to buy a new oven, and it arrived Wednesday. The repair man came to install it on Thursday morning, and the Turkey was ordered!!! When I left the house Thursday morning, Thanksgiving was on. To my despair, I received a text from Fani informing me that the oven would light but it wouldn't stay lit (we work in gas over here) and that you could hold down the button to release the gas and it would stay lit but only at 500 degrees Fahrenheit and only while you pushed it in.
This news was alarming, but I was at work and their was nothing I could do. I trusted Fani and Josh would figure something out, but...we had no idea what would happen.
When I arrived home I was eager to find out what they had managed. Fani told me: we are going to have a Turkey!!! Yay!!! I responded. How can this be??? Well, she said, its in an oven, just not ours. Fani and Josh had headed to the butcher to see what could be done. They explained the situation asked if he could cut it up so they could grill it. He said that the Turkey wouldn't be gross if we did that, so Josh and Fani did the next obvious thing and asked to trade the Turkey for some chicken. Grilled chicken might be nontraditional for Turkey day, but at this point they weren't being picky. The Butcher then informed them they there was no way they were getting any chicken. His car had broken down on the way to get the Turkey and so they were going to eat that Turkey. They were going to eat it and they were going to like it! Luckily he was willing to go all the way and offered to let us use his oven!!!!!! I went over to check things out, and sure enough, there was our Turkey in his oven surrounded by carrots and onions. It was beautiful.

Washing out the pan in the Butcher's kitchen

El Pavito

Josh and Uli in the Butcher's

The Butcher, Josh, Uli, y el Pavo

You know, just walking around San Telmo with some Pavo

Bringing home the Turkey

The table FULL of food for Thanksgiving.

And so we began a feast that met my highest expectations. There were plenty of potatoes and vegetables, Patrick had brought and made corn bread, and Coy had found what she though were cranberries but what were actually blueberries which we promplty turned into blueberry sauce that complimented the cornbread like coke compliments Fernet. Fani made some non-Kosher stuffing (which kicks Kosher stuffing's but cause there is sausage in it), gravy was made from the pavo juices and there were even chocolate covered strawberries and Argentine dulce de leche cake madness for dessert. As we all gathered in the Living with our plates brimming with food, Fani made everyone take a turn to say what they were thankful for.
I had a lot to be thankful for. To start with, I was able to say what I was thankful for in Spanish!! I remembered a year ago when I was just starting to figure out how to get by, the names of different produce items, and maybe a little past tense. We had Thanksgiving with a group of completely different people, and as Josh said we are so lucky to have been able to make so many amazing friends. So many people have left, but we've made so many friends that not one person from last year's T-day was present and the room was full. And of course this year we had four Argentines present who are such good friends. Well, enough of that, I was also thankful to have a "plate" full of delisiousness.

Plate of deliciousness

Fani explains Turkey day to an Argy named Alé

Happily together for the best Holiday ever

But most of all I was thankful that one of my best friends could come visit me before I left, and that I could share all of this with him. Thanks for being there Patty!! Everyone misses you already!!!