You know you're in Buenos Aires when...

you arrive home at 2AM, and your host says "You're early".  And he's not being sarcastic.

Some of the clubs here don't open until midnight or 1.  New Year's Eve, the parties don't start until midnight, you have dinner with your family and then at midnight go out with your friends.  Someone at the party I was at tonight told me she tried to have a party on New Year's Eve once, but nobody could make it, since no one was available until after midnight.

Anyway, party tonight was nice, 20-25 people, on the terrace of an apartment building.  Again, it was the Groupo de Ingles, and collectively and individually they are very nice to foreigners.

Of Cameras, Parks and Coffee

I violated my "Always bring a camera with you everywhere" rule. And of course, was reminded that you shouldn't break that rule. So I'll have to describe what I've seen.

Today's been a bit slow -- too time time in my head, too little time speaking or studying Spanish. I sat outside on balcony this morning after breakfast, as is my custom, and started to study using the new flashcard program I've been playing with, iFlipr, which works both on the computer and on my iPhone. As is also my tradition, I went through the stages of infatuation ("this is great, my life's going to be so much better now!"), irrational defense ("these people complaining in the comments section don't know what they're talking about! They must be using an older version"), recognition of problems ("hmm, import/export doesn't work, the card count seems to have a bug in it. The graphic of the card flipping is cute the first 100 times, but I want speed, I don't want to watch an animated graphic for every word"), disappointment ("and these word lists have no quality control") to finally, the end point and beginning point for many, many programmers: "I can do a better version of this myself."

So instead of studying when to use the imperfect v. the preterite, and when to use the subjunctive v. the indicative, I spent my time researching other flashcard programs and mentally structuring how I'd implement my proposed changes.

In fact, though, I don't want to spend my time re-writing a pretty good program, and I'm hoping the author will implement the changes I've suggested. In the meantime, I need to get my brain back into Spanish.

After the morning rain passed, and after lunch and a short siesta, I jumped on Hugo's bike and went to a lovely park nearby. I had my big camera with me (that is, not the pocket one), took some pictures but no sure any of them are keepers. The highlight of my afternoon was meeting a young couple from New York by way of Brazil, who moved here 3 months ago and are studying Spanish and working on a guide book.

Came home, and decided I really wanted an American coffee. A big one. Not one of these teeny concentrated things with 3 drops of creme in it. I noticed my pocket camera still hadn't finished recharging, and I didn't want to shlep the big camera, so I grabbed my computer and headed over to Starbuck's, of which there are very few in Buenos Aires.

There is one, however, at the very American-style mall about a mile from here, and you pass a big park along the way. I saw a group of young people practicing juggling and ball balancing and stuff like that, which was pretty cool to watch. And I was bummed that I didn't have my camera.

I got to Starbuck's, and saw a line of about 40 people, decided I didn't want it that bad, and went to McDonald's (my annual visit), which has been advertising their McCafe with a coffee-bar. I didn't see any real American coffee, so I went with the Frappe-Cappucino with Dulce de Leche, which probably had a zillion calories in it, and given that I'm in desparate need of real exercise, I felt just a tad guilty.

I went back to the park to enjoy my iced coffee, and sat near the group of jugglers, who were now sitting in a circle playing cards, laughing, hands constanly moving with a ball or something being passed back and forth. I was hoping they'd start juggling again, but no luck.

So while I'm sitting there, I'm taking in all the other sites, or actually, trying to avoid taking in the other sites, as this seems to be "Make-Out Saturday in the Park" day. Not just snuggling and holding hands, but an all-out, rolling on the grass, lip-smashing, silivia-sharing love-fest. And it was all around -- at least a dozen couples between the park earlier today and this one. Started to feel a bit lonely, not too much, but enough to think "Although I like the handful of friends I've made here, I'd like a few more", usually a sign I've spent too much time alone.

The other site that was worth seeing was an acrobatic woman who was doing extreme stretching, and then hung a large piece of cloth from a tree (which she climped up with amazing ease). The then proceeded to come down from the tree holding on to both sides of the cloth, doing flips and standing and upside-down slides and a chair and something else. Really amazing. And bummed I didn't have my camera. And also bummed that post-yoga moves, she lit up a cigarette. Seems so counter-intuitive, given how many health-conscious athletic women to do yoga in DC who would never even imagine following up yoga with a smoke.

So while I'm watching the jugglers not juggle and yoga-girl doing her act and avoiding the grope-fest and the drunk behind me playing with num-chucks, I pulled out my computer and started reviewing my video interviewing software, figuring out what else I need, besides courage, to start interviewing people. Came up with some good ideas, partially based on my flashcard-thinking earlier today, but this has resulted in a somewhat long to-do list of clever ideas that are keeping my brain from thinking Spanish and require a decent amout of programming concentration.

And how am I possibly supposed to do that without Starbuck's coffee?

Casa de Pablo

Januka, Night 6

A group of Argentinians have been meeting for several years to practice their English, every Friday night, and they invite English-speaking foreigners to join them, so I went tonight.  The first part was all in English, the second part (dinner) was a mix.  Nice group of folks.

At one point I realized that 3 of the four phone numbers I have programmed in my new cell phone were at that group, I'll post a picture eventually. 

Nice evening.  Came home, lit 6 candles (well, 7...), and am sitting here enjoying them.  Quite peacefully.  Need to go back and fill in the last few days of blog entries, so this will be current.

Chess

I just had one of the best chess games of my life. I'd been eyeing up a local park where I've seen guys play, mostly old men. I'd approached the tables a few times, but without my own board it didn't look like I was going to get a game.

So a few days ago I bought an inexpensive one that's easy to carry. After lunch with a new friend (isn't the internet great?), a neighbor who used to live in DC, Foggy Bottom in fact. Very nice lunch, good chat, my Spanish felt strong, etc. After lunch, I grabbed my Spanish books, my computer and my chess set and starting walking, figuring one of the three would grab me first, and eventually the other two would follow.

This time in the park, I watched an okay game for a bit, then asked the other spectator if he wanted to play.

Okay, this is where it's gonna get a bit geeky. I'll have to send the blog link to Zach, as he may be the only person that appreciates this (though hopefully, dear reader, you'll pick up my enthusiasm). He opened with the Sicilian, I played the Smith-Morra Gambit (1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd 3. c3 dxc 4. Nxc3) He then moved his knight to f6, I pushed the e pawn and he decided to retreat the night back to g8. Pretty much from this point on, I was on the attack. We exchanged one more pawn, and then probably played 13 or 14 moves with no other pieces taken than his 2 pawns and my 3. The Smith-Morra sacrifices a pawn for a more open position for white, but he played a great game. Every attack I made he had a solid defensive move. I began to think that it was going to be a game where I was aggressive until the point that suddenly everything fell. A very complicated game, lots of pieces on the board with many different lines that could be played. No clock, some of the moves took several minutes of heavy concentration, both sides.

His queenside was very well developed, but I was attacking on the king side. I made some aggressive moves, moving the rook to the 7th rank and keeping it there for a while, with enormous tension building. Really. At this point, I figured he was better than me and it was just a matter of time before everything collapsed, and I just didn't want to look bad when it happened.

My kingside attacks continued, but I started to run out of options, and every trade put me at more of a disadvantage. Finally, after staring at the board for a while, I said, well, this probably isn't the right move, but it's the most interesting, and I sacrificed a bishop near the king. After about 10 minutes, he said "No tengo nada" and resigned. Truthfully, I think he should have kept playing, I have a habit of making mistakes when I'm ahead, but at that point I really was in a good position, though there was no clear mate.

Basically, winning on a sack is particularly satisfying. For 20 years, I've had the rule, or maybe philosophy is a better word, that to feel like I'm connected to a place I'm visiting, I have to do 3 things: talk with people outside of the tourism industry, play a game of chess with a local, and do magic. Thus, I have pictures of me doing the same trick in many places, and memories of many interesting games. This game reminded me of a game I played over 20 years ago, I was on a boat going from Cabo San Lucas to Puerto Vallarta (before either of them was the huge tourist destination it is now, and the boat cost $2 and was pretty much a barge. It was an overnight trip, I had no room, out on the deck, seasick, no food because I didn't realize that they wouldn't be selling food on the boat, yada yada. A 17-hour trip. Did I say $2? You can imagine correctly that amenities were few and far between. But I digress).

One of the ways I engage other chess players is to set up the board and then open a book and start reading. Eventually another chess player comes up and indicates interest, and that's exactly what happened. He spoke French, and we had to communicate pretty much through gestures. Still, we had a great game, very intense, although I believe he won that game. Had another great game in India, again, very intense, and again, I managed to pull out a defeat from the jaws of victory, and blundered after being ahead.

So this game was particularly satisfying, though if he had known my track record, he wouldn't have resigned.

Ok, chess, blogging, now time to study...

Madres de la Plaza de Mayo

Although today many people are celebrating Christmas, for all practical purposes it's over here.  Most places are still closed, but as all the big events were last night, it seems pretty quiet today.

I made several calls to folks back home, wishing them a Merry Christmas, then Hugo and I went down to the Plaza de Mayo, where the Madres have been marching for 30 years.  In fact, this was their 1600th Thursday, and the judical system gave the Madres some bad news about not prosecuting one of the really bad judges, so there was a lot of press and activities at this event.  Photos to follow.

Afterwards, we went with Hugo's sister and her friend to chat more and grab a drink.  Came home, relaxed, went to dinner with Hugo at a nice restaurant in a part of Palermo I like (well, I like it because there are a lot of nice restaurants there, where there are more cafes and pizzarias here).

If I could keep the guilt to a minimum (not being with my family, not participating in giving gifts, etc.) it was actually quite a nice day.

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve)

The 24th of December, Christmas Eve, is a big evening here.  Everything closes, people have a big meal with their families and then at midnight, people open gifts and then go out to the streets and parks and celebrate with their friends.

This is also my first Christmas as a Jew, and since I'm living with a Buddhist who doesn't care for much of the Christmas traditions, and I wasn't invited to anyone participating in any of the aforementioned festivities, it was fairly easy to have a quiet evening.  Hugo made a nice dinner, we ate in the dining room (after lighting 4th night candles), and after we heard fireworks go off, we took a walk to the park and saw some of the energy there, kids playing with new toys, more fireworks, friends laughing.  Although I was more an observer than participant, it felt pretty comfortable.  

Casa de Pablo

I've decided that Pablo is probably a genius.  But he's such a nice guy, and so humble, that it's easy to not be intimidated.  He's also an avid collector of vintage electronics.  Somebody should make a documentary about him, or at least his collections.

I arrived for the party that I encouraged him to have, so I'd have somewhere to go to light 3rd night candles and get to meet some new people (since he's really the only person I have as a friend here, because my housemate Hugo.  I was earlier than the rest, so he gave me a tour of his home.  I I didn't take any pictures, but it's a beautiful old house (over 100 years), and he has it filled, very neatly and very organized, with old electronics: telephones (all working), TV's, including one with a sonar remote control (each button plays a different note, and the TV receiver "hears" the note and changes the channel.  Music: 8-track tapes, 4-track tapes, LPs, etc.  Music players: every kind possble.  They're so neatly organized that you don't realize the extent of the collection until he starts showing it.  He's also an electrial engineer by training, though he actually fixes these things.

Pablo has also restored an old harmonium foot-pump organ, I do have a video of that which I'll post.  And another one, a 1980's era one.

I'm not doing justice to how amazing his collections are, but they're quite fascinating.

The party was quite nice too, nice group of folks who I hope to see more of.

Abuelas Press Conference

Went to the Abuelas press conference.  Alas, no matter how much I think I'm getting the hang of Spanish, as soon as I get away from one on one face-to-face conversation, I seem to lose my ability to comprehend.  Just too fast, too much vocabulary.  I know people slow down for me, and use simpler language, but it's humbling to realize that I still can't watch TV or listen to a speech (except, of course, when Chabad teaches, since they use simple language and repeat things, over and over and over).

Then went to the Jewish neighborhood, lots of Black Hats, but also a Judaica store.  Although Pablo isn't Jewish, he mentioned that he had several Jewish friends.  As I have no friends here, except for Pablo, I suggested that perhaps he should have a party.  Pablo's house and the party deserve a separate post.

Tefillin

Again, Chabad.  For some reason, the second night of Januka is the big night here, they have another outdoor event that's televised all over Argentina, with local politicians and about 1000 people in the plaza.  Pablo and I went fairly early (early enough to get a seat), they had stuff for sale, music, etc.  Picked up a new kipa (I had brought the one from Dave and Natasha's wedding).  There was also a booth with black hats (Orthodox Jews, who have a very specific style of dress that is reminisent of 17th century Poland), who were offering the wearing of Tifillin.  I was hesitant (it's a really odd custom, and looks really, really weird.  I have pics, not sure if I'll post them).

My first time wearing Tifillin as a Jew, I guess there is something associated with the Bar Mitzvah, as at least one interpretation of that event is "one who has worn Tefillin".  Or something like that.

After dinner, I went home.  I'm no longer getting lost, nor do I need a map.

Cell Phones, Abuelas and to-do Lists.

Spent the day doing errands.  Well, actually every day I study Spanish, and in between I do things like running errands.    Today I had two goals, get a cell phone and make contact with the Abuelas (more on them later).  I brought a cell phone from the US that my friend Tara lent me.  It's the Motoral C155 World Phone, and one would think that it would work everywhere (it worked for her in Morocco).  Alas, no luck (different band), I already own an iPhone and I am philosophically opposed to buying a new piece of electronics that I'll only use for a short while.  I had found several phones on eBay before I left, but obviously thought the one I borrowed would work.  Electronics here are fairly expensive, there's a 50% tax, so even used stuff is expensive.  And I was determined to buy something used, my tiny contribution to the environment.

I'll skip the uninteresting details, and conclude that I finally got one.  

A few days before I left, I saw a documentary at the Jewish Film Fest called "Who am I?  The Found Children of Argentina".  It was about the Abuelas (Grandmothers) of the Plaza de Mayo, who have been searching for their grandchildren, who disappeared during the Dirty War between 1977 and 1983.  About 30,000 "subversives" were killed, but many of their children were put up for adoption or given to military families.  The Abuelas have a campaign going to find those children and give them back their identies.   I had sent them an email introducing myself and talking about my video interviewing system, but hadn't heard back from them, so I went to their office.  The sole person there said the office was closed until the second week of January, but by chance there is a press conference tomorrow, they found another child and are announcing it.   

The secret to accomplishing everthing on your to-do list is to have a very short and simple to-do list.  I got my cell phone, made contact with the Abuelas, and had a plan for second night candles.

First Night of Januca

Another friend of Hugo's is visiting, a doctor from Brazil who is finishing his docorate in homeopathic medicine.  Nice guy, excellent Spanish, lots of mate and chatting.  We went downtown to the big market in San Telmo, but it began to rain so we ran into a local cafe with wifi access to grab a beer and use our phones to find a restaurant.  Found a nice Indian restaurant, since Giovano is vegetarian.

Since tonight is the first night of Hannukah (or Januka, as they spell it here), I looked around for a place to light candles.  Chabad has a big presence in Buenos Aires, 10 different Chabad centers.  There was an outdoor ceremony within walking distance of where I'm staying, and both Hugo and Pablo expressed interest in going, so we went.

I have mixed feelings about Chabad.  I'm delighted that they offer so many free classes and offer services like tonight's worldwide.  I like their teaching style, which takes a concept and repeats it over and over (this is particularly good in Spanish, but Rabbi Teitelbaum in DC has the identical style).  But some of their ideology scares me, reminds me too much of the evangelical Christians that also scare me.  In fact, the beards and look remind me somewhat of my Villanova days and time with a particularly conservate Christian group which I spent a lot of time with (and now regret).   Like they say, take what you like, and leave the rest.

Hugo found some of the language particularly offensive.  As a Buddhist, he prefers the universal God, unity and peace.  Chabad's languages focuses on the God of the Jews, and the importance of separation of Jews from the rest of the world.  While I understand that philosophy (up to a point), I can also see how others would view that as elitism.

Dinner with Pablo

I posted an ad on craigslist saying I was visiting BsAs and looking for people to meet. While this isn't as intimidating as online dating, there's still an significant element of uncertainty in posting an ad looking to meet complete strangers. What kind of person responds to an ad like that? What kind of person posts and ad like that?

A guy like Pablo. With some trepidation, I exchanged some emails with him and agreed to meet at a coffee shop (again, a lot like online dating!). Pablo likes practicing his English and helping foreigners with their Spanish, evidently he does this a lot, and speaks English very well. We took a long walk to get to a neighborhood with some interesting restaurants, but it was so hot I insisted on place with a/c. Since I'm in Argentina, I ordered a steak and some wine. Since Pablo's a flactito (a skinny one), he ordered a salad. I felt pretty gringo, but we had a great chat about lots of things, switching between English and Spanish so we could both improve our speaking skills.

We returned to the coffee shop at about 1AM. I then began my walk home, and managed to get lost. It was still very hot, around 85 degrees, and it was dark. I knew I was close (within a few blocks), but couldn't get my orientation correct. In part, this is because their maps are upside down (up is South), and for whatever reason following this map was like shaving looking at a monitor display rather than a mirror display (that is, you see what others see, rather than a mirror imaage). Very confusing.

I kept telling myself that I had been in the country for less than 48 hours, and that I always get lost when I'm new somewhere. I finally made it home, sat in front of the fan and wondered if I would survive without a/c.

National Library

I told Hugo I was an early riser. But this morning I got up late, around 11, evidently the late night and lack of sleep on the plane caught up to me. Hugo had inviting me to a group discussion at the National Library, he was already there, so I took a long walk over there (Gotta figure out the bus system).

The talk was packed, and because everything was amplified, and the discussion was at a very high level, I couldn't understand a thing. I indicated to Hugo that I'd meet him downstairs after the discussion, but as I was leaving a large, seemingly self-important crowd came into the room. Everyone starting clapping, so of course I went back (don't want to miss anything!). Turns out, it was the former of Argentina. I got some pictures, but still couldn't understand much. So I grabbed a newspaper and went to a cafe to attempt to read it.

Hugo found me at the cafe, and the first question he asked was why I was reading the paper. I told him to improve my Spanish, but then he clarified, asking what that particular paper. Turns out I had picked the right-wing rag, which he didn't care for at all. So we discussed politics for a bit (all in Spanish, Hugo and I never speak in English except for quick translations of individual words or phrases). The guy who came to the National Library was president, but only for 4 days. What I understood, and I'm not sure I understood it correctly, was that during the crisis in 2001 there was a lot of political turmoil, and that there were four different presidents during a very short (week or two) time period.

Took the bus back to the apartment, and checked my email.

Hugo's Friends

The rest of the day we spend with his friends from Cordoba, the afternoon sitting around drinking mate. At one point my brain was overloaded with Spanish, so I went to my room, read some email, called my sister, and when I came out, everybody was gone. I was worried that somehow I had missed the dinner call, but Hugo had just walked his friends out to the car to say good-bye. I should point out that this good-bye took about an hour, and we were planning to see them two hours later!

People eat late here. Very late. Again, I love this place. Restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9 o'clock, and it's pretty common to see a restaurant completely full at midnight.

Picked up some vegetarian mid-eastern food, and went over to a beautiful, elegant house where Hugo's friends were staying. Ate on the roof, chatting about this and that, very nice evening. Returned home around 2AM. Given that I spent last night on an airplane (on the very back seat, which didn't recline much), I'm amazed I was able to stay awake this long.

First Day in Buenos Aires

Arrived in BsAs, took a cab to the place I'm staying. Although the place itself is pretty simple (e.g. no a/c, shared bathroom, fairly small), it's in a great neighborhood, near parks and the zoo and the Subte (subway). But the biggest advantage of living here is my housemate for the month, Hugo.

Since the primary reason I'm here is to learn Spanish, I chose to live with a Spanish professor. There were many options on the BsAs craigstlist for shared housing, sometimes with families, usually with other people. Young people. People fresh out of college who advertise "Owner does not live here!" (transation: party all the time). While it was tempting to live with a younger crowd and participate more in parties and nightlife and such, I suspect my Spanish conversation may improve somewhat, but it'd be difficult to improve my grammar, since generally friends and housemates doesn't correct your grammar, even if you ask them to.

Hugo is not like that. He corrects my grammar, a lot, because he's a teacher and that's really what I'm here for. I also taking private lessons with him, more formally, a few times a week, but really it's an ongoing process.

So, day one we hit the ground running, with some friends of Hugo's in town visiting a homeopathic doctor for a tune-up. Hugo's into the holistic living and apparently is a big fan of this type of medicine.

So we walked around the neighborhood, picked up some empenadas and went home for lunch. Hugo's a big fan of a little wine spritzer with lunch, then treats his siesta time as religiously as his medidation time. I'm gonna like it here.

Made it to Buenos Aires

Made it safe and sound to Buenos Aires (well, some difficulties getting out of DC, too much time in the airport, but whatever, now I'm here!)

More later, need to test the blog integration with Facebook.