sam's life abroad

PHILLIES GOING TO THE SERIES!

Last night, the Phightin’s clinched their first WS berth since 1993! AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!! SDIUFLISDFUSD I AM FILSDUBFILUSDF SLIFULSDIF ILUAILSUNLF SO FREAKING EXCITED DSIUFLISDFDSIUF SDIFSDFHUSIDHLFISDNFILSD EVEN THOUGH FIUSBDIFUSD SDIUFBSIDF I’M IN ISDFIDSF ISDUFBISLD FILSDUBFIS DFIUSDF IS DFIUSD FREAKING ARGENTINA FISIDFU SDIF AWETWAERAWUE AIWUEAIW WHEN I COULD HAVE BEEN UYTT EOOKERILNW AT THE GAME BUT EOWIRO;WE ROWEURWLEKRB WHO CARES BECAUSE WIUEWSIFOSIFNSE FSEIFHOSEF SEOFSOF SEOFUENS WORLD SERIES BABY!!!!!!… Mom, I can’t promise I’m not coming home for the parade. Knock on wood.

Ahem…

Since the last post I’ve actually been pretty exciting, for once. Immediately following the last post I pulled a few all-nighters in an effort to complete some superprocrastinated work. I got it all done.

Last Wednesday, following my final all-nighter, Loni, my friend Justin, and I went to the US Embassy to vote. It was a really cool experience, besides me barely being able to function. There were tons of red, white, and blue balloons all over the entrance. And after we completed our ballots we dropped them into this red, white, and blue container and got these sick red, white, and blue stickers that said “I voted absentee today.” We ate some white chocolate-covered oreos and some breakfast burritos and drank Starbucks coffee and it was TOTALLY american. gosh bless the US of A.

On Thursday, I went on a last-minute trip down south with seven friends to this awesome little beach town in Patagonia. It’s called Las Grutas, which means The Caves. It was great! It was my first trip out of BA and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Completely relaxing, beautiful weather, (sidenote: I just remembered I had leftover empanadas from last night and I am SO HAPPY) and it was offseason so we were some of the only people around. For example, we were the only people in our hostel. So we left Thursday afternoon got in Friday morning. It was a 15 hour bus ride, including a 2 hour delay at 1AM because of arson in the brush on the side of the road, in the middle of nowhere. Quite random. We arrived and walked a few blocks to our hostel, followed the whole way by a one-eyed dog. The second dog we saw is in the picture to the right, and some dude told us he was hit by a car and injured so he couldn’t sit correctly. We laughed hysterically because he looked like a squirrel, although it’s really kinda sad. So many stray dogs. We were told later that people come for the summer and just leave their dogs there. That day we went down the beach and hung out with a couple of beers. One thing to note is that there were a ton of parrots living in the cliffs by the beach. (Las Grutas - where the dogs are squirrels and the parrots are seagulls) That was really cool and totally unexpected. At night we made our own choripan with the help of the hostel staff (the front desk lady’s boyfriend). The next day we decided we wanted to take a long walk along the beach to these big caves about 14 km away. We thought if we left early, we’d be able to do it. Well, we were wrong. We made it probably halfway and decided we’d had enough. But the day was still great. We stopped once at these piedras coloradas (colored rocks) where we hung out and ate and relaxed, and another time at this little private beach we’d found because of the low tide at the time. It was really a beautiful place. Blue water + blue skies. And kind of trippy to look out at the Atlantic and realize there is nothing out there till Australia, because of how far south we were. (PS, this is for the fam, I learned a GREAT argentine card game we’ll all get addicted to when I come back home)

We left Sunday night and got back Monday morning, only to leave right away for an estancia (ranch) outside of BA. It was a lot of fun as well. Although, really smelly. We ate breakfast upon arrival (bread and dulce de leche and coffee) and then went out to ride some horses. It was kind of sad actually. There were only about eight horses who you could tell just walked around all day every day with people on their backs and were completely tired of it. They were cranky and didn’t listen. Loni fell off of hers because her horse bucked up after being stepped on by another horse. She’s fine, but it was scary. After that, we went for lunch, which was amazing. We had all of this food off of a parilla (grill)… Apples, potatoes, onions, peppers, cheese, chorizo, different cuts of beef, pork, fish, chicken. It was unbelievable. Completely fresh (they raise and kill their own animals) and just completely satisfying. Although I had to try very not to think of the animals I had just seen while I was eating. After lunch, we chased some sheep around, had dessert (fried dough with sugar on top and some mate cocido [tea, essentially]) and left. It was a great weekend.

The past few days have been relatively boring (school). Last night, we watched the final debate and the Phillies win the NLCS (I’ve already planned a tattoo if the Phils win the WS while I’m here. It’s the oldschool Phillies ‘P’ with the argentinian flag rippling through it. To commemorate where I was when it happened. It’s awesome. I swear. I sketched it out. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves). Tonight, we leave for another trip. This one is to Cordoba, which is about 10 hours northwest. We’ll be doing some hiking, horseback riding, swimming, etc. It’s supposed to be an amazing place. So I’ll update again sometime next week after this trip.

Until then, I love and miss you all. Go Obama. And Go Phils!

1/2 through

I’m a few days away from the halfway point on my trip. Which means time is going to fly by from here on out. Crazy. Let’s see… What has happened in the last three weeks?

• I got a pseudo internship with Mahalo.com, a human-powered search engine with HQ’s in Los Angeles. A few weeks ago, I was talking to my friend AJ about a good place to intern in LA and we decided that Mahalo was a great fit. It’s a successful web startup with a fantastic purpose, it’s well regarded in the Internet world, and run by a very smart guy named Jason Calacanis. Anyway, I was put in contact with the director of Marketing and Strategy at Mahalo and have been doing some work for him recently. Hopefully it will lead into an office internship in the spring when I’m back in LA. We’ll see!
• Last weekend we went to Colonia, Uruguay. It’s a nice, small town about a three hour boat ride away from Buenos Aires. Loni’s program was offering the trip and had some vacancies so I got to take a spot for free! It wasn’t all that exciting, but I got some stamps in my passport, for what that’s worth… We wanted to rent mopeds or these little fourwheelers but we would have needed either a credit card or a large deposit, of which he had neither (is that correct grammar?). All in all, it was nice to get out for a day and I got a nice lunch out of it in Uruguar. I tried tongue. It was thinly sliced and looked like lunchmeat kind of but I couldn’t really get past the fact that it was TONGUE so I ate one bite and left it at that. Wasn’t too bad, actually.
• We’re keeping up with volunteering, so that’s fun. The kids continue to be crazy, but are becoming more trusting. A few weeks ago, we went to a benefit type thing for the kids. That was nice.
• I’m planning two trips for October. One to Cordoba, which is a province about 12 hours northwest. We’ll go hiking, horseback riding, swimming, etc. Should be fun and relaxing and all that. The second trip is to Mendoza to do some wine tours, thanks to Gary Vaynerchuk. That one will be the last weekend of October, but…
• I’m thinking I should save the money in case THE PHILLIES WIN THE WORLD SERIES! THIS IS SO FREAKING HARD FOR ME! THE PHILLIES ARE MY FAVORITE FAVORITE FAVORITE TEAM IN THE WORLD AND I’M IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY THE YEAR “IT” COULD HAPPEN! FOR ONE, THEY’RE ABOUT TO PLAY THE DODGERS, IT SEEMS, IN THE SECOND ROUND OF THE PLAYOFFS. AND I COULD HAVE BEEN THERE WATCHING AT DODGER STADIUM. ANNNND IF THEY WIN, AND GO TO THE WORLD SERIES, (KNOCK ON WOOD) AND THEN…. I don’t even want to think about it. I feel so disconnected from everything that is going on right now with the team. I just don’t know if I could handle missing the first parade in my lifetime. I know I’m getting way ahead of myself. But this is major. And it’s taught me one thing. NEVER leave the country during playoffs. I won’t, ever again.
• Watched the Presidential debate at a Democrats Abroad meetup last week and the Veep Debate last night here in the apartment. I thought Obama edged McCain last week, but neither seemed great. Thought Biden did well last night and Palin did way better than expected. But everything she said was memorized and she never answered the questions, even remarking that she (paraphrasing) “may not answer the questions the way you or the moderator wants, but I’m gonna speak straight to the American people, gosh darnit, you betcha!” And thennnn she said something about how she had only five weeks of experience “with this” and so she had no promises!!! AND STOP WINKING AT ME! The moment that made the debate for me was when Biden went on the defensive about people saying he didn’t know hardships and got choked up talking about his wife and daughter, who died in a car crash in 1972. I think that man is ready to lead this country if needed. Palin still hasn’t convinced me she’s ready to run a McDonalds. I will cry if McCain wins.

Not too much else to report. Still eating empanadas and choripan and dulce de leche.

10 weeks in. 10 to go.

9.10.2008

Sorry for the lack of posts. But decided to stop posting about going out at night and things like that… just not that important. As for the cool things:

• I started volunteering with a couple friends at a place called Club ACORN. It’s located in a barrio called Boca which is one of the sketchier areas in BsAs. It’s fine before dark, let’s put it that way. Anyway, I heard about it and decided it would be a really cool opportunity to volunteer down here, especially with kids who really need it. Plus it’s a good chance to practice spanish. The kids speak FAST! They’re between six and thirteen years old and all very rambunctious. Some don’t listen. Some are nasty. Some are polite and smart and social. The truth is, all are there because they want to be, because they need and want our help and attention. It’s rewarding! It’s fun! And I hope I can have some sort of impact on their lives while I’m here. Last week we played futbol and drew with them. That’s all they need though. Just some attention… AND we found a really great parilla (grill) that sells choripan (chorizo and fresh bread) from the window for only three pesos. They had homemade condiments, like chimichuri (traditional sauce), tomato and onions, mustard, mayo, and even these awesome little hot peppers. They were actually spicy (NOTHING is spicy down here). But it’s an added bonus to make the trip to Boca! I plan on going every Thursday and Friday afternoons.
• The other weekend we went and drank mate and did schoolwork with some fiends in the park. It was the best day (weatherwise) we’ve had yet. It was relaxing and fun and very porteño (native, argentine) of us. Hopefully as the weather gets nicer, we’ll do more of that…
• I’m looking for an Argentine to do a language exchange with. I’ll teach them an hour of english for an hour of spanish, once a week or so. I think it would be a good opportunity.
• I’m hoping to go to South by Southwest 2009 (SXSW) in Austin, Texas, next spring. They have an interactive festival, and everyone in the web industry attends. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to go. It’s a great opportunity to meet people in the industry, to make friends, to develop connections… I’ve started helping my buddy AJ (from BU) with a website he and his brother (and one other) launched recently. The site is doing really well! So I’m helping out with basic things, anything he asks me to do. Eventually I’ll get more involved with bigger things. But AJ is one of my bestest friends and he and his bro are awesome people, so it’s just cool to help out. I’ve also started working on PhotoShop, just little design projects and a business card idea. Look at me, trying to prep for the real world and such!

So all is well. I’ve just started my seventh week here. The weeks fly by…

Miss + Love you all.

One month (and a bit) in…

¡Hola a todos!

I’ve passed the one month mark in Buenos Aires and all is well. What can I say? It’s been an experience so far and I haven’t even left the city yet. Travelling comes later, this was a month to get acclamated.

Last Thursday, we decided to stay in and invite some friends over to the apartment. Friday, we went out to the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl is pretty much a couple of ex-pats who take (mainly) study abroad students on a tour of local bars and then give them entrance into a club at the end of the night. It’s a lot of fun. Anyway, we went but no one really showed up that night so we hung out with the staff at a bar for a bit and then headed to a bigger sports bar to watch Argentina-Nigeria in the gold medal men’s football match. The bar was packed with locals. It was a ton of fun. Argentina won 1-0 and everyone was going CRAZY! Down here, football is king (rivaled closely by red meat), so you can imagine what Argentina winning the gold medal in the Olympics meant to everyone…

On Saturday, we had another group of friends over to play some cards, with the goal of making it to 3:30AM to watch the USA-Spain gold medal men’s basketball match. Everyone ended up leaving by 2:30AM and I laid in bed “watching” (sleeping and catching a few minutes here and there… kinda like dad!) Team USA pull out an awesome victory. So, the Olympics ended well, even though I didn’t get to see to much of them down here.

Since then, I’ve been doing a bunch of work and non-important things. I had a 14 hour day today, so I’m staying and writing this blog. As things are probably getting repetative, here’s something different.

SAM’S RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT ARGENTINA, SO FAR…

• I’m sorry. But it’s really strange to see asians speaking spanish. A lot of the smaller groceries or laundry places are run by asians. And it’s just weird to hear them speak flawless español…
• People love dogs down here. Everyone has a dog. And conveniently, there aren’t really any laws (maybe there are, but they aren’t enforced) regariding cleaning up after your dog. So, a lot of dogs + lack of (enforced) laws = A TON OF DOG POOP EVERYWHERE. It’s gross.
• They waste a lot of paper. Every time you want to ride the subway or train, you buy a paper ticket. And once you swipe it to get through the turnstyle, everyone just throws the tickets in the trash. As far as I can tell, they don’t recycle paper down here.
• Everyone is really nice down here. I mean, Argentines can get a bad rap sometimes. The economy is really bad, so there is a lot of poverty, which means that theft can be a problem (especially with foreigners). Already a few friends have been robbed. But, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with locals. People are generally intrigued by foreigners who come to live or study here. They are proud of their country, and honored that we want to be here and learn. An unfortunate thing is everyone seems to be learning english which means that everyone wants to practice with an english speaker. But, I say, I’m the one in a foreign country trying to learn spanish, so if they really want to learn english, go to the states! I’m kidding… I actually may try to find an Argentine who wants to learn english and offer to do a weekly session where I teach them an hour of english in exchange for an hour lesson of spanish and Argentine culture.
• Unrelated, not a thought, just a fact… I’ve probably averaged at least one empanada per day. I won’t eat them every day, but then some days I’ll eat six… They’re delicious. And there’s such variety: carne (meat), pollo (chicken), cebolla y queso (cheese and onion), jamon y queso (ham and cheese), verduras (spinach), choclo (corn and potatoes, i think). Despite the deliciousness, I’m missing American fast food and refuse to buy it down here. More than anything, I miss the nacho cheese you get at the movies or from taco bell.

The end. I’ll try to post again sooner than later. I’m not very good at this thing yet.

by the way…

If there’s anything you want to know about that I’m not writing here, send me an email! I just don’t really know what to write other than a summary of everything I’ve been doing…

The Past Week

It’s August 21st and it’s 57 degrees outside. No bueno…

A reasonable amount has happened since last week when I posted. Last Thursday, Loni went to Iguazu. She had an amazing time… Went to some Jesuit ruins, ate a piece of choripan (MEAT! in bread. there’s video to prove it), saw the waterfalls, and visited with an indigenous tribe named the Guarani. She said it was fantastic and it sounds like it! How could it not be?!

I emailed Gary Vaynerchuk (he’s the brother of one of my closest friends, AJ) for some wine recommendations. And he replied to me with a sick offer to tour some wineries down here in Argentina. They’ll be in Mendoza, which means I’ll have to travel a bit to get there. But it’s an offer I absolutely, 100%, cannot pass up. The man knows his wine better than anyone, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.

Anyway, last Thursday we returned to the board game bar and played spanish pictionary and battleships. Another awesome time! On Friday I had my first basketball practice, which was interesting. The team isn’t very good nor was practice all that coordinated, but it was fun to be on the court. There was also a reasonable language issue because I don’t know too many basketball terms in spanish. Thankfully the pick and roll is just ‘peek-an-rol’ in español. After practice, I came home and fell asleep until 1AM, when I woke up and realized I was supposed to be at a party hosted by some kids from school. So I hopped in a cab and headed over. Had a nice talk with the driver. The party was great (except for a situation involving an indoor, semi-covered pool and a roommate). There was a lot of really good cheese and crackers (Harrison and I hovered by the cheese till it was gone.) and it was the first time I’ve hung out with that group outside of school. So it was a good move to get out of bed.

On Saturday I did some schoolwork during the day and then a group of us (Harrison, Justin, Rebecca, Celia, Paula, and I) went to a casino in Tigre, which is about an hour, one peso train ride from the city. First we had a few drinks at a kiosko across the street from the casino. Then, we ate at an incredible buffet offering a grill full of delicious meats, an assortment of potatoes and vegetables, a salad bar, a pasta station, a paella station, and tons of dessert. I ate probably three days worth of food and had a beer and it totaled USD$15. Not bad at all. And yes, mom, I ate salad AND veggies! I played a few slots with the change from dinner but didn’t gamble this time… Harrison and Justin played blackjack (Harrison left up USD$50 after being down more than that amount) and the girls did a bunch of slots. We ended up having to take a cab back from Tigre because the train was closed. But it was a good night. We’re going to go back because it’s close, and there’s more to do in the area than just gamble.

On Sunday, Loni came back and since then we haven’t done much besides school and schoolwork. But today’s Thursday and no class today or tomorrow, so time for some excitement!

—————

Sidenote - Olympic coverage down here? Not the best… Only two channels ever show events and it’s very random. They show Argentine athletes/teams a lot, which is a given. But the Argentines aren’t doing so well (besides in soccer) and so most of the coverage is boring. I saw a lot of swimming and some track and field events. And we’ve seen an influx of synchronized swimming lately, which is actually really impressive.

Also got to see Nadal crush Gonzalez in the final. ¡Vamos!

Tomorrow or Saturday there are two big events. Argentina plays USA in basketball and Argentina plays Nigeria in the soccer finals. I know I should call it football, but it’s just not football to me. So I’m excited for this weekend, because if Argentina wins gold in soccer… FIESTAAA!!

I realized I could never live abroad for a significant amount of time unless I was getting the american feed of ESPN. I just miss my daily sportscenter too much…

More like Malos Aires!

The air quality here really sucks… There are so many freaking cars and taxis and buses. I didn’t know this before, but there are 12 million people living in Buenos Aires. It’s massive. And it’s dirty!

In other news, Loni’s going to Iguazu this weekend with her program. I’m staying in the city and doing schoolwork and such because I failed to get my yellow fever vaccine. So, I’ll get it while I’m down here at some point and head up there with whoever wants to go. No rush, I’ve got four months. Mucho tiempo!

Last night we went to a board game-themed bar for one of Loni’s friend’s birthday celebration. It closed pretty soon after we got there. However, I did manage to get in a few games of BattleShips. So that was fantastic. We’re going to back, probably many times…

Yesterday I figured out my classes finally. I have classes only three days per week. Which rocks. And they shouldn’t be too hard, besides being in espanol. So they’ll be hard.

• Monday - 2PM - 5:30PM - Lenguage Multimedia
  • about the internet, and the professor has USC ties.
• Tuesday - 2PM - 5:30PM - Social Marketing
  • a lot of work, but will transfer back to USC for major credit.
• Wednesday - 9AM - 12:30PM - Television
  • the professor is a television producer down here.
• Wednesday - 3:20PM - 6:50PM - Cuerpo y Fotografia
  • not sure, really. but it makes my life easier. and should be fun.

So, not too bad. Although it takes me an hour and a half or more each way, so that extends my day a bit. But, I found a cheap pasteleria near school, so I can look forward to fresh medialunas and emapanadas every day.

I think I’m going to play basketball for the school on Wednesday and Friday nights. You hear that? I’m going to be a collegiate athlete! And with practice two days a week, you know we’re legit.

That’s it for now.