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!
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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…
