Sunday September 27

Not really a lot to comment on. Tried to skype in on the meeting where they were voting for new ATO's. We got some good ones! Watched the Broncos beat the Raiders. We're doing better than I thought we would! Then I did homework and went to bed. Grace went out for the night and got back at 2:30! Ha!

Saturday September 26

Today I went to the flea market in Recoleta near my house. I met Jack at McDonalds and we walked around for a little bit. There was some cool art and some neat little trinkets. After, we walked down Santa Fe street and looked for some Nike’s. I bought some new sneaks, and then went home to get ready for Rafa’s wedding!

His wedding was very nice. It was a beautiful catholic church, and there weren’t enough seats for everyone. There were so many people! We all assume that Rafa is a mob boss, so it was fun looking around the crowd and guessing who does what in the “Rafia.” I was trying to guess all the top Argentine mafia members, and I’m pretty sure I spotted his Hitman. The one who didn't crack a smile the entire time.

Afterwards I went home for a little bit, and then headed to TJ’s apartment and hung out for a while. We hung out with his host brother and played some fooseball. It was a chill night, but still super fun. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Friday September 25

Lets see. Friday I did, well, nothing. I went home after class, and got in bed to take a little nap. Ron and I were going to meet up with some new local friends, but that fell through. So I ended up in bed at 8. And got out of bed at 11 am on Saturday! Nice.

Thursday September 24

Tonight Ron came over for the end of family night. It was Grace, Julia and I, and three cousins. It was very calm compared to the usual family night. Then Ron came and everyone enjoyed meeting him. We hung out for a little bit before we went to club Lost. Ron and I walked there, and then I walked back afterwards. It was super fun, and it was very good music again. TJ got his phone stolen there last week, so he got a new one on Wednesday. He got it stolen again! What an idiot! It was so hot in there, and my shirt was so sweaty I took it off an just put on my jacket. So I walked home just carrying my shirt!

Wednesday September 23

Today I came to the Casa to go to lunch with my friend Ron. Instead of going to lunch though, we went to the supermarket and picked up some chicken patties, an oven pizza, and some calamari rings. We came back to the Casa and cooked it all up ourselves! Cooked the rings and patties in vegetable oil and everything.

Tonight for convo, instead of going to dinner together, we all went to a tango show. We had a great dinner there, and then the show started. Tango is so fast paced, and sexual. There were some crazy moves, and there was an awesome band. We all had a great time!

Tuesday September 22

Classes, of course. Followed by a trip to the bookstore with Jack. This is supposed to be the #2 bookstore in all the world, and it was pretty sweet! It’s called El Ateneo. It’s got an awesome dome ceiling, and it used to be a theatre. So we wandered around for a little bit, and then sat down to read a book about Argentina (I just looked at the pictures) and then I did a little homework reading. Then I went home to catch dinner and pick up my laundry. My laundry place does it for me and even folds it. I’m so happy!

At dinner, we had a very interesting conversation about marriage law. Grace and Julia were somewhat against each other, and I nodded and said “si.” She was a very avid believer that whether a spouse dies of gets divorced, the money should be split fairly. Apparently Argentina has some very strict family laws that support this. Interesting!

Monday September 21

Today was just another day of classes. Went to the gym with Ron again.

Tonight we went to the Alamo/Shoeless Joe’s again. We watch a little Monday night football, but then left because it was so crowded. We walked to Recoleta, which is a very cool area, but there was nobody there. It was almost deserted. I took off shortly after we got there, because I was a little tired. People weren’t super happy with me because it was actually my idea to leave for Recoleta. Oops! Oh well, we got to listen to some great freestyle raps by TJ!

Sunday September 20

Feel good today. Went on a walk with Graciela. She showed me a nearby neighborhood called Recoleta. It’s super nice, and I’ll definitely be going back there with some friends. All of the cool hang out spots surround the cemetery, which I thought was weird. But there are huge, high walls all around the cemetery, and it seemed fairly separate from the business surrounding it. We also walked through a pretty cool flea market which I want to go back to.

After we had some lunch I headed to the Alamo to watch the broncos beat the browns. And I felt very good about the ravens beating the chargers because there were some unruly chargers fans. Also, I met some other people from Colorado. One of them went to Cherry Creek High School, and graduated in 04. He knew some of the guys who played lacrosse at CA so that was a cool connection. His two friends are from England and Australia, and were also Broncos fans. Somehow. But they want to start the BABC. Buenos Aires Broncos Club. Should be a fun group to watch the Raiders game with next week!

Saturday September 19

I felt a little under the weather today so I stayed in and rested. It was well needed but I will be full strength again tomorrow!

Friday September 18

Today I was super tired because we were out late. Classes weren’t super exciting. The weather was dreary and rainy.
Maria, the Casa assistant person hooked us up with a guy to show us around town a little, so it was fun to see some of the local hang out spots. Oh yah, it was also flannel night! So I was rocking the Land's End shirt I found in the basement last year. It was very dusty when I found it!

And I'm sorry, but weekend activity most likely won't be posted until mondays. I don't have internet at my apartment, so I need to wait until I get to the Casa. Sorry!

Thursday September 17

Let’s see. Today we had a little barbecue at the Casa. Then I didn’t have class until 5 so I just hung out until it started. Then I had humanities class, which was not so riveting.

It was cousin night again at Graciela’s house. Only a few people showed up this time, and I left shortly after the arrived anyway.

A group of us met at Shoeless Joe’s, which is an American hangout spot here in Buenos Aires. The broncos were on tv, and I enjoyed watching John Elway win the AFC championship. I was pretty excited about that! Gotta love ESPN Classic.

After we were at Shoeless Joe’s for a while, we all headed out to club Lost for American hip-hop night! We got there early so we wouldn’t have to wait in line, and there were some pretty impressive breakdancers. The music got more mainstream, and the place got very crowded as the night went on. But it was a fun night and American hip-hop night was all that I hoped!

Wednesday September 16

My first real day of class was today. But it wasn’t until 4 so I slept in. Ron and I went to the gym before class and then came back for English 380. Latin American literature, but translated into English. Nice! We had so many people in that class that at least 5 people didn’t have anywhere to sit.

After class we had convo. Our RA’s made some announcements and so did Rafa and some other people. A group of friends that give tours of their land in Cordoba. It sounded like a fun trip, you go to the salt flats and ride horses. However, it costs a couple pesos to go, so I’ll see about that investment. Then we all sixty of us went to a restaurant named Kansas. How about that immersion! I definitely enjoyed ordering a coke, steak, salad, and dessert all on Pepperdine’s money!

Later we headed to a place called Soho. One of the old hangout spots closed down, and apparently the owner is now a partner of this Soho place. Rafa gave Cole the contact for this place. So we took a taxi to the cross streets where we were supposed to meet Juan, so he could take us to the place. There was a decent group of us, maybe ten waiting on this corner. Then some shady dude whistles at us from this door at the corner. He invites us into this pretty sketchy looking place. Needless to say, as we walked in I was taking stock of who we were with. I decided that the dudes I was with could take Juan and the couple other people I sized up as we walked in. We walked down into the basement, of this pretty ghetto place. Despite the old, rundown feel of the place, it ended up being pretty cool. Nevertheless, it was the #1 sketchiest place I’ve ever been. But I’m alive!

Tuesday September 15

Tuesday we had our last day of intensive Spanish. For the second half of class we went to the Evita museum. She was a very prominent political figure back in the day, so we went and learned about her. Can you tell I was in the back of the tour?
Later that night we went back to Jackie O’s, the place we went the first night. It was alright, there weren’t a lot of people this time so it was an early night.

Monday September 14

This morning I had to wake up super early for school. Intensive Spanish for four hours. After class we got some lunch and Ron and I scoped out the gym. I’m pretty sure all of the men are on steroids. All of them were JACKED, but Ron and I were lifting more weight. And we are very far from strong! And the women at the gym were very attractive. But not that I was looking. All of the weight is in kilograms, so Ron and I had no idea what we were lifting. We probably worked our brains more than our muscles trying to figure it out. Then we had some guy come talk to us about Argentine history at the Casa. I was trying not to fall asleep. Then I went home to fall asleep. But first I watched the end of the U.S. Open with Graciela. As you probably know the Argentine Juan Martin won, and Grace was so nervous she smoked at least 6 cigarettes.

Sunday September 13

I slept until 5:30….PM. Woke up. Made this blog. Ate dinner. Gave Grace the Denver book I brought her (She love it). Went to bed. Great day!

Saturday September 12

Today we had to be at school at 9 again. I was on my own for the bus this morning. I got down to the street a little after 8:30, where I waited for the bus for a good while. It finally came, and I got on, but was kicked off two block later because I didn’t have enough coins. So I walked for a while until I found a store where I bought some water so that I could get the change. Then I waited for another good 10 minutes until the next bus came. I got on with no problem, but passed my stop by a couple blocks. I showed up at the Casa after a 50 minute bus experience, 20 minutes late. Nice.

We went to a place called Adulam. It was so awesome. It is this very poor community of about 30 families that all live together. We split up into groups, and my group went to the green house they were construction. There was a metal frame up, and we wrapped all of the poles in plastic so they would not rust. I met Arial and his friend, whose name I forgot. After we were done wrapping everything in plastic, I started bringing buckets of dirt from where another group was working. We started making a path in the green house out of dirt. We stopped for lunch and they served us some burgers. When we were done we played some soccer. It was pretty funny watching some of the kids in our group try to play. I didn’t know it was possible to be as unathletic as some of my peers are. But we had fun and I broke out my mean goalie skills. After the game we finished our work, and they made me a red and yellow leather bracelet. It says, “Antonio.” My new friend Arial asked if we could trade hats. So I gave him my red smith (also my favorite) hat. He was very pumped, and gave me his adidas Chile hat. There was a little band they had there, and they played some church songs before we left. And the bracelet guy played his guitar for four of the little kids to dance. That was a cool way to end that experience.

That night we all met at the Casa and walk to the same place we were the night before. Our RA, and one of my best friends, had been sick when we left, so he took a later flight. He got here before we left for the night, so I was super excited to spend the night with him. We stopped at a restaurant where we hung out for a little, and then went to the soul café. I don’t know what we did for so long but we ended up heading home at around 4:30 and we didn’t even go to a club. We pretty much just hung out in the soul café and outside on the street.

Friday September 11

Today we had to be at school at 9 for a city tour. Grace took the bus with me, we’ll see how that system works out. I made it to the Casa, where we all piled onto those big buses again for our city tour. We went all around town and saw the landmarks and learned a little history. My favorite part was travelling through “La Boca.” There is a huge soccer stadium there where “Boca” plays. Boca is the team that all of the blue collar citizens root for. Boca is the “team of the people” which I though was something cool for the lower-class workers to unite under. We walked around La Boca, which was very brightly colored, and a bit touristy. It was very fun though, and we took some pictures. When we left, we drove through a part of town that was very, very poor. It was interesting to see the living conditions that some people in this world still live in.

In the afternoon we had “Intensive Spanish” for three and a half hours. I met my Spanish professor, and she seems very nice. The class shouldn’t be hard. There are several kids who are way worse at Spanish than I am, so that’s good news for me!

I came home for dinner and met Julia, the other student living with us. She’s nice, but I don’t think we’ll spend a lot of time together. She did tell me about some fun places to go, where she can get us in free or cheap. Score! Grace left a note on the table that said she was out for the night, but there was food on the table we could warm up. Good to see that she won’t be revolving her life around us! After I ate and showered, I headed to meet everyone at the Casa. We walked for a ways, to a different part of the neighborhood. We found a restaurant/club/bar when the mob of about 30 americans could hang out. They took us to the third floor where nobody was, so we had a floor to ourselves. That’s where the club is, but it doesn’t start going until 2AM and we showed up at about 11. This schedule is going to take some adjusting to! Jack, Niles, and I left around 1:45 to walk around a little bit, and when we came back they told us we have to pay a 30 peso cover charge, so we went home! The next day I learned that a bird pooped on Niles’ head on his way home. And he was walking shirtless. It’s going to be a great year.

Thursday September 10

We made it here safely!

The flight was very long, and I didn’t have as much leg room as I expected, but the food was good and I had my own personal TV. We had a layover in Lima, Peru, and one of the guys lost his passport, so he and our resident professor stayed overnight in the airport. What an idiot! They made it here safe though. We landed right after sunrise, which was very cool to see from the plane. We all got our luggage without problems and piled onto two huge buses. We went straight to the casa where we had a little orientation, but I was focused on not falling asleep. We met Rafa, our program director here in Argentina, and everyone suspects him of being in the mafia (or “Rafia”) based on some of the stories we’ve heard. After orientation we had Asada cooked up for us at the Casa, which will be a Thursday tradition. We explored the Casa a little bit and everyone got phones. I am trying to beat the system and use my blackberry, so we’ll see if that works.

At around 2:30 I met Grace. I walked out to meet her and the first thing she said was, “Tony, my baby!” It’s going to be a great year. She speaks English very well, so there shouldn’t be any communication problems. However, she did tell me that come Monday, no more English, because I need to learn my Spanish. We took a taxi back to her house, and I found my room. We live in an apartment building built by her grandfather. It’s a nice place, but very small. My room is roughly 6ft by 10ft. That’s just a guess, but there’s barely enough room for me to walk between my dresser and my bed. There is another girl staying with us, Julia from Nebraska. I haven’t met her yet, but she’s been here since may so hopefully she’ll be able to show me some fun places to go. All three of us share one small bathroom. What I’m most confused about is the open room with it’s own bathroom that nobody is using……..? Oh well, my bed is comfy and we have everything we need. The internet is tricky. I’m trying to steal other people’s internet because Grace doesn’t have any, and it’s very tough. If I try for about half an hour I might be able to check my email once. All of the windows and glass doors and covered by those metal garage doors you see people pull over their stores at night. So my room is dark for sleeping!

As soon as I got to my apartment I fell asleep. I woke up around 7:30 and unpacked. There were a couple people over and Grace told me it was “Cousin night.” We sat down and had a little pizza, and talked a bit. I was hoping for a smoother transition, Grace and I having dinner as I slowly break in my Spanish. However, more and more people showed up and the crowd grew. We sat in the living room where there is one couch, and all of the rest of us were in chairs or little stools, crammed around one little coffee table. A couple people came and went, but at one point we had ten people stuffed into this room. We had some more pizza, and they talked so fast I had no idea what was going on. I must’ve had that deer in the headlights look, because several times someone said to me “If you’re tired you’re welcome to go to bed.” 1 AM rolled around, I still had no idea what was going on, everything seemed so chaotic, and I was tired. They were still here for a good hour or two after I turn in for the night. But before I went to bed, I took stock of the damage. We had gone through four pizzas, there were four empty wine bottles, and four empty PACKS of cigarettes (which they all just smoking still in their seat, in the middle of this tiny apartment). Needless to say, my first day here was NUTS! And the best news of all…. Cousin night is every Thursday!

Welcome! Bienvenidos!

Welcome to my Argentina Blog! I set this up so that everyone back home can follow my adventures in Argentina and around South America. I have no idea what to expect, so I will not make any guarantees to the length or depth of my entries, but I will try to update it daily. Enjoy!

Key Terms:
Casa Holden (or the Casa): Pepperdine’s facility here in Buenos Aires where we have class and are free to hang out.
Graciela “Grace” Curuchet: My homestay mom who will be hosting me all year.
Rafa: A local Argentine who studied law in America, taught at Pepperdine, and is now our Program director.
Fetzer: Our resident professor who came with us (with his family, including an annoying little kid) and lives at the Casa.
Maria and Pato: Two of the assistants that work at the Casa.
Belgrano: The neighborhood where Casa Holden is located.
Palermo: The neighborhood where I live with Grace.

*To be updated*