On Monday evening I ditched boot camp and went to the horse races at the Hippodromo with some people from school. The track is right in the city and we were able to walk there in about 20 minutes. There were six of us (two Americas, two Germans, a Norwegian and a Swede) and I was the only person who had ever been to races before and knew what the process was for betting. Luckily the system is basically the same as the U.S. (unlike in England, where you can bet with independent bookies as well as with the track) and the people at the betting windows were very patient with our Spanish!
The park is really nice and you can get into most of it for free. There is a fancier stand with better views that you buy tickets for (approx $6) but we didn't check that out on this visit. The odd thing was that they can't sell any alcohol in the facility, even though it also includes a casino, so I am not sure how they make much money! But we survived with Diet Cokes and hot dogs for dinner. Sadly I came away 20 pesos / $5 poorer on the night - I wasn't picking horses very successfully!
Here is a link to a cool photo that my Norwegian schoolmate Guro took (she has an amazing camera and takes great pictures!):
http://braluft.tumblr.com/post/10145754542
On Wednesday, a group of ten of us from school went out to dinner. Thank god for school, otherwise I would barely know anyone - unfortunately people are always coming and going and one girl I've hung out with a fair amount has left town today. Oh well...there will be new people!
We went to a restaurant called Las Cholas, which was in a really nice neighborhood called Las Canitas, a bit north of Palermo. There was a TON of food - mostly variations on steak, which is still a very good deal here. I had a steak kebab with peppers and onions, which was enough for two people (it came with fries and mashed pumpkin as well). After dinner we went to a brew pub called Antares. I am not sure what OD would make of the beers, but I thought the one I tried was very good. I headed home at about 12.30, but the party definitely continued because four of the ten people didn't make it to school the next day!
Last night I had my best restaurant meal here so far, at a pizza place called Siamo Nel Forno. We went at 8pm and were the only people there until about 8.30 when a couple came in with their toddler. So 8.30 is when the kids go to eat! When we left around 10 it was finally filling up.
One of my schoolmates was also hosting a get together at the apartment he and his girlfriend have rented and we went there after dinner. On the way, we went to buy some beer to bring along and had a funny/frustrating conversation with the couple running the little convenience store about how the bottle deposit system works. If I understood it correctly (which is questionable!) they sell beer in 1.5 liter glass bottles that include a 3 peso deposit and if you bring the bottle back you get the money returned. Unfortunately my Spanish is the "best" of the group I was with, so I was elected spokesman. It was terrible. I could understand them (I think) but my responses were so mangled - lots of work to do at school!!
(I added two photos to my prior post - dancing and the crazy popcorn fruit!)
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