This weekend was a long one (the third I've had since I've been here, but no one really seems to know what the days off are for!) so I have today off school to catch up on recent activities. Holiday Mondays are pretty boring because most stores and restaurants are shut and museums are generally closed on Mondays already. I have been looking forward to getting out of the house to go to boot camp this evening, but it has just started pouring rain outside - hopefully just a short summer rain storm and it doesn't get cancelled.
This past week was back to school after three weeks off. I definitely felt the impact of the break - my brain wasn't operating as quickly as it used to! In addition there was an incredibly annoying student in our group of four who was really opinionated and dominated the class. I felt bad for the teacher who was always having to try to steer the discussion away from her. Since the classes are so small, one bad apple really does make a difference in how well class goes. Luckily she is gone next week and apparently it is just myself and one other American girl who is meant to be really nice (she has been at Vamos before).
On Saturday I went to the polo with my friends Karl & Guro. This is the annual Argentine Open and they play round robin games for four weekends in November, with the championship played in early December. The polo grounds are only about a 15 minute walk from my apartment, so it was a very easy day out. The polo was of course great people watching - I have never seen so many guys in white jeans before! - it's like how I imagine South Beach (someday I will go to Miami and confirm that suspicion). We had purchased the cheap seats and what makes them cheap is that you are more in the sun and it was H.O.T. We had to skip 3 of the 8 chukkas and sit in the shade and eat ice cream to recover (I am newly obsessed with Banana Split flavor). The nice thing is that they let you bring in water bottles so we did stay hydrated.
Of course none of us had bothered to Wikipedia the rules before we went, so there was a lot of confusion - especially before we discovered that the teams switch goal ends each time one of them scores. In addition, the field is gigantic - probably 3x a football field - so it can be hard to see what is going on. But when the action gets close it's amazing to see how fast the horses are going and how they really bang in to one another. The riders change horses really often - sometimes in the middle of the action one would ride over to the sideline and just slide onto a different horse. In addition, the crowd is very reserved - it's generally quiet except for when a goal is scored when everyone politely applauds. But all in all it was interesting to see a new sport and enjoy a nice afternoon out. And my Scandinavian friends took some great photos for their blog:
Guro & I enjoying the game- link
Players in action - link
The closest the horses got to us - link
On Sunday I went to a very fun concert with a girl named Kelly who is the receptionist at my Spanish school and one of her friends. Kelly is really cool - she is from Indy and went to Dayton (so of course she is cool...right Mom?). The concert was actually a mini-festival set up by the headlining band, Onda Vaga, and included a number of other bands that people in the group play in. So we saw four bands and it was a good mix - a bit of acoustic guitars, a bit of 80s synthesizers, some trumpet & trombone. And the best thing about concerts in Argentina is that being 5'8" I am taller than 99% of the girls and a good proportion of the guys, so there was no problem seeing the stage! We came out completely sweaty though - even after the sun went down it was still probably about 90 degrees - and went to have some diet cokes and empanadas to restore ourselves.
Here is a link, so you can be in-the-know if they make it in the US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufS9fROh6Z4&feature=related
One thing we were reminded of at the concert is how there just aren't rules for a lot of things here - or rules that are enforced, which is probably more correct. It was nice to not be patted down and have our bags checked at the concert because they didn't care what you brought in. There was a sign saying they wouldn't serve alcohol to under-18s but no one seemed to check IDs ever (and there were definitely many under-18s there). And when we were waiting in line outside the venue for the box office to open, a guy was selling beers from a cooler and everyone was having a nice cold beer outside on the sidewalk, with no worries about open containers or anything like that. Argentina is also very liberal when it comes to pot - the only rule is against selling it - you can grown, possess and smoke it with no issues and many people do. On a normal day going about town it seems almost as common as normal cigarettes. Of course I do get annoyed when bus drivers ignore the rule about only opening the doors only when the bus has slowed below 10 kph - the exit door often fly open when they are going about 30 mph and you have to wait for the 2 seconds that they get somewhere near stopping to jump off - but in general I like it.
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