Eat, LearnSpanish, Love

I saw Eat, Pray, Love a few days ago and I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I liked it. I haven't read the book but when I first saw previews for the movie I thought, "barf, I am never going to see that movie." Maybe it's being on the other side of the equator, but clearly things have changed. And despite the ticket saying "comer, rezar, amar," not to worry, the movie was in English with Spanish subtitles.

Anyways, since I feel I am essentially on my own "eat, pray, love" journey right now (minus all the meditation and praying) I thought it was fitting I posted a few food pics.

Buen provecho.

Traditional Argentine fare: a pumpkin/spinach/cheese tart and a milanesa sammy

..more traditional Argentina fare: the Trifreddo. I heart helado.

as traditional as it gets? sushi roll from china town

Also on the topic of food, told my host mom that I didn't want dinner last night. This was a mistake, I thought she asked if I'd eaten dinner already. So she just made herself a sandwich and sat down and watched Miss Congeniality while I debated telling her that I actually hadn't had dinner.. Luckily I always have pb&j materials in my room for backup.

I think I'm engaged to two gauchos?

Three Saturdays ago (I'm catching up I swear) amidst the September 11th threats of demonstrations at the US Embassy based on the proposed Qu'ran burnings, my group went to Luján and an old, traditional estancia an hour or so outside the city. It was interesting to spend a September 11th outside of the US, and see how widespread the reaction was to the Florida pastor's plans.

The church we visited I believe has some really interesting story about how it was originally supposed to be built further away from this spot but the road wasn't built yet where they wanted to go so they built a little model of the church in Luján; then everyone kept going to Luján so they eventually just made the big version there or something along those lines- the explanation was given in extremely fast Spanish and that's all my friend could translate for me; I picked up even less.

Anyways, it is a very impressive church and it's also famous for the Pilgrimage of the Young, which takes place on the first Sunday in October. Supposedly around 1 million young folk make the 68 km trek from the city of Buenos Aires to this basilica- a very impressive feat which I do not believe I will be taking part in.

Dog days

McDonald's really is everywhere

Did I ever mention how clean the streets are here?

After the basilica we took our bus to Estancia La Mimosa for a día de campo aka a día of eating. We were greeted with some traditional dancing, Tang, and empanadas, then had some free time to ride horses, look at peacocks, walk around the estancia or watch them barbeque our meal. I had my first asado which is the typical Argentine bbq which starts off with empañadas, then blood sausage, pork sausage, then steak and ribs along with lots of fresh bread and chimichurri sauce.  All the meat is slow cooked and only seasoned with salt; it is so so delicious. While we ate there was plenty of gaucho dancing, guitar playing and bubble water, which they seem to be obsessed with here.

My gaucho's and my first dance

Thanks for finally showing your feathers in the most awkward spot ever! Don't worry buddy, I got a pic

Also, who knew peacocks could "fly?"

Then we went and watched the gaucho game "Carrera de Sortijas" which is done on horseback and the rider threads a small wooden stick through a tiny ring hanging from a goal post type object.

If a gaucho does get the ring, it's tradition that he gives the ring to the woman he chooses, aka why I am now essentially married to gauchos. Beuno.

After watching this game, clearly we needed to eat so we had mate and pastries, and then the dining hall became a dance floor, complete with a rendition of YMCA. It also happened to be teacher appreciation day (on a Saturday? Not much appreciation there..) so the place was packed with teachers and they were l-o-v-ing it.

That night we went on a pub crawl in San Telmo, and I tried to get them to play the Stanford vs UCLA football game at the bar below, but they claimed they only got ESPN2 thus could only watch soccer..

Guess I didn't really need to watch it though, did I? Sorry, UCLA.

We ended our night at Crobar a massive, electronica boliche where my friend Anna somehow managed to get on the stage in one of the rooms.. can't keep that girl away from a good beat.

Food Warnings

1. The only place to buy peanut butter here is China town. Done and done.

2. The chocolate chip chewy bars here are extremely disappointing. Where my chips at?

Jeopardy Question: What is Avatar + Cirque de Soleil + Inception + hallucinogens?

Answer: What is Fuerza Bruta.

Three Thursdays ago, I went to see Fuerza Bruta, which really can't be described in words.  It's an interactive show that you just have to see to understand. I tried to capture it the best I could through a few pictures, but they really don't do the show any justice.

Essentially you walk into a large warehouse-type room where everyone stands around not knowing what to expect. Suddenly the first scene begins and you have stage hands throwing chairs and directing you this way and that way. The show uses the entire space and you leave feeling somewhat confused, somewhat speechless, and maybe completely soaked and covered in confetti.

I even got brought up on stage at one point, of course probably the only girl in the place who doesn't speak Spanish.  I was slightly nervous they were going to tell me some life saving directions and I was just going to have no clue what they were saying, but it all worked out and I ended up just dancing with them while we all smashed styrofoam and confetti on each other. What more could a girl want? It was amazing.

Hard to tell, but George Washington is DJing

And the best place to go after the show? Burger King, naturally. Had to. But it's classier here, I swear.

That night we went to "Lost" which plays Hip Hop Thursday nights and we got there just in time to see the Summer Heights High-like breakdancing showdown. Who knew?

Guiding me to nowhere

So I came down here prepared with multiple guide books, hoping they would lead me to great restaurants, bars, and sights throughout the city. One day, I decided I would try a restaurant recommended in one of my guide books so I went with a couple friends after class. We had a great afternoon walking around Palermo, did some shopping, saw some graffiti, buttt what do you know the restaurant didn't exist. Thanks for nothing, guide book.

We did end up finding a great place to eat though, and I got my first real salad since I've been down here which was refreshing. I also had my first panqueque con chocolate y dulce de leche which is like a little crêpe with melted dulce de leche and chocolate that was clearly delicious.

Moral of the story is I guess you can't always assume your guide book is going to guide you somewhere?

Here are my pics of the day..

Graffiti in Palermo

a cool store

with the coolest outdoor dressing room

mmm lettuce

Then we went to MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, which is an awesome modern art museum (free for students on Wednesdays!) and snuck a few pictures without getting "in trouble"

Andy Warhol's 

And made it home in time for dinner

El primer día de primavera

Today was the first day of spring, which is a bit hard to grasp because I've always known Sept. 21st to be the first day of fall. Anywho, it was also "day of the students" today so we had the day off of school which was very nice I was able to sleep in and catch up on some quality facebook and Friday Night Lights time before heading down to San Telmo and Plaza de Mayo for the afternoon. Anyways, I figured I should catch up on fall before spring begins so I'm just gunna start from where I left off with the Argentina v. Spain soccer game on Sept. 7th!

I swear I'll catch up someday...

River Plate stadium where the game was played

Messi fans everywhere

Argentina wins!!!

a crazy who tried to run onto the field after the game, didn't turn out so well

The game was amazing, both teams played their best players because it was such a rivalry and the stadium was packed even though it was just a friendly. Argentina won 4-1 and we got there justt in time to see the first goal, scored by none other than Messi himself.

I didn't even notice Spain scored until I looked up at the tv at the end of the game. Apparently Spain scored sometime in the second half?

It was also fun to cheer "Oleee Ole Ole Oleee" actually in a Spanish speaking country

After the game we went to get pizza and asked for spinach on it and this is what we got. I swear every time I order here it's a surprise