Actualizaciones
Nearly a week has floated by without any updates. The weeks seem to really be floating by right now. It's already November and I have been in Argentina for almost 4 months. The thought of returning back to my life at UW almost seems as absurd as going back to high school. It seems like the distant past and I know that I am much different now after just 4 months than when I left. My research on the Bonderman as well as my class in International Relations, and being a student along side people from around the world has made me see myself as more of a global citizen than whatever I was before. I want to travel, I want to learn languages, and I want to see things. I've been researching scholarships and it seems like there are a variety of grants/scholarships that can help me do this once I graduate from college. There is, of course, the dilemma between starting my career and traveling, but hopefully I can resolve this by doing both. I would like to work/live in Brazil for a time to learn Portuguese, something I think will be an asset as Brazil moves forward in the world. Portuguese and Spanish are quite similar and I'm hoping my skills can transfer(Plus it's easier than learning Chinese or Russian). I really like Argentina but it doesn't seem like there is much of an economic future here for the time being. I am also still contemplating whether to do Finance and CISB, Finance and Accounting, or Finance and CISB and Accounting. I don't want my career to be in Accounting but I understand the importance of understanding it in the world of business. Also, it seems as though having a CPA is important for moving up the ladder, and so even if I did Finance and CISB, I would study for the CPA and take a class on the side to pass it. I eventually want to get into a consulting position that allows me to travel and undertake unique and interesting business problems. I am in a business case class right now and I find it very interesting. We are currently analyzing a case on Dell and the case is just a bunch of newspaper clippings and company reports and it is up to us to put it all together and present a solution for Dell amid rising competition from HP, the economic crisis, and expanding markets into India and China. Hopefully this experience along with my case class I took at UW will get me on the UW team that goes to New Zealand at the end of January. Many things to consider, alright news from Argentina.
Tuesday: Foreigners vs. Argentinians. It was 15 minutes before the game and things were looking bad. For the 7 v 7 game, we had 6 players, two of which, had neither shorts, nor socks, nor cleats to play. 5 minutes before the game someone lent us some shorts and we found another player. We were playing the third place team in the group and they had beaten the team that the week before we had barely tied. The game was also very important because in order for us to not be eliminated from the tournament we had to win. About 3 minutes into the game they scored. Everyone on our team was thinking, here we go again as we lost the first game 7-0 and the second game 14-1. Two minutes later we scored when our forward megged the goalie, and we scored again 5 minutes later. The attitude of the game changed completely as the other team was thinking, "Oh shit, I thought we were going to smash this team," and we were thinking, "Holy shit, we can actually win." At this point I got super intense and organized the defense and started rattling the other team with good old fashion aggression. We had a few more opportunities but couldn't score and our goalie made a huge save with ten minutes left. In the closing minutes I was admittedley a dick head as I cracked the ball of the shin of the defender so that it went sailing out of play but was our ball, and then when I looked for the ball in the bushes I went intentionally slow. It's not bad sportsmanship, it's gamesmanship. I like winning. Anyway, we maintained our margin and won the game. After the game the referee came up to me and wanted my number to write down. Knowing that I had been pretty into things I assumed it was bad, but when I asked him why he said it was for "la figura." "La figura" means the man of the match. It may sound like I'm bragging and that's because I am. Our whole team was stoked with the win because we had pretty much resigned ourselves to elimination before the match knowing that we were playing a good team and we were understaffed, plus we had been thrashed before. But we pulled out a victory and now we are moving on in group play. That being said, we are in the secondary tournament, some may call it the loser's bracket. But based on our first two games we should be happy with that. Plus, it just means that we can win the loser's bracket. I don't enter loser's brackets and lose. Another reason I think we did so well is because the shitty players didn't come. I think you'll recall my tirade against Fabio the worst player in probably the world and the two others that are equally bad. I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday: Soccer game with the team from San Andrés. We smashed the other team, not much to say.
Saturday: We lost 2-1 on a erroneous penalty kick called by the referee. He called a hand ball when our player was in the outermost possible region of the penalty box and the ball incidentally struck the upper third of his upper arm. Really? I am under the philosophy that penalty kicks should only be called when a decent/fair attempt on the goal is foiled by illegal play. Not when there is no chance to score and the ball inadvertantly strikes someone's shoulder. Penalty kicks change games, and this one made us lose. This is compounded by the fact that their first goal was off of a random deflection when the goalie cleared the ball. All in all, we had tremendously bad luck. I was playing sweeper and I played decently well. New jerseys below:
Today: I spent all of today reading my International Relations course pack and drinking mate. Mate is amazing for studying and it keeps you very focused. Combine the mate with vanilla flavored galletitas (cookies), and you are "in the fucking zone chief." (Obscure reference, if you don't get it, don't feel bad).
Halloween:
I was pretty lazy for Halloween. I had glorious plans of going as a carrot and my mexican friend was going to go as a tomatoe because she saw these costumes in a store window. However, she inquired about them and they cost $180 pesos. That's about 30 pounds, MZ. But, whatever currency you put it in, I wasn't going to pay. So, I was confronted with 6 o'clock on Halloween without a costume. I stayed calm, and made a game plan. See picture below.
In case you can't understand what my sign says, it says: "Nudista en Huelga" or Nudist in Strike. Thus I am wearing normal clothing. It was cheap and last second, and I think it did the trick. I got comments all night about either my ingenuity or my laziness, or both. Axel, my roomate, went for the sterotypical frenchman and I think he pulled it off quite nicely. Alix, is a witch, and Agustin is a soccer hooligan. My buddy from England went as salad fingers, an obscure character from an internet video. If you have some free time search Salad Fingers on Youtube, but be warned, it's really fucking creepy.
I suppose that's all the news I have for now. I guess it's really cold in Washington right now which sucks for you guys because it's spring time here and I almost got sunburned on Saturday. I thinking about growing my hair back out into an afro and not cutting it until I get back to the states.
Election:
There was a fairly interesting SNL skit in which John McCain appears with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in a informercial skit. It almost seems like John McCain is taking one last shot and trying to get of a hold of anything he can grab. In my opinion, though, this skit portrayed John McCain in a poor light and probably hurt his campaign. There was also another SNL skit portraying George Bush (Will Ferrell) giving his official election endorsement to Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and John McCain (not sure who). It's pretty good because Palin and McCain make it obvious that they don't want his endorsement but Bush/Ferrel insists on it. "When you think of John McCain, think of me, George W. Bush. Think of this face. When you're in the voting booth, before you vote - picture this face right here. A vote for John McCain is a vote for George W. Bush."
First Video: (have to sit through ads) http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mccain-qvc-open/805381/
Will Ferrell Video: (I couldn't get an unedited version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdUzrcVqKA
Alright, that's it. Later.
Tuesday: Foreigners vs. Argentinians. It was 15 minutes before the game and things were looking bad. For the 7 v 7 game, we had 6 players, two of which, had neither shorts, nor socks, nor cleats to play. 5 minutes before the game someone lent us some shorts and we found another player. We were playing the third place team in the group and they had beaten the team that the week before we had barely tied. The game was also very important because in order for us to not be eliminated from the tournament we had to win. About 3 minutes into the game they scored. Everyone on our team was thinking, here we go again as we lost the first game 7-0 and the second game 14-1. Two minutes later we scored when our forward megged the goalie, and we scored again 5 minutes later. The attitude of the game changed completely as the other team was thinking, "Oh shit, I thought we were going to smash this team," and we were thinking, "Holy shit, we can actually win." At this point I got super intense and organized the defense and started rattling the other team with good old fashion aggression. We had a few more opportunities but couldn't score and our goalie made a huge save with ten minutes left. In the closing minutes I was admittedley a dick head as I cracked the ball of the shin of the defender so that it went sailing out of play but was our ball, and then when I looked for the ball in the bushes I went intentionally slow. It's not bad sportsmanship, it's gamesmanship. I like winning. Anyway, we maintained our margin and won the game. After the game the referee came up to me and wanted my number to write down. Knowing that I had been pretty into things I assumed it was bad, but when I asked him why he said it was for "la figura." "La figura" means the man of the match. It may sound like I'm bragging and that's because I am. Our whole team was stoked with the win because we had pretty much resigned ourselves to elimination before the match knowing that we were playing a good team and we were understaffed, plus we had been thrashed before. But we pulled out a victory and now we are moving on in group play. That being said, we are in the secondary tournament, some may call it the loser's bracket. But based on our first two games we should be happy with that. Plus, it just means that we can win the loser's bracket. I don't enter loser's brackets and lose. Another reason I think we did so well is because the shitty players didn't come. I think you'll recall my tirade against Fabio the worst player in probably the world and the two others that are equally bad. I'll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday: Soccer game with the team from San Andrés. We smashed the other team, not much to say.
Saturday: We lost 2-1 on a erroneous penalty kick called by the referee. He called a hand ball when our player was in the outermost possible region of the penalty box and the ball incidentally struck the upper third of his upper arm. Really? I am under the philosophy that penalty kicks should only be called when a decent/fair attempt on the goal is foiled by illegal play. Not when there is no chance to score and the ball inadvertantly strikes someone's shoulder. Penalty kicks change games, and this one made us lose. This is compounded by the fact that their first goal was off of a random deflection when the goalie cleared the ball. All in all, we had tremendously bad luck. I was playing sweeper and I played decently well. New jerseys below:
Today: I spent all of today reading my International Relations course pack and drinking mate. Mate is amazing for studying and it keeps you very focused. Combine the mate with vanilla flavored galletitas (cookies), and you are "in the fucking zone chief." (Obscure reference, if you don't get it, don't feel bad).
Halloween:
I was pretty lazy for Halloween. I had glorious plans of going as a carrot and my mexican friend was going to go as a tomatoe because she saw these costumes in a store window. However, she inquired about them and they cost $180 pesos. That's about 30 pounds, MZ. But, whatever currency you put it in, I wasn't going to pay. So, I was confronted with 6 o'clock on Halloween without a costume. I stayed calm, and made a game plan. See picture below.
In case you can't understand what my sign says, it says: "Nudista en Huelga" or Nudist in Strike. Thus I am wearing normal clothing. It was cheap and last second, and I think it did the trick. I got comments all night about either my ingenuity or my laziness, or both. Axel, my roomate, went for the sterotypical frenchman and I think he pulled it off quite nicely. Alix, is a witch, and Agustin is a soccer hooligan. My buddy from England went as salad fingers, an obscure character from an internet video. If you have some free time search Salad Fingers on Youtube, but be warned, it's really fucking creepy.
I suppose that's all the news I have for now. I guess it's really cold in Washington right now which sucks for you guys because it's spring time here and I almost got sunburned on Saturday. I thinking about growing my hair back out into an afro and not cutting it until I get back to the states. Election:
There was a fairly interesting SNL skit in which John McCain appears with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin in a informercial skit. It almost seems like John McCain is taking one last shot and trying to get of a hold of anything he can grab. In my opinion, though, this skit portrayed John McCain in a poor light and probably hurt his campaign. There was also another SNL skit portraying George Bush (Will Ferrell) giving his official election endorsement to Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) and John McCain (not sure who). It's pretty good because Palin and McCain make it obvious that they don't want his endorsement but Bush/Ferrel insists on it. "When you think of John McCain, think of me, George W. Bush. Think of this face. When you're in the voting booth, before you vote - picture this face right here. A vote for John McCain is a vote for George W. Bush."
First Video: (have to sit through ads) http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/mccain-qvc-open/805381/
Will Ferrell Video: (I couldn't get an unedited version) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAdUzrcVqKA
Alright, that's it. Later.
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