Mago, Piano, BBQ, Polo
Have you actually listened to the lyrics of Pink Floyd's Time, fuck it's depressing.
Anyway, last Friday I went to a very hip restaurant with some of the exchange students. It's amazing because everything was a price you would expect it to be in dollars in the US, except it's pesos. Sorry Mike Zhao, it's probably the same thing but not in your favor in England. So, despite being in a very chic restaurant and ordering two beers, I only spent about $20. After dinner we wandered around, and randomly stumbled into that Magic themed bar that I went to a few months ago. We got seated right in the front and played drinking games until the show started. The game was awesome because it included the "Draw Master", "The Great Escape Master," and "Bull Master." Essentially, at any point in the game, the Draw Master would shout "Draw" and point a hand pistol at the group. The last person to copy would become the new "Draw Master." The same thing with "The Great Escape Master" who would shout "Don't Shoot" and put his hands in the air like in the movie the Great Escape when the POW's in WWII try to escape out of the POW camps by digging an elaborate tunnel. The Bull Master would put his fingers up like a bull and the other people had to act like torros with imaginary red capes. The game attracted some looks as there were random outbursts of "Don't Shoot", or "Draw". Anyway, before the show started we knew we were going to be singled out because we were all clearly foreigners, especially Justin, who apparently is the only black man in all of Argentina. He has already been interviewed three times since he has been here because reporters flock to him. About 5 minutes into the show and Justin was called up to be a helper. It was hilarious because there were two magicians and so while one was doing the show in Spanish, the other magician was off to the side narrating in broken Enlish. At one point the main magician was counting cards, "uno, dos, tres, cuatro...", and in the backround you could hear, "one, two, three, four..." Our table was absolutely dying of laughter. The magician also singled out another exchange student named Harrison who is your typical American and has the strongest accent of all the exchange students. Too funny.
On Sunday I went to a polo game. Holy crap is that a game for the upper class. The game is completeley inaccessible to the normal citizen. Think about what you need to play, first, you need a horse, second, you need about 6 acres of perfectly kempt grass on which to play, and finally you need to have at least 7 other friends who also have horses, against whom you can compete. The rules are simple, 4 players aside, 1 wooden ball (I think it's wooden, I wasn't permitted to inspect it), and 2 goal posts each side. Using the long wooden mallets, the players have to put the ball between the goal posts. After each goal, which are frequent, the teams change sides. There are 8 periods of 7 minutes. Polo is kind of like baseball, but for rich people. It's about chatting and causally watching a game. You go more for the social prestige and to socialize with all your high society friends rather than to watch the game. To celebrate goals, you politely clap as you might in golf. Hootering and hollering are activities of the Proletariate, not the refined elite, and are not permitted in a game of polo. Here is a poor quality video. The most remarkable thing about polo is the speed of the horses. For example, in this video they are right by me, but once play starts the are on the other side of the field in just a few seconds. It was a good experience and I probably won't have the chance/want to go to another polo game for a while.
So I got my computer charger from my contact. His dad works for a big company and apparently they had Dell computer chargers laying around so he picked on up for me in the US and then flew down with it. It saved me the huge hassel of ordering it online and shipping it to Argentina because I would have had to gone through the nightmare that is Argentina customs. And so I have my beloved computer back to feed my technology addiction of e-mail, skype, and blogging.
Monday, Tuesday, and the first part of today were dedicated entirely to reading my international relations course pack. I read nearly 1000 pages in English and Spanish and my brain is on the verge of a hemmorage. The key to my studying was mate and it's caffeine like properties. Here is a picture of my set-up, I've got all the necessary components, the mate, the thermos with hot water, the light, translator, course pack, pens, desk, and cell phone.
So in the last three days I have absorbed all there is to absorb about the end of the Cold War. I've got a 15 page-ish report comparing the end of the Bi-Polar world (Cold War) to the end of the Multi-Polar world (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, USA) that ended with World War II. That's due the 4th of December and I have a Marketing test Monday. With any luck I'll have around 2 weeks to couch surf around Argentina.
I just check my grades online and I got an 8 in my Business Case class which will convert to a 4.0 at UW. Boo-yah-kah-shah.
Tonight we are having a farewell dinner with a few of the exchange students and the last party is on Friday. After that things will be pretty much wrapped up as I will be studying for my test and writing my essay and after that I will take off to travel a bit. Check out the new pictures I put up on Picasa. Chao.
Anyway, last Friday I went to a very hip restaurant with some of the exchange students. It's amazing because everything was a price you would expect it to be in dollars in the US, except it's pesos. Sorry Mike Zhao, it's probably the same thing but not in your favor in England. So, despite being in a very chic restaurant and ordering two beers, I only spent about $20. After dinner we wandered around, and randomly stumbled into that Magic themed bar that I went to a few months ago. We got seated right in the front and played drinking games until the show started. The game was awesome because it included the "Draw Master", "The Great Escape Master," and "Bull Master." Essentially, at any point in the game, the Draw Master would shout "Draw" and point a hand pistol at the group. The last person to copy would become the new "Draw Master." The same thing with "The Great Escape Master" who would shout "Don't Shoot" and put his hands in the air like in the movie the Great Escape when the POW's in WWII try to escape out of the POW camps by digging an elaborate tunnel. The Bull Master would put his fingers up like a bull and the other people had to act like torros with imaginary red capes. The game attracted some looks as there were random outbursts of "Don't Shoot", or "Draw". Anyway, before the show started we knew we were going to be singled out because we were all clearly foreigners, especially Justin, who apparently is the only black man in all of Argentina. He has already been interviewed three times since he has been here because reporters flock to him. About 5 minutes into the show and Justin was called up to be a helper. It was hilarious because there were two magicians and so while one was doing the show in Spanish, the other magician was off to the side narrating in broken Enlish. At one point the main magician was counting cards, "uno, dos, tres, cuatro...", and in the backround you could hear, "one, two, three, four..." Our table was absolutely dying of laughter. The magician also singled out another exchange student named Harrison who is your typical American and has the strongest accent of all the exchange students. Too funny.
On Sunday I went to a polo game. Holy crap is that a game for the upper class. The game is completeley inaccessible to the normal citizen. Think about what you need to play, first, you need a horse, second, you need about 6 acres of perfectly kempt grass on which to play, and finally you need to have at least 7 other friends who also have horses, against whom you can compete. The rules are simple, 4 players aside, 1 wooden ball (I think it's wooden, I wasn't permitted to inspect it), and 2 goal posts each side. Using the long wooden mallets, the players have to put the ball between the goal posts. After each goal, which are frequent, the teams change sides. There are 8 periods of 7 minutes. Polo is kind of like baseball, but for rich people. It's about chatting and causally watching a game. You go more for the social prestige and to socialize with all your high society friends rather than to watch the game. To celebrate goals, you politely clap as you might in golf. Hootering and hollering are activities of the Proletariate, not the refined elite, and are not permitted in a game of polo. Here is a poor quality video. The most remarkable thing about polo is the speed of the horses. For example, in this video they are right by me, but once play starts the are on the other side of the field in just a few seconds. It was a good experience and I probably won't have the chance/want to go to another polo game for a while.
So I got my computer charger from my contact. His dad works for a big company and apparently they had Dell computer chargers laying around so he picked on up for me in the US and then flew down with it. It saved me the huge hassel of ordering it online and shipping it to Argentina because I would have had to gone through the nightmare that is Argentina customs. And so I have my beloved computer back to feed my technology addiction of e-mail, skype, and blogging.Monday, Tuesday, and the first part of today were dedicated entirely to reading my international relations course pack. I read nearly 1000 pages in English and Spanish and my brain is on the verge of a hemmorage. The key to my studying was mate and it's caffeine like properties. Here is a picture of my set-up, I've got all the necessary components, the mate, the thermos with hot water, the light, translator, course pack, pens, desk, and cell phone.
So in the last three days I have absorbed all there is to absorb about the end of the Cold War. I've got a 15 page-ish report comparing the end of the Bi-Polar world (Cold War) to the end of the Multi-Polar world (Britain, France, Germany, Russia, USA) that ended with World War II. That's due the 4th of December and I have a Marketing test Monday. With any luck I'll have around 2 weeks to couch surf around Argentina. I just check my grades online and I got an 8 in my Business Case class which will convert to a 4.0 at UW. Boo-yah-kah-shah.
Tonight we are having a farewell dinner with a few of the exchange students and the last party is on Friday. After that things will be pretty much wrapped up as I will be studying for my test and writing my essay and after that I will take off to travel a bit. Check out the new pictures I put up on Picasa. Chao.
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