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Published: March 21st 2010
Hello All,
It has been a while I needed some time to recover from my last extensive blog. I have started classes here in Buenos Aires. I am taking 5 classes, all of which are in Spanish. It presents quite the challenge for me because I have to be paying 100% attention the whole class period and even if I break eye contact for a brief moment I struggle to find my way back. I remain confident and positive about the classes I truly do think I will be successful. I only have classes two days a week which gives me a lot of time to adventure around the city and really take advantage of my time here. I have two trips(possibly three) coming up in the next three weeks. The possible trip is to Uruguay next week to spend some much needed time on the beach in a place called Punto de Este which is east of Montevideo. Next, I will be going to Rosario which is a big city inland from Buenos Aires with my ISA group next Saturday. The next weekend I will be going to the mountains in Cordoba to ride horses and hike also see the mysterious salt flats where we will camp for one night and hopefully I will get some pretty eire pictures, with a group of 15 ISA students. I am really looking forward to these trips. I savor any chance to give my head a break from the hustle and bustle of the city and just be able to enjoy silence for a while. My spanish is coming along really well working on a two months of immersion. I actually had my first dream in Spanish about a week ago which was a thrilling experience. I was in the city, talking to people and my friends completely in Spanish with out thinking in English. That is the key I have learned, not trying to relate the language to English, it is a separate entity entirely. I am striving to switch my though processes to spanish only and so far have been partially successful. It is a long road to fluency fraught with many road blocks but soon enough I will be there. This town continues to impress me with everything it has to offer. I could spend a year here and probably never go to the same bar or cafe or restaurant twice. One of the joys of living in the big city. Also I have signed up for two free classes at a local Cultural Center one is experimental photography and the other is capoeira which is a Brazilian style of martial arts mixed with dance. The classes are free and it just another one of the many way to take full advantage of my time down here.
This last week I had two nights of concerts, my favorite reggae band from northern California came down to Buenos Aires and played at a club relatively close to my house. I am going to write a little bit about that day, as it was Saint Paddy's day.
9:00 AM, ungodly hour for me here. I wake, nose stuffy, allergies or sickness. Can't tell at this point hope its just allergies. Sneeze five times roll out of bed and wash my face and comb my hair, wanting to avoid getting pestered about my crazy hair from Nelly. Head starts to pound. Allergies, I pray. I hear Nelly making my cup of instant coffee with the indicative noise of a spoon swirling around the nearly empty coffee cup. Its some mystical method she does to make freeze dried coffee taste delicious. Coffee with milk and a few pieces of bread toasted with butter and dulce de letche. Still getting used to eating something so close to carmel every morning. Out the door at 9:15, have to walk fast, running a little bit late. Down the block, moment of realization, forgot the bug spray. Important item for the golf course. Item obtained. Jogging back towards the golf course doesn't help my head feel any better. See my friends at the course, wish Adam a happy birthday and say happy Saint Paddy's day to all. Get some old rental clubs, find out that there is no green fee. Off to the first tee and I shank one down the left all of 100 yards, laugh and say, "Rough start gentlemen." The course is dried out because of the lack of rain, it has a strange type of grass the just seems to consume balls. It is so dry that the balls just fall underneath the shag and make it nearly impossible to see. On the forth hole we buy more balls from a guy standing on the other side of fence. Mosquitos are relentless, at any time there could be 30 or more on you. Legs are covered in the greasy bug lotion. But they find a way to bite through your shirt or fly up your shorts, once I feel one bite, I get paranoid and start to feel them everywhere. Certainly a distracting way to play golf. End with a 92 on the little muni course which is surrounded by the high rises of the city. A nice get away. Long walk home, feet are howling asking for a break. No rest for the wicked. Home, shower, change, out the door. Steak dinner at Las Cabras. Bife de Lomo and a caesar salad for only 10 dollars, still shocking to be sometimes how well I can eat down here. 10 of my best friends surround the painted red table. We laugh merrily and share a couple of drinks. Congratulating Adam on turning 21. Feels like my family down here, all like minded individuals whose bonds of friendship have been forged in the fiercest fires of urgency. It has only been two months and I already feel so close to them. My brothers and sisters all in this together, exploring the land and exploring ourselves in a complete different frame of reference. Its raining. It always seems to be raining on the most memorable nights in Buenos Aires, it doesn't always rain I promise!! Rain adds an extra layer of intensity and emotion, makes me feel more alive for some reason or another. We made our way down the streets with black trash bags turned into ponchos. I was hopping in puddles and belting out "singing in the rain." Shoes were soaked by the time I got into the club. Feet soaking in water at an extreme rate. Mind slips away to soldiers in vietnam and WW2 with trench foot and their feet literally falling apart. But I digress. The club was already packed and the first band had just started. The toxic smell of smoke lingers in the air, tinging my nose and making my sneeze worse. Out of control in a sneeze attack. Quilmes cans are crushed like tiny men under my titan sponge feet. I hate pushing through crowds but it was necessary here. Leading the way, permiso, permiso, permiso(excuse me) We finally find an acceptable spot and begin to groove to the music. Groundation, the main act come on, and the meditation the reggae music brings begins. Sopping feet dancing a slight two step, arms flowing naturally by my side, and head nodding slightly. Dancing like a rasta man. The lead singer tells his message to the crowd "More education less war!!" A valid point for a soon to be high school teacher like me. The lead singer Harrison has a powerful soulful voice but you would never know by looking at him, 5 foot 6 about 160 pounds, glasses and a beard, and white. Looks can be deceiving, his voice fills the room bounces of the walls pours into my soul with positive vibrations and exaltation. The show ends and my sponge feet are full of water and aching horribly. We wait though to meet the band out front. All nine of them are brilliant musicians and equally affable, saying how good it was to see some Americans. We leave to club, I lead the way marching us 3 blocks in the wrong direction. We about face and head to Plaza Serrano for some cold liters of beer. Spend the rest of the evening there recapping the evening and made it home at 5:30 on the Subte. Just as Hugo was leaving the house for work, I was coming in for a well deserved night of rest. Glorious Saint Paddy's Day.
Thanks everyone! I will do my best to keep in better touch, kinda tapered off for a second! Missing you all to pieces! Love and respect!
Patrick Higgins Murphy
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Jan
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A Nice morning read
Patrick, I brought the girls to Colorado Springs for a little break (Spring) from the usual. Free wi-fi in lobby, mocha latte in hand, girls chillin' in the room 5 floors up. I enjoyed reading your blogs immensely. All the morning with all the promise of life and living. Thanks for sharing your life with me Patrick. I love you too!