This Weekend

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There is a filthy cloud over the entire city possibly due to the current agricultural conflict. The farmers usually burn their soy fields after harvesting, but this year they decided to do them all at once…some 70,000 hectares. It is disgusting and has already been this way for 4 days. I thought it was misty outside the other day and then heard from one of my teachers what it was. Today, I saw it and wasn’t so surprised…they probably burned more overnight. The park I’m sitting in is nice, but it feels weird with the sunlight filtered through this dirty cloud.

I had an awesome weekend. It all started Friday night with a big dinner at my house. My program sets up dinners for groups of host families that live near each other. We hosted ours and ended up having about 20 people at our house. I made the family favorite Thai Chicken recipe, and a personal specialty of soy sauce greenbeans. Everyone brought dishes that were from their local culture or childhood favorites. My program gave us about 15 bottles of wine and several beers, so that we could 'pasarla bien'...and we did.

The food was great (For the most part - there were some very odd tuna empanadas), the company was great, and after a while Juan, one of the staff members, showed up to make sure everything was going smoothly. He had a good time as well and it was great to hang out with him outside of the program. After coffee, and after a few people had left, the conversations were moved to the living room as we sipped on the end of the wine and beer. Some people were drunker than others, but the fact remains that some things were said that shouldn't have been.

As the night went on, my housemates and I decided to order some whiskey for delivery. It came about 45 minutes later and became our entertainment until about 5 AM, at which point we decided to go to a boliche (dance club). Our group was myself, steve, peter, web & web’s brother (who was visiting). I think we got back from the boliche (called Lost) at about 7:30, and I slept forever…until I had to get up.

My porteño friend Leandro is in a band called Pasos Perdidos. They don’t play concerts too often, so I hadn’t had a chance to see them yet, but they had a gig scheduled for this Saturday. They were supposed to start at 16:00, so I pulled myself out of bed at 2:30 to ready myself. It was quite the task. The concert was in a plaza in a very far away part of town. Using my ‘Guia T’ like a pro, I found that bus 15 headed right there and picked me up just a few blocks from my house. The 15, I discovered, also goes to the River Plate Stadium and to where my UBA class is held. Waiting in line for the bus, a woman spoke to me in Hebrew asking if I was Israeli. I was wearing my 9-year-old IDF shirt that Shoshi brought back during her NFTY trip to Israel way back when. It is so faded, I was surprised she could tell that it was an IDF shirt. We ended up sitting next to each other on the bus and talked almost the whole time. She was originally from Poland and moved from there to Israel where she lived on a kibbutz for several years. Then she moved to Buenos Aires and has been there ever since, returning back to Israel a few times to visit. She was going to have a seder at her house with her family which sounded nice. I didn’t ask if I could go…I’m actually planning on going to the Jabad seder, which is just around the corner from my house. There’s supposed to be a lot of people and wine.

She got off a few minutes before I did and after at least a 30-minute bus ride on a not-so-trafficky day, I had arrived near the plaza. I got off the bus and realized that the plaza that I thought looked so big was actually mostly a supermarket. The superest of all supermarkets I have ever seen. This thing is so big that it actually says the name of it in my Guia T (Map of the City). Apparently, it used to be the San Lorenzo soccer stadium. I trekked around it and got to the little plaza behind it where the band was all set up and ready to go. It was about 16:30, but they hadn’t started playing yet (Argentina Standard Time). Lucas & Lucia were there, as well as Leandro’s girlfriend. It was funny to see the band members’ girlfriends and each of their groups of friends…very separated throughout the audience area. Even Lucas & Leandro’s girlfriends didn’t really talk to each other while Luke & Leo are best friends.

The first band to play was La Demora and as they started, the girl next to me started filling up the maté gourd. It was orange flavored maté - my first time drinking a flavored version. I’m not a fan. I like my maté amargo (bitter), no sugar, and no flavor added…just the pure taste of whatever they put in there…anything else just seems like quasi-maté. La Demora had a pretty good harmonica player and it was fun music to listen to. They played for about 45 minutes and then Pasos Perdidos set up. I was most excited to see Leo on the guitar and Mono on the bass…as they are the people I know in the band. Mono played the whole time with a scrunched up face and a cigarette dangling from his mouth…I got a good picture. Leo rocked out also and they had a great diverse sound. They have a recently-added saxophonist who also just started learning how to play. He was aight…maybe I’ll ask for an audition…

It was pretty cold out, and I had been pretty out of it on my way out the door - dressing in the classic tshirt, shorts and sandals. Everyone there was much more prepared than me, but I was dancing funnily to make up for it. I caught the bus back and practiced my sax for a bit…

One of Mariela's friends was visiting from Rosario...actually the girl that is going to be marrying Mariela's brother in a few months. I went with them to a play which turned out to be great! It is called Visitando Señor Green, Or Visiting Mr. Green. I was overwhelmingly surprised at how great the acting was and for $20 front row seats, who could complain? There were only two actors in the whole play and they did a great job. The older one, Mr. Green, played a slow-moving, sick man the whole time, and then as the play ended went running off the stage. We went out for some pizza afterwards and then headed back to the house.

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