Observations

I have not posted for a few days. I apologize. I have been busy, or lazy, or both. Either way, it is raining today and I think I am just going to stay in, relax, watch the Superclásico futbol game between Boca and River at 3 on TV (this is the Argentine equivalent of the Yankee-Redsox matchup, but more violent and a lot more exciting. People will get stabbed. Riots will break out. Cars will be burned. Well, okay, probably not. But it is illegal to wear a futbol jersey supporting a team to the stadium because when you leave you could be beaten senseless by supporters of the opposite team. Scary. Their soccer here is very much like religion in the sense that supporters resort to violence to destroy and eradicate their opponents. I feel bad for some of my friends that have blown 200 US dollars to go see this game. It is now thundering and lightenining (I don't think this is actually a word). Despite the wet, cold, and miserable time they will have with the weather, I bet the experience will still be worth it.

A few interesting observations:

My host father's TV remote that he uses for his 40 year old TV (an obvious exaggeration, but not too much) is broken. The down channel button doesn't function. So, instead of going out and buying a new remote (which an American would do in a heartbeat) he tells me he has to bring it to a remote repair shop. That's right. A shop here in Buenos Aires that fixes TV remotes. That is their specialty. They exist. (Does this say something about American consumer culture?). They also have shops for light bulbs. Shops that specialize in wall switches and plugs. There are shops that sell just door handles and others that just sell watch bands. Not kidding. Have seen them all. If it is broken here in Buenos Aires you don't replace it. You fix it. When it can't be fixed again you replace it. I don't think Wal Marts do very well here.

I was having a conversation the other night with a 31 year old Argentine guy name Sebastian who works at community centers with kids and at night is a video DJ in local cultural centers. When I asked him what

he did, in spanish mind you, he attempted to explain to me that he was paid to do "free time" with the kids. I thought he was joking. He wasn't. He is paid to play with kids during the day. Sounds pretty good to me.

Anyhow, we were having a conversation about Politics and we somehow stumbled onto the subject of Iran. It is important to note, before I tell this story, that most of the youth here in Argentina are not only extremely involved in politics but they are schooled in the great communist philosophers (Marx, Lenin, etc...) and many belong to radical youth parties who believe in revolutions and communist governments. Why they haven't come to the conclusion that such a system just doesn't work at all, I don't know, but they keep on believing it.

So, back to Sebastian. We were talking about Iran and he said he has a good friend that just got back from Tehran where he was studying Islamic culture. He tells me that everything we here about Iran is false. The government treats its people well. Women have equal rights. Iran is a very pleasant place to live.

Political protesters have the right to fair trials after their arrests. There are few to no human rights violations. It is, according to Sebastian, apparently a myth spun by the western media to support an invasion. Oh yes, and he also tells me that there is a sizable jewish muslim population that lives very comfortably in the country. Now, I know that the western media and government has a certain tendency to not question things they should question and perhaps mislead and cherry pick information. However, I don't believe a thing that Sebastian says about Iran. I don't know what this guy was smoking but either I am very naive or ignorant or he is being very easily manipulated.

Friday night I went to Thelonious Jazz Bar with my buddy Josh to see a quartet of very talented musicians. The quartet, led by bassist Arturo Puertas, (check out the song Siete Puertas) has a tenor sax player,

bassist, drumer, and pianista. They were celebrating the release of their new disc. They were great. The piano player was very soulful, heavily influenced my McCoy Tyner and took some great solos. The tenor player sounded a lot like Michael Brecker, just not nearly as good, and the drummer was extremely responsive and sustained some awesome energy. Josh and I split a bottle of Malbec wine during the show. Total bill: 40 pesos each for the entrance and for the wine. $10 bucks for a half bottle of wine and a 2 hour show. Good deal!

After the show Josh and I headed over to the residencia (the other housing option for us Flacso kids) and hung out with some chileans, brazilians, and others south americans. I met some really nice Chilean kids. Most of them were very talkative and eager to chat about cultural differences and Buenos Aires. A Brazilian kid, Vini, is here for 6 years studying medicine. He wants to be an eye doctor. He said that it is infinitely easier to be excepted to medical study programs in Buenos Aires and a lot of Brazilians come here for schooling. Apparently in Brazil 3% of those that apply to Med school actually get in. Sounds like quite the acceptance rate. I am sure those that do make it turn out to be some great doctors though. Those that flee to Buenos Aires to study, not so sure.

Last night a group of way too many Americans and I went to an amazing Folklore show. Juan Falú, Juan Quintero, and Carlos Aguirre, three of the most talented Folklore musicians in Argentina, teamed up for an amazing show. Folklore is very traditional music from very distinct regions of Argentina. It is similar to folk music, I guess you could say, from the US. I would probably describe it in the same vein as Americana music that comes from the Appalachia region but with different instruments. It is undeniably Argentine.