We spent some of last night in the Kingstown Pub thanks to a kind invitation from Roy .

I suspect that these people were in the pay of AARRFS (the Argentines Are Really Friendly Society, well, if such an organisation existed) in order to confirm that Argentines are indeed incredibly friendly.

It's the regular Thursday meeting of a bunch of Flickr-ites in BA to drink beer and chat (charlar). Roy said I should write the blog in Spanish... I'll think about it, but I reckon most of my readership (that's the folks then) don't read it.... so I may do a little more in that direction.

Click on the photo to see who's who.
  ¶ 2:07 PM 1 comments

  They're still showing the Serbia Montenegro game. For the first week it was on every day, sometimes twice.... this week they seem to have calmed down a bit and it's only on every other day (but the goals are on every two minutes, along with Maxi's)

In yesterday's lesson (one of them anyway) we used the Observer match report from the Argentina Mexico game. One of the students was very upset at the report because it was incorrect... apparently Mexico didn't have a barrage of chances... he was most upset at the non partisan reporting (in a good natured way). Given that in the staid, upright Clarín there were 12 pages of analysis of Friday's game, and another 5 of related stuff and you can see why they might get a little upset at two columns and the necessary simplicity.

Oh and the article in the Observer was written by a woman.

Which went down well (quote:"so obviously I can't believe any of it" while smiling)
  ¶ 6:57 PM 2 comments

  That's 'what rain!' btw. It's been a bit of an English weekend weather wise...

So I just thought you would like to see that it's not 365 days of wall to wall sunshine (it's closer to 345 [chuckle]).

You can see in the picture that we have huge windows to watch epic droplet races on. Although we haven't actually done any of that yet, there's a potential there...

Liz is sitting talking to Maria, who gave birth to little Fionn yesterday (felicitaciones Maria). We got the webcam set up too so if anyone skypes then they can get video... which, at the end of the day is just us in front of a white background... you can probably get the same effect by holding up a photo while you talk...


But video over the interweb... it's so like being in the future isn't it?     ¶ 10:13 PM 0 comments

  Or not.

I was reading so I had to rely on Liz for the shouts of 'vamos Argentina'

When the winning goal went in we could hear the dogs, startled into barking by the relieved shouts from a few (hundred) Villa Crespites.

Now (once again) the TV is full of shots from the obelisco in Buenos Aires and lots of people in blue and white jumping up and down. We're off out for some food in a couple of hours, I'm hoping that things have calmed down a little by then....

And so to England at Midday our time tomorrow...
  ¶ 9:53 PM 1 comments

  If it helps, partido is what they call a match... a football match (the other kind is a fosforo).

So I was thinking, maybe Alan Hansen could get away with the mate thing, like this chappie on the left. Mind you, the other folks in the studio were, by turns, jealous and mocking of him.

Now, Germany have just won, the weather here is grey and damp (damp? it's been raining torrentially for six hours and in the last few minutes it's turned into a steady English drizzle, feels just like a May bank holiday to me), Argentina are on in a while and we're drinking mate and planning lessons for next week (at least Liz is, I'm busy writing this and finding other techno-excuses to avoid work).    ¶ 5:18 PM 0 comments

  In a recent class we were discussing national stereotypes, I asked the class to write five words or phrases that they associated with Ireland (before watching an episode of Father Ted, this really is a hellish job). They came up with St Patrick, Beer, Green, Shamrock and the IRA...

But later on, we got to talking, as they invevitably do, about themselves, about what's wrong with Argentina and Buenos Aires. One chap said "You know, the real problem with Argentines is that they have no respect for the rules. They are Italians who speak Spanish and want to be British." We batted that around for a while and I can't really disagree... He said that the first thing that the 'typical' (one of the points of the lesson was to discuss whether stereotypes were valid... they said no but then went on to talk about the typical Argentine like he was waiting in the next room) Argentine thinks when they enact a new law is "How can I break it?"

For evidence he pointed outside, where in the streets there is one of the highest road traffic mortality rates in the world (in the high 30s per 100,000). 8000 people die each year in Argentina in RTAs.

This is the typical response from when they tried to enforce the seat belt law:

"Why do we have to buckle up? It makes no sense,'' groused taxi driver Eduardo Latorre, who said he never saw such a zealous seat belt campaign in 17 years driving the capital's chaotic streets. ``Maybe this would be a good measure on the open highway where it would save lives, but not in Buenos Aires.''

All occupants of cars, including taxis, have been required to wear seat belts since 1997, but the law was rarely enforced until the campaign began Monday.

Another example, and one I'll try and capture on film (digitally!) is the common practice of wearing your motorcycle helmet on your arm...

That sounds like Italians to us....  ¶ 10:45 PM 2 comments

  So last night we went out with our Spanish teacher and her other students to do a spot of ten pin bowling... it's a diversion of sorts I suppose.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant called Media y media (half and half) which serves Uruguayan food, the chivito of a previous post. The people at the other end of the table had the Superchivito, which served 5, we had to take a picture, it's basically a mixed grill with fried eggs and chips...

Too much food on the blog? Tough... come on over here and make me do it differently...

After that we wandered home on the colectivo and stopped off for a coffee at the cafe at the end of the road, where people were still eating their dinner at 2am... oh and today was a public holiday, in case you think we were out too late on a school night.... Flag day to be precise.   ¶ 2:10 AM 2 comments

  Especially for the Mundial... This first one is, well, watch it... it's pretty self explanatory, if you remember the 1978 final.



And this one, alright, it's coke, but have we mentioned that they drink coke instead of water here? We're using it for our vocab training now.... all together "... microchips, bigotes, compact discs, los zapatos de bowling..."



Oh, I'll even forgive them the use of the cheesy Billy Joel(?) tune... these arms have been seen on bus stops... by Liz.

However, this is our favourite, I particularly like the free kick!
  ¶ 9:39 PM 1 comments

  So now the match is over, and in the streets there are lots of Argentines with dopey grins, there are people honking horns and banging drums, a few fireworks and general happiness... I'm guessing that not a lot of work will get done today.

After every goal I pressed the mute button on the TV and listened to the horns and shouts of Goooooooollll from the other apartments.

And this is a quiet neighbourhood.
  ¶ 2:58 PM 0 comments

  It's a hard life, this teaching lark. We were up at 6:30 this morning, like all workday mornings, to catch the Subte and to be at work by 8am. Rush hour here (las horas picos) are after 8am and before 10.

We finish teaching at 9:30 and we have a choice, depending on how much lesson planning we have, either stay downtown and do some work and get some breakfast in a cafe, or go home, it only takes half an hour and that means you can have a couple of hours at home before heading out for the next job.

Either way for me, breakfast is a couple of medialunas...

The downside today was that I was working during England's game, so I missed out on the Argentine commentary, caught the replay on one of the two 24hr footie channels though, well the goals at any rate. I wish could post the 'Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooolllll inlgaterra Peterrrr Crrouchaaaa'

Update: Here's the Argentinian TV commentary for Gerrard instead

And now the Paraguay players are crying... awwww  ¶ 8:54 PM 3 comments

  (John)

First, find a guia, a guide... you can buy one anywhere or if you ride the subway long enough someone will try and sell you one...

Second, find where your destination is on the map. Maybe you want to go to Plaza Italia, that's D5.

Then find what bus lines run through D5 (for example). Here, there are loads, most of which carried on down Santa Fe and past our old apartment.

Once you've done that, you have to find your starting point in the guia and see which buses go through or near that... in our case it's the 55, but then, well then you have to check where the bus actually goes, because it's one thing to know that it's in D5 but does it go down Borges? Or Thames? Which street do you look for the stop in?

So you use the handy back section and follow the route in the guia.

Simple no?

(Liz) Hmmm, not that simple! I caught the bus home from work the other evening and ended up at least 20 blocks away. It turns out there are two 168s (my usual bus back to Villa Crespo) taking two different routes. I was reading my book, waiting for the bouncy railway lines, which is my call to get up and ring the bell...except it had gone a different way. I didn't recognise the area, but then I spotted a Subte station..always handy. It was a station two stops along from ours, so I ended up getting the train home, eh well.  ¶ 7:51 PM 0 comments

  We had an invite this morning to see the England game in the company of some other English folk, so we did exactly that, taking the mickey out of the less than inspiring performance and gasping at Peter Crouch's thinness (and the refereeing) in an apartment on the 22nd floor of a massive block with great views of the city.

For the Argentina game we decided to revisit Pizza Napoles, our local pizzeria. There were about 20 people in there, and the biggest, most visible difference was what they drank. We had a beer with our pizza, and then during the course of the match, two coffees each. Most of the other patrons had a coffee or maybe two, or a coke, or maybe half a bottle of wine between two.

No one hurries you, there is no unspoken contractual agreement like in England where when you go to a pub you have to drink as fast as you can... They were pretty excited to win, and as we left the cars in the street were beeping their horns, and people were waving to each other, smiling and saying 'Un partido bueno' (a good game). I have to report Liz letting out a little 'yes' when Cote de Marfil (ivory) scored, as she said, they deserved it, but when England are playing Argentina in the final (if that's possible) we'll have to be a little more circumspect.
  ¶ 9:47 PM 1 comments

  I think the Buses in BA, los colectivos, are great. They come along every two minutes or so (no timetables here) and they rattle along at a fair old pace.

They are also the most noisy, smoke belching, evil danger on the streets.

When it rains here it can really rain. Yesterday, for example, there was a bit of a downpour. I was on the bus to Belgrano and when the doors opened there was a river running down the street, it was a good two feet wide and was really racing. The lady on the bus who was getting off at this riverside stop just looked at it 'que lluvia' she said. She may have said other rude things too but we haven't really learned them yet.

When it does rain the buses are packed, everyone has a dripping umbrella, 'paragua' the street sellers say, switching from selling cd cases in a matter of seconds is essential because it's too warm for a coat, you can read that bit again. Hee hee.

So on rainy days all the buses are like this. Still, people are pretty polite, one woman swapped seats so that two friends could sit together and chat, all the men gave up their seats to women (I didn't have a seat to give up), and men who knew each other threaded their way through the throng to greet each other (yes, with a kiss... I've already said it's the norm... so much so that I hardly notice it now, unless it's some particularly funny example, such as two armed policemen (which I saw yesterday)).
  ¶ 4:19 PM 0 comments

 
Just two blocks away from the apartment is a little heladeria. It's not unusual in any way. At the moment there're only the limited 'winter' range of flavours but that's okay because that includes sabayone. Avocaat ice cream. Mmmm. We were coming back from trying out a local pizzeria the other day and as we walked past Liz said she fancied an ice cream. So we splurged (it was the end of the week. Vanilla, sabayone and coconut, in a polystyrene tub to take out. And a litre of beer. This place is open until midnight, they sell super panchos (hot dogs with crisps on the top) hamburgesas and beer. Just what you need at the end of your street.

Since writing the first paragraph, we've been back and sampled the cocon (coconut), Tiramisu and Almendra (almond). We've also been chatting to the lady in the shop. We thought she owned it but she commutes an hour each way from the suburbs... an hour, to work in a little backstreet heladeria... yipe. I asked if I could take her picture and before she could finish saying she wasn't very photogenic I had done so... she was pretty impressed with the little digital camera (una camera linda... which does not suggest that I stole it from a girl called Linda, what kind of person do you think I am?).  ¶ 6:40 PM 0 comments

  These birthdays come around far too quickly if you ask me...;) Thank you for the cards and emails. Our neighbours have been curious about the abundance of post this week, compared to our usual quota (nothing). It seems a little funny to have my birthday in the autumn this year... Last year we walked up Penn-y-Ghent on June 2, and the weather was about the same as it was here today...raining. So I thought I should post a photo taken on a blue sky day, of which there have been a lot lately, we can't really complain. John advised me to take pics of red things and as red is one of my favourite colours I'm happy with that...and maybe my photos will improve.    ¶ 12:52 AM 2 comments

  This is just off main street in the little town of Carmelo in Uruguay. We were up at 5:15am to catch the bus to Tigre to get the catamaran to Tigre, but it wasn't so bad, we slept a fair bit on the way.

It was a shame, the weather was grey and dull, not good for photographs and not good for people in Uruguay, they seemed to keep indoors, and the ones who did venture out had a flask tucked under one arm and a mate in their hand... it's a stereotype apparently, the Argentines say that the people in Uruguay drink mate all the time... It appears to be the case.
The guidebooks said it was a sleepy little town and we thought that we'd never get to see all of it in the little time we had between our outward and return (ida y vuelta, if you ever need to ask for a return) trips. We needn't have worried. You can see most of Carmelo in under 20 minutes.

That said, there is a beach, or a set of beaches, although the weather was not really ideal so we didn't go there.

The guidebook suggested a certain estancia (country house), the oldest in the country. The tourist information guy said it was 12km away. The other thing the guide said was of note in Carmelo was the swing bridge, opened in 1912... so we walked over that...

The man in the tourist information office (office, ha. It was a portacabin, he was, of course, drinking mate, and he had a book of the local sites that had been made using a cheap printer and some pritt, the non sticky sticky stuff) showed us some stuff.... The oldest building in Uruguay looks like a barn. He also suggested where we should eat. Well what he actually said was there was only one place in town to eat, everywhere else was only open in the evening. So we went where he said and had chivito, a layered creation of beef, ham, cheese and eggs over a mound of potato salad (for my chivito al plato) or in a bun (for Liz's chivito piccolino). Nice.

The weirdest thing was that the painted buildings and the grey skies and the wood smoke smell meant that me and Liz turned to one another and said that it was almost exactly nothing like Miltown Malbay but it reminded us of it nonetheless...

Miltown Malbay is a little town in county Clare in Ireland... and is not high on the list of 'towns most likely to be replicated in Uruguay' if there is such a list... which is unlikely...   ¶ 12:20 AM 0 comments