Días 30 - 56

Hey all, it’s been a while, but do not fear, I have not forgot about you!

So we pick up the story all the way back on October 13^th…God, it has been time, but I have managed to keep a note of the interesting things I’ve been up to! So, October 13^th we went to see a world cup 2010 qualifier between Argentina and Chile (pics on Facebook) at River Plate’s stadium. As you can imagine, pretty crazy – they had totally oversold tickets, but luckily we got there early enough to get seats! So people just ended up either standing or sitting on the steps…nobody seemed to mind though – thank God there wasn’t a fire or anything though – I wouldn’t have fancied our chances. A pretty good atmosphere, with most of the singing aimed at the Chilean fans, and coming in the form of racist abuse. I have decided that the Spanish language is really not that imaginative though – everyone was a ‘puto’ (‘whore’)…the ref, the Chilean team and their fans. Come on Argentina, there must be better swear words!! Admittedly, most of the singing was being led by the woman sat next to me; an innocent looking, middle-aged lady – she could easily have been your aunt. But we concluded she was head of the Argentine firm or something; she was loving the abuse, and was bad-mouthing everyone around her who did the slightest thing to piss her off…me included – I don’t think she liked the fact we weren’t singing, mainly because we didn’t know the words! She motioned at us to join in…so we tried. The song did involve the word ‘puto’ on quite a few occasions, so we got away with it. I didn’t bother joining in with the dancing though, that was just weird…everyone just stands up and jumps up and down on the spot! What’s that all about eh?! Anyway, Argentina beat Chile 2-0, and I was happy that I finally got to see Carlos Tevez play!

We didn’t do anything on the Saturday night as Monday was a bank holiday here, so decided to go out on Sunday night instead...We went to a bar in Palermo (Buenos Aires’ most fashionable neighbourhood) called Mundo Bizarro. Our new Scottish flatmate Andy came with us, as did Lu, the girl Marek pulled at Funky 45 weeks ago. She was cool, and spoke no English, so got to practice loads of Spanish which was cool. She did explain though, that Argentine girls quite like it when guys speak no Spanish – I don’t know why, but that does explain why Andy seems to have a lot more success with the ladies than me and Matt, as his Spanish is virtually non-existent. I think it’s because they like having the upper hand. In reality, Argentine women, or at least those from Buenos Aires, are psychopaths. I’ve heard several horror stories now of obsession, possession and dramatics which has resulted in e-mail accounts being hacked into, phones being blocked, blokes not being allowed to go to Creamfields and break-ups as one wasn’t happy that that her English boyfriend’s mate was over from Blighty, and he wasn’t spending enough time with her!! They sound like a treat eh? Anyway, the bar was cool and I got drunk.

As I said, the Monday was Bank Holiday, so 4 of us 5 interns at the paper took advantage of no meeting, so me, Liv, Kate and Eric to Tierra Santa (‘Holy Land’), again, pics on Facebook…I’m lead to believe this is the world’s first religious theme park, and it was just weird. I think the pics say it all – so do have a look! I loved the way Jesus resurrected every half an hour and everyone takes a seat to watch! It’s basically a robotic Jesus statue coming out of a rock which mechanically rotates a bit to the left, then a bit to the right, then blinks. I did have to take a double take at the statue of Pope JP-II though, I thought someone embalmed granddad Jack and put him in a glass case. Really quite uncanny and the picture sparked several comments in agreement from the Croasdells’ on Facebook! We spent most of the day there, and went to Liv’s for dinner in the evening. She has a really nice place with an amazing roof terrace – looking forward to when it really heats up and we’ll get the barbeques on the go up there!

Wednesday night has become Spanish night, with me, Eric and Liv (and occasionally Kate) going for lessons with Nacho. They’re really handy, but make me realise my lack of competence in Spanish, which depresses me. Then I get frustrated and sulk…I’m very mature. Then I found out England lost to Russia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. And I sulked some more. Then I went for food and beer and was happy.

Friday afternoon was cool. After my meeting me, Matt and Adam went to Molly Malone’s to watch the 3^rd place playoff of the rugby world cup, between Argentina and France. Obviously the place was full of Argentines, so the atmosphere was superb as the Pumas wooped the French’s arses, playing really some really exciting rugby in the process. After the game, I met up with Liv, Kate and Eric, and we went off to Palermo. For the paper, Liv is currently doing a story about the Armenian community on Buenos Aires (random I know), and she was invited to the Armenian school for an event which was raising cash to send its students to Armenia so they get to know their roots (etc. etc.) Again, random I know, but it made a change having some Eastern European food, and watching some Armenian folkloric dancing - about which I did take the piss…If you’ve seen it, you’ll know why! Afterwards, Liv’s friend of a friend who’s studying out here had a house party, so we went there until the wee-small hours. The music was provided by an English person’s i-tunes, meaning there were some real cheese classics in there which I hadn’t yet heard in BA.

So the following Saturday was the World Cup Final. We missed the fun and festivities of the semis as we were at the Arg Chile football qualifier. It’s a shame they weren’t repeated, but it was good watching the match with a load of English ex-pats in an Irish bar in Palermo. We went to La Puerta Roja (a bar a block and a half away) that night to drown our sorrows. $6 (£1) for a Cuba Libre was most agreeable.

Sunday we went back to Palermo just to chill in the sun, have something to eat and generally people watch. People in Palermo are much more beautiful than San Telmo where I live, essentially because it’s a richer neighbourhood, a bit further away from the city centre. The amount of people that go around with dressings on their nose from plastic surgery is quite considerable and noticeable!

Monday saw me back on the tube, and back into Palermo for the 3^rd day in a row…this time on business. In the last edition, there was a shopping tour of Palermo, which basically listed some of the boutiques in Palermo and what kind of clothes you could expect to find there. Me and Eric went to 40 of the 60 boutiques in the article, providing them with a copy of the paper. That was great fun…not! And it was pretty tiring, we covered a lot of ground!! Each shop that passed, the less enthusiastic, and our spiel got shorter and shorter. The idea is that they will advertise in the paper. Thank God that’s not up to me to sort out! Me and Eric congratulated our efforts with a beer later on in the evening at Bar Seddon.

So Thursday 25^th was the Inaugural Argentimes night at a bar-resto right in the centre of Buenos Aires. Basically, the new investors want to see a community built around the paper, so all of our readers, contributors etc. can come along and meet and mingle and show the papers investors that we’re great! So that’s every Thursday for the foreseeable future. Beforehand though, I went with (photography) Kate, to an exhibition (a photography one as it goes). It was the best press photos from 2007. There were some really amazing pictures on show…a lot of them, as you can imagine, quite moving. Here is a selection of my favourites. Obviously they looked a lot better in “real life”. One Two Three

On Friday I got my haircut, this time, not by some woman old enough to be my gran. I’m actually quite happy with it. I kept on making him cutting it shorter and shorter, even though he was quite hesitant to do so. He wouldn’t touch the mullet though – but it’s ok, I’m growing quite fond of it…When in Rome and all that! I then went to the federal police museum of Buenos Aires as I’m doing a review for it in the next edition. Particular highlight – the murder section. Loads of pictures taken by police at murder crime scenes on display. Lots of corpses with guts hanging out…nice. Got to play football on Friday night though which was cool. Some teachers from an English school (friends of friends) for Argentines organises a kick around with some of their students. I think that’s going to turn into a regular Friday thing. Not only that, I signed up to a gym as well! It’s about a 10 minute walk from mine (2 mins from the office though). It’s a bit rough and ready, but for $70 (£12) a month, with swimming and classes included, I can’t complain.

Sunday 27^th was election day in Argentina, which saw 20 hours’ prohibition from midnight. Voting is compulsory out here, and I guess people cannot be trusted to vote if they are all hungover…fair enough. Needless to say though, Saturday night was rather quiet. On Sunday night, we headed to the Intercontinental Hotel around the corner where the winning candidate was based, expecting to see some activity. But there was hardly anything. So me, Liv and Kate went back to Eric’s to drink wine. I mean, come on! In a country where they protest/gather/demonstrate/celebrate about anything, I was so shocked that the place was dead on the night of the general election. We asked around as to why it was so dead, everyone replied “because it’s Sunday”…love it!

A pretty quiet week followed. The 2^nd Argentimes community event thingy was a bit disappointing in that hardly anyone showed up. But it was fine…we just got a bit moolashed, and ended up in La puerta Roja (again) drinking $6 Cuba Libre (again) with Kristie, Maria (her housemate) and Lucy (her friend over from England).

On Friday after the meeting, me and Matt jetted off to the north to Iguazú to see the waterfalls. Ok, so flying – not the cheapest option, but a lot more appealing than 17 hour coach journey each way. The falls were absolutely amazing. I hope the pictures do them justice. I’m sorry the pictures are quite boring and samey, but if you were there, I can guarantee you’d be a bit snap happy too. We spent all of Saturday at the falls, and all of Saturday night taking advantage of the free Caiprini’s at the hostel. On Sunday, we thought we’d take advantage of being so close to the borders, so popped over to Paraguay via Brazil to get our passport stamp. This effectively renews my tourist visa, allowing me to be in Argentina for another 90 days. Had I not have done the visa run, my original visa would have expired on Dec 10^th, obviously really annoying as I was going to be leaving the country on Dec 22^nd anyway for Christmas. Which by the way, a load of us are planning to spend at a beach hut in Uruguay. But more about that nearer the time.

So that brings us up-to-date chums. Sorry it’s taken a while, and sorry you’ve wasted a fair few minutes of your life reading this. But it’s ok, I don’t mind if you stop reading. This is acting as a journal for me as well so everyone’s a winner.

Anyway, until next time, Ciao! X

Días 19 - 30

Sorry guys it’s been a while and I’m sure you’re missing out on the thrills and spills of Argey Life. Had another busy week and a half or so, so will tell you about some of the highlights!

So way back last Saturday night, we went to a bar called La Divina Comedia, for their ‘Funky 45’ club night. One Saturday every month, Kristie makes a point of trying to get everyone who works for the Argentimes, as well as contributors and friends of the paper out for, essentially, a piss up! Obviously, being just a usual club, anyone could come along, Matt, Marek and their mate Tony came along. We started off at Marek’s drinking rum and coke to get us suitably pissed for our arrival at the club, which turned out to be at 1am. All were there by this point, and all was good: Free entry and 6 pesos for beer. There was a really good atmosphere - Quite a few of us gringos in there, but without the attitude of 3D and Zens. There’s a shock eh! Oh, and they played Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5 and ‘Last night a DJ saved my life,’ so I was in my element. Only prob is, I’ve volunteered to do a review of the place for edition 28 of the paper, and to be totally honest, my memory of the night is a bit sketchy for one reason or another (well mainly just one really!) so that shall be fun.

Monday a few of us from work decided to try out something completamente diferente. We went the this “Cultural Centre”, to see a show, which consisted of about 13 guys playing a variety of different drums in what was essentially a disused warehouse. Just a big open room with a stage basically. The music reminded of ‘Stomp’ or something like that. People just see it as the ideal time to get stoned and dance around like absolute morons. Great to watch…totally surreal. But I was the typical boring English guy, stood with my litre of beer by the wall, watching people just let go! Ok, the music was good, and there’s no doubt the guys had talent, and what they were producing was indeed an art, but, unlike Stevie Wonder et al on Saturday Night, the rhythm didn’t get me (I always knew Gloria Estefan talked shite).

Wednesday saw me get my first freebie as journalist for the Argentimes. We headed off to trendy neighbouring neighbourhood (realised that doesn’t really make sense but you get my drift) to a traditional English tea house (of all places), for afternoon tea. Yes I’m English, and yes I like tea, but this place was just surreal. The place was kitted out like Hyacith Bouquet’s living room…Royal Doulton to boot! (I would have preferred Elizabeth’s plastic beaker.) The tea was good – Twinings sooo much nicer than the La Virginia shite you get out here (although a bit of head’s up about the strainer would have been nice), but the sandwiches/cakes/scones were munch. Made from traditional English recipes apparently – certainly got my (would-be) 30 pesos worth! Was totally bizarre tho, enjoying tea and scones in the centre of Buenos Aires! Headed straight back to the office to meet up with Nacho, discussing the possibility of having Spanish lessons. It all sounded good, and have my first class tomorrow evening!

Spent Thursday night indoors. Matt had downloaded a film called ‘La dignidad de los nadies’ (‘The dignity of the nobodies’) which we watched. Argentina suffered a huge financial crash at the end of 2001, and the film documented how it affected the lives of everyday people. When anything ever goes wrong here, the Argentines take to the streets – and 2001 was no exception. The crash forced so many people below the poverty line, and saw normal people like you and I starve to death. In one of the few countries which has the resources to completely sustain itself, this simply should not happen. Riled with desperation, marches and protests took place, which soon descended into looting and rioting, counteracted by police brutality. This was all caught on film, the scariest part being that the footage was taken from Av. 9 de Julio, the street adjacent to where I live. To see how bad things were here just 5 years ago totally shocked me. While I’m here, I have to do a 5,000 word investigative project for university, and the film inspired me to do something about the crash – maybe something along the lines of how the country has managed to turn itself around after complete ruin. One of the worrying things is, that nobody would be surprised if a similar thing happens in the next few years. The government here make all of their decisions based on the here and now, simply to gain popularity – and this was one of the contributing factors to the crash. One of many though – Argentina was totally not helped by the International Monetary Fund a) keeping on lending them money without trying to address their mounting debt and b) suddenly taking away financial support. I find this a really interesting subject, especially with the general elections under 3 weeks away (although the current First Lady and Senate, Cristina Kirchner, is an absolute shoe in!) Maybe it’s just being out here which has caught my imagination over this issue, but anyway, that’s the lesson over now…back to beer…

Friday night was cool – went for a few beers on Plaza Dorrego – my neighbourhood’s local square. There’s some decent bars there with a really chilled atomosphere. There were still street vendors gathered in the square at 11am, and some randomers just playing guitars and stuff.

We went round to Adam’s flat bright and early on Saturday morning for bacon, egg and chorizo in front of the rugby! I’m not the greatest rugby fan in he world, but you know me, if there’s a bandwagon to be jumped on, I’m on it! Especially if it involves being patriotic. And don’t judge me…I know you were up late that Sunday night, cheering on the British women’s curling team in the tense final at the Winter Olympics a few years ago! So, I’m happy to see England progress, and following Los Pumas’ win over the auld enemy on Sunday, there’s still hope for an England Argentina final. How great it will be to be English over here if that happens, especially what with the whole Falklands debate rearing it’s ugly head in the news recently! I then watched the repeat of the West Ham Aston Villa match, which depressed me – so much so, I went for a siesta. Saturday night was bizarre! It was La Noche de Los Museos (The Night of the Museums), whereby the Buenos Aires council, for one night only, open up 102 of the city’s museums/cultural centres with free entry between 7pm and 2am. A really nice idea, in theory, but hey – this is Argentina, so it was always gonna go abit Pete Tong for us. Matt, Marek and I decided that we wanted to go to the observatory. After our all you can eat for the equivalent of £2.50 meal, we headed to the observatory at about 10pm. On arrival, we were told that the next tour of the observatory wouldn’t be until midnight – not good when we had a taxi picking us up form ours at 1am to take us to a house party. The observatory happened to be one of the only museums not in close proximity to any of the others, so on the tube to the centre it was where we thought we’d have a drink on our way back to the flat. We stumbled across the National Bank on our way, which was open as part of La Noche de Los Museos. Hmm, coincidence what with my research project on the crash coming up, no? The building was stunning, the contents…not so much. The huge bank was full of loads of desks with computers looking like there are run by hamsters – no wonder the economy went a bit tits up. It was cool though to picture what it would have been like on the day of the crash in that place…nothing short of mayhem I should imagine.

So, back to the flat, on the house party in San Isidro. Ok, until arriving at the neighbourhood, didn’t realise it was one of the most affluent areas of Argentina, so it was more like a mansion party. It had a room which I can only assume was intended for parties/functions, which backed out onto a huge garden. What’s more…free alcohol! We didn’t take full advantage though, as being typical Brits (the only non-Argentines at the party, infact), we brought our own! Was a really good party though, with Latin American pop, cumbia and reggaeton all the way (obviously!) We got the train back and I arrived home at 8am Sunday morning. We left Matt asleep on a green in the centre, getting licked by a stray dog. I threw a thromby on the way home though as the tubes were closed so I had to walk like a mile! Needless to say, my body clock was fooked, and I was hungover until Monday night, but I was impressed by my first experience of an Argentine house party!

Monday was deadline day for about 4 pieces so I spent the day finishing off articles/editing my Che Guevara article. I quite like that on the 40^th anniversary of el Che’s death, despite being soooo much media coverage, no one has taken the same angle as me! Che in the Congo – check me right out! Ok, so it’s a bit ropey in places, but Kristie’s happy with it and will be printed in Friday’s edition, with my tea review and Argentina news round up!

Anyways, so it’s Tuesday, sorry is taken so long…hope all is ok in Blighty, and wherever else you may be reading this tripe! Take care!

X

PS. Stan has fleas.

Días 12 - 19 (ish)

Ok, so it’s been another week since I last wrote...doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun and all that! And this past week is a bit hazy – somebody didn’t take notes as to what he’s been up to. So here goes, let’s see what I can remember!!

Ok, Friday, me, Matt and Mareck went to China town in a BA neighbourhood called Belgrano. I say China Town, more like China Street…I met up with the guys there as I had been in the office in the morning for the meeting. This meant braving the tube for the first time on my larrence! Not too scary and quite straightforward (though some knob managed to go one stop too far, so had to hop back on in the other direction –still, at $0.70 (11p) for a journey, it wasn’t too much of an issue. This error would have cost me approximately 27 times more had I have made it in London!) We went in search of exotic spices as, to be honest, as munch as the food is out here, you can’t get anything spicy for love nor money. There were a few things in the Chinese supermarket which looked fairly promising, but nothing really took my fancy (especially considering the smell of the shop was making me heave, and the rows of dead fish were making me scared!) Friday night, we cooked chicken and beef kebabs on skewers with peppers and onions. I say “we”, Matt and Mareck cooked…I watched with a litre of Quilmes Beer in my hand!

Saturday night we planned to do a biggy, Argentine stylie – whereby you don’t even *think* about going out until about 1am…which to be fair, we didn’t. We did make it out…for about half an hour. Cocktails involving tequila, rum and some other shite did not help our cause. We made it to the German bar for, I would say “one”, but it was more like a quarter. Mareck stepped outside for some fresh air. Matt and I soon joined him, only to find him yakking into the gutter. I was in bed by two. So much for my hardcore Argentine night, where I planned on rolling in at about 8am Sunday morning. It was for this reason that we decided against going to the Boca Juniors game on Sunday afternoon. Had we have known what lightweights we’d have been, we could have made it to La Bombanera. Oh well, I got up at 2pm, and Facebooked and such-like all day/night!

Monday was a bit boring. I did laundry and got my haircut. The haircut is…interesante. There’s a hairdressers right near my flat so, as I am a lazy git, I went there. I walked in, and no one was in there, apart from a hairdresser who must have been in her late 60s. I felt too guilty to just turn around and leave so entrusted her with the barnet. Which she’s pretty much mullered. It looks slightly more acceptable with product, but she’s basically just hacked into it blindly! Oh well, it will suffice, and I was still proud that she understood what I wanted (not that she paid much attention mind), especially given I can’t usually explain it in English, let alone Spanish!

Tuesday night I met up with Adam, who was pretty much out of action all weekend, what with his and his missus’ one year anniversary celebrations. He had intended to take her to Uruguay as a treat/get his passport stamped as his Visa is dangerously close to expiring, but the trips were fully booked (with it being a local holiday), so now has to go on the day his Visa expires. Two and a half month’s time, that’ll be me! Gotta love the South American corruption mind! I went to a couple of new bars on the Plaza Dorrego (my neighbourhood’s local square) which was cool, as, despite nearly 3 weeks’ living here, it is somewhere I have never been!) The evening was rounded off with a nice Sandwich de Lomito, which is basically meat in bread.

Wednesday night was the launch night of The Argentime’s new cultural supplement, ‘The A Supplement’, (see what they did there?) This basically involved dressing up smartly, going to a gallery, and talking to advertisers/potential advertisers/industry people in both Spanish and English – the free red wine helped relieve the initial awkwardness. Oh, and in Kate, a fellow intern, I have found somebody whose cheeks go nearly (though not quite) as red as mine…see pics on Facebook for proof! We nearly had the newspaper supplement launch event with no newspaper or supplement mind! Me, Liv and Michelle (Kristie’s housemate/Argentimes contributor) arranged to go and pick the papers up from the new printers at 6pm. Given that the event started at 7pm and the venue was only half an hour away by cab, we gathered we’d have about half an hour’s leaway…you’d think huh? We turned up at the printers though, who’d totally denied telling us the paper would be ready at 6pm, despite Kristie confirming this several times during the day, and Michelle doing so at 5.50pm. With a mixture of getting angry/crying/pretending to go dizzy/using her feminine charm, we eventually received the papers at around 7.30pm – half an hour into the event. Not a major disaster in the end, but obviously not the ideal scenario, making us look rather unprofessional. We eventually handed out the paper at 8ish, WITH new supplement and it seemed to go down really well. Oh, and my name is now in print in The Argentimes, how cool is that?! (Loser, I know) As nice as the food was (prepared by none other then Francis Mallman, Argentina’s equivalent of Gordon Ramsey), it was only canapés, so I once again deemed it necessary to conclude the night’s events with a Sandwich de Lomito (for all those who have forgot, meat in a bun!!)

So this brings us up to date. It’s Thursday, I’m in the office, Stan the kitten is harassing me and I’m researching a story I’m going to be doing on Che Guevara…it’s all business as usual. The Andy Fletcher interview has been cancelled, so my big story for the next edition (other than the Ché Guevara one), will be a review of “High Tea” at some hotel. “How gay!” I hear you cry. Well, in answer to this I say a) It’s not as gay as the drag queen sex tour (which also got cancelled – welcome to Argentina people) and b) I get free tea AND cake, and you don’t…admittedly though, there’s plenty of time for it to get cancelled.

On that note, I’ll let you lot get back on with your hectic lives (which for most involves settling back into the hectic uni lifestyle…by the way – what the hell is going on in Neighbours…?)

Ciao for now chicos!

X

Días 3 - 11

Ok, it’s been a really long while since I wrote my first (and only) blog – but I’ve been busy ok? Anyways, now I’m at work so have five minutes to fill you all in on what’s been going on in the wonderful world of Buenos Aires…

So, I left you (with baited breath) last Wednesday afternoon, so this seems like the ideal place to pick up with the story. After I wrote my blog, I needed some food…it’s hungry work all this writing! Me and Liv walked round to Zapi, the local pizza place for some empinadas. Sound exotic hey? Well, sorry Argentina, I’m not going to go into details about stealing things from Great Britain and vice versa (that could lead me into all sorts of trouble), but they’re clearly mini Cornish pasties. Quite tasty though, with less gristle than your average Asda Smart Price Cornish Pasty…not knocking them mind! Wednesday evening, Liv and I went to Bar Seddon at the bottom of the road. After lots of beer, we decided it was time to give the ol’ Trapiche red wine a whirl. And give it a whirl we did…Gabriel met up with us later on in the evening – no wonder foreigners have such negative impressions of us Brits!

So anyway, woke up Thursday with sore head, and had to go in for a quick coffee with Kristie. This was fine…not a problem – till she suggested lunch. Kristie, ‘Photography’ Kate (the head of photography – from Eltham for all you homies), Liv and I went to a vegetarian/organic restaurant around the corner from work. I had burgers of some vegetarian/organic description with salad – although very nice, I was hungover and very much in need of a large Big Mac meal with Coke. Anyways, I can’t remember what I did that afternoon (this was over a week ago…good job I kept notes otherwise I wouldn’t have remembered this much!) But I do remember that evening, and yes, it revolved around food! Liv and I decided to cook – student classic of chicken with loads of vegetables in sauce with pasta – all courtesy of the supermercado around the corner from the hostel. Cooking in the hostel was fine, and I had free reign of the kitchen and made my usual amount of mess whilst cooking. You know what it’s like when you’ve spent the day hungover, so I had an early night, falling asleep infront of Family Guy on my laptop…bless.

Friday daytime I don’t really remember… I do remember at 3.40pm logging MSN to find dad online. We had a quick chat…he was itching to get down the pub (as was I), so despite this being our first conversation whilst me being in BA, we kept it brief and manly…none of this “miss you” shit haha! Liv was looking round an apartment at 4pm, so I headed to Gibraltar, the local English pub to watch England play South Africa in the Rugby World Cup. I arrived and there was a crowd of people outside. Apparently, the owner was asleep and couldn’t be arsed to open the bar (information obtained by the cleaner?), so the angry (and, indeed, thirsty) English contingent outside walked up to the Irish bar, Molly Mallone’s to watch the match. Now I’m not a major rugby fan myself, but even I could tell that England were shocking, but hey ho, the beers were flowing. I was talking to two mates (Mareck and Matt) from Bristol, and a guy called Adam from Billericay. We all exchanged stories as to why we were in BA, and it turns out that Mareck’s housemate is none other than the aforementioned photography Kate. Small world huh? Anyways, Adam’s Argentine bird rocks up, Matt, Mareck and I rock on to Mareck’s, Liv rocks up to Mareck’s, you know how it is. Matt makes Pisco sours – don’t really know what they are, but it involved matt disappearing to the kitchen for about 30 mins, and rocking up with some alcoholic-tasting whisked egg whites. Matt passes out, Liv decides to go back to the hostel, Mareck and I decide to go to the German bar near his to drink more. 2.30am, we call it a night. Oh and Tom gets lost on the way home as his pocket map was really blurry for some reason. A random Argentine dude saw me struggling with my Guia “T” and very kindly gave me directions back to the hostel, where I woke up safe and sound the next morning.

Like Friday daytime, I can’t really remember much about Saturday day time – actually yes! I do! I watched Gillette Soccer Saturday in bed which isn’t bad as it sounds, bearing in mind we are 4 hours behind you! Gabriel made a fair comment, claiming that Alan McInally sounds like Fat Bastard out of Austin Powers – good spot Gabs, do we not agree? After Soccer Saturday Liv and I went for some lunch and made plans for Saturday night. We decided to try out Rey Castro’s, a bar in town. As it was Gabriel’s last night, he was going to come and meet us after dinner with his mum and sis. So we rocked on up to Rae Castro’s at 9.10pm, and they were still setting up, saying they’d be open in half an hour. So we carried on into Microcentro, the centre of BA where everything is to find another pub…and could we find a pub that was open?…could we fook! Us gringos have a lot to learn about going out…it just doesn’t happen here much before 1am! So we head back to San Telmo for a drink in Bar Seddon (15 mins in opposite direction). Thought we’d try Rey Castro again a little while after, and the bouncer tells us you have to have booked a table to get in…So back to San Telmo, where we met Gabriel and went to Bar & Co. where Liv and I went on the first night.

On Sunday morning I viewed my first flat which was ok, but a bit to south of San Telmo. i.e. more than a 10 minute walk from work haha! Sunday afternoon was weird as Liv had moved out to her place, and Gabriel had gone back to Chile. There was a power cut at the hostel which didn’t help as I had flats to be finding, and low battery on the ol’ laptop. So I found a internet café on the way into town, where I spent two hours looking for places/arranging viewings/facebooking. The weather afterwards was bitterly cold, so I went to the pub to warm up (as you do!), although I only had mineral water – and a toasted sandwich…utterly depressing on my larry haha! After that, the weather had cheered up a bit, so went for a wander around the San Telmo feria, which is a local kind of street party/market. It was amazing…lots of local artisans were selling their products on stools in the streets, and between those, just people banging drums and making music – people were just stopping in the streets and having a dance…bizarre, yet quaint! By this time, Liv had moved in and was ready for a drink, so we met up and she told me all about her new gaff.

On Monday morning, we had our first editorial team meeting which was great – it made me feel important as we sat round the big table in the office and I had a cup of tea and made notes, and came out with my usual quirky/witty comments as/when the opportunity presented itself! It was cool getting everyone together…there were 9 of us I think, and we’re kinda the main ones that run the paper. The rest of the team is made up of contributors who just submit articles etc. via e-mail, who we’ll probably never meet. We all went out for lunch afterwards as a bonding type thing, which was cool – getting to know each other etc. Spent the rest of the afternoon looking around a couple of dives and was starting to think that this was the type of place I’d have to live in and resigned myself to lowering my expectations. The last house of the day though was sooo much better than the others, and at only 750 pesos (£125) a month, all bills included, this place was the one. Nice big double room, small but comfortable living area, and an old-fashioned yet somehow clean/non-grotty bathroom and kitchen (which are off a landing which is kinda outside – people familiar with Argentine/Spanish – I think - housing may get what I mean – hard to explain). Sergio the landlord explained that there was a French guy living there already, I would have one room, and that the other two were still free. I recalled Matt from Friday night was still looking for a place. I called him to let him know and he came round on Tuesday when I moved in, and he moved in that night! I went round to Adam’s (from Molly Malone’s) place afterwards to celebrate with a few bottles of Quilmes!

Anyways, so Tuesday (before me/Matt move in) I had to go in the office at 11am. There were a few bits and pieces for the next edition of The Argentimes which needed doing. Although Liv and I, as new interns, weren’t expected to be involved in this edition, we were asked to help, doing the What’s On in BA guide, as well as the round up of funny news around world. I liked the story of the Japanese teacher who was awarded by his education authority for his services to teaching, despite being accused several times of using corporal punishment techniques on his students…those crazy Japs! One offence included throwing a chair at the volleyball team he coached…I swear Mr Walder did that to someone in maths…or was it a table? I spent all day in the office on this, then moved in to the gaff. Like I say, Matt moved in that night, so Marek and Adam came round for some celebratory beers. Fabien, our French flatmate was in, and had a few beers and a chat with us so it’s all gravy.

Yesterday was Wednesday, and wanted to get a few bits for my room. i.e. some makeshift curtains until Sergio puts some up, a throw to cover up the chair (which looks abit worse for wear, earning it the name of ‘the wank throne’ by Mareck) and another pillow…one just ain’t enough! I’ve turned into such a tight bastard (more so than usual, haha, I know) since being out here as everything’s soo cheap. I was like, “I aint paying $30 pesos (£5) for a throw”, so looked around every shop I could find, only to get my goods in the first shop I went in…what a muppet. I did food shopping in the arvo, and spent the night infront of cable tv…which, I might add, is great! Loadsa English (well, American), programmes with Spanish subtitles. I am now a fan of the following shows…American Dad, Seinfeld, MadTV, Drew Carey, Two and a Half Men, Scrubs and My Name is Earl. I was in bed and asleep by half nine – loser.

So that brings us nicely to today...I have been in the office since 10, and had the office kitten, Stan (who looks like a cow), on my lap since about 11. It’s now 5.50 (nice timing as I go at 6) and my nose is running, eyes are watering and I’m sneezing like a bitch. In terms of work, I have a press pass (ooh get me) to onedotzero, a music festival and Krisite said I should be able to interview anyone there. The most famous person is Andy Fletcher out of Depeche Mode, so I have been researching him most of the day and hopefully she can arrange an interview with him for me. Sorry it’s nobody more famous.

Thursday is my office day so you can expect to find me here every week and is a really good time to get in contact over the net…e-mail, Facebook, MSN as I’m pretty much guaranteed to be online. Anyways, better get ready to go home…Liv is coming round tonight for the grand tour. Sorry about lack of entertainingness of this blog, but I had a lot to fit in. Hope anyone who’s interested has a bit more of an insight into what life’s been like. It’s really hard when people say “what have you been up to?” as it’s hard to know where to begin. I’m thinking that this is the easiest way…comments etc. as ever are welcome, and can be posted by clicking below on this page.

Muchas Gracias por su atención amigos…besos y ciao for now. X

Días 1-3

Hola de Buenos Aires!

Well, I'm finally here, and finally have got the chance to sit down for five minutes and let you know what's been going on (although I did check Facebook first - thanks one and all for the messages as well as for the invitations to events when I'm not actually in the country!) The main reason I have some time is because it's absolutely pissing it down! Me and Olivia did venture out earlier, but out little trip to have a look at the congress buildings and other touristy spots was cut short thanks to the rain. We did buy umbrellas, and yes, mine did break after about 2 minutes...that was the biggest waste of ten pesos (£1.60) I tell thee!

So, it's been pretty manic - it all started way back on Monday...a 2hr flight to Madrid, and then an 11hr30 flight on to BA...ahh, good times. Still, great entertainment and endless people watching opportunities were provided on the long trip, mainly by the Spaniards. In fact, the plane was pretty much full of Spanish speakers. The trip just reaffirmed my beliefs that you can tell Spanish people from a mile off - loads of elegant women, in sleek, stylish clothes, heavily made up, but who still manage to look like they live in the early 90s. I was disappointed by the lack of ill-matched denim and mousse which you're normally confronted with when in a confined space with Spaniards...although the air stewardess who looked scarily like Miss Man out of ScaryMovie did't fail to disappoint, with a tall curly, fake blonde barnet, cemented together with a lifetime's supply of product. More purposeful entertainment on board proved to be more dissapointing - I had no interest in watching Pirates of the Caribbean 3, and the film I did watch, Bajo las Estrellas (Under the Stars), was a pile of jank. I didn't realise that Spanish people clap when the plane lands successfully, this took me by surprise...I felt more inclined to break into spontaneous applause when Bajo las Estrellas finished! And the award for most surprising aspect of the journey...the sheer number of Jews who travel to Buenos Aires from Madrid.

We got a cab to the hostel Ostinatto which took about 45 mins - the fact that the cabbie had no clue where the hostel was didn't help matters. A nice guy, but totally had our pants down, charging us £15 for a ride which should only cost £7.50 - tosser. The journey was definitely one of those "what the hell am I doing here?" moments, and the taxi itself made the ones in Egypt look positively luxourious. The cabbie later explained that the car was in urgent need of repairs, but couldn't be fitted in at the garage until Thursday! It turns out that the hostel is about a 30 second walk form the office where I'll be working. On discouvring this exciting fact, me and Liv decided to celebrate with una cerveza at a pub type thing round the corner! There was further need to celebrate when we discovered that it costs around 70p for 500ml of beer! Another one of those"what the hell am I doing here?" moments occurred whilst guzzling our Isenbeck's al fresco under a corregated shelter in the pissing rain...we observed Argentineans go about their usual business at 10.30ish on a Monday night. Some rode around in shabby cars on the wide one way street which had about 6 lanes (which was fun crossing, as you can imagine), others in ragged clothes searched through piles of rubbish bags for anything they can eat/sell - one man's trash and all that, but still not a nice thing to see.

The hostel is cool. I've never stayed in a youth hostel and couldn't really imagine sharing a room/bathroom facilites with 6 other randommers, but it's been totally fine...so much so, we've extended our stay for another few days (nothing to do with the fact that we haven't started to look for appartments properly yet!)

Yesterday lunchtime we went for a cafe con leche in a little cafe - it was totally bizarre. Looking out at the rundown, yet elegant buildings of San Telmo, and the policemen pushing their broken down patrol car down the road contributed to the strangeness of the situation. Once again, the coffee was as cheap as ya like! We met up with Kristie, the editor of The Argentimes at the office, which also doubles as her home! She took us for coffee and explained everything about the paper/work. She was really nice and everyting just seems so informal/casual so I'm sure it's going to be fine. She explained about the first two assignments, one of which, she wanted to be done by a young bloke (kinda ruling Olivia out, thus leaving her to do the other). She explained Olivia's first...something to do with reviewing an art tour. Then on to mine...I knew something wasn't quite right when she said "If you don't feel comfortable with doing this then that's absolutely fine", then proceeded to piss herself with laughter. When she finally composed herself, she managed to briefly explain that she needed a young male journalist to review a new tour coming to Buenos Aires to go in the paper's cultural supplement. "Not a problem", I'm thinking, "Why should I be uncomfortable with that?" Anyways, I've conveniently managed to rid the main details from my head about the review, but the words "sex tour" and "drag queens" were mentioned - I find out more about my first project when I officially start work on Monday...

In terms of work, I have to come in for an editorial team meeting on a Monday and a Friday, and choose one other day as my "office day", when I have to be in from 10 til 6. So basically, I get to do my writing whenever I want (naturally providing I meet dealdlines) so that's cool!

After the meeting, me and Olivia went to Calle Florida, the main shopping area, to get a mobile phone so I now have an Argentinean number - check me right out! I won't use it internationally as it's so much cheaper to phone from a Locotura which is like a internet/phone cafe, which are located all over the shop! After our shopping expedition, we went for a steak at a restaurant about 3 mins away on Kristie's recommendation. The steak was absolutely amazing - I always thought the saying "melt in your mouth" was cliché, and I wasn't really sure what was meant by it - but now I know! It was cooked to perfection, no grissle, and costed, along with chips and a beer, £3!!!

We headed back to the hostel afterwards. Liv was abit tired, so decided against coming out with me and our roomie Gabriel. He's here with his mum and sis, which can't be great for a 22 yr old, so we decided to go for a...I wanna say pint, but it's a half litre...or two! We found a couple of nice bars locally with good atmospheres. It was a really good as he's from Chile so I got to practice my Spanish all night.

As for today, like I say, the weather is crap. We headed up to Plaza de Mayo to see the building from which Eva Perón gave all her speeches, the got the tube (subte) to Congreso to have a look at the Congress building and the senate. The rain got really heavy so we decided just to give up, tube it back home, and do the touristy things another day when the weather's nicer. The tube was an experience in itself - it's 12p for a single trip, and the carriages inside are totally wooden, and lit by lamps! Oh, and there's none of that waiting for the train to stop moving before the doors open malarkey!

So that's about it for now. I'm sure I've bored you enough, but just thought I'd keep you in the picture about what life's been like the past few days. Anyways, take care losers and catch you all soon!!

Ciao X