Let me start this blog off with a disclaimer in relation to the title. The two words to which I refer that start with "F" don't both start with "F" in the same language. The first word I'm talking about is friendship ("amistad" in Spanish). The second word is Fútbol (the one played with your feet, I hope no translation is needed..).
The picture quality isn't great, but it works.
And finally, I met the goalkeeper. I'm told he's the best in the league. His name is Julio Chiarini. Google him.
I can't really describe the fútbol situation that well because I get too excited and can't even think. This is exactly the type of experience I wanted from his trip.
Closing in on the end of my third week here in Argentina, I'm beginning to understand a liiiiiittle bit more about how things work here. Just to name some of the things that I've been learning:
1. My rain jacket works SUPER well!!
2. Wearing a rain jacket doesn't prevent your pants from getting wet.
3. My pants take about a day and a half to dry out.
4. People here love friendship.
5. People here love fútbol.
6. "Amistad" and "soccer" both start with an "F" when I want them to.
I assure you that the list of things I've learned is far more extensive than the list above, but the two things that have stuck out to me the most in the last three weeks have been related to the two "F"s.
First!
Friendship. If you're expecting an extensive guideline about the structure of friendship in Argentina, you're out of luck. I do have something close though.
Mate.
And by "mate" I don't mean the word that English people use instead of "friend."
Mate (MAH-Tay) is a hot beverage. A tea, if you will. Except it's not a tea. It's hot water with a mixture of Yerba (herbs, more or less), but there's not any type of tea bag.
UNLIKE tea, mate isn't something that people drink just for the taste. Drinking mate is a social event. When I say social event, it's somewhere in the context of "We're going to go to the park at 5:00 to drink mate" and not "Mate concert! We're gettin Yerba wasted... bring your friends!"
Mate can be enjoyed at any time of the day, but I'm going to use merienda (the snack/afternoon tea in between lunch and dinner) as the example.
One person has the cup (porongo), straw (bombilla), and the thermos full of hot water. This person is the server. He/she preps the mate, pours the water into the mate, and hands it to the person close to him. The person drinks the whole cup (usually only 5 or so sips because it's packed with yerba), and hands it back to the server, who pours another and passes it to someone else. This happens until everybody drinks, and then the server pours his/her own. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Usually there's a snack involved (as shown below), but the whole point of it is really to just talk with the people you're with. Meriende solo would be kinda depressing...
Dulce de leche is important enough to get it's own picture. It's similar to a smooooooth caramel, but it's SO MUCH BETTER.
The second "F" for me is a big one. I played fútbol in the States, and now I'm playing here in Argentina.
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| This is mate. The straw is called the Bombilla and the cup/mug part of it varies depending on the name.. so I've been told. |
Mate can be enjoyed at any time of the day, but I'm going to use merienda (the snack/afternoon tea in between lunch and dinner) as the example.
One person has the cup (porongo), straw (bombilla), and the thermos full of hot water. This person is the server. He/she preps the mate, pours the water into the mate, and hands it to the person close to him. The person drinks the whole cup (usually only 5 or so sips because it's packed with yerba), and hands it back to the server, who pours another and passes it to someone else. This happens until everybody drinks, and then the server pours his/her own. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Usually there's a snack involved (as shown below), but the whole point of it is really to just talk with the people you're with. Meriende solo would be kinda depressing...
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| Mate with some criollitos (type of bread) and some dulce de leche (sweet nectar). |
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| Beautiful, I know. |
STORY TIME
There's no way I could give you the full run down of this, but I'll give a super abbreviated version with short stubby sentences. I went to a birthday party with my host family. The nephew of my host mom said his team needed a goalkeeper. I is goalkeeper. I went to what I THOUGHT was a pickup game and I think I unknowingly tried out for a futsal team. The club is called Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba. They have a bunch of different types of sports teams, including a full-field soccer team that plays in the lower division of the premier league here. I don't play for that team, but I play for the futsal team. Here's where it gets exciting..
Last night, we had a meeting in the stadium. After the meeting, we walked into the stands and watched the league team practice. Ohhhhhh yes.
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| Just a picture of the stadium. Their colors are red and white… as you can see. |
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| Here's one of the field. You may not like it, but I was freaking out. |
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| Seriously. Google him. |
Now that classes have started and I have a routine, I can finally get the ball* rolling on some good pictures (hopefully).
See ya later, savages.
Benjamín
*Meh