He's Crazy...But I Understood Him

On October 11, I will be running 20 some miles in the Buenos Aires Marathon. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm doing it to prove to myself that I can....It's a mental thing. So I'm trying to run at least 4 days a week in the morning, and so far so good. Still, I haven't found a water polo team but I'm not too worried about it because I'm focusing on the marathon. This week I've just been walking around the city trying to get used to it. The other day I was walking down a street and saw a man standing in front of a pile of broken glass with a big crowd around him. He's know as The Crazy Glass Man...original...I know. He's on youtube. Type in El loco de vidrio. Well, this man is very charismatic and a crowd-pleaser. He throws the glass in his face and jumps and marches on the glass. For the final part of the show, he lays on top of broken wine bottle necks with a few people standing on him. So he chose a few guys from the audience. The were australian soccer players....wait, one problem...they didn't spanish and the crazy glass man didn't speak english...so the crazy glass man asked for an interpreter in the audience. I raised my hand and he chose me to help him. So, I explained everything to the guys that the crazy man said, and it went exactly as planned. The crazy man told me that my spanish was really good and that if I'm as nice to the people in Argentina as I was to him, I will make a lot of friends. The australians were really surprised that I could speak spanish. Another day this week, I went to a buffet with my friend from Mexico, Arturo. For about 12 bucks, we ate all the cow, lamb and pig we wanted with drinks and dessert. Argentina is world-renowned for it's meat and now I know why. The buffet was absolutely delicious.

Miss all of you guys!

First Week in Buenos Aires

I don't really have much to do during the day, so two days ago I went to the zoo and a farm exposition and today I went to the basilica, a cementary and two museums. Here a few pictures.

I'm Alive in Buenos Aires

Sorry, I haven't written in awhile. I am alive and well. The last few weeks were pretty rough for me because I had to say goodbye to a lot of friends and family in Santiago. On July 20th, I took a 24 hour bus to Buenos Aires and arrived the 21st around 1pm. Here, I'm one hour ahead of the east coast of the US. The first two days I've been here, it has rained and been really cold. I'm a little overwhelmed because I feel like I'm in the heart of NYC. The city is alright, but a little to busy for me. Today, the sun is out but it is still cold...like 50 degrees with a strong wind. I live in an 8th floor apartment with a nice family. I get along with them pretty well, and so far so good. Yesterday, I had my first day of orientation at the Universidad del Salvador. In my program, they're people from Puerto Rico, Colombia, France, England, Germany, Canada, Ireland, and only a few from the US. Now, I don't have really anything to do until August 18, so I might try to travel. My plans are to see Iguazu Falls, the cities of Mendoza, Bariloche and Montevideo, Uruguay. This is just what I'm thinking. I still need to get to know the city because it's so darn big. With my family, I talk a lot about Chile...so if they don't like it...too bad. I had such a great experience in Santiago. I passed all my classes and survived a final oral exam of state theory...rough. All in all, everything is great and I'm excited to start all over again in Buenos Aires...even though I wish I was in the US enjoying the summer and seeing all of you guys. MISS YOU ALL!!!

I Think Hannah Montana Was At My Water Polo Game!!!

June 17: I found out that a water polo teammate from Loyola died of a heart attack. He was a grad-student and had just recently graduated with his masters at the age of 33. Each member of the water polo team wrote a letter to his spouse. I received a 4.4 on my second philosophy exam. At practice my teammates were upset that to find out that I'd be leaving in a month. The whole fam is at the farm and I'm super jealous.

June 18: I received a 5.3 on my second state exam. My brother Pablo had an interview with Greenland high school to become a history and human rights teacher.

June 19: I went to the national library to study and Meredith told me about Cecilia Vicuna's poems. I read a few, and they're incredible. At night, I wrote my poem for class:

Sueño mío

Caminando por las estrellas,
Busco la única que brilla.
La estrella que me llevará a mi sueño de paz.
La misma paz que yo compartía años atrás
Con las personas que extraño durante esta noche oscura.
Estoy solo, solo con mi sueño;
El sueño de mi vida pasada.
Mi vida no sólo ha perdido su sentido,
Sino que sus esperanzas también.
Tengo que salir de esta vida.
Tengo que encontrar algo mejor.
Tengo que volver a mi pasado.
Sólo puedo esperar, soñar y rogar
Que el último día se acerque con prisa.
Dios mío, Dios mío, sé mi estrella.
No me abandones otra vez.

-Josh Barnes

June 20: I made hamburgers with Meredith for the family. I never realized how much I missed burgers. I'm dying for a five guy's burger. I went out with Pablo, Meredith and Hector. Meredith taught us all how to dance salsa.

June 21: At night, I went to the birthday party of the seminarian in our group. I tried to joke with the seminarians, but they were a little dry. A poor guy on the street told me to go back to the US because I didn't give him money.

June 22: Matthew from Univ. Cali. San Diego is now living with us. He's studying psychology at the Catholic Univ. here.

June 26: The past week I had a philosophy exam, a poetry exam and a state exam. Laura's father came to visit her and we went to Bravissimo, so everyone could meet him. I prepared my Poetry Presentation.

June 27: I went to Cerro Santa Lucia and the artesan fair there.

June 28: At mass, I read the second reading. A girl named Montserrat received her first communion. After mass, I met a Trinitarian who's been to the retreat house I went to senior year of high school.

June 29: Feast of Saint Paul

June 30: I received a 5.0 on my recuperation state exam. This exam takes the place of the 4.0 that I received on the first exam. I received a 5.3 on my third philosophy exam. David and I received a 6.7 on our poetry presentation. Pablo got the job at the high school and today was his first day. My host mom told me that she doesn't want to live a long life because she thinks old people just pester people.

July 3: Last Wednesday, I had my final exam for philosophy....so hard that my head hurt afterwards. Thursday, I had my third state exam. I had my last poverty class, and handed in my final essay.

July 4: At 9:30am, I went to the US Embassy here to watch the ceremony of the raising of the American flag. I got free Starbucks and McDonald's. We had a cook-out at the house. I had a polo game. Then, I went to the cook-out at my friend Esteban's house. I bought my new camera. At night, I went out with Pablo, Meredith and Hector.

Today: I went to mass. Then, I had a water polo game at the national stadium. We played against the city of Valparaiso. We won by a lot and I scored 4 goals. I have no clue why, but before the game...music was playing and they played "Everyone Makes Mistakes" by Hannahtana.

Easter Island...I Didn't See Any Bunnies Though

Day 1

First, we had to get off our plane and switch to another one because of technical difficulties, but at least we got a free breakfast out of it. In the plane, I watched the movie "Into the Wild." It was really good...better than the book. The movie makes me want to read Thoreau. My favorite quote of the movie is: Happiness is only real when shared. I tried to watch "A Beautiful Mind" afterwards, but I fell asleep. The first thing I thought when I got off the plane was how clean the air was. There's no pollution whatsoever. Everything here is so beautiful. I think I'm dreaming. In the afternoon, I walked along the coast with my group to see a few of the moai (human looking statues). I took a lot of great pictures. At night, we went to a traditional Rapa Nui dance that was spectacular.

Day 2

I ran at 8am to take advantage of the beautiful weather. I ran past the armada and found a tiny port of boats and another moai. Before, I turned around to go back, I found a cave with a few paintings and awesome cliffs. For breakfast, the hostel gave us bread, a tortilla, and tea. After breakfast, I went SCUBA diving with Amanda Bell and Hanna. The instructor taught us everything we needed to know in about 10 minutes. The dive was incredible. We saw many colorful fish, a few eels and a moai. We paid about $55US a person and we shared the cost of the pictures which was $18US. After lunch, I went to Volcano Orango. At the top, I paid $8US to enter the former ceremonial lands of the indigenous people. Seeing the island of the Birdman was incredible. Probably my favorite part of the trip. Now the volcano is a huge crater filled with sweet water. Coming down from the mountain, I got a little lost, but eventually found my way. I was exhausted by the end of the day. At night, I played cards with David, Cathleen, Hanna, and Laura B.

Day 3

I went to mass with David and Joe at 9am. They played Rapa Nui music which was pretty cool. David was able to sit on the altar because he met with the priest the other day....not to mention he's a seminarian. After mass, there was a procession to the hospital. It was interesting to see the art in the church because it was the combination of Catholicism and the Rapa Nui myths.

After church, Joe and I met up with Amanda and Stefan. We rented a truck which Joe named Reba. We went to many places along the coast. At one point my camera broke. The lense won't move and it keeps telling me lens error. After the coast, we went to Raraka (the factory of the moai...where they were made). There were 400 moai on this mountain alone. We ate lunch in front of a line of 15 moai along the coast. There we found a cave with a lot of bones in it...not sure if they were human or not. Outside we found the skull of a horse which Joe named Ned. We took Ned with us on our journey. After this, we went to Ovahe, which I named Paradise Lost. It was a beach which we thought was very remote, but people saw Reba from the road and followed us. However, we still had a great time in the water. Paradise Lost was really cool because it had a cave in the side of a mountain. Afterwards, we went to the famous beach called Ana Kena. We didn't like that beach to much because it was crowded. After the beach, Amanda taught me how to drive stick. I stalled 5 times, but now I feel comfortable driving a stick. To end the great day, we followed the sunset which was insane.

Day 4

This morning I went to the diving place with Amanda and Hanna to pick up our pictures. I had the same expression in every picture (blue steel from zoolander) but they were still really cool. From the same place, we rented snorkel gear, and took a taxi to Ana Kena. Our driver was super nice and his son was really cute. At the beach, we went snorkeling and saw even more cool fish. I think I saw the shell of a rape rape (a mix between a crab and a lobster...only found on the island). My favorite fish was half orange and half blue, but my favorite fist from the SCUBA diving was bright green with neon pink stripes. After Amanda and Hanna were done, I took Laura M. and Kara snorkeling, and then Beth went by herself. Our cab driver took us back to the hostel at 5pm. From there, I went shopping and bought really cool bamboo picture frames. At night, I got a text from my chilean friend that said that I received a 4.4 on my philosophy test which is like a 76%...a lot better than the 2.2 I got the first time.

Last Day

In the morning, I ate breakfast and then went shopping. I got my passport stamped and bought cool gifts for family and friends. On the plane home, I listened to some great spanish music. My favorites were by Sin Bandera and Thalia.

Unfortunately, when I got home, I received an e-mail from a girl on my loyola water polo team that informed me that one of our teammates had died. James Phillip Bowman was a 33 yr old mechanical engineer grad student who just received his masters from loyola last month. He suffered a heart attack while playing a pick-up game of roller hockey. He was an incredible guy and he will definitely be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

We Won!!!

Friday night was my first water polo game with my club, Stadio Italiano. We played a team of old guys...I thinks the teams name was ORCOS or OSCS...let's call them DORKOS...yeah, that sounds better. I played pretty well. I was only kicked out once, and I was able to draw four kickouts. I scored twice, but one didn't count...I still don't know why. Anyways, we won 15-6 and the guys from my team asked me to go to dinner with them afterwards. It feels like they're accepting me as one of their own; it's awesome. Today, I bought a ticket for the world cup qualifier game this wednesday between Chile and Bolivia. Chile only needs to tie to qualify for the world cup. They beat Paraguay last night 2-0. Then friday morning, I'm off to Easter Island.