Las Andanzas del Caballero (las telas y las no tanto)

Half-arsed attempt at a post, so... beware!

Fri, 09 Feb 2007 17:59:55 GMT

Dear Diary:

Whoa, it's been quite a while, hasn't it? Almost... two months, in fact, OMG!

I've been intending to write a meaningful entry down for weeks, I have... but I couldn't due to a mix of oftenly unrelated circumstances, the main of them being my own laziness (as most of you have probably guessed by now ;P) so I have nothing too important to show you all right now. Well, perhaps I do, but since I'm currently at the office and supposedly working on this important suit, I can't post a very beautiful thing I received in the mail the other day. I shall do it as soon as I'm back home, though!
Regardless of those obvious, little cons that having a journal in english usually brings on me (like subjecting you readers to horrible grammar at times and, of course, the risk of my RL friends finding out of this little internet corner... which they now know of... ARGH!!!) It's nice to be back: I have many things to post, some of them memories from the time I was in Argentina (I would HATE myself if I allowed them to be washed away by Time... a journal is, after all, a way of preserving good memories, bad memories, life lessons, whatever. I'll use it the way it was intended to be used, then!)

Anywayz, before leaving again, I shall leave you with a little exchange between my sister Rocío and me (this little dialogue took place on Sunday, while we were watching TV)

Me: "Oye Chio: ¿tienes alguna idea de lo que es este "Supertazón"? Me parece que es un campeonato de fútbol americano o algo así..." ("Hey Chio: do you have any idea of what's this "Superbowl" thing? I think it's an american football championship or something like that...")

Chio: "Uhhmmm..., creo que no es un campeonato sino un solo juego, algo que dura un día nada mas" ("Uhhmmm..., I think it's not a championship but a single match. Something that's supposed to be over within the day")

Me: "¿Y por qué se llama "Supertazón"?" ("And why's it called: "Superbowl"?")

Chio: "Ah, eso no lo sé" ("Beh, I dunno")

Me: "Gringos atorrantes..." (¡¿¡ !?!)

.
.
.

Bai!!!

'Cause it's good for you...

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 06:48:43 GMT

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

.
.
.

(And for all the Political Correctness freaks out there: HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ;P )

While I was having a blast, I do think it was about time...

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 04:48:23 GMT

Dear Diary:

Just though I should post and fill you in with the latest news. Because, you see...

I'M GOING HOME!
YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE (ad infinitum)!!!

My next (and significant longer, I promise) post will be written from the comfortableness of my VERY OWN HOME.

Dudes, I just CAN'T WAIT! While I do feel sorry I have to bid Andrés, Doris, Bruce, Manuel, Héctor, Aura, Yadira, Lilia, Paola, Mari, Christian and a big etc farewell for now ('cause you can bet this won't be the last time I see this guys and gals) I missed my family and friends.

Moooom! Daaaad! "Luigi"! "Chio"! "Tato"'s on his way home! And he wants to eat some tasty peruvian yummies BADLY!

And a happy belated birthday to my good friend rednic[Unknown LJ tag]

Short entries have an inherent lack of win...

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 16:35:05 GMT

Dear Diary:

Tired. Tiiiired... been up more than 24 hours straight and while this's certainly no Guinness Record (nor a personal record, not in the least) I feel kinda dizzy. Uhhhmmm... must be all the Coca Cola I had during the night... damn that course. Thanks God, I'm over with it.

Anyway, I'm sorry I didn't post about nicer happenings before. GOD KNOWS I've had that sorta things happening to me during this last weeks: they all have a lot to do with pizza, movies, the "Sahara" club, long night-time conversations, dogs taking a poo WHERE THEY SHOULDN'T and an insomniac girl. Fun times!

Alas, I'm currently too tired to write details down (sorry Mari!) but I'll try to write a longer post later today (as I have to research a lot about the Kyoto Protocol) but before leaving... a meme! (Taggage courtesy of boolean263

Ohhh boy, this'll be fun!

RULES: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 10 weird habits/things/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks.

I talk to myself. A lot. Especially when stressed/happy/meditating. It calms me down, to a point.
I like to sing too: I'm that kind of guy who's always singing, especially completely obscure song (normally J-Pop, after I started watching Animax. After I studied english and managed to understand many of the songs I liked... they kind of lost their appeal).
I like to dance too: I do it horribly but I enjoy to do it when I'm by myself (dancing on the bathroom/hall/whatevah)
I like to jump a little when I'm alone in the elevator. ESPECIALLY when it's going down: love the feeling!
I'm deeply interested in medieval history (especially old Christianity, heretic groups and Islam).
I enjoy drawing comics... and planning new ones always makes me cackle to myself. Since I do this often, I'm afraid people will think I've finally lost it so I *try* to do it when I'm by myself, normally when walking down the street (¿?)
I keep a LiveJournal. A LiveJournal which's updated in english... in ENGLISH!. Damn... if ANY of my friends knew of this little web-blog (¡ALIENAAAADO!)
I have several little and ANNOYING habits I simply can't get rid of (I can't leave my beard alone, for example)
I dislike cats (used to fear them somewhat). This dislike is directed especially toward black ones. And it grows exponentially when the said black cat doesn't have a NAME! (¡¿GATA?! ¿Quién diablos llama a su gata "Gata"?! )
According to Bruce and Manuel (roommates) I talk in my sleep. Argghhh!!!

Well, that's it! Now I shall ~~curse~~ tag:

darkbunny [info]rednic [info]moocowsocko [info]theblue_phoenix [info]dragon_dancer30 and [info]soaringdragon0 ('cause he needs to be reminded he HAS a LJ!)

First times ain't always sweet

Tue, 21 Nov 2006 04:54:11 GMT

Dear Diary:

Gaaaahhhh... yeppers. It's that time again, dear weblog o'mine: the time to moan and complain about things I should have tackled before but neglected until the very last moment. What can I say? I'm a hard-learner (if a learner at all...).

Yep I'm here, wasting my time and money away while I have a paper to write and deliver to my prof's email box before 5 am. Need this let out, though: while I'm mentally prepared for pulling my first study-induced allnighter, I can't help but wonder what I'll do when my (rather weak) concentration skills are thoroughly killed... and have a final to study for on Wednesday. Well, I suppose that since this subject is pretty short and I'm reviewing many things while doing this essay, perhaps it won't be too bad. Still, I hate it when I allow this sorta things to happen.

Beh, I have so many happy things to share with you all (had a fairly good week, even if the Costume party was a total disappointment)! I suppose I'll have to wait for a more convenient time, right?

Stay tuned, my fellow bloggers!

Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:32:09 GMT

Dear Diary:

So, several days after posting my woeful last entry I came to realize... I kinda didn't tell the end of the story did I? After that fateful moment when Paola asked me if she could bring along Claudia, right? Me thinks it's more than time I lift the veil of mystery surrounding this issue...

...

And just before you even *THINK* about it, punks: NO. That is NOT Paola. Nor Claudia. The woman posing with me this time (who's executing the tricky "look-like-a-demon-from-the-Seventh-Circle-of-Hell" fu with surprising skill. She's still a rookie, in my opinion: I'm a master in that technique!) is some random actress we found outside a theater we decided to visit out of a whim before the actual spectacle started.

(And yep... posted that pic solely out of the pleasure of scaring you people out of your minds. So, now that I've got your undivided attention (for one nano-second or two, sadly), I'll commence with the story...

(Pardon the foul language, my friends: I was quoting one of the actors... and if you find this somewhat random, just wait until I cite more quotes by the rest of them!)

I've always been attracted to Comedy, in all its forms. From the most innocent (a reason I enjoy Catharsis so much) to the more adult-oriented type, I've always found it a delightful expression of the human spirit. Some - very disgrusted individuals - might argue that that's nothing but a form of escapism from a cruel reality... and to that I would answer to that Comedy reveals both Humanity's capacity of abstracting itself from Reality (be it cruel or not) and the possibilities of facing the Abstraction it has created (its own "hermeneutic" of Reality).
In the end, that is a way of saying even the supposed "Tragedy" of Life is but an interpretation of Reality and that our strength as a Specie relies in part on our ability to laugh at our own views (and thus, at ourselves). If I've managed to spark your curiosity, you can check other takes on this idea by reading Twain's "Mysterious Stranger" (where a disdainful Satan - not Belcebub himself: only his sinless nephew - explains his human friend that the key for assuring Humanity's ultimate freedom is Laughter) and Ecco's "The Name of the Rose" (won't give any spoilers, in case you do decide to buy the book. It's an excellent read, if you're interested in the Middle Ages!).

Anyway, enough with my philosophical babbling: months ago, my friend Héctor and I were bored and through a serie of strange happenings we ended up finding this HILARIOUS group of improv comedians directed by a weird travestite called Fabio Sancineto, who goes by the name of "Mosquito" (here's an article on the show. It's in spanish, alas) thanks to a group of young argentineans we met at a bus stop, while waiting for a bus that would take us near a casino (me thinks I've told this story before, didn't I? They're wonderful people, though I still say we practically invited 'em to rip our kidney's out).
The show's routine is fairly original. Before the spectacle begins, the audience is handed several items: a piece of paper where they must write the most BIZARRE "subjects" for a play they can think of (posting some of them so you're aware of the sheer level of bizarreness we're dealing with: "The Anorexic Elephant", "Mosquito is a flaming faggot", "My Bioeletrical Romance", "The Zoophilic Gravedigger", etc), a pen (of course), a paper where many different acting "styles" are listed (from "Bizarre" to "Horror" and "Soap Opera": there are about 40 different styles) and three "cards": a red, a blue and a white one.

The actors are divided in two teams (the Red Team and the Blue Team) and the show itself is divided in several "acts", the Subject of each one of these divisions is decided as following: Mosquito grabs a fishbowl (all the papers with the wacko subjects have been previously tossed inside), draws one out and reads it to the public, who express their opinions by screaming their lugs out. After a subject has been chosen by popular demand, the audience chooses an acting style the same way and in the end, the actors have about one minute to come up with a funny 5-minutes-long "play" (they succeed most of the time!) in which the two teams participate and cooperate. When the "Act" is over, the public holds one of the colored cards up their heads (the color of the team they liked best. If neither of them satisfied them, they hold up the white card) and a winner is chosen. This same process is repeated a few times until a victor is chosen but before the end, Mosquito informs the people it's time for two of the Company's most beloved "traditions":

1) "Public-created Characters": The lights are suddenly turned on and all the actors sit down on the stage. The public chooses both the subject and the style the same way as before, but the characters' traits and quirks are decided by them also.
For example (took place on our very first night): the chosen story was about a mystery in the Holy See... and we ended up with an impossibly odd set of characters such as a Pope who was:

a) A drug Addict
b) Gay (just... TOO gay)
c) Jew (¡¿?!)
d) Satanic (I suggested this one myself! :D)
e) A drug Dealer
f) Crippled
g) Downright retarded
h) Frigid

No, I'm NOT making any of this up ;)

This particular Act is hilarious but I confess I enjoyed the "Trait Choosing" part FAR more! But now, for the main event...

2) "Public Participation": Mosquito invites about seven attendees to come up the stage and participate in the next Act. The first time I was a bit shy first but in the end, I decided to go for it... and it was great! The actors tell the people what are they supposed to do during the play, though they are also expectd to say something funny, depending on the moment.
I found myself so delighted with the experience, I just had to try it again! (I've gone to the show about four times and went up the stage in every single one. The actors know me as the "bearded peruvian" now! XD ). Besides, there is a prize for those brave ones who "risk" themselves that way: Mosquito hands us free tickets for the next show after the Act is over.

The language is somewhat foul at times ("Soy una mosca gigantesca y monstruosa, ¡¿y aún así me dices que "no", HIJA DE PUTA?! " - "I'm a humongous and hideous fly, and you still say "no" you DAUGHTEROFABITCH?!") and sexual jokes abound, but despite those risks I decided to take Paola and Claudia there. They enjoyed the show thoroughly! I had tons of fun that night and besides one or two little oopsies (like Paola forgetting to give any of us the actual number of her apartment... we were lucky to see her through her window, or we would have ended up ringing every apartment bell in the building) everything went smooth. We actually decided to go to "El Parque de la Costa" (supposedly the biggest amusement park in South America) together the next day but... it rained the whole day, so that was impossible. I had a ton of things to do, so perhaps it was best to not go.

Okis! Here are the pics I promised! (all this pictures were taken with Paola's camera so... don't look at me that way!)

- A pic of Paola and me at one theater we decided to visit before the show started:

- A pic of Paola and me (again) before entering the auditorium:

- Here's me and Claudia:

Well, there it is: a good ending for my confusing story. I didn't do much this weekend except playing football (the REAL football, you know!) and basket with some friends and afterwards, we went to grab a pizza and a beer. Good times, good times (though my legs hurt like CRAZY! I'm really out of shape!)...

I'll be attending a little costume party on Friday so... wish me luck peeps! I was planning to dress up like Scar from Full Metal Alchemist but it's too complicated. And to quote one of my best friends:

"Eres demasiado tela, amigo" ("You're way too lame, my friend") - Víctor, upon knowing my plans for the costume

Daaaaaamn...

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 18:24:14 GMT

Dear Diary:

Well, now that IS confusing...

You see: there is a very cute colombian girl in my - soon to be finished - Enviromental Laws class who answers to the name of Paola, one I rather fancied just a month ago or so (big crush on her, really, but upon knowing she already has a boyfriend in her birth country I decided to do what many males would never even THINK to do: forget about my "conquering" plans. Why? Because I still have morals, my friends: I would hate it if some guy decided to try to score with my girl while she's abroad).

So much for the "serrucho", Gabo.

The thing is, I asked her last Sunday if she wanted to go to the theater with me and watch a really funny play on Saturday (today) and... she said "Yes!". I was, of course, elated (did I mention she has a really sweet personality?) and while I was perfectly aware we wouldn't be anything but friends unless she decides otherwise (while it might seem I'm pretty much contradicting myself herem, it's not such: I might hold a strong moral code, but if she wants something besides friendship that's a good reason to believe her relation's not going too well) I could barely wait for the weekend.
I called her today, asking for the details and while she was rather enthusiastic about going, she asked me something that deflated my hopes big time: she was wondering if I minded if she brought along one of her friend, another colombian named Claudia, who's about to return to her country and thus, wanted to have fun on her last weekend in Argentina.

This, my friends, leaves me quite confused: on one hand, I know there is NO chance at all for me to ask her about her life in Colombia the same way I would have with Claudia in the middle... and while I intended this to be a "friends" night-out kind of thing from the very start...
On the other hand, she could have phoned me appologizing and saying she couldn't go, as she wanted to spend the weekend with her friend but she didn't. Seriously odd...

What can I say? I feel somewhat disappointed but at the same time, I still want to go with her - and Claudia, since I can't do anything about that - to the pay today and have fun. So... I just feel a bit confused. Oh well, there are plenty of fishes in the sea, as the old saying goes...

The delightful taste of irony...

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 03:36:41 GMT

___________________________________________

Delightful indeed...

Mafalda © Quino

Well, that ain't a good thing...

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 21:49:25 GMT

Dear Diary:

Well, that was disappointing.

The UB was supposed to be holding a party relatively close to the campus today at midnight (*) and me and several friends were excited about the idea. I mean, this was supposed to be the "last" party before finals! (classes end on November 10th and after that, its all Finals. I'm telling you: this guys are *lazy*). Doris spotted the announcements of the party while helping me with the stand - check my last entry - and we, along friends like Héctor and other mexicans, decided to go.
On Sunday, I went to play basket with Andrés and other argentinean dudes (BOY, my physical condition is simply LAUGHABLE! I was dead tired just 5 minutes after the beginning of the game and Andrés kept jumping around the entire time!) and I told them as well. They were excited about the idea too and agreeded to call eachother before thursday. Until today at 2:00 pm, things seemed to be going peachy...

But right after entering the building for my 2:00 pm classes (for which I was getting late), I discovered that there was a red paper over one of the announcements that read: "Cancelado hasta próximo aviso" (Cancelled until further notice").

Yep, disappointing: I was hoping I would tell Paola and other people to meet me at the party! I went to my class and during the break, Paola and me went to the "Bar" (the campus' cafeteria) to find out why did they cancel it and we found out it was because "too few students had bought tickets". Bah.
Since she had bought her ticket on Monday they gave her her money back but it was still a tragic reason to call a party off (she was delighted: she has a midterm tomorrow and she didn't know if going to the party was wise but I told her we international students didn't need to take midterms in order to take our finals. I'll say it again: the guys at the UB are just TOO lazy!)

Oh well, I'll spend my night watching "Full Metal Alchemist" re-runs on Animax and drawing, if I have the time and the skill to hide myself while I do it (I would tell everyone but right now, I'm drawing something that could be considered fairly child-like and thus, I don't feel like letting them know!) and plan something for tomorrow and saturday.

(*) That's something I think sets the "porteños" (Buenos Aires-born people) apart from most latin americans: people here go out with friends at 1:00 or 2:00 am - on Friday or Saturday. Sometimes on Thursdays - and party until 9:00 or 10:00 am! That really surprised me the first times but I managed to adapt myself to my new enviroment. According to Lilia, it's a recent fad.

Much wackiness and merriment!

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 02:03:06 GMT

Dear Diary:

Regarding my last post... SUCCESS! Sweet, sweet victory! AAAhhhhh, take THAT "Miss" Cristina!

(And while it's most obvious I was feeling very frustrated while posting it, Charon's face still made me giggle. AAAhhhhh, you're the best, my dear demonic ferryman!)

Anyway, onto the story:

So, back when I was applying for the exchange program (which resulted in me winning a place at the "Universidad de Belgrano" in Buenos Aires, Argentina rather than one at the "Universidad Carlos III" in Madrid, as it was my original plan), the lady in charge of providing me with the info neglected to mention one little detail: around September - or October, in this year's case -, the UB usually holds an international event where all the exchange students are invited to participate by putting together a sort of stand or booth of their respective countries so the assistants can learn about different elements of their cultures such as places of turistic interest, national dishes and drinks (this one is particularly important for some!) and in the end, reinforce their embrace of Multiculturalism... something I think is extremely important in any serious University.
Bah, I would have brought *so* many peruvian-related stuffs with me in the first place if she had just bothered to do her job! A peruvian flag, for example. And perhaps one of those cool rosettes things (those always look SO cool in parades and stuff)... ah, I dunno... so many things! ln the end I had to get some of those myself, in a country where peruvian influence is fairly scarce mind you (the bolivian one is, much to many an argentinean dismay, fairly common) and at first, I thought that would be both a real feat to perform and stressing as hell (I was right in both accounts).

Despite the difficulties, upon learning about this event I decided to go for it and do my best at putting together something worthy of awe... or at least an approving smile. Something that would make my fellow peruvians proud! Displaying pictures and offering peruvian food for people to try (we "peruchos" are extremely proud of our national cuisine, very especially if you happen to be a glutton like me!) would certainly get them thinking about the wonders of my country! The cooking part was, from the very beginning, pretty appealing but seriously challenging since that meant I would have to either get someone with actual cooking skills to help me out or magically turn myself into an expert cheff (REALLY, REALLY not likely to happen anytime soon, people); I also had a tight budget so I too had to choose between cheap yet yummy options (my country has several of those, given its infinite variety of races and traditions).
So, after much (much much much...) thinking I realized I needed to ask somebody for help... and regarding the recipe choice, I decided to go for something economic and from the Coastal region of Perú (that was just the logical step to take: I've been living there my entire life, after all) so I chose to serve Arroz Chaufa and Causa Rellena.

Alas, this is where Cristina enters the play...

She was the other peruvian chosen for the Exchange with the UB and from the very first moment, I didn't like her: she seemed quite distant and cold in her demenaour... somewhat arrogant. "That combo is certainly NOT gonna earn you any friendship points with me, chick!" - I thought then and sadly, I was very right in my initial appreciation. A few weeks ago, she emailed me about the International Night Event and how badly she wanted to participate - she seemed to be very excited about it - and I must confess I didn't reply on time... actually, I replied four days away from the deadline. Yep, I know that was very bad of me indeed but since then I did EVERYTHING within my power to contact her and she didn't do a thing. After that single email she simply vanished (as far as I know, she didn't even attend the Event).
As infuriating as that was - since that could only mean I would be paying for everything myself, besides having to do the whole thing alone... too bad I didn't know any peruvian besides her! - I was determinated to make the stand a reality so I embarked myself and my friend Doris (Thank God for her... she's such an ANGEL! An angel that CAN COOK! Without her I would have poisoned several students and most probably started an ugly international problem!) on the wacky challenge of getting everything ready for last Friday.

The plan - rushed and chaotic... 'cause it would be too boring otherwise and I wouldn't want it any other way! YYEEE!! - was as follows:

Wednesday: I had to go to the Peruvian Embassy and ask my fellow countrymen there for help (Lilia informed me they would probably give me some things for displaying if I explained them WHY I wanted them. According to her, several embassies were happy to give the students a helping hand and that *that* was the actual reason Mexico and Brasil "always win") and get supplies for serving the food, such plastic dishes and forks.

Thursday: I would do my best to find a peruvian chullo (typical hat from the Andes of Perú and Bolivia and somewhat odd in places like Lima, from where I come from) so I would look a tiny bit more like a stereotypical andean person rather than your regular half-blood (prefer it over "half-breed") capital-city dweller, westernized dude (somebody recommended me to at least get rid of the beard - since amerindian people CAN NOT grow beards - but I answered I would rather saw my arm off. Besides, the "stereotypical" Amerindian doesn't use glasses or look nerdy, right?).

On Friday: I had to be at the UB at 4:00 pm (since the Event started at 6) so I would be cooking with Doris until that time. I would also take out my bottle of Pisco (stored for a special occasion) and show the chilenians how does REAL Pisco taste like! (for laughs, I highly recommend you read this page... strong language though!)

On Wednesday I did go to the Embassy, not knowing what to expect from them (embassies, like most bureaucratic institutions, aren't know for being TOO useful when one really needs them). But unexpectably enough, they gave me a pleasing surprise: without asking for my passport - which I forgot at my residence so, quoting Mom: "You would lose your head if it wasn't screwed on!!" - they gave me a big peruvian flag as well as three posters and several fliers.
Latter on that day I went to the center to buy the "serving gear" with Doris (who recommended me a place that sold plastic forks and related stuffs cheap and that was on her route to the gym so she took me there). She also recommended getting a bag of red napkins as well: the idea of using white dishes and forks and red napkins was quite appealing and nationalist, and I decided to buy them but, alas, we didn't use those in the end. We kept walking around the stores, trying to find the chullo but to no avail.
Thankfully, the Powers That Be must like me since a random guy we asked told us I would find chullos and other bolivian paraphernalia nearby the Liniers Train Station, 45 minutes away from the center of Buenos Aires (no way in heck I was getting a peruvian one and to be perfectly frank, I'm not in much contact with the culture of the Andes so I wouldn't be able to distinguish between a peruvian or a bolivian one).

On Thursday: this day was wacky, really. I had to go and get as many peruvian things as possible, including the Chullo but things got odd from the very start: I had to take the train at the "Estación Once " at 2:40 (according to the ticket, which costed me the ridiculous ammount of 0.50 cents of a Peso) but I spent all the time between my arrival to the said station and the moment I got into the train eating the most CHEAP and good and CHEAP CHEAP food I've ever seen! Pizza slices for 1 peso! (keep in mind 3.07 argentinean pesos are worth 1 dollar) Sandwiches with "milanesa" for 3.50! I knew those probably weren't the healthiest things to eat out there but I couldn't help myself... and they were even tasty! (Doris and other people nearly boxed my ears for doing that!). Okay, I arrived to Liniers after spending half an hour sitting ON THE FLOOR, trying my best to tolerate a guy smoking by my left and an idiot listening to some metal on his MP3 player by my right who was, somehow, falling asleep with all that noise (I discovered right there that my jeans had a little hole in the crotch part... can you say "Embarrased"?). I was sitting on the floor because I decided to travel on the coach destined for bycicle owners (which lacks seats, of course) since the rest of the train was ridiculously full.
After arriving, I started looking for a store selling these hats and for a few moments... I though I took the wrong train and somehow ended up in Bolivia: there were bolivian business and flags everywhere, as well as stores selling bolivian products and... chullos everywhere! It was then where I got picky: most of the chullos were way too little for me and *pink* so I didn't fancy appearing in pictures with any of them on, so I spent a good while looking for something that suited me until I spotted a beautiful, dark red one which I nearly bought for just 7 pesos... until the owner of the store came around and wouldn't settle for anything else than 10. In the end, I was forced to pay!
Afterwards, I returned to Gran Buenos Aires - this time, the train had far less people than before so I chose a car where I could actually find seats! - and during the way there I got bored and THREW my ticket away, thinking that since I was back to the Once Station I wouldn't have problems. I was TOTALLY wrong: you had to introduce your ticket in a machine so you could leave the station and since I got rid of mine, the officers fined me with 7 pesos... DAAAAAMN!! Still, I was happy: I finally had my chullo. I bought several of the recipes' ingredients on my way back.

Friday: This day was downright LOCO, baby: the deadline was at 6 pm (but I had to be at the UB at 4:00 for starting the assembling of the stand) so... I had very little time for cooking and asking Lilia for bowls and other things for TAKING the food to the stand, since I had forgotten about that *tiny* detail - quoting my Mom... - until then.
Oh MY GOD... I can't describe how busy Doris and I were during those hours - nor I can thank her enough: she didn't have an obligation to help me out and despite that, she was with me the entire time. What a GREAT friend - : I arrived Argentina without knowing a *thing* about cooking and there I was, trying to do the Causa Rellena while Doris was doing the impossible so the Arroz Chaufa would turn out good. I can't say we were kind to each other the entire time - both of us were stressed, especially her - but we managed to pull it out: the Causa was thankfully rather easy to prepare (though I had to use the common White potato instead of the Yellow one...) and she managed to prepare a DELICIOUS dish, which tasted pretty much like I remembered (it was way better than the ones I've tried in many of the peruvian restaurants around here). The kitchen was a MESS and Lilia was practically breathing fire at us but the lady that cleans the house, Loli, cleaned it out of the kindness of her heart (since the kitchen WAS cleaned before we left it like a nuclear battlefield)... I could only thank her many times before rushing away at 4 am, organizing the stand a bit and coming back for the food. I brought my chullo with me, of course.

So... what can I say? TOTAL, ABSOLUTE SUCCESS. People *LOVED* the food! The Arroz Chaufa was especially popular: I could only try a bit of it before it was gone but everyone were commenting on how delicious that "odd peruvian dish" was and I commented that it was, in fact, the result of a fusion between the chinese and the peruvian cuisines (which ocurred during the XIX century). The stand was beautiful despite its simplicity and while others were more beautiful, like the "China" one: all the chinese students were dressed up in traditional costumes! But the peruvian one was prepared by a single person so I was absolutely proud of my work. Doris helped me the entire time... and she even used the chullo for a while! People just assumed she was peruvian!
Despite I was sure there were students from Canada in the program... it turns out I was wrong: no canadian people means no canadian stand, so I couldn't try any typical canadian dishes. I could try several things, though: sushi at the Japanese stand (few people wanted to try it and I dunno why: it's simply DELICIOUS! Katsumoto, the japanese guy at the stand, was dressed in a blue kimono), "empanadas" at the Argentinean one (the guy in charge of that stand was immensely kind and helped me setting everything up at 4:00 pm. And he was called Carlos too!), some kind of meat at the Australian one, crêpes at the French one (I tried this when at the end of the event: since there were so many people interested in trying our peruvian dishes, neither Doris nor I had much time to walk around), and so on.

The USA stand was... well... okay, from the very beginning I asked a USA friend of mine called Carl: "What I God's green earth can the USA offer in this kind of situations?!" - and he couldn't answer. No, really: as far as I know, they don't have many "typical" dishes (not at least in the same fashion as us) nor dances, nor... stuff. It seems that the USA students shared my point of view because their stand had "OREOS" and fries and... PEANUT BUTTER!

AAAhhhhhhh JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!!!

(Carl did admit they couldn't think of anything, but he was nice enough to let me try an Oreo cookie with some peanut butter. It tasted QUITE good, too!)

Ok, ok, I'll quit talking about the "gringos" in that way right now. After all, he ones I've known so far (both thanks to the internet and in "Real Life") have been good guys.

After that, Doris was feeling tired and after we run out of food to offer, we took the bowls home and she went to sleep (but not after I kissed her on the cheek and thanked her for the upteen time. Boy, she's cool). There's one single downer, though: when I was drawing money from a cash dispenser - since we run out of dishes and forks - I FORGOT my dad's Debt Card there! I didn't realize I had lost it until a few hours passed.
I wasn't TOO worried about this, to tell the truth. In fact, my dad and I were actually ready for such an accident so this account was shared between him and me, and he gave me BOTH card before leaving Perú and asked me to use HIS card all the time and to keep mine safe in case something happened to his own - would quote Mom for a third time but you know the thrill already... -. Besides, this is a Debt Card so the potential finder wouldn't be able to draw any money besides the current amount in the account (which was very very few, back then) and he would also need my code... and since I phoned Dad on Saturday so he would ask the Bank to block his card, the guy who took it owns a perfectly useless piece of plastic now.

Anyway, I went back to the UB and chatted with people from everywhere, danced a bit, heard the Mariachis playing their songs (Way to go Héctor! You rock man!) and participated in many group pictures with other international students (flag-displaying fest!) and chatted a lot. My mexican friends also invited me to a party after the event and after a VERY tiring day, I returned home to bath and groom myself for the party.

Alas... I was tired. WAY WAY too tired. After discovering I had lost my Debt Card AND realizing the last days were TOO stressing, I knew I couldn't go to the party and collapsed over my bed. Anyway, the day ROCKED beyond description so I was pretty happy.
I lazed around the rest of the weekend, without enough energy to go partying (besides, there's a party this Thursday) but it was very pleasing anyway.

Well, that was my weekend. Very very worthy of being journalized, in my opinion. I must leave now, though, but worry not! I'll edit this entry and add MANY pictures so you can ~~laugh at my horrible face~~ see my stand and understand why I had such a wonderful time!

Until then... good bye!

____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________

EDIT:

Okay peeps, here's the deal: the photos turned out a way too dark in my opinion (damn that flash! does anyone know how can I make them lighter?) but since I made a promise (and I happen to be a *GOOD* ex-boy scout, mind you!) I'll post some of them now. Don't you feel happy about that??

Yeah, I'm being sarcastic about that... XD

Here, you get to see my cool bolivian chullo... and my hideous, geeky face (bet you all the Incas and their descendence are turning in their graves... and on their beds with anguish right now! That, and perhaps I need to shave that growing moustache off...)

Now, you get to see the peruvian stand with the big flag and the posters! And I'm wearing with my chullo again (no food yet, alas)

And now you get to meet Doris (wearing the chullo! Man, I'm getting attached to that thing!). This looks way too dark, so any help would be really appreciated!

Now you can to see the USA stand! (Yep: you guys can start laughing now). I identified at first glance the Oreos, the Fruitloops but I didn't know what the heck was that radioactive-pink colored stuff in the middle. And oddly enough, Carl didn't have the foggiest as well (and no: I didn't try it!):

And here you get to see the FOOD! Doris is about to serve a portion of Arroz Chaufa to a hungry peruvian called Carolina (I didn't know her at all and she stayed with us a great deal). That yellow-white thing you can see on the bottom is my Causa Rellena... I just CANNOT believe people LIKED it! *happy *

And here is Héctor, the (most nationalist) mexican I've EVER met! Notice he's wearing a mexican football shirt (whereas I was wearing a simple white and red shirt I brought from Perú). Doris seemed to like him too:

And lastly, here's a pic of me (wearing the peruvian flag) and the very cute Paola! (who's from Colombia):

And well, that's it for now! I've got lots of other photos of course but I cannot post them all! Anyway people, hope you like them and if you have the time to help me with that problem, I'll be very grateful!

Urgh...

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 16:46:54 GMT

Dear Diary:

AAgghhhh, for the love of GOD!

Tired... stressed... no idea of what to do and so little time to come up with something worthy of being displayed before lots of foreigners...

This better turnout ok, or I'm gonna be SO DAMN MAD at myself! And I'm *so* gonna charge her $30 (that is, argentinean "pesos")

I'll open this entry for comments after I'm done with this whole "International Night" thing. I'm not angry, though: it's pretty expensive and demands loads of work and stuffo (and I'm really tired: haven't eaten well properly today) but I know I'm living something... different. And BOY, I'm gonna make this into a worthwhile experience!

Memeness. Oh, the joy of it all...

Fri, 06 Oct 2006 00:58:22 GMT

Dear Diary:

Well... I think it's about time I posted this meme-thing, right? After being pseudo-tagged by our good old

boolean263(as a result of me posting a most lovely quote from the humorist Will Cuppy - taken from his genial (and posthumous) "The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody" - in the entry where he posted the meme, which can be found here. That alone awarded me with the taggage... XP) I felt it was a moral duty to fill it out... though I had a good day today, so it was enjoyable!

Let the positiviness commence!

Every day has its ups and downs. It's easy for us to remember the person who was rude to us, the elevator we just missed, the stone in our shoe that bugged us all day, the person behind you in the theatre who just wouldn't shut up... Good things happen to us too, if we only stop focusing on the negative long enough to notice.

Your challenge is to post five good things that happened to you today. They don't have to be stupendously amazing; they can be as simple as sunny weather. Then, tag anyone you think needs to be reminded to have a good day.

1) I had to prepare a short speech for my "International Negotiations" class based on an essay about the Bombings in Atocha, Madrid I turned in last week. Since the class starts at 8:00 am and finishes 9:20, I obviously had to be there before but, alas, I overslept and woke up at 9:00 am. Seems like a rant, doesn't it? Well, I somehow managed to be at the University just 7 MINUTES after I opened my eyes, arrived before the professor left and managed to give my speech to a bored-yet-still-present class! How COOL is that, huh?! YYYYEEEEEEEEE!!!
2) I got to help a chilenian girl called Joyce (yeah, like James Joyce. Though that's her *actual* name... odd parents, ah?) lending her my notebook, which was promptly photocopied. That made me smile.
3) I asked a colombian girl I like - called Paola - if she wanted to go with me and some friends (possibly mexican) to a costume party an argentinean friend of mine (called Andrés) will hold at his house this saturday. And she said yes! (pictures coming soon people!)
4) I went to eat pizza with Carl, an economy major from the USA. He's not THAT talkative but his spanish is excellent.
5) I took Ezequiel, the dog (the student's house owner's pet) for a long walk, which rather please both of us.

And now, I'll tag
Will try and write a entry tomorrow, people, though I make no promises... but I'm itching to use this journal more. After all, I have readers to torture, anecdotes to keep and all sorts of fun stuff!

But before I leave... I wanna say the low point of my day was having to attend my Enviromental Laws class and having to stand both a boring, totally spineless substitute teacher AND a bunch of guys and gals who wouldn stop talking - in loud voice, mind you - during the WHOLE class!! Come on, people! The fact we're dealing with a crappy, boring professor doesn't mean you have the right to disrespect him in such way! And the rest of us! (the three of us who were actually paying attention...).

theblue_phoenixrednic darkbunny witch_pe (si deseas hacer esto, mejor hazlo en español ¿ok? ;) ) and mikaul

"Talk like a Pirate Day"...

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 16:34:20 GMT

B

... XD!

WELL DONE, Livejournal!

Even if, as a full time spanish-speaker, I'm TOTALLY unable to "Talk like a Pirate", it got me into a serious giggling fit! I can swear like a pirate, though! xD

¡Felíz día, compañeros!

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 21:13:08 GMT

Dear Diary:

Well, I don't do this often (especially since I tend to be quite unmoved by displays of nationalism) but since I've met several good mexicans lately and I *am* gonna go to a party (which will apparently be awesome! Need to be invited by a mexican and thankfully, I've go that covered) in the Mexican Embassy tonight at 8:00 pm...

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, MEXICO!!

The actual independence day is on Sep 16th, but I wanted to use this opportunity to congratulate mexicans everywhere. Now, if *ANY* of them were reading my journal... ;P

OH my GOD v.2

Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:04:25 GMT

Dear Diary:

To be frank I had one seriously massive update planned for saturday or so (as I'm currently thinking of journalizing some events that took place about two months ago: perhaps some of my night outs, a trip to the Zoo with Giselle and her cousin and my almost-trip to the city of Rosario) but right now, I feel I must say this...

I've spent two days worrying and studying for my first mid-term exam, Envirmoment Law, which seemed to be tough. What can I say? It was a PIECE OF CAKE. I found myself UTTERLY surprised about watching people talking to eachother before the test, looking and acting quite relaxed despite the fact they didn't know enough in my opinion (asked a couple basic things and confused looks were the only thing I got). The professor made his appearance 30 minutes later and we, the three foreign students, were asked a special question relating the pollution of soil and the dessertification process. Easy easy stuff... so easy, in fact, that I was sure the question was actually the type of cleverly schemed mischief only the meaniest professors out there are capable of. But it seems it wasn't: people still looked relaxed and most turned in their exams after 30 minutes or so.

I can only say... I feel kind of disappointed. Seriously: I expected MORE challenge, dammit! Well, I still have three midterms left and a few papers to write so perhaps I'll find some butt-kicking challenge awating for me in the near future. Though if the rumors regarding the professors are true, I better forget about that. So... woot?

Oh my GOD

Tue, 29 Aug 2006 01:20:09 GMT

Dear Diary:

I had MORE than a week to finish this essay on economic underdevelopment and I started it today, mere hours before having to turn it in...

And I FINISHED IT! IT WAS PERFECT! PERFECT I SAY!!! :D

Yeeeeeeeeee!!! I wrote exactly what I wanted to, backed up my points with good arguments (I even quoted Kipling's "The White Man's Burden". I had to translate it first, of course) and I hope to enlighten him regarding a couple peruvian history related subjects. All in all, it turned out for the best.

I'll NEVER write essays or study in advance again!!

... what do you mean with "IT WON'T WORK IN THE END"?!

You... you meanies...

Of dreams and worse things

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 18:07:57 GMT

Dear Diary:

Welcome to yet another round of my senseless mumblings! You (and my readers) must be particularly strong-willed for having put up with me for this long! That, or you all are downright mental... whatever it is, thanks you all! (betcha is the second one... right? RIGHT?!)

I don't have much time right now since I'm currently typing this on one of the UB's computers (Nifty things, those. Free usage though I have to stand much noise and the fact I might be asked to leave the machine soon, given the fact there are others waiting for their turns. Damn, it's EXACTLY like at PUCP, baaaaah!) so I'll just write something I consider worthy of being journalized...

Knights and Vikings and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police... oh my!

Firstly, I'm the type of guys that dreams every night and always in full color (I, in fact, wasn't aware that people could dream in black and white until last year or so, nor that others wouldn't dreams at all some nights) but most of them are seriously wacky and ridiculous. And to top it all the vast majority of them have heroic or "Quest"-like themes (I wonder why...) but my subconscious throws the most absurd elements into the mix and I end up with monstruosities that SEEM to make sense at the moment (I'll never forget a dream I had a few years ago, where I was climbing a wall with molten lava rising up dangerously... and, for some odd reason, I had a hairdo that looked quite like Rika's one from Digimon Tamers."... What the heck?" - were my first words upon wacking up. I didn't even like Rika!). So far, I guess all of that is still good and normal (even with Rika's hairdo and everything)

But this... how do I explain this without sounding like I need to be committed to a mental health institution AKA Nuthouse?!

The other night I dreamt about a young boy's ascension to knighthood (he was Lancelot, the famous knight of the Round Table and I dare to say, Guinevere's favorite warrior)... and it was a bit weird: fairies helped him in his daily training, to slay dragons and all around odd stuff kept happening to him but always for his convenience. The action moved quite fast and those moments suddenly appeared to be good memories of his: at first I saw a young Lancelot being proclaimed a knight by the glorious King Arthur but a moment later, an older Lancelot watched king Arthur getting hit with a flail in the face (and thus dying) while battling some vikings that had invaded Camelot. The king ordered him to escape before he got killed since he was "the last knight" and he decided to obey and run away through a secret passage that would supposedly lead him to safety... and it's right here where the true weirdness starts.

It all appeared to be some sort of sick comedy: for starters, the Round Table had a gigantic wedding cake-like decoration right in the center, made of marble. Lancelot jumped over the Table and realized that the decoration had several little figurines made of thread (which depicted... black people celebrating some ritual, all of them with their arms rised) stuck at its sides. He was sure that for activating the escape door he had to pull all the figurines' arms down and while he started at a good pace he ended up doing it very clumsily (both out of fear of being discovered by the invaders and the fact there were a LOT of little arms rised and he had to pull each one of them with care).
After a moment of pulling them down he managed to open the escape door (which was actually little trap door at the top of the "wedding cake" that covered a hole where he could barely fit in) and right when he was about to pass through it the vikings broke into the room, screaming like possessed. After passing through the hole he fell into a white marble room and, feeling more relaxed, he started to congratulate himself for having escaped but then he heard a war cry behind him and discovered there was a big ladder that came from the Round Table's room and into the room (...) and that a few vikings were coming down from it.

He started to run away from them (the viking were hot on the pursuit but for some reason, he was faster than them even with his armor on. Poor Lancelot will run a lot during this twisted little dream) and after a few seconds he left the castle but only to find that the lands surrounding it were also infested with enemies. The were, thankfully, too distracted in killing as many knights as possible to notice him so he kept on running (some vikings were still tailing him) until he found himself before a modern comercial mall (!). He entered the place but it too was crammed with vikings fighting arthuric soldiers and out of nowhere... two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police appeared, mounting their horses, wearing those funny hats and everything. Alas, they weren't there to save the day for poor old Lancelot: they drew out their guns and started shooting at random and while they did try to kill our knight at first, they managed to get some vikings before their little rampage was ended when two arrows run themselves through their hearts. Poor guys.

It was then when the Viking Sovereign entered the mall and commanded Lancelot to surrender. He didn't answer him but decided that running away was a good option for keeping himself alive and opened the door of a store... which was actually a passage with marble-covered walls (it was obvious that the mall was part of the escape system designed by King Arthur. What a bright man! *sarcastic*). Still running like the Devil himself was a foot away, the poor knight discovered he had gotten himself inside a "labyrinth" sort of place since the passage had different ends: in one of them Skeletor and He-Man were fighting viciously. At another, Venger was throwing lightning from his hands. And upon seeing him... the three of them tried to kill him (at this point I bet you aren't surprised, right?) but he outrun them and passed through a door that took him to the modern world. The dream ended right there.

...

Now, seriously, wtf.... WTF?! I can explain Lancelot and Arthur and perhaps the Vikings (though Arthur was mortally wounded by Mordred and not killed by a random viking warrior) and EVEN the presence of the Royal Mounted Police (I read a history book a few nights before and found out that the vikings under Leif Eriksson's command arrived to Canada and after fighting the indians for a few months and naming the new-found place "Land of Hell" (according to a hillarious footnote) they returned home. And since whenever I think of Canada I can't help but remember the Royal Mounted Police (I blame the USA for this), my subconscious has linked them with medieval vikings. Way to go, subconscious) but.. Skeletor? He-Man? VENGER? A MALL? I *hate* malls! I confess I was a fan of Venger but... a MALL??

I fear for my sanity... (well, I don't but it sounds like the best thing to say in this kind of moments so... BLAH!)

Ignoring the waves of pain...

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:54:18 GMT

... it's easy when it's rather mild and comes and goes every now and then. Especially since it's the ulterior consequence of having enjoyed some tasty meat meals, all of which accompanied with wine and beer. Tatatatan!!! I'll ignore Gout from now on! *is joking*

Hello my dear WebBlog!

Taking into account I haven't wrote anything in ages (or in what feels like ages: I'll be back to this in a moment), I've decided that another update was more than due. Not that you've missed me or anything (if you have, PLEASE fill me in: preventing mankind's demise at the hands of sentient net-programs would go nicely in my resume!) but I'm sure some of my readers will be pleased to know I'm not dead yet. Or so I wanna think... *wink wink*

So far, I've met several kinds of people at the UB (Universidad de Belgrano): some quiet, some sarcastic, open and friendly, some WAY too friendly... and while I cannot say I've stopped missing my friends back at home (I call the closest of them "brothers" for a reason: they are special to me. But neither of them shall ever read this journal! MUAJA!) I think I've found good, kind people here as well.

But let's start from the beginning, shall well?

During the first day of class I met two mexican students: a girl called Bárbara and a guy called David, both cool and everything. Had dinner with them at a café close to school and while the place looked nifty it was a most PRICEY experience, especially since I ordered a simple chicken sandwich and ended up with a little and pathetically overpriced version of the yummy treat I envisioned in my mind so... not a cool combination. Despite this I had a good time wih the two of them and even got the girl's number: "So far, so good" - I told myself with a smile, unknowing of the happenings that would take place just a few days after that... (doesn't it sound like a lame attempt of sounding melodramatic? JEJEJE...).

I met a guy on my International Negotiations class on Wednesday (8:00 am. EWW!), a really friendly mexican called Héctor Rentería. Talking to him and Bárbara was easy (she was in this class too, though I've recently found out the two of them decided to drop it. No way I'm leaving that course, even if the professors are so boring I can completely understand why they choose to abandon the ship. Besides, they are taking more courses than me) and I got his number as well. The days passed and I felt bored on saturday so I decided to call him and ask if he had any plans for the day: he didn't and told me he would call me later and see if he could find anything to us to do.
Well, the thing is I waited for the call but after some hours I decided it was useless. He called... but at nearly 2 AM, asking if I was still avaliable and telling me to meet up with him at a dancing Club called "Sahara".
Against all odd... this didn't offend nor confused me in the least, as I'm aware of a strange fact of the city of Buenos Aires: a fact several people and my friend Giselle told me about when I was in Lima and that Bruce repeated to me here but I confess I considered it something I just HAD to see for believing, just like I had to see with my own eyes that it's still midnight dark at 6:30 am around here during the winter (it doesn't stop to amaze me. Believe me, you). Curious? People got out REALLY late. I've heard of lots of people that go to clubs and other places at 2 or 3 am and stay there until 8 or 9 in the morning. That's ODD, since my nights-out start at 10 or 11 pm and finish at 4 or 5 am (I hate to go back home after the sun's up in the sky. I really do), many foreigners are puzzled at this as well.
Anyway, back to the story: I met up with him at the club and had a nice time there, where I met a colombian girl called Ivonne (Héctor confessed me he fancied her quite a bit yesterday: he even bought her a ticket for the Robbie William's concert in October!) and a mexican couple they JUST met two hours before my arrival.

It was a very enjoyable night. A QUITE ODD night as well, but pretty enjoyable. Firstly, I might be very kind with people I know but I'm a bit shy around new people... or at least I am compared to Héctor: the chap greets EVERYBODY he lays and eye on and seems to be friend with everyone. The mexican couple was much alike him and between such merry people and the guys we met at the dancing club during the hours we remained there, I had a pretty good time; this's odd, but nearly anyone that stood near us was greeted with a hug from them and questioned on his or her nationality: we met more people from Colombia, two from Paraguay, one from the USA, several argentineans and we all toasted several (several several several...) times on the peace and concord between brother countries. It was amazing.

(Héctor exclaimed at a point that America exists only from Mexico to the south of Chile and Argentina. He was a little intoxicated at the moment and we hadn't met the USAn yet and while that's a more or less debatable phrase, I agreeded wholeheartedly at the moment. Care to guess how intoxicated I was?)

Ivonne, Héctor and me left at 6:45 am and headed for the subway, wondering if it was operating so early in the morning. After walking a few blocks we stopped and asked a group of argentineans standing at a street corner for directions... and here's the second (and probably most amazing) what-the-heck moment of the night: we started talking to them about politics and didn't stop until one hour and a half passed (the sky was starting to turn blue, so it was about 7:45 or 8 am. Seriously weird, I tell ya!). I'm really surprised at this: I'm not the type of guy that stops to have lengthy conversation with random people, an habit I've developed out of fear of being mugged. But this guys were particularly nice and we had a great time sharing ideas about why Fidel wasn't the devil incarnated and why many of the macroeconomic plans of president Kirchner weren't that bright in the long run.
After parting ways with those guys we (Ivonne and me, since Héctor was too tired to eat anything) had a light breakfast at a fancy restaurant wich was, thanks to God, open (I really missed my "Caldo de Gallina" ) and tried to take the subway but discovered there were problems with the Line we were supposed to use and wouldn't attend for a couple hours. After that we decided it was enough and took a taxi. I arrived at my room at 9:30 am and didn't sleep until two hours later and woke up at 4 am to give a call to my parents and extended family. Pretty odd night, as I've said before.

Ah! I forgot to mention I got a "War Trophy" out of the club: when we were about to leave the mexican (not Héctor) discovered an "Exit" sign that was lying on the ground. He took it and gave it to me and while a little voice in my head recommended me to go and hand it back to the owners of the place... I decided to not pay attention to it for once and kept it. This's the first time I've done this type of thing and I won't do it again so gimme a break, ok?

Before I start telling about the other days, I think I forgot to mention something else: since I arrived to Argentina I've gone to the movies by myself two times: one to see the very lame "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and a VERY good independent movie called "Ser Digno de Ser" (To be Worthy of Being) about the life of a South-African children who's coerced by his mom to pretend to be a jew and be rescued from the dying country and taken to Israel. Extremely touching and wonderful. But I disgress... I wanted to mention that a few years back I considered that going to the movies alone was the best way of screaming at the world that you're a loser and while I've battled with such a ridiculous view it's obvious that I still had a few bits of it in my head since I felt kind of bad at going alone to watch them but I can say I feel totally fine about having done it.

Regarding the other days, nothing too interesting happened until Wednesday when I met Héctor again and decided to meet up at the UB at 10 pm. I arrived at the place and met one of his friends, a german called... eerrr... Jens or something. We were supposed to go as fast as we could to a restaurant called "Las Cholas" and meet up with another friend of his, this time a german guy called Thomas (I'm not quite sure). We arrived late (something that irked Thomas a bit: German people seem to be very punctual... perhaps I should become more german that way) but we had a very nice time there: at last I could eat some good meat (A "Vacío") and drank some fine wine. I was most impressed about one detail: instead of tablecloths, the tables were covered with large papers and over them you could find, besides the usual candles and ashtrays... little baskets with CRAYONS! You were supposed to draw with them while you waited for the food. It was just TOO good a chance to let it pass so I ended up doodling several things (bottles, one of the special heaters - I'll describe this artifact someday - an extinguisher). Of course, since I spent most of my time chatting and eating I had little time for drawing but I'm happy of the results.
There's a bad side in most experiences, too... in this case, I drank too much wine so I woke up the following day at 9:15 am and my class started at... 8:00 am. So I lost that one. And to top it all, I found Héctor again during the day and I was convinced to abandon my 3 hours-long Enviromental Laws class (which ended up lasting just one hour that day: as I was leaving the professor told me he was gonna leave early that day but since I was too embarrased about leaving - I NEVER do this in Lima unless it's an emergency - I told him I needed to leave immediately) and go with him to buy tickets for Sunday's football match between River Plate and Newells. We managed to enter the stadium telling the guys at the door we were interested in becoming members of the Club and took some GOOD pictures. Later, we bought some chinese food and went to his apartment... which's really not his apartment: he lives in a room rented to a gay hairdresser who lives and works at home (Héctor's room is very nice and comfortable and though he has a good VAIO laptop he can't access to the net there. One funny detail about it is that there are two pictures of "tasteful" male nudes hanging on the wall... and I couldn't help but laugh when I saw those: poor guy doesn't know how to tell his landlord he doesn't want that in his room and I encouraged him to get rid of them as soon as possible).

Today Jens, Thomas, Héctor and me decided to visit Boca Juniors' stadium and museum and I must say they're pretty niftly: while the Bombonera's not as big as River Plate's stadium, it is a lot older and much more loved (besides, Boca Juniors have more money and will get a better stadium shortly). The museum is not too impressive except that they have a little room where they show a movie in 360º where you're supposed to be a young boy who manages to become a professional player. Awesome, too! We ate some yummy sandwiches at a restaurant nearby and here I am after that: I¡ll spend tonight at home, try to do something tomorrow AND go to the match on sunday! So far, things seem rosy (I need to start taking classes more seriously so, I'll read some texts tonight)

Well, it's a rather long posts my boys so we'll leave it there. Stay tuned! I promise I'll tell you all about my attempts at cooking and how I wouldn't have survived without some guidance!

Still kicking! (And getting kicked!)

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 02:11:54 GMT

Good night, my dear blog-space in the interwebs!

What've been up to lately, you say? Well, since classes are bound to start on Monday 31th (And as far as I know, at 8:00 am... way to go, Carlos Alberto) I've been pretty much lazying around this last days ooooor... not. To be truthful, I've actually been somewhat busy and haven't achieved many of the things I planned to do for this week, one of them seeing Giselle and hanging out with her. Despite being alone most of the time, I haven't had much time for getting bored: I still need to get a Debt Card from the French Bank (they request a National Identification Card (as in, emitted by the Argentinian government. They won't accept passports as valid documents anymore due to the rampant money-laundering, committed mostly by foreigners), something that might take me a while to get so poo... they too request me to have other things like a Direction Registry in a Police station (just got that covered though I had to pay 10 pesos and it'll be delivered to my current house)), as well as finding dad's book and all in all, doing other little and annoying things; one of them being getting a new cellphone (which I just did! No camera, though: way too pricey). Still, I've visited several places and I'm planning to both go to the city's amusement park (Oh Mighty Roller Coaster, here I COMEEEEEEEEEE!!!) and see my aunt Roxana on THURSDAY (she's coming with her family for a couple days and that means I get to see them all... and perhaps eat with them) so I'm happy.

And for other good news, I've finally found a place to live! (thank God! I won't have to sleep under a bridge now!): It's a good, quiet (perhaps tooo quiet) house with a somewhat paranoid owner but in the end, she seems like a "Good Egg", as my friend Asteria would say. I'm currently rooming with a fellow peruvian named Bruce, who seems like a very good guy so far: rather friendly and well-adapted to this city and the very particular isiosyncracy of it's inhabitants (the poor guy has been studying in Argentina for about two years and still has a year to go! He misses Perú but he returns every summer to hang out with his friends) and is best friends with a guy I hated when I was a kiddo! Well, it's not like I've seen the brat in five years or so. He seems very good at cooking (I SO SUCK at cooking!! I don't know how I'll survive! That is, without eating at restaurants all the time and running out of money fast. Oh, dad will have my blood for this) and perhaps he'll appreciate having some Pisco Sour prepared by yours truly! (**) Another good thing about staying in that house is that we two have a bathroom for ourselves... with a Jacuzzi and hidromassage! WOOT!

Onto another thing, now: I've been worried about not making many friends around here (I'm not antisocial but I'm usually a bit anxious about social situations like this one) but since I don't want to be alone during all this months I've decided to make an effort and increase my "sociability" level a tad more and I proved that resolution today by befriending a very cute spaniard girl named María Elena (who has a brazilian boyfriend but oh well... at least I can have her as a friend, if I'm in any of her classes). While this was a very simple happening it gives me hope: I feel that I won't be alienated and that's a good feeling, I say!

Argentina is very different culturally-wise from Perú, not only in the way each country consider itself (argentineans are FAMOUS for their smugness but I should refrain myself from mentioning this in front of one!) but the way they talk (UGH! I DO NOT wanna start speaking like them! People will laugh at me when I'm back to Lima!) and besides, the time most stores, banks and likewise places close is, to put it simple, TOO FRICKING EARLY!! Many things I need aren't avaliable after 6:00 pm, can you believe it?!. Regarding the banks, I have a little anecdote I feel I must share with you (took place on Tuesday and it was about 4 pm):

Me (to a random police officer): "Good afternoon, sir. Could you please tell me at what time will the French Bank finish the lunch break and re-open?"
Policeman: *looks a bit confused* "Lunch Break, you say? I'm sure it won't open until tomorrow"
Me: *looks WAY more confused* Eeer... what do you mean? I'm sure they will... at what time do banks close around here?"
Policeman: *looks at me like I'm from Mars or something* "At THREE o'clock, of course."
Me: NO WAI!!!111!
Policeman: YA RLY...

Well, perhaps it's didn't go EXACTLY like that but I was absolutely surprised at the sheer absurdity of the situation: in Perú most banks close at 6 o'clock, so as you can see I TRULY felt like I had arrived on my spaceship from Mars... to the land of the Lazy Aliens. Oh. My. God...

Anyway, I couldn't finish this entry without telling I now officially HATE rain, storms and most of all, hail.
Let's include a little introductory note: here in Argentina, and contrary to Lima, it rains. With great intensity, to the point they have huge storms every now and then (the most we get to see in my city is some little, petty drizzle). I was prepared for everything (in my mind) since I left my "new home" carrying my good, but-not-so-trusty umbrella. Everything was good and stuff until I left the pizza place I chose for eating lunch: while I ate there, I noticed the news people were talking about something rather odd: Hail, in Buenos Aires! As soon as I left the place I opened my umbrella, prepared for the worst... which indeed came: it was first POURING and then, the stones (the ice fell to the ground in really BIG pieces, I tell you. And despite my surprise, it turns out it wasn't too hard around the place I was since the hail managed to break car and building windows in some places of the Center. They were so big I'm sure they could have easily killed a person). I seeked refuge in the hall of a building nearby and the people beside me were commented on how odd this was; most trees lost their little branches. After the hail passed I decided to leave (as I had to get to the University) but I still had to walk under the rain and face the strong winds that felt a lot like slaps across my face. It was SERIOUSLY terrible... and after a few hours everything appeared normal.

I so hope we don't get snow. I'm sure it's lovely but I know, too, that I wouldn't stand it for far too long.

In Argentina

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 23:45:36 GMT

Dear Diary:

Well... what can I say? I SURVIVED! I made it to Buenos Aires!

Regarding the trip... well, I'm not one to believe in good or bad luck but it seems Lady Luck has been out to get me (to a certain degree), as I've been facing different problems (some caused by me and the rest as a result of the eternal appliance of the Murphy Rule)

Saying goodbye was mostly easy: thanks God neither mom, dad or any of my siblings cried (dad, in fact, kept telling me not to cry or allow anyone to do it: this trip was a blessing and not a curse, he said) but before leaving the house my granny DID cry, as I'm pretty much the only person in the house who talks to her daily and listens to her stories. She's a wonderful person and I'm happy I've been giving her part of my time during all this years: making old people part of your life can teach you a lot (though you must take some things they say with a grain of salt, like I'm sure most of my readers do. For example, since Buenos Aires is the only place in Southamerica where gay couples have some legal rights (not full rights, as in "Gay Marriages", but in my opinion that's a great start) she told me I should be careful about them. Yup, since everybody knows gay people are HELLBENT in hurting and corrupting EVERYBODY around them... oh well, but her advices are wonderful most of the time). Mom and dad, on the other part, gave me the required advices and the moral bust I needed (the both of them told me again that I needed to be strong and always smile, to make as many friends as possible - taking into account I'm not the most sociable person in the universe... - visit all the good places in Buenos Aires and have as much fun as possible. And to study, too! I love them!!) as well as some food for the trip (cookies, turrón), and my siblings did give me a few tips so I wouldn't end up alone during all this months, which's great since I do not plan to get depressed here. And Luis Antonio has officially told me he won't allow me to go into the house if I haven't brought him some Rugby stuff (as he's quite into the game).

All this was great since I love my family dearly but to be frank, things started to go a bit downhill afterwards: I FORGOT my bus and subway guide back at home ($&%#/&%$//$$&%!!!!! And I had TWO of them!! AAArrrghhhh!!!!) and didn't have time to go back to the house and get them. And on the way to the airport we got a flat tire and the one prepared for that occasion was flat as well, so we had to go to a gas station nearby and get the second one inflated. About now, we were running late.
When we arrived to the airport I had problems with the airline (Taca) as the guys demanded to see the credit card that had been used to pay for the ticket and... I had done the pre-checking procedure the day before. Thank God I got that solved quickly and went to take my plane before it left me in Lima. Things went smooth while on the plane (food was $5.00... can you believe THAT?! I refused to have any of it and decided the chips and coke they offered for free were more than enough for me) and I even got to talk with two nice, argentinean ladies that had their seats by me during the trip. What I got from the conversation was that Buenos Aires was a fun and interesting city (I know, since I've been here before) BUT I had to be very careful about some people. Well, that's easy to know but sadly, the ones who aren't to be trusted are hard to spot at times.
I arrived to the Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires but Giselle wasn't there. I was starting to get desperate (and actually asked how much did the taxis charged for a ride to the Belgrano district. Far too much, believe me) but thankfully she arrived: late but she was there (still love you girl!!). After the hugs (from her) and handshakings (from Roberto, who was quiet and acted solemnly all the time) I got into his car and was taken to my hotel. The place is not that flashy and my room is little, but I was happy to have a place to rest: I was exhausted.

According to the plan, I was supposed to change my dollars to pesos, get an interview with a woman who runned the student's house nearby the university and try to get a credit card at the Bank of France. That, and get my migratory status changed from tourist to student. So far, I've done NOTHING: I got up at 4:30 PM and by the time I was ready to go outside the banks were closed as well as the exchange stores. I couldn't get any information about the migratory status change and for some reason, I called the woman and she wouldn't answer... but after a while, a guy answered the phone and told me the house was actually VERY far from the Belgrano University (in Palermo) so... ¡¿?!

I'm lost... but right now, I'm not that worried: I can get my dollars changed in any restaurant (at a TERRIBLE exchange rate) and I can get all those problems solved on monday but so far, things haven't been rosy. And I need to call my family and let mom know I'm still alive and kicking (I talked to dad on the MSN a while back).

I'm sure this won't be good news for you, oh journal of mine, but I think you'll notice my entries will become less "calm" and more emotional with the pass of the weeks (that means I'll be more happy and emo and thus, my entries will reflect those feelings. Sorry).

Well, it's time to leave so... seeya soon!

Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:29:01 GMT

Dear Diary:

Holy haberdashery, Batman! (¡¿?!)

I mean… CRAP! It’s been AGES since I’ve posted something relatively worthwhile on your virtual pages, oh blog of mine! Or in fact, anything at all!

Well… perhaps we shouldn’t count the rant in Spanish I wrote down several weeks ago in this “worthlessness list”, right? I believe it was both necessary (for calming me down) and, alas, quite inefficient too: the chances of any of those horrible fangirls straying out of their usual perverted ways and ending up here to read it are really really dim (adding to that the fact that most of them DO NOT understand Spanish). But in the long run, I STILL consider it journal-worthy.

Anyway… onto business! What’s been up with my life lately? Oh, many things but firstly, I must say I’m not feeling particularly sad right now. I just had some friends around for a quiet and quite lovely good-bye party but all in all… I feel a bit nostalgic (even if I haven’t even left home! How pathetic is that?).

But let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

I applied to a student exchange program last year in hopes of getting a chance of studying a semester at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, Spain. Alas, I didn’t get a vacancy… but the guys at my uni offered me a different option, though: about the end of the August-December semester last year I received an email on which they told me that, while I wasn’t chosen to go to Carlos III, I had been accepted into the Belgrano University in Buenos Aires, Argentina (never applied there, so I was pretty surprised).

While I DO felt a bit disappointed about having been turned down by the Spaniard university, I was mostly happy about the news: Argentina is a wonderful country (I’ve already visited Buenos Aires in 2002 and loved every second!), a hell lot closer than Spain so the plane tickets would be cheaper, as well as living there. The university is good too, according to Giselle (one of my best friends and my all around guide (savior?) during this whole process, since she’s been through this exact thing before. In fact, her boyfriend, Roberto, lives in Argentina) so I accepted immediately.

Getting all my papers and other stuff done on time for such voyage has proved to be CHALLENGING: just to put an example, I never got my “student passport” per sé so I’ll travel as a tourist and after I find proper accommodations, I’ll change get my status changed (else I won’t be accepted in Belgrano). The consulate was quite inefficient but much of what’s happened was caused by me and my TERRIBLE habit to procrastinate until the very last moment.

I still have other things to do like, for example, looking for some nice hostel or “albergue” where I can stay during these months (I couldn’t arrange anything permanent from here because they won’t accept any petitioner before a PERSONAL interview, so I need to travel there and “apply” to the place) but thankfully I’m I’ve gotten most things already covered. Giselle and Roberto will pick me from the airport at 3:30 am (… you’re the best, girl!) and the three of us will spend some hours together before I go to the Tango B&B (I’ve already booked a room there. I wanted a cheaper option but my parents (as in, mom, since dad was mostly ok with the idea of me finding a cheaper place) insisted in finding somewhere better. I can, of course, leave the place when I please and go looking for a better price somewhere else but I guess it won’t be necessary: I’ll be there just two or three nights in a row).

Giselle will stay in Argentina for a month and after that I’ll be “guideless” and entirely by myself but I trust my keen (*snerk!*) adaptation instincts and my scarce social skills so I very much think I’ll make it until December 12^th, the date I’m SUPPOSEDLY returning to Perú (I’ll leave on Friday 21th).

I’ve been informed of something disturbing: people at those hostels-things party hard and in a DAILY BASIS… so I’ll either adapt to the noise, the activity and party alongside with them whenever I can OR get fed up with them (like Giselle did) and take my leave (she went to live with her boyfriend but I don’t have any significant other to rely on if they drive me insane!). I’m not a VERY social person so this might prove to be a problem… but then again, we’ll see.

All I know is that the following months will be MOST interesting (and something tells me that bizarre, no matter the time of people I befriend while in Buenos Aires)…

And on events related to this last weeks… well, I turned 23 on July 11! Had to take a HORRIBLE final the same day so yay! (Jejejejejeje… I SO hate having been born in July. I seriously do) and celebrated it with some friends and family. Another good new were receiving wonderful presents from happy_hobbit (link) and rednic (link) (you two rock MUCHLY! Thanks again!!) And emails from boolean263 and Asteria! The fact they wrote made me happy on itself.

On that Saturday we celebrated Toño’s birth date as well as my own (he was born on the 16 so it was a sort of “double-celebration” based on the fact NEITHER of us had a birthday to really celebrate) which was insanely fun! Lots of partying! We were about 15 persons hanging out and drinking, dancing at a club and all around having a great time.

And today, I received the visit of some members of my family (mother side) who wanted to say goodbye (Maria Fernanda cried because she’ll be leaving to Spain before I return to Perú. AAAAAWWWWWWW!!! Don’t cry Mafe! I love you!), as well as some friends: Gabriel and Carlos (Zúñiga) came around at 7 pm and we chatted and drank some beer until it was time for them to leave… and a few hours later Víctor, Toño, Christian and Manuel came here and we had pizza and beers. A VERY lovely night let me tell you!

And well, that’s all about this weeks and the trip. I’m slightly scared, sad and nostalgic but there’s too an overpowering feeling of anxiety and… excitement filling me. I’m abandoning my world… but I’m sure I’ll learn lots.

Please wish me luck, oh readers of mine!

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:00:37 GMT

Dear Diary:

After one of my usual (to the point of being mind-numbing predictable) absences, I’m back! Which’s, like, sorta fine.

Right now though, I feel things are getting out of control at a steady pace. And that’s seriously frightening… a part of me wishes to go. A part of me knows I NEED to leave, that this will be good for me and in the end long run, it’ll open my eyes to many different things and new realities, broadening my horizons… that’s fine and whatnot (as that is the very base of wisdom) but I can’t help it: I DO feel alone at the same time. So early… so many things that seem to go wrong around me and LESS than a week to fix them up or lose everything, my only chance.

Less than a week… it’s been a little, no, a great shock. I *thought* I had more time and I’m unconsciously tying myself to the things around me. I don’t know what’ll do when the time comes, but I so need to get many things about me corrected. To re-check my philosophy, my beliefs and in the end, to feel some fire within me… or this whole thing will be for naught, really.

And for some reason, I’ve just turned 23 but I seem to be experiencing an odd case of those briefs periods of teenage angst caused by parents. Gooooo parents…

I know I’ll feel pretty ridiculous about having written this tomorrow (I’m starting to feel a lot better already, and for that I’m thankful. There’s still much to be done so no reason to chant victory yet) and I’ll probably submit new and way happier things (because I DO have some to share with you) very soon. But now, I’ll disallow comments. Because there’s certainly a first time for everything.

And as today’s last comment… thanks, Giselle. You seriously, SERIOUSLY rock, girl. I wish I had your stamina… but I need to increase mine, my responsibility level and get better. And God knows I will.

Damn fangirls...

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 07:11:04 GMT

Querido Diario:

Hace mucho que no aparezco por acá, ¿no?

A decir verdad, he estado bastante ocupado y de hecho, ahora mismo se supone que debería estar inmerso en la preparación de una exposición para mi Equipo de derechos del Niño, el Adolescente y Familia sobre la Pena de Muerte y Violación de Menores (tema muy en boga últimamente y sacado a luz por los dos ex-candidatos a la presidencia. El bueno de Alan, por supuesto, le ha sacado el jugo a la rabia de la gente ante el aumento de estas atrocidades e incluso ha mencionado una posible salida de la CIDH. Pobre IDIOTA). Claro, es la 1 de la mañana más o menos, y eso hace que mi concentración sea aún más vaga.
Aunque a decir verdad, por hoy, tengo deseos de expresar un sólo pedido dirigido a todas aquellas personas de habla hispana que, por casualidad (o destino porque, ¿quién sabe?) estén leyendo estas líneas. De hecho, esto va sobretodo para las chicas:

Muchachas:

Me agrada la serie "Harry Potter". Rowling es, a pesar de todos los defectos de orden literario que tengan sus obras (el estilo no es tan agradable), una gran escritora: puede captar la atención del lector fácilmente y no le es complicado mantenerlo en vilo por horas... eso es definitivamente algo que hay que reconocerle. Me gustan los personajes (y aunque muchos son bastante arquetípicos, se ha profundizado en la psicología de algunos), me gustan varios de los valores expresados y VAYA que me agrada ese viejo rayado de Dumbledore. Sin embargo...

El simple hecho que exista Yaois de estos personajes me perturba pero saber que hay páginas dedicadas por entero a una unión erótica entre el profesor de pociones de Howgarts y doble espía Severus Snape CON el chibolo de la cicatriz es absolutamente aberrante. Existen y su sólo recuerdo hace que ríos de SANGRE flujan de mis ojos lastimados y que mis gritos destemplados por la pura AGONÍA causada por lo bajo que hemos caído como especie reverberen en las paredes de mi casa, escapen a la calle y asusten a TODOS los seres vivos, haciéndoles recordar que el horror está presente y acecha... en la forma de un estudiante menor de edad que mantiene RELACIONES SEXUALES con un profesor suyo. Y que, por añadidura, odiaba a su padre y lo "odia" a él. O quizás, según esas historias enfermas, James y Severus TAMBIÉN eran amantes a pesar de lo jodido que era el primero con el pobre Snape (JEJEJEJEJE, aunque admito que yo era una lornaza en el cole y que aún lo soy, nunca me fregaron como pudieron haberlo hecho dada mi condición).

No me gustan, pero me parece que las historias de amor entre Remus Lupin y Sirius Black tienen un nivel algo "mayor" de normalidad (se tratan de una perversión terrible de una amistad verdadera y sincera, una relación que se pueden profesar dos hombres pero al fin y al cabo, todo este pseudo-género se trata de Perversión, ¿no?); me parece absolutamente inapropiado poner a Harry y Draco Malfoy como pareja ya que rompe con todo el esquema de la historia (parece, por alguna razón, que basta que halla algo de desagrado mutuo entre alguno los personajes para que las fans presientan cierta "tensión sexual" entre ellos) pero Dios mío, hasta ESO es más normal y "sano" que poner a un profesor y su alumno juntos... recuerden que me hacen llorar sangre ;_;

Por supuesto, esta reconvención hubiera sido de mayor utilidad si hubiese sido puesta en inglés. Y si aún leyera los fanfics en Mugglenet. Pero claro, esos tiempos ya son pasados... aunque me he leído el Libro 6 como 50 veces por lo sorprendente (y triste) que me pareció el final; he buscado las claves y comparto ciertas teorías sobre lo que podría pasar en el libro 7 pero me RESISTO a creer que se deba poner a un estudiante junto a un profesor en... "ese" tipo de relaciones. O a dos amigos entrañables. O a dos enemigos jurados. O a un viejo director y una profesora solterona (bueno, esa no: es absolutamente OBVIO que hay algo entre ellos, y mejor para la pobre McGonagall: en verdad lo necesita)

Bueno, querido diario, es hora de dejarte. Pero volveré muy pronto, a cumplir con el correspondiente llenado de un "meme" y a colgar una traducción de un artículo de la Beto Ortiz que está muy gracioso... y disculpa por lo efusivo de mi tono pero a veces estas cosas ya son demasiado, ¿eh?

"¿Por qué no se van, no se van del país?" - Los Prisioneros

Tue, 16 May 2006 03:34:07 GMT

Dear Diary:

Hello again! After such an extended hiatus (almost FIVE MONTHS, ZOMG!), I think that writing some lines on your virtual pages is more than due, right? ;)

And by “extended hiatus” I mean the time gap between this entry and the December 16^th one: I’m not counting my last entry, since I pretty much ranted on politics without saying anything worthwhile…and the election results went quite sucky: my political advices fell on deaf ears! And the fact I posted them a day BEFORE “D-Day” (no reference to events taken place in Normandy on a certain June 6^th) and in a journal almost no spanish-speaker bothers to read has NOTHING to do with the validness of my opinions, I say! ;P

So, what’s up? Well, so many things… it’s been almost 5 months! Many weeks! Think of the number of weekends! Alas, most of those are quite prosaic (even if I would like to share some… like that time when we visited Victor’s friend, Gabriela, at her house. It wasn’t a total blast but I had a good time! She’s quite intelligent! Or the fact my good old pal Christian seems determined to see me with a girl so… he’ll introduce me to one of his friends! One very intelligent and *cough*` really hot *cough* chick, who I hope to get acquaintanced (and so much more!) with soon. Or that time when…) and thus, writing them down would take me too long. And that’s not a very good idea, especially with a midterm to take tomorrow, right?

I find two things important enough, though… I shall babble about the others in the following entries. It’ll be like traveling back to the past! Like “Back to the Future” but instead of the Future, it’ll be the Past! Neat, right? ;P

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before (and if I didn’t, I would SO deserve a strong wack over the head. And I give you all permission to deliver it) but my bro, Luis Antonio (me thinks you lot can call him “Luigi”, though. That, or “Tank” since he IS built like one!) left Perú for most of the summer and traveled to the USA to work in a place called The Summit at Snoqualmie (Snoqualmie Pass, Washington State). And I can say he’s most delighted with his experience!

How he got there? There’s this neat work program called Work and Travel USA my bro applied to, encouraged by a cousin who entered it and returned with many stories and lots of money. It basically contacts you with places offering jobs for students within the USA and after being accepted, you travel there during the summer and live at the place assigned for you with many people your age. That alone sounds like a BLAST! And it was, according to him: partying like crazy, snowboarding, buying… he worked as a lift operator in the ski resort (he returned even more muscled than before and since he plays rugby on his uni’s team, he put that gained muscles mass in good use! Alas, I used to be able to stand my ground in a fight with him but nowadays that’s impossible. Hey, I can steal cheat so I’m sure I would survive! ;P). He came back with many stories to tell, photos, new friends and lots of stuff like a new camera (WOOT! I can “borrow” it from him now! And borrow for real: my Superego is way too strong to allow me to do that kinda stuff to him or anybody. Freud is dancing now), a black and very cool IPod, clothes and he brought me a nice green coat and a ninja star! (PH3AR me now, evildoers!).

Our life without him was, in fact, pretty normal. It was very odd to not have him around but life goes on, as the saying (and that good old show named likewise) goes. Being four has it advantages, though: we got to fit in normal restaurant tables without asking another chair, and eat ONE barbecued chicken… okay, perhaps not just one, but we certainly spent less with a mouth less to feed. Of course we sent him money and worried for him all the time: mom would go INSANE if she didn’t hear from him at least once a week (and that BASTARD *snort* would call us every two weeks or so… JEJEJEJEJE, mom is SO paranoid at times! Thankfully, we used the internet to chat). He went with our cousin Luis Lengua (“Luchito”), a momma’s boy in our eyes but according to Luigi, he proved his worth there even if he was every bit as cleaning-obsessed as his mom. I’m happy to hear this: he seriously needed some time away from home. But HE called at least once every week, a fact that made mom growingly envious of my aunt.

He returned the on April 3^rd, after months of being away (left on December 12^th, 2005) and the celebrations were neat. Perhaps not many calves had their throats cut to satisfy our hunger but we DID eat meat! And for the odd fact of the day: when I was waiting for him at the airport, I noticed a guy holding a little board over his head, calling one tourist. That’s incredibly common, I know, and I wouldn’t have noticed anything at all if the guy’s name hadn't been… as weird as it was. I gave the board a look out of the corner of my eye and it read: “Michael Gay”. I blinked and read it again. It still read: “Michael Gay”

My reaction was quick and predictable: “¡¿MICHAEL GAY?! ¡¡JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA!!”

(It was probably a bad joke. God, I HOPE it was! I don’t want to even THINK how badly this guy was teased at elementary or high school with such a last name! XD. And Michael Gay didn't notice me at all, since I ran away when I noticed I was about to explode in laughter)

My bro is back to uni, and we resumed our life, with it’s ups and downs. I still think he could have brought me an IPod but he didn’t want to spend all his money on gifts… because he didn’t bring that much. Still, he had a blast and he’s planning to return next summer.

And talking about “trips” abroad…

(Martín Fierro is/was not a real person, by the way: he’s the main character of the epic poem “Martín Fierro” by José Hernandez, an argentinean writer. His work was so well known that the Spanish writer Azorín referred him once as “inexistent”: his poem incarnated the spirit of Argentina at that moment in time with such intensity that he was “bound” to be considered, like Homer with his Iliad and Odyssey, an illusion, a false author of a work created by the whole nation. That is, in my opinion, the most wonderful way of complimenting a person writing on the story of his people)

As I was saying… I’ll be off to Argentina pretty soon! I’ll be leaving on the second or third week of July (most probably RIGHT after my birthday, I hope! Don’t wanna turn 23 on an airplane or in Buenos Aires).

A reminder, for the forgetful masses: I applied to an exchange program a few months ago, intending to get a place in the Carlos III University of Madrid and have an actual chance of traveling to Spain (love that country!) and getting to see the wonderful sights, as well as visiting other European countries like France or Germany… and perhaps pay a visit to a friend of mine who’s a peruvian-born italian (yep, that’s possible with their citizenship policies) residing in Rome! And, if the chance presented itself (most probably), go to England and visit beautiful places like London and the english southern counties. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be: another guy took the chance first (my friend Ana Neyra got chosen but I didn’t have any problem with that decision: she deserves it SO much more!), but a few weeks later, I was informed I was accepted as an exchange student in the Belgrano University in Buenos Aires, Argentina!

“Well” – I thought – “It’s not Spain, but an Argentinean school’s an excellent choise too!”

I like the country as well, having visited it a couple years back: it was a DELIGHTFUL experience! (Might show you all some photos later: gotta find and scan them first!).

Still, there’s much to be done before the semester starts: I don’t have most of my papers ready, need some letters of recommendations from two of my professors, still need to choose courses and to get a place to STAY until december, since spending all those cold winter nights under a bridge doesn’t strike me as the best kind of experience ;P

Despite this petty problems, God continues to smile down at me: one of my best friends in the world, Giselle Montalvo (who’s been on this very same adventure just a semester back) has taken me under her wing and guided me through this huge labyrinth… or at least tried: I’m normally busy and haven’t been paying enough attention to this matter and I’m starting to get afraid I might lose the chance (the woman at the International Relations office of my uni seems to think otherwise but Giselle’s been pressuring me to get everything ready as fast as possible. Bless her!). The other chosen student, a girl from the “infamous” Communications Faculty, got in touch with my friend and she suggested me to meet her on Thursday. So in the end, I might make a new friend! ;)

As you can tell, I’m happy: this something I DEFINITELY need. I’ve been way too complacent and dependant of my family… I need to grow up. Spending some time alone, in a different country and away of my comfort zone should help me improve my independence levels. I just hope Dad can actually PAY for all this…

And for a swift subject-change… let’s speak about traveling abroad (and in this case, overseas)! But now, it’ll be different. And just because it’s all the rage since the Southpark Movie came out,

lets blame Canada… for being such a wonderful tourist destiny! I like Canada: Niagara Falls, the natural sights, ALL that space… (Sheesh, I think I should REALLY look up for more info on Canada’s tourist attractions: I’m feeling pretty ignorant here) and it seems I’m not the only one: a friend from England, Asteria, has decided to pay this country a visit and, according to what she told me in her last – and rather SHORT – email (You just HAVE to fill me in with the details, girl!), she’s leaving the Big Island today and will be meeting up with boolean263 on Friday. Sounds NIFTY! Hope you guys have a wonderful time! =D

Aaaaaand… that’s all for now, I guess. But don’t worry, for I shall be back with more stuff to tale soon!

Back. Kinda...

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 02:50:27 GMT

Howdy!:
Heya, my neglected little webspace! I'm back! ... well, sorta. Just not posting anything related to my personal life and such, despite the long time passed since my last *meaningful* update (WOOT! Things turned out great! The trip was such a success... uuhhhmmm, actually, it wasn't the absolute success I was expecting. Could have been way better but our budget was extremely limited, and in the end against all odds we managed to do a good work. The children's smiles were a wonderful payment, nevertheless ;) ).

Long life to 4 months
long weekends, I say! (and thanks to Bloopo and MCS for asking when was I gonna get my rear in gear and write this things again! =) )
I promise next time I'll present a better update, one related to what happened with me through the summer, good (like my brother returning. YEEEE!!!) and a few bad things, plans and stuff. But for now, some spanish goodness for you all! You USAns and the rest of foreigners might not care in the least, but tomorrow we shall repeat once more the tortuous tradition of choosing our next president among weirdos, clowns, not-THAT-bad ladies and seriously scary individuals.

And quoting that "cute" saying people used in the time of my granparents (which I think fits the situation perfectly)... ¡QUE DIOS NOS AGARRE CONFESADOS!

Muchachos:

Las elecciones generales son mañana y, que duda cabe, el ambiente está caldeado. Sí, otra vez aquel pesado y tradicional evento que venimos venir con esperanza algunos, con apatía y rabia los más, y que implica no sólo mal humor, violencia y gran desorden sino el típico movimiento a lo largo y ancho del territorio nacional, del que participan los ciudadanos (¿ciudadanía? JEJEJEJE) de todas partes del país. Asisten a las urnas bajo la amenaza de una pesada multa que coerciona sus intereses y les impide tomar en serio el gran deber de votar, convirtiéndolo en una pesada y rutinaria tarea... aunque quizás sea mejor obligarnos a ir. Si no, la gran mayoría quizás decida apoyar con gritos en las calles pero no meterse las decisiones serían tomadas por los más influyentes... o quizás los más hepáticos. Al final, dicha característica no ha resultado difícil de encontrar en esta campaña política.

Pero quejarme sobre el estado del proceso electoral de este año (¿de este siglo?) no es ahora mi objetivo (lo será mañana, cuando tipee la edición de esta entrada con la tinta indeleble seca en mi dedo medio y un gran fastidio y ansiedad pesándome en el pecho) . Si alguna vez necesitamos tomar conciencia de las consecuencias de un momento de ira reprimida que sale a flote es AHORA.

Todos conocen que el proceso este año ha sido uno de los más caóticos que esta desmemoriada nación recuerda... 23 candidatos, 2944 postulantes a otorongo, entre los que tienen el gusto de contarse (y para nosotros, el disgusto de verlos) el ex-cantante (o eso espero) "Tongo" y... "Don Pedrito" quien, de hecho, se encadenó el otro día a las rejas del Congreso como medida de protesta ante lo que él denominada un caso de "discriminación" por parte de los medios al no brindarle tiempo al aire para que hiciese propaganda para su candidatura. ¿Ven lo que ocurre cuando alguno empieza con el juego de "discriminación" y hacerse la víctima? Otra de las flores que le debemos al "Capitán".

Mañana se decide quién pasará a segunda vuelta y cuando menos nos veremos libres de una gran cantidad de propaganda que, actualmente, no nos deja tranquilos (desde los carros musicales, los spots publicitarios, EL REGGAETON... no cuento los carteles ni las pintas en las paredes porque esos sólo desaparecerán por obra y gracia de Dios. ¿Y las obligaciones impuestas a los partidos por las municipalidades? Papel mojado, como de costumbre). Pero mañana es cuando empieza lo verdaderamente grave del asunto...

Nos encontramos ante la espada y la pared, como nos encontrábamos en el 2001, en 1990 (no cuento 1995) y otros años donde nos vemos obligados a elegir al "menos peor" del grupo presentado, pero las decisiones están tomadas, los bandos hechos y, fuera de lo que opine el chaparro Valentín del asunto, votar por cualquiera que no sea uno de los 3 punteros es voto perdido. Por tanto, mi primer ruego al lector peruano es que SE OLVIDE de los partidos pequeños pues, aunque el voto consciente demuestre verdadera vocación democrática, actualmente nos enfrentamos a una situación que amerita tomar medidas drásticas (aunque, por Dios, no puedo recordar ni una sola en la que nos hallamos podido sentar, relajados, a estudiar la situación política y elegir entre dos o tres BUENOS candidatos. Dones como esos no han sido creadas para un país como este).

Mi segundo ruego consiste en que el lector tome su tiempo y analice a cada uno de los tres contendores detenidamente. Estudie sus rostros, sus ademanes, sus horóscopos, su forma de caminar, la vehemencia de sus palabras y demás... pero realice todos esos análisis de orden místico TRAS haberse enterado de las posturas que toman ante problemas nacionales, del fondo de sus Proyectos de Gobierno, de sus actitudes ante la siempre hiriente y sarcástica prensa, de su deseo de debatir con los contendores para darle a la ciudadanía una mayor información que les permita decidir maduramente, de la seriedad con la que toma ciertos asuntos y de su cercanía con grupos de poder o gobiernos internacionalmente reconocidos como cánceres, de su familia (indirectas absolutamente directas, lo sé)... sí, esos análisis vienen primero. Y jamás, JAMÁS analice de acuerdo a los impulsos.
Quizás, tras realizar este complicado ejercicio mental, halla decidido que uno de ellos ya no sirve para que lo gobierne (¿Lo digo, lo digo? Su apellido empieza con H, termina en A, no tiene carrera más que la militar que aunque noble, no le brindó conocimientos políticos que le permitirían ser un buen líder de una nación con problemas. Que no conoce más que el veneno inoculado por sus padres desde la más temprana edad y lo que le dictan asesores coludidos con grupos empresariales o un cierto gobierno “revolucionario y bolivariano” que planea hacer de nuestro país una provincia más de Venezuela. Los dictadorcillos no dejan de darme risa y asustarme…) y se encontrará con dos candidatos por demás diferentes:
Uno con un pasado tétrico, con intenciones desconocidas, de discurso camaleónico que sólo puede sonar bien a aquellos desesperados que en verdad NADA tienen que perder, salga quien salga (y he allí la justificación del alzamiento de grupos como el UPP). ¿Poca memoria? Quizás, pero lo que existe en menor cantidad es unión e identificación por un sistema como el actual. Este candidato, que no ha dejado de usar cada traspié de sus rivales con astucia casi satánica, se ha alzado de las cenizas y ahora está en un empate virtual con la candidata que analizaré a continuación… y aunque promete no postular de nuevo si falla esta vez, a una serpiente encantadora de pobres pajarillos no le queda más que seguir encantando para poder comer y mantener la panza y la papada actuales sanas y grandes
Y hablando de panzas y papadas grandes… la candidata “de los ricos”. No veo que cambie del sistema que tenemos pero parece tener no sólo un equipo serio, sino conciencia de la situación. El hecho que Latinoamérica esté poco a poco rebelándose contra los postulados neoliberales del Convenio de Washington y que ella sea conozca esto abre puertas a que, si le damos una oportunidad, las cosas podrían ser diferentes… en cierto grado. Cuando menos podría poner un buen precedente para las mujeres en el poder y francamente, prefiero una candidata seria, de línea recta, sin pasados tortuosos o violentos (no en el sentido de la defensa nacional sino en el de violación de derechos humanos y encubrimiento). Una mujer así convence, o por lo menos lo ha hecho conmigo.

Mi decisión está tomada. ¿Y la tuya? No vengo a ordenarte que debes marcar en un par de horas, sino que reflexiones en las consecuencias de nuestros actos. Quizás tras cualquiera de las tres puertas está esperándonos un abismo aún más profundo pero sabemos que en el caso de un aprendiz de dictador las cosas no pueden ir sino peor… y que un payaso reciclado que oculta ideas que aún mantiene de épocas de caos sólo puede llevarnos a una estrepitosa caída.

Sí, quizás esa candidata nos lleve a un destino terrible pero… es la menos mala, ¿no?

LOURDES PRESIDENTA 2006-2011. Y REY A SU CASA (o al convento)