Futbol and Sex and the City

Well right after I posted my Homer Oddyssey version of my weekend in Cordoba I got a phone call from my friend Nicola, and I probably heard the best news of the entire trip. Nicola told me that our IES advisor Elvira had hooked us up with a university soccer team! That's right...I'm playing soccer here!! Nicola, Helen and I went to our first practice on Thursday night to check out what the womens soccer scene was like in BA. It was so weird having to take the subway to practice. That never happened at school or home!

We arrived a little late because of rush hour subway traffic, but we were there before the coach or any other players. So, we just sat and watched the boys play...which was fine with all of us! One of the biggest differences between US soccer and foreign soccer is the size of the players. There were so many BIG guys playing here, and we rarely see big guys playing soccer in the states because they're too busy playing a stupid sport called football. But anyway, we enjoyed the view and finally met our coach. And dont worry...he definitley only speaks spanish. Same with the rest of the girls. One of the players on our team is a Brazilian exchange student and she is so adorable. The practice was so much fun, trying to learn how to understand intructions for drills in spanish and communicating with each other. There are only about 9 girls on the team, and we will be playing a version of soccer called Futbol Cinco which I have yet to learn the rules. The field is very small and outdoors, but we are basically on a black top. It was so fun to be working out and playing a sport again. The quality of play is...well...lets just say i'm probably the best player. Field player. Reminder..I'm a goalie and i have zero field skills. So.....hahah its not really very hard core. But we run around and just have such a fun time. This is one of the best things that has happened to me since I've been here. After practice the Brazilian girl invited us to a party down at Puerto Madero, this gorgeous area of BA. Regular price entry is normally 30 pesos, but she gave us tickets to get in for free!

Yesterday was another amaaaaaazing day. I joined an IES class being taught by one of our advisors, Julian. The class is called Arte en Espanol and every Friday we visit a different museum and learn about different Argentine artists...in spanish of course. After we hear abou the painter/artist, then in groups we have to choose a painting and discuss it and then present our analysis of it to the group in spanish! In the middle of the museum! Yesterday we talked about a painting called Naturaleza Muerta, which we interpreted to mean "natural death". Literally, it is a correct translation, but halfway through our presentation someone told us that it really meant "still life". Hahaha. But this is such an awesome way to learn. Visitors in the museum would stop by and listen, thinking that we knew what we were talking about! It was soo fun.

And last night we had our very first Sex in the City experience. We got all dressed up and went to our first gallery opening! Its funny, because i think that all i know about art i learned from Charlotte York - on Sex in the City. Julian had invited us to go, and we soon learned that it wasn't just one gallery, it was all of the galleries in the same area, about 25! We showed up, got our glass of champagne, and gallery hopped all night. It was so much fun. It was a great way to meet locals and practice small talk chatting.

That's all for now folks. I'm working on getting more pictures up on snapfish. keep checking, but sometimes my wireless connection isnt strong enough to upload.

Chau!!!