Summer feels weird. I was just starting to get used to the school swing and then we broke for vacation. One of the weirdest things is how hot it is. I'm used to snow and heavy coats in December, not 90+ degrees. I've also got too much down time. By week seventeen, I was in need of something to do.
Lucas came by on tuesday to invite me to play Futbol Cinco at the newly finished field two blocks away. He also told me that his team, Cambaceres, was holding tryouts from wednesday to friday. Cambaceres is a professional club located in Ensenada, about a half hour away from my house. In every pro club there are youth divisions, and the tryout was for the '91 age group, Lucas' team. The '91 age group is the oldest group in the youth program, so some of the players in it are soon to be professionals. Needless to say, I was excited.
After Futbol Cinco, he told me he would come by the next morning at 7:30 so we could catch the 7:45 bus into the center of La Plata. From there we would wait for a bus to take us the 20 some minutes to Ensenada. I was too excited to sleep that night, which wasn't ideal for a tryout. We got to the stadium early and I talked to the coach. He is a fan of Independiente, bitter rival of Racing, so he joked with me that I couldn't tryout because I liked Racing. He asked me my full name and what position I play. Other kids started arriving and there was an air of excitement and anticipation. The tryout was to be an 11 v. 11 game. The tryout wasn't only for new kids, but was for the Cambaceres players as well. The coach split us all into two groups. I looked around and I was the only kid in my group who wasn't on the team.
The coach blew his whistle and we started the game. I was playing with 10 Camba players against 11 other Camba players. I was very satisfied with how I played. The coach invited me to the 2nd day of tryouts. Afterwards, all of the kids were talking to me and I took that as a good sign. They weren't talking to any of the other kids who were trying out. I came back the next day, but the coach had to leave after only 10 minutes. The assistant coach told me to come back the next day. So this was it, I would find out if I made the team or not on friday. I didn't sleep at all. I was half dead on the bus ride to the stadium on friday morning. I had slept less than 6 hours in total throughout the 3 days. We got there early again and the coach started walking up to me... He told me I made the team.
I was so satisfied and proud of myself. It's always been a dream of mine to play in a pro club's youth system, and to do so in Argentina of all places is just amazing. We will have practice monday to friday, 9 am to 11:30. That means I need to change to an afternoon school. I'm not sure what I'll do from here with Club For-Ever, because Cambaceres is a much higher level of soccer. We're still waiting to hear whether or not I'll be able to play in games with For-Ever, but now that I'm in Cambaceres, the verdict is much less important to me than it was before.....
Christmas was interesting. Apparently in all parts of the world besides the US, people celebrate on Christmas Eve and exchange gifts at midnight. So on Christmas Eve we went to my host grandma's house about 20 minutes away in City Bell. At midnight we opened our presents and I was pleasantly surprised to open a Racing jersey. At 1:30, the taxi driver who took us there was supposed to come take us home, but he didn't show up. We waited until 2:30, calling every taxi service we could, but nobody was around. We set off on foot to try to find a taxi or a bus that we could hail. We waited until about 3:30 when finally a taxi came by. He said he didn't have enough room for all 5 of us, so my parents stayed back and Marco, Ana, and I got in. We set off for the house and I realized we didn't have the keys. I told Marco and he said that there was probably a key in the mailbox. We arrived, and there was no key in the mailbox. Marco climbed over the gate and entered a side window of the house and let Ana and I in. We waited for our parents to arrive and they did, at about 4:30.
Christmas day was tough for me. We don't do anything in Argentina on the 25th, and I'm used to it being special. I talked to my family back home and we compared our respective Christmas experiences. It is very common for exchange students to feel down on Christmas. I found it helpful to talk to other exchange kids.
The day after Christmas, Lucas and Dante came by to see if I wanted to go watch the annual game between Gimnasia fans in the area vs. the Estudiantes fans in the area. I said sure and we set off. We got there early and one of the Estudiantes players told Lucas and I to get our stuff because they needed a couple more players. So we did. Many fans of both teams came to the field to watch and cheer on their fellow "hinchas". The first half ended 0-0. The atmosphere was tense. Gimnasia and Estudiantes hate eachother, and even though these people have this game every year without problems, there was a definite tension in the air. About 5 minutes into the second half, an Estudiantes player was fouled about 30 yards from the goal and he set the ball down and quickly played it to me. I took a touch and looked up and ripped one near post to mark the first goal of the game. All of the players ran over to kiss me. All of the fans went nuts, screaming and shooting off fireworks. Shortly after this, Gimnasia scored 3 straight goals. We got one back later on but lost the game 3-2. After the game, fans from both teams shot off fireworks and everyone gathered together for a party.....
New Year's Eve was very memorable. My host mom's family came over for dinner and when the clock struck 12, it sounded as though every single household in La Plata was shooting off fireworks. In La Plata, it is a New Year's Eve tradition to build giant sculptures out of wood and paper mache, called "Muñecos" (moo-nyay-koes) and to burn them to bring in the new year. The closest muñeco to us was one of Taz from Looney Tunes. It was at least 20 feet tall and was very well done, with a mini tornado surrounding it. I rode my bike over there earlier in the day to ask what time they would burn it. They told me 2:30. So at 2:15 we set off to see the burning of the Taz muñeco. There were easily 1000 people there when we arrived. The group who made it set it on fire with a big torch and the entire thing was ablaze pretty quickly. It was filled with explosives and it was SO LOUD. When it was blazing full, the group who made it shot off a ton of really nice fireworks. It was about 10 minutes in total, but it was an exceptional presentation. Everyone watching gave the group a round of applause.
The local newspapers give out awards for the best muñecos. Some of them are so well constructed that it's a shame they have to burn them. Here is a link where you can see the first place winners of years past: http://www.muniecoslaplata.com.ar/quienesSomos.htm
Feliz Año Nuevo from Argentina
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