weeks thirty two, thirty three, thirty four, and thirty five

I love the Argentine culture. I feel like it's a perfect fit for me. One of the reasons I chose to go to Argentina was that I thought that my love for football would help me relate to the people and help me jump into the culture and it absolutely has. I can talk to taxi drivers about it, I can talk to my friends about it, I can talk to my family about it. The professional league here is so much more exciting to watch than England or Spain that I can't even watch the teams that I used to watch back home. I'm already looking for a website where I will be able to stream the Argentine league games.

Besides the football, the culture is very relaxed and I have really adapted to this and have grown to love it. For instance: the internet in our house stops working for long periods of time. The attitude here is "don't worry about it, it will come back," and it always does, sometimes after a day or two, sometimes after two weeks. Not having internet back home is a big problem. "But, I have to check my emails! Facebook, talk to my friends!" etc. But here the smaller problems in life aren't given much attention. When the internet stops working I just check my emails when I go to Lucas' house. It's really not that big of a problem. The little worries are virtually non existent here in Argentina and it clears up time spent worrying for time to live and enjoy things.

I'm going to miss the simplicity of my life here. Soccer every morning, school every afternoon, occasional Futbol 5 in the evenings. I enjoy the times I spend with my host family at the dinner table. We talk about a wide range of things and it's just nice gathering once a day for an hour or so and it keeps us all connected. We talk about our days and we all have a better idea of what is going on in our lives. I suppose I could conclude that there are less secrets within families here because every meal is at the table.

Yesterday I played in a 6v6 soccer tournement with Lucas and some guys who train with the Primera of Cambaceres. We were told to get there at 10am but once we got there they told us we didn't play until 11:30. We waited around until our first game which we won 5-2. Then we had to wait for 3 hours until our second game which we won 4-1. With two wins, we qualified for the semi final. The team we faced in the semi final was very good, but we beat them 3-0. Some of their players played for La Villa San Carlos which is the rival of Cambaceres. An argument ensued, but luckily it didn't get physical.

We were on a roll and ready to beat whoever we faced in the final. In the first three minutes we had already had three or four scoring chances. We were going to score at any moment when in an instant, a torrential rain started. In Argentina we have extremely heavy, tropical rain storms which tend to start and stop suddenly. The referee called the game and we all went inside the clubhouse. The rain wasn't going to let up any time soon so they announced that the tournement was over. People were bummed but then the tournement officials brought a few cases of beer out and told everyone to help themselves so it was all good.

Last weekend, Lucas, Dante, and I went to see El Clasico, Racing vs. Independiente. Clasico = rivalry match. Both teams are from Avellaneda and their respective stadiums are only a couple blocks away. 1,300 police officers were brought in to keep the peace. Fun fact about argentine league soccer: the season is scheduled around police availability. They never have two clasicos in the same weekend because there wouldn't be enough police officers. I love the passion of it all, but from my perspective, it is a little too much passion to want to hurt another person for wearing a different colored jersey. I agree with supporting your team but throwing rocks at another team's bus isn't supporting your team.

Anyways, I was talking about El Clasico. None of us wore anything Racing related for any doubts that we would run into rival Independiente fans. We left La Plata at 1pm in a bus and got off in Constitucion. Dante is from Avellaneda so he knew the ropes. We took a bus from Constitucion to about 5 blocks away from the field. The atmosphere was incredible. Cars going by honking their horns, people waving flags out the windows, Buses full of fans singing, fireworks going off.. We walked to the stadium in a big crowd of Racing fans. The entrance routes of both teams' fans were planned out and marked out by thousands of police officers.

We entered the stadium and found some spots in the middle of the field. I looked around and saw the Independiente fan section with a good 50 yards of space, tons of police officers, and barbed wire fences separating it from the Racing fans. We were in the stadium at 3pm, an hour before the game started. The singing and chanting gradually grew into an absolute frenzy for the moment that the Racing players took the field. I had a huge smile on my face as I looked around the field at this moment. Cans of white and blue smoke were triggered right before the entrance and it was just amazing.

We got the first goal of the game late in the first half and the stadium errupted. Lucas got separated from Dante and I in the stands when more and more people forced themselves in, but we celebrated the goal so much that we ended up together again. Racing scored again late in the second half and closed out the 2-0 victory - the first clasico victory for Racing in 5 years. I guess I'm good luck. We took a cab from the stadium to the bus station in BA, and a bus back to La Plata. It was Lucas' 20th birthday so after stopping home to let my family know that everything went well, we went to Lucas' house for pizza and cake. Later, I went home, exhausted, and as I fell asleep I thought about the day. It was one of the best days I've had here in Argentina and one of the most memorable days of my life.

I brought my camera to the game and I took a few videos and photos. Here is a photo of Lucas, Dante, and I: