Purim!

I had a great feel-good moment today: I was on my way to play basketball in Palermo when these 2 Argentines came up to me and asked me for directions to a certain street.  I knew exactly where it was and explained to them how to get there.  I felt like a local at that point. 
And then my excitement completely diminished in a conversation with the next Argentine I encountered: I could barely understand him.  Then I thought, yeh- your average Argentine can probably easily understand Spanish. 

Purim in Buenos Aires was a blast! I dressed up as a policeman, wearing a cap that I bought from a local costume store and a badge that my 12 year old host aunt made for me.  For megillah reading Saturday night, I went back to the Israeli hostel.  I had never heard such a fast reading.  That being said, it's questionable whether I heard every word.  Regardless, the Haman booing was the best I had ever heard in my life.  My analysis via writing of the booing, which included horns, screeching, stomping, animal noise making...etc simply cannot do it justice.  So next time you see me, I would gladly imitate what transpired, which included an older man doing what looked like football drills while grunting really loudly. 
After reading, there was an awesome party in the back courtyard, mostly Israelis, some Argentines, Jonah, Yael and me, and 2 very drunk Aussies. 
From there, we walked about 15 minutes to Hillel, which hosted a huge party with tons of Argentines.  The outside was more the social scene, while the inside resembled a club scene.  Except the music switched off b/w Spanish hip hop and the famous song Mashiach Mashiach Mashiach, oy oy oy oy oy oy oy.  Everybody knew it- hilarious.  In typical Argentine fashion, I left at 5 am, to wake up 3.5 hours later for megillah reading round 2.

For the seudah on Purim day, I went to Chabad ( my host grandpa) for a bbq.  A typical Argentine bbq (asado) consists of chorizo, a really fat hot dog, turkish kabobs, grilled chicken, and sweet breads, which apparently doesn't come from cow brain but from some gland in the neck.

On a more serious note...

Friday night, Jonah and I ate at this family's house- we got invited through his host mom.  It was really nice.  Aside from a great meal, the couple made us feel at home, were very engaging, and told us that we were invited for whenever we wanted over the course of our stay in Buenos Aires.  It was refreshing to be able to have such an intimate friday night dinner like that.
Especially in that, although my transition into life here has gone smoothly, I have had a hard time feeling comfortable in the Jewish community.  Although I share a common religion, it's really difficult attempting to feel comfortable in a different community, where you don't know anybody, and the language isn't your own.  While at some moments, you feel willing to put yourself in any social situation, at other times, you feel really lost and awkward about it.  Thus, I really appreciated how inviting this family was.

Some spanish basketball terms I learned today:
tablero: backboard
to dunk: botar
to defend: marcar
screen: cortina


A complaint: This city smells absolutely terrible.  It might have to do with the fact that piles of trash remain abundant throughout.   Even in beautiful areas, you'll find a huge mound of garbage, overflowing into the street.  Who does that?  Who creates these piles?
So it's the great amount of trash, plus the dog poop everywhere, that really enhance the stench. 

But Buenos Aires really is an awesome and beautiful city!!

Buenas noches
Ciao

ariel