On Sunday some friends and I went to Plaza Armenia for the Rosh Hashanah Urbana Festival. It was basically a giant block party to highlight Jewish life in Argentina. My favorite part was obviously the free apples and honey but once my stomach was full there were a ton of other cool things going on. They had traditional music, arts and crafts, vendors with all sorts of traditional items with an Argentine twist, exhibits on important parts of the High Holidays such as reflection and tradition and finally they were selling all sorts of delicious Middle Eastern food.
The crowd.
Writing my name as a part of one of the activities.
This meat is for you, Mark.
A painting we watched them make.
Tuesday was even cooler! My friend Aileen was a genius and bought us tickets to see the World Champs, Spain, take on Argentina in soccer! After warnings from our host moms about safety at the game and promising to only speak in Spanish we set off for the River Plate Stadium in Belgrano. Dressed in our Argentine jerseys we joined the crowd streaming to the stadium. Once there we climbed to the highest section and found our seats. It was so interesting to compare a sporting event in Argentina to all the ones I have been to in the US. First of all, there is almost no technology, only one score board that has the score, time and can say "GOOOOOOL!!!" There are also very few advertisements anywhere and food is dirt cheap, the only downside was the lack of halftime show.
The game got off to a rough start with Spain playing keep away for what seemed like forever but was probably less than two minutes. But, with the stadium packed with all Argentine fans (I think I saw two Spain fans the whole time) the home team had to impress! Messi scored in the tenth minute and then a teammate followed up with a goal in the thirteenth on the exact same play! Argentina scored again on a goalie blunder and went into the half up 3-0! We were so excited because we had expected to lose that we bought ourselves celebratory second popsicles (it was hot up there!) The second half was less eventful but still a ton of fun! We left five minutes early to miss the stampede of deliriously happy Argentine fans but it was an AMAZING experience! (Pictures to come)
Tonight Magda (my madre afitriona or host mom) and I had a special dinner to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. Magda is not religious at all but she proclaimed that even though she knows nothing about Rosh Hashanah we could still have a party! She cooked up homemade noquis and chicken because that is what she is used to eating on special occasions. She also made a DELICIOUS chocolate cake with dulce de leche in the middle! I refused the third piece so she made me promise I would eat some tomorrow, I guess I can manage that if she insists.
Haag Sameach to all!
Now all that stands between me and a weekend in the Andes is one midterm!
Hasta Luego,
Miriam
I hope it is a happy, healthy and sweet new year. Go 5771! I love you!!
ReplyDelete¡Amo la carne vertical! Esta parrilla se mueve como un neumatico de coche. Falto la parrilla. Pero falto Miriam mas.
ReplyDeleteYou ARE doing some studying, right?
ReplyDeleteLexicologists (and parents) agree that the meaning of the following sentence can be construed differently with stress on a different word. To wit:
ReplyDeleteYou ARE doing some studying, right?
This is a focus on the verb intransitive for a student who is, in fact, transitive. There is an implied trust that comes before the mid-term grades are released.
This version is not as appealing to the student as:
You are doing SOME studying, right?
With that stressed adjective, we would have found an acceptance of the improbability that an intelligent, adventurous person might have more to do in a foreign locale than, say, sit in a library conjugating verbs.
On the other hand, the student can take heart that the parent didn't reach for the stressed clarifier, as in the following:
You are doing some studying, RIGHT?
Note the harsher tone. This would generally be accompanied by a B- or definitely a C, in conjunction with a tuition bill. We're not there yet. Oh, no.
So, we are satisfied that trust and cheer remain below the surface, ready to bubble forth, and will remain so at least until grades are posted. After that, it will be the individuals in this dialog, and not the individual words, that will be stressed, RIGHT?