Mi Feliz Cumpleanos

What a birthday.

Thursday night, we all went to the most innovative bar I've ever seen. The main tables had a tap in the middle of the table so the people could pull thier own drinks. A digital meter built into the table measured how many litros we'd pulled. The other brilliant feature was the inclusion of a name, telephone, and email space on the table napkins to swap with barmates. Shot some pool with my friends and actually held my own pretty well.

Saturday, I finally found peanut butter here. There´s a cool little chinatown about 8 blocks from school and I picked up a jar at a Chinese-International grocery. I returned to studio and raised the jar to the ooohs and ahhs of my peers. ¨Where did you get that?¨they all wanted to know. Small victories. Anyway, the chinese food I got to go there revealed to me how non spicy argentine food is. That night, Aldo and I hit the town looking for some live music. The oldest, most prestigious cafe in town, the grand Tortoni, had jazz downstairs at 11, but we arrived right at 11 so it was already too packed. Instead, we sat in the main room and I got chocolate and churros. This chocolate is incredibly rich drinking chocolate- served with hot milk to get the richness one wants- but I just drank it straight. One dunks the churros in the chocolate, and its delicious. One of the specialities of the place. Cafe Tortoni was where Borges frequented.

We left the Cafe downtown and took a cab over to a place recommended by my guidebook a few blocks from my apartment, actually, right on my street of Vidt. The place is called La Pena de Colorado, which I think translates to the Pity of Red, or something close to that. Its a very bohemian place with basic rustic tables, brick walls, a small stage, and a big Parilla (grill) the food is traditional northern argentine, so very rustic and meaty with stews and tamales. Apparently we just missed the guitar show, so we just grabbed a beer and split a choripan. A choripan is a grilled sausage sandwich, although whats in the sausage is one of the bigger mysteries here. Called it an early night around 2 AM or so.

Sunday, september 3rd, I went to the San Telmo market and picked up my new sketchbook. There´s a guy with a table down there who sells handmade books, and I ordered one from him as there are no good quality sketchbooks down here. About ten dollars US, for a good size handstitched sketchbook, with a cover I´d picked out a week before and very nice paper. I was able to pick up a bus 130 which runs from San Telmo all the way up to school in Belgrano. It was a gorgeous sunny morning, and I sorely lamented the fact that we were all cooped up in studio while the portenos were making out, strolling, and playing soccer in the huge park.

During the weekends, when the university annex closes, you have to get in through the old municipal water labs, a decrepid huge building with broken windows and surrounded by barbed wire. The gaurds have to come out, and roll back part of the original iron gates so you can squeeze inside. I jokingly call it breaking in to studio. Anyway Sunday we continued work on our project presentation which was due monday. I got there around 11 AM and I worked until midnight. The other two guys worked until three or four before they went home. At midnight on the 4th, I was riding a nearly empty bus through Belgrano towards home.

The next morning I overslept and got to studio around 830 AM. I jumped right in to make up for the time the other two guys had spent. Caroline, one of the sixth years, brought in a big plate of fresh pastries for my birthday and I shared it with the studio. Medialunas, churros, good stuff.

We finished our presentation ten minutes after our project was due, but everyone else was scrambling too, so it wasnt too big of an issue. Presentation went well- we were concise and showed an impressive quantity of work. Our final piece ended up being about 4 feet wide by 6 feet long. I hope I never have to see those clips again. My fingers are only now starting to heal. After the presentations, which 'overwhelmed' Claudio, we watched a presentation by Sergio, on diagrams and a project he did for our part of Buenos Aires. Afterwards, we took a break, and then came back to watch another movie about street kids. The title was Bus174, about the tragic hostage incident that occured in Rio de Janero in 2000. It was even more depressing than the first movie we saw because it was all true and all real footage. What a movie to watch on one´s birthday!

Anyway, I had told my friends that I wanted a good steak dinner for my birthday, so we tried to think of a place that was A) Local to our neighborhood in Palermo Viejo, B) Looked like it had good steaks and C) had enough room to seat the 25 of us. Janet suggested a place near their apartment that she´d walked by frequently called Lomo. Lomo means beef, so we figured that was the best bet.

We all met down there after leaving studio, and got most of us at one long table in the back. Very nice place, although it was still so small, we took most of the tables. Very modern with bamboo, concrete, and corrugated steel. Almost everybody from studio came, although it was probably as much a celebration of the end of the project as it was for my birthday. I was still touched though.

Honestly, it was the best meal I´ve had here in Buenos Aires, and the best steak I´ve ever had. Ever. I got a Sirloin that was about 5 inches wide and 2 inches THICK. Perfectly done, served over a bed of potatos au gratin and sauteed mushrooms. Incredible. Great Argentine wine all around. The steak I had was kind of expensive, 38 pesos, for buenos aires, but at about $12, the best steak I´ve ever had is a steal at twice the price. I wished so badly that Dad, Mom, and Tay could have been there to share it with me. Anyway, after dinner we hit the bars for a long, fun evening, although I didnt get home until 7 AM. Fun on one´s birthday, but definately not something to do often.

Today I slept in and I am glad our system class doesn't start until 4 PM. It was a gorgeous afternoon although it did get cold this evening. Tomorrow we´re going to do an intensive site visit in the downtown San Telmo.

What a birthday! Can´t believe I´m 22, although I´m still one of the younger students on this trip.