Feliz Navidad, a reflection on the year past

Hi everybody,

It has been rather a significant while since i have had time to post anything, life has a way of just getting in the way of things such as what are generally rather self-indulgent musings.  In this post however, I would like to be relatively festive, unfortunately as I write this post, I am fighting off exhaustion after having endured 3 of the hardest days of my life, and so I ask your forgiveness if there is the slightest tinge of bitterness towards the airline that delivered me 30 hours late without my luggage.

Having said that, Christmas is a time for celebration, a time for family, a time for friends and a time for reflection on the year past.  As I write this, I am sitting on a couch, watching Mission Impossible with my best mate in London, and whilst my journey here has left more than a little to be desired, the important thing is that I have made it and will get to enjoy Christmas here.  I must give a big shout out and thankyou to Manuel and Brigitta who have been extremeloy hospitable and invited Dave and myself to celebrate Christmas with them.  Also, to Ian and Cathy who have allowed me to stay at their place in the 'Dam. 

After Christmas I will be off to spend some time in Germany with Lisa and her family prior to once again being in Amsterdam for nearly a week before work summons me back to the southern hemisphere.

I must admit that there is a tinge of sadness associated with this years christmas, as it will be the first time since Dylan was born that our family will be at all divided for Christmas.  Thankfully, modern technology, in particular Skype will mean that we get some degree of connection throughout our festivities.

Christmas has a way of making you only focus on those things which are really important and matter.  When I look back across the year, I know that there have been some horribly trying experience, with many challenges along the way, however I could not recount a single one.  The things I remember are those which I learned from, the friends I made, and the sights I saw.
Here are a few of my favourite memories from my year:

• Rotorua - What a way to kick off the year, spending time with my best mates before I left the country.
• First day in Chile - whilst a little Jetlagged, I remember the thrill of the adrenaliine coursing through my body in anticipation of the year ahead just after I put my foot on official chilean soil for the first time.
• Dave, arriving in Chile
• Going to Uruguay for Lunch,
• Safari in South Africa
• Winning my first quality adult chess tournament
• July 8th /9th, depending on who you ask
• Going snowboarding for ths first time
• Speaking to Oliver Tickner on Skype for the first time
• Seeing my parents at the JFK Airport
• First steps on European Soil

Thus ends my nostalgic musings from 2011.  Thankyou to all my friends who have supported me this year, my best wishes to everybody and your familes for the festive season.  Eat too muchm, drink too much and don't let the Christmas Grinch get you down.
Finally, a very Merry Christmas to my Grandparents.  Hopefully that I have written a post will mean that you cut me some slack before I need to write a new one.\\

Brazilian Travel Diaries

After a week in Brazil, I have made it to the airport in preparation for my departure back to home.  The trip has been relatively busy, plenty of work but I have still had some time to get to absorb some of the beautiful Brazilian culture and to see some of the breathtaking landscape that this fantastic country has to offer. 

Day 1: Monday
The alarm went off a touch to early for my liking (3am), so I could get some excercise in before my flight, seeing as I figured that after a 6 hour flight, and a 2 hour drive I wouldn't be in any mood on my arrival to Brazil to hit a gym.  Mario, my ever reliable and friendly taxi driver successfully negotiated the Santiago early morning vaccuum of traffic and got me to the airport in time.
I was luckily pretty tired, and was able to grab a couple of hours of shut-eye on the plane before I watched "The Ugly Truth", to tell the truth I didn't really care what the movie was about, as soon as I saw it had Katherine Heigel in it, I wasn't interested in anything else ;)  Getting through customs was a breeze, after hearing some horror stories from friends who have had realy difficulties getting into Brazil I expected some trouble.  The only trouble I had was when I said "Bom dia"  I receieved a bombardment of rapid Portuguese, which I had no possibility of understanding.  After explaining that I only spoke Spanish, we had a delightful conversation in slow Portunol, before finally getting my papers stamped.
2 Hours later, my colleague and I arrived in Lorena, where we checked our emails, and made some plans to the following few days.
That night, I had my first parmagiana since leaving Australia - the deliciousness of a schnitzel that was so tender it was able to be cut by a spoon along with the rice and salad was great. 

Day 2 - Lorena
Tuesday was a pretty busy day, exclusively work before going to a nice and quaint little restaurant in the township where I had a nice steak, followed by probably my favourite desert - Creme de Papaya, a puree'd papaya and ice-cream dish with a blackberry (I think) liquor.  I will make sure that I bring the recipe back home, its amazing!

Day 3 - Lorena
Once again, a day at the office and then a brief nap before trying to get in touch with my new graduate friends to see if we could meet up for a beer.  Alas not, so I grabbed a quiet one on my own before having a rather delicious Sushi dinner at the hotel restaurant.

Day 4 - Lorena-Rio De Janeiro
Once again, another early morning start - however this time, it was to prepare for the long drive from Lorena to Rio de Janeiro.  The drive is rather spectacular, particularly early in the morning with the fog rolling over the hills/mountains as you drive past.  A few business stops at vendors along the way broke the drive up sufficiently and it was nice to meet people whom I had heard about but hadn't actually had the chance to meet yet.  Our arrival into Rio however was easily the highlight for me, the outskirts are extremely interesting, with a lot of extremely poor areas which don't have power or water and are quite dangerous (to the extent that traffic cameras solely operate as extra street lighting at night... nobody actually stops).
There are effectively two cities in Rio located right next to each other.  There is the poor side of the city, and then the rich areas - these two dicotomies are located immediately adjacent, and its as though there is a line drawn through the landscape which defines them.  One side you have nice new buildings, and on the other is rather obvious poverty.

Day 5 -Rio de Janerio - Santiago
Today, I am currently in the airport after another early start.  This time however, it was totally self inflicted.  I decided that given I was staying at Cobacobana beach I should take the opportunity to go down for a sunrise and drink a coconut for breakfast.  Whilst it wasn't quite what I was hoping for, in that the sun rose from behind some hills to the left of the beach (looking out across the water) It was still a magnificent site and I cant believe I was one of so few people out there!  Hopefully there will be a next time, so that I can go around to Flameingo and get a pproper sunrise, and find the time to get to the Sao Cristobal (La Cristi - as the locals call it... we know it as the Giant Jesus).

Anyway, hopefully my flight isn't delayed any further and I will get back to Santiago only slightly later than planned.  Boa Tarj amigos!

Confusion reigns supreme in South America

I like to think of myself as a reasonably sharp individual, and so consequently when I get completely and utterly confused by something it really throws me.
Speaking a second language however, it happens every single day - especially when it comes to grammar and sentence structure.  For example, my self-proving attempt to say "I undertsand Spanish better than I write it" which was "Yo entiendo español mejor que me escribo".  It turns out it should be "Yo entiendo español mejor que lo que escribo" (direct translation is "I understand Spanish better than it that I write")  which I just couldn't work out how to get it.... I am sure there is a rule around it, and I understand the idea of using "que" as a comparison word - but using it twice in the one sentence is really difficult for me to understand.
What it did do though was make me think about things which have confused me, or do confuse me.

• How the flag on the moon blew in the moon landing video.  I'm not one of those conspiracy freaks, and I think it was genuine... I just am puzzled by it.
• How something can be New & Improved... surely if it is improved, it isn't new and vice versa!?  If it is new, it hasn't been improved upon yet?
• How a fat chance and a slim chance are the same thing?
• Why do our noses run, yet our feet smell?
• The difference between Bueno and Bien.  I have decided it is similar to the difference between nice and well.  However, thinking about it "good" is an equally difficult word to understand in English.. For example, if a man were to shoot his grandmother from 1km away, I would say he is a good shot.... just not a good person
• Why the QWERTY keyboard was designed the way it was.  Look I understand the history that the keyboard with the letters in an alphabetical order resulted in extremely rapid typing on type writers, and combined with common letters (e & d, t and s etc) being close together resulted in lots of jammings of typewriters,  What I don't understand is why the letters "d" and "f", along with "r" and "t" have to be so close to each other.  I will never again write in an email "I am just ducking off somewhere" of "Regards, Tristan"
• 99% fat free.  What is 99% fat free, how big is the original amount??  I sincerely hope that 1L of milk is has less than 1% fat.  1% of 1L of milk is about 10g of fat...
• Who decided to drink milk?  Did they try a bull as well??
• Why are women crazy about Russell Brand?
• Why companies insist of using voice recognition, and if you fail to speak in the way it expects... for example Spanish with an Aussie accent, it hangs up on you.
• Why do you use artificial flavouring in Lemon Juice, yet real lemons in detergent?
• If firefighters fight fire, whats the go with freedom fighters?
• The concept of "assassination", at what point does the person become too important to have been murdered?
• Best before dates and Used by dates... whats the difference, how long after best before can I keep it before it becomes poisonous!?
• Predictive text... particularly on the Iphone... at what point did somebody decide that automatically correcting words without asking was what we wanted.  On a slight aside, I'd be interested to know if Aunt is the most used word texted using 2868.
• Why does the MCG has a smaller capacity than 20 years ago after all the developments??
• Why, given that break is square - is all sandwich meat round?
• If I get asked a "Penny for my thoughts" and I "Give my two cents worth", where does the other penny go?
• How come man walked on the moon before we got wheels on luggage?
• Why, in all fridges is there a light.... but never one in the freezer???
• Why do doctors call what they do "practice"?
• Why do people stick pistols down the front of the jeans?  If I was to get shot, heaven forbid, outside of a fatal wounding I know where I would want to get shot least.
• Why is the sporting team that polarises opinion the most, almost always the team that wears Black and White?
• At what point did we decide to drink coffee that had been digested by animals?
• Given the idea that bright colours generally mean danger in nature, how did we end up with a garden salad with lettuce, cucumber, cucumber (red, yellow and green), carrots and tomato?

Hopefully some of you have answers to these questions.. bonus points if you can tie in the number 42!

Cause? There is no cause for this. What cause?

One of my favourite scenes from a movie is the scene in the Matrix Reloaded, when they meet the Merovingian and discuss finding the Keymaker.  The Merovingian discusses his love for everything French, the wine, the language (in particular how sexy it is to curse in French), and proceeds to go on a philosophical rant about causality.   After having watched the movie recently, it made me ponder further the concept of causality, and specifically choices which I have made throughout my life, and some critical momentswhich have strongly influenced where I am now.

If I was to travel back in time 10 years, to when I was 15 years old, have a chat to myself and tell him/me that most of my closest friends are chess players, that to this day I continue to study chess, and that I travel a lot to play in tournamnets, I'm sure that the younger me would think that my life had taken a majorly wrong turn somewhere along the line.  The truth is, that nothing could be further from the truth... The fact is that I am extremely happy, and through Chess I have had numerous wonderful experiences and a large portion of my precious memories have come through chess tournaments or with friends I have made through chess.  I am extremely lucky to have had a hobby play such a big part in my life for as long as I have, and for it to have had such a profound influence on me.  But the question I asked myself, how did I actually get to this point?

My mum tells me that she taught me to play chess at a young age, but (sorry mum) unfortunately I don't remember it.  In fact, my first memory of Chess was when I was in primary school, and had been on the receiving end of regular kickings by my classmates in the schoolyard.  One day, the school principle came and grabbed me and said he would like to show me something in the school library.  He took me into the "restricted" section of the library - normally (from memory) it was where the teachers would take select groups from classes to watch documentaries, etc.  Anyway, it turned out that at lunchtimes on some days the chess club met to practice.  I played the school board number 1, and although I was relatively soundly beaten I remember bragging afterwards that I captured three "prawns".  I was then allowed to play another relative newby and was able to win, and thus was my addiction born.  To me, this is the first of what I believe are the critical moments in my life - I went on to become absolutely infatuated with the intricacies of chess and went on to play at a high level for my school team, and later in several junior national championships.  I was extremely fortunate to have the parents which I did, where I was given unending support, never wanting for anything (outside of a structured program that wasn't available in SA) in my chess development... and most importantly, they never put the same pressure on me which I have seen, and continue to see applied to chess kids these days.  I am forever grateful that I never needed to play chess, or needed to play well, and at all times have been allowed to play the game purely because I love it.

The second of these turning points came in late 1997 - I had gone through a series of ravens tests, literature reviews, mathematical tests and interviews as part of the applications for the SHIP program.  I remember vividly one morning, my parents sat me down on the couch, and all serious said "Tristan, we need to speak to you about something".  I had no idea what was going on, and remember thinking that there was something seriously wrong - a family member was sick, I was in serious trouble, Matthew Richardson was retiring.  My parents, however couldn't control their excitement for too long and told me that I had been accepted into the program, and I would be starting at Glenunga the following year - the feeling of excitement which I felt is still one of the biggest highs of my life.  The opportunity to be in a class full of Students with High Intellectual Potential was extremely exciting, however looking back on it - I am undecided on the merits of the idea.   Whilst my academic education never wanted for anything, and I was continuously intellectually challenged, the idea of putting a group of intellectually gifted, yet mostly socially lacking children into the same classroom tends to leave some rather large emotional gaps.  I was fortunate in that I was able to kill a couple of years at the end of high-school to allow my emotional development to catch up a touch before I headed to University.  Whilst I don't think, given hindsight, I would repeat the acceleration of high-school (certainly not to the same extent) I made some wonderful friends along the way, had some fantastic experiences, and who knows how my life would have been without the opportunity I was afforded.
During highschool my chess interest had waned, and was basically only playing school chess when in 2003 the school team won the state championship.  As a result I ended up going to Brisbane and playing for Glenunga at the national championships, where I had life-changing-moment number 3.  I met two guys, who I thought at the time were nice enough, but certainly didn't anticipate how integral they would end up being to my life.  These two young gentlemen were playing board 1 also for their respective states (Queensland and the ACT) and both gave me rather sizeable pastings.  I remember that after my game against Dave, during the analysis he told me that I should go to Sydney to play in the Australian Juniors.  Unfortunately, this didn't end up happening, however this tournament was the inspiration for me to returning seriously to the Chess scene.  Once again, something which in the grand scheme of things seems to be a relatively insignificant event, I didn't win, no amazing event, yet without it, few years later in Dave Fitzy and would not have ended up being the good friends that we are, and my life would have been all the poorer for of it.

Each of these moments have had significant flow-on affects to my life, and are part of the river that is my life.  I have found it fascinating, speculating about what would have happened if any of these potential forks had been different, the possibilities really are endless as to how my life could have evolved if the school didn't have a chess team, or the principle didn't introduce me to it etc.  Ultimately however, I do know that if any of these moments were removed from my life, my life would be significantly poorer for the absence of any of the experiences I have had and friends I have made.

The final moment I have decided has been critical to my life is a lot more recent - the phone call telling me I was being offered the job here in Chile.  There is no way I can not include this in the list of moments which have had a defining influence in my life, and I am extremely excited about what I am going to attribute to it in 5 years time when I look back on it.  Given the way this experience has shaped me already in the first four months, I have this feeling that there is no way for me to possibly predict where I will be when I review it in 5 years time.... I do know I am looking forward to the journey!

Commonwealth Championships Part II - Tournaments B&C take over...

Rounds 5-9 didn’t really yield too much, as the top seeds started playing each other, and drawing.  Dave unfortunately suffered a loss to one of South Africa’s strongest players, Nick Van der Nat who played some fantastic chess but unfortunately faded in the last 2 rounds, while top seed GM Nigel Short who had fallen half a point off the pace pulled out some important victories to move back into equal first.  Gawain continued to play well, despite not capitalizing on some fantastic positions (one against Grover as white, and then against Nigel as Black) which would have seen him clearly in the lead at this point.

During these rounds however, the social life of the tournament really turned on.  The Wednesday in particular offered one of the highlights of the tournament.  Graham had organized a wonderful night at a local Indian restaurant where we enjoyed ourselves doing what it is that to me really makes going to these sorts of events worthwhile.  Exchanging stories, getting to know your fellow competitors and newfound friends a little better, consuming more than the recommended amount of cider and generally just having a relaxing night away from the need to prepare for opponents and trying to remember reams and reams of opening theory.  Nights such as these really challenge the stereotypes that are associated with chess players, we just hung out, drinking beer, eating nice food and being slightly too raucous for an Indian establishment.  The lowlight of the night came when I received a completely unrejectable challenge…. A Flaming Lamborghini contest (for those who don’t understand, Google it… the only thing I will say is that most menus give this drink a health warning).  This time however, there was national pride on the line, with South Africans questioning Australian drinking credentials…

After the Flaming Lamborghinis were done, we then got into discussions about our next social night, which was decided to be on Friday (weren’t we taking this tournament seriously?), and one of our new friends was generous enough to throw a Braii and Beer at his place.  We played some blitz; smack talked and generally had a good time, although for me the absolute highlight was beating my childhood chess idol, GM Nigel Short.  No need for details about how it happened, or if it was indeed he who got himself into the lost position, but he was generous enough to offer me two rematches (one of which after getting myself to a pawn up and probably a completely won endgame he played Nf5 and said “Now I #&/% you” at which point I horribly dropped my bundle).  Playing against my childhood chess hero made the whole trip worthwhile and Nigel was extremely giving of his time, stories and his seemingly irrepressible cheer definitely added to the tournament atmosphere.

The last three rounds really stepped up, with some scintillating play in the GM enclosure (aka the Playboy Mansion).  It was fantastic to see the higher seeds really pushing for wins on the top boards, and whilst the Swiss system has its problems, having such aggressive play at the end of the tournament rather than the drawfests you tend to get in round robins, is certainly an appealing characteristic.  Dave, despite his earlier poorer results recovered well to score 3/3 in his final games to get himself to a respectable 9/11 and score himself a Commonwealth Bronze Medal – Congratulations mate.  GM Gawain Jones on the other hand, didn’t falter in the slightest, continuing his good form from earlier in the tournament to finish on an extremely impressive 9.5/11 to tie with his countryman GM Nigel Short.  Fortunately for Gawain, who went into the last round with slightly (staggeringly, having played all the top rivals as outright leader for several rounds) inferior tiebreak’s, his opponents outperformed Nigel’s which resulted in Gawain becoming the Commonwealth Champion!  A super result, so once again, congratulations. (On an aside, I wonder if people are aware of the consequences of their games in a tournament such as this, taking rapid draws in the last round because they don’t feel like their game means anything.  Games on board 70 turned out to be critical to the outcome of this tournament… could be an opportunity for an enterprising 1200 in the last few rounds perhaps?!)

The last night of tournaments like this are always ones to remember (or not, as the bodies limits may dictate) and for me, it was an opportunity to celebrate the fact that my two friends performed well and also to thank those who had been extremely helpful and hospitable to me.  Such events are always touched with a tinge of sadness, as it invariably means saying goodbye to newly made friends.  The night may, or may not have included body-shots, lots of pan-galactic-gargleblasters, a bottle of tequila, trash talking blitz, a rendition of “You Raise Me Up”, some drunk dials, excessive amounts of Springboks (my new favorite shot, peppermint liquor with Amarula) and one wayward soul getting to partially live his dream as he clutched to the thigh of the local Statue of David.

To all my new friends, it was lovely to meet you all – I look forward to seeing you again a lot sooner than I had originally planned, sorry to Fitzy (the recipient of his second drunk dial).  I also need to, in particular pass on a big thankyou to MER, not only are you an extremely eloquent writer (check his blog out) and provided some great coverage of the tournament you are just a top bloke, so thanks for your hospitality and assistance when it was needed (this assistance included doing three travelers washing at one point).  Much appreciated.

Finally, there is no way I can sign off without a special “Dankie” to Graham, mate you ran a smashing tournament – and spared no effort in making sure that all of us foreign participants had an absolutely sensational time at the tournament.  Mr Jurgensen I look forward to beers at a Boxing Day test in the not too distant future!

I declare my 2011 South African adventure closed, your shores are once again one less obnoxious Aussie better off.  Dit was Lacka.

Chess, The Universe and Everything - Commonwealth Championships Review Part 1

So I realize this blog is going up relatively soon after the last one, for some reason I decided not to click the “Publish” button on my rather large safari review.  I have now returned home from South Africa, and have successfully negotiated my first day back at work (IMHO the day immediately after a holiday is always the worst).

The Commonwealth Championships were a truly wonderful tournament – I have heard some rather disparaging remarks on some forums and blogs about the tournament, particularly to do with the coverage on the internet of the top games.  This happens at plenty of tournaments, so any criticism leveled at the organizing committee, or any of the people who devoted their time to this tournament is completely unwarranted and ridiculous.  For me, this tournament was the best run tournament I have attended (with the possible exception of Queenstown, both tournaments are fantastic events) – nearly 700 players would be a nightmare for any group of organizers, particularly when the target for entries was somewhere around half that, so for the tournament to go off with as few hiccups as it did is a real credit to the professionalism, dedication and tireless work of all the people behind the scenes – I tried to get to all of you after the tournament, but I know I missed some of you, so please take this as my thanks.  If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t be nearly 600 players leaving such a tournament with such good feelings (I need to subtract the usual 15% who just are disappointed and disillusioned about chess after a tournament).

So onto my tournament review: both a review of my tournament, and some more general thoughts on the results and the social side.  For those of you familiar with the concept of tournaments A, B and C I will try and cover as much of the latter two without giving too much away.

Day one: The first round managed something that resembled an on time start.  Given that it seems to be traditional at chess tournaments for the first round to be somewhere between half an hour (in this case) or 3 hours (as was the case in a tournament I played here in South America) late starting I need to give this tournament a massive “tick” (in-joke).  The opening ceremony was well run, with some notable speakers – some well written speeches (they sounded like they had been prepared by an eloquent friend of mine, but perhaps that’s just coincidence) and the seemingly obligatory microphone to the mouth got everything going nicely.  It was rumored that Kirsan, FIDE’s fearless leader was to be attending, but alas was a no-show… perhaps the aliens came back?  Or perhaps he was still slogging out an endgame against Gaddafi?

I fortunately had a reasonably comfortable win against my first round opponent, although he played rather well, until one unfortunate slip up meant that when he blundered the pawn his whole position collapsed around him.  Pretty much all games (as is generally expected in a Swiss) went according to seed, and Gawain, Dave and I managed to catch up for some beers prior to the Blitz championships.  Dave and Gawain didn’t appear to suffer any ill-affects from these, however I ran into significant hurdles from round 4-7 losing 3 games in a row (2 of them on time completely won, and blundering a queen in a won position due to somehow ending up with 30s on my clock in a closed middlegame) and then managing to checkmate with 4 seconds remaining.  I thought that perhaps the positions on the board were a good omen for the main event and my speed was simply a result of not playing the same amount of Blitz as I used to.  I can´t let this tournament go without touching on the type of chess that was played – for me, Blitz tournaments are always a good aside to the main event, and are generally a casual affair.  This certainly wasn’t the case on the Saturday night – I have never seen the amount of “dirty” chess as was present during this tournament.  Knocking the queen off the table when someone is about to promote, pushing pawns two squares, claiming wins for an illegal move for promoting and not replacing the piece (to me it’s just bad sportsmanship, regardless of whether it is technically correct) and offering draws every few moves with clearly no other objective than distracting the opponent.  Nonetheless, clearly the best blitz player in the field GM Gawain Jones took home the bickies with an awe-inspiring 9/9 performance.

On the second day of the tournament it turned out I was wrong about my blitz results being due to not playing much fast chess, instead I was just out of form.  Round 2 the following morning saw me win a game rather easily where my opponent blundered a piece and then proceeded to force me to checkmate him (a rather frustrating experience, given that when he had blundered the piece he had used 10 minutes, and then proceeded to use a further 1:10 excluding increment to get to the final position).  I then had a nap and some lunch in News Café (a regular haunt of us chess playing folk for our preparation) and saw that I was playing a 12yo FM – A really nice kid, Daniel played extremely well and despite me winning a pawn basically straight out of my preparation, he played extremely accurately and punished my various inaccuracies to hold onto an extremely impressive draw.  My only gripe with Daniel is his ELO of 1600 being so far below his strength that the draw cost me more points than a win over a 2100!!  At this point, there had been quite the stir in the hall as a few of the top seeds faltered, with an extremely impressive performance from the young WFM Ivana Furtado from India drawing with countryman GM Abhijit Kunte whilst Tanishe Tafira held GM Laxman to a draw as well.  There was significant controversy with one GM having to play an extremely distracting opponent who had been on a bender the night before and was fumbling, making distracting noises and generally being a jerk at the board.  It turns out that this opponent was stoned and was barely in physical shape to walk, yet somehow managed to play some rather good chess.

Round 4 was when everything seemed to happen.  As we were preparing for our games all the top seeds in wimbledon seemed to be falling like flies, riots began breaking out in Syria and Greece and the only thing in worse shape than the Greetian economy was my position after 20 moves – I played a really disappointing game against my opponent who just didn’t seem to make a mistake, and whilst I played passively I didn’t feel like I made a huge blunder… Damn juniors!!  All the undefeated top seeds managed to continue their winning form going, with one exception - one of my new mates Anant Dole had an extremely impressive draw with black(!) against German Champion IM Huschenbach. 

That concludes the review of the first half of the tournament - I will finish it up tomorrow (provided my internet and electricity are working - running off battery and a really dodgy free wireless connection atm that isn't as reliable as I would like!9

Safari's, Braai's, new friends and the Number 3

Well, as there seems to be a relatively strong general concern for my safety, I figure it would be timely to write a quick post to let you all know that I am in fact in one piece, and have not been eaten by any of the big 5 animals available for viewing at the Kruger National Park.  This is not through a lack of trying, or threats from my fellow travelers, I am just convinced that the buffalo pictured below was much tastier prospect.

The first day in South Africa was certainly an eventful one, with me getting a rather nasty feeling at the counter in Sao Paulo when they said that they didn’t have any record of my baggage.  I did however take them on their word that they would have it on the flight – perhaps my general cynicism should have prepared me for the inevitable event of landing in South Africa without a change of clothes, toiletries or virtually any of my chess books for the tournament.  Nonetheless, my lovely and extremely hospitable host Judy met me at the airport, took me back to my lodging for the night to allow me to freshen up before we went to go buy the essentials that I would need for my Safari.

After an eventful evening where I played a few games of chess, learnt some Afrikaans and had a really nice evening with Judy and her family.  The following morning, bright and early we headed off to meet the first of the Indian contingent to arrive.  Eisha, Harika and Meenashki (who spent the remainder of the tournament trying to shrug the various nicknames which were attributed to her), had all arrived slightly early to join us on the Safari and definitely appeared to be more than slightly apprehensive about being in such close proximity with dangerous animals… they were pretty excited about the safari though!

I took this opportunity to go and collect my luggage from the airport, as it had arrived just under 24 hours late before the group of us rendezvoused with Graham Jurgensen and Dave to grab a traditional South African lunch and finalize plans for heading up to Kruger National Park the following morning.  After a reasonable start on the Monday, we headed along the N4 at what would, to me 3 months ago have been an alarming fast rate.   Having experienced similar speeds and much worse driving recently, all without a seatbelt I felt “perfectly comfortable” (well that’s a slight exaggeration) knowing that this was the most secure I will probably be in a vehicle in the next 12 months.

A quiet evening ensued, in which a few beers and a rather good curry (thanks Dave!) were consumed, and we got ourselves into Savannah mode in preparation for going Lion spotting in the morning.

An early start meant that basically as soon as we entered the park we ran into a herd of giraffes crossing the road looking for an early morning feed.  Whether it was the way they chew their food (which is simply awesome) or the fact that I figured that all African wildlife feels the same way about early mornings that I do, but I was rather glad that the first group of slightly disgruntled animals we met on Safari were herbivores (or as some of our fellow travelers affectionately described them “vegetarians”).  Having these majestic creatures walk at some points comfortably within 5 meters of the cars was definitely the perfect start to a Safari.  Literally 3 minutes afterwards, we got waived down by a passing vehicle directing us to an area where we could go and view Lion.  We sat there, in awe for a good period of time as one extremely lazy male lion, and two female lions chilled out sleeping and giving us the opportunity to really soak in the beauty of one of the true beauties of the African savannah.

In awe of the luck we had just had, Dave and I were enjoying the regular banter that goes along with being stuck in a car with a good friend – especially when you have very different expectations of the wildlife you want to see.  For me, everything was amazing - at this point, Impalas, small birds, warthogs and native mice were still exciting.  However, Dave had seen all this and more having experienced three days safariing at the Pillensburg.  I did however get his nod of approval when I successively spotted Kudu and Giraffes one after the other…. Well that was until Graham, our wonderful host who was in the lead drove back and yelled at us something like (seeing as this is a pg blog I can’t repeat verbatim) “You silly damned Aussies, as if you are here watching flipping Giraffes… There are flipping elephant up ahead, and I don’t think you flipping well want to be you if we flipping well miss them!”

Fortunately, as Dave and I do generally feel attached to our limbs and appendages, we managed to get to see two adolescent male bull elephants (don’t ask how we know they were male; let’s just say it was rather intimidating).  The experience was quite fascinating, the guys just eat and eat and eat some more – we were feeling pretty good about ourselves, as we were the first cars there and got to spend a good 5 or so minutes enjoying the site all to ourselves.  Not too long afterwards, other cars did arrive which began to ruin the tranquility of our moment – it also made us a little more wary of our surroundings, as most of the late arrivals weren’t as cautious about giving the animals (which were 3 times the size of the Audi) their due space.  In particular we decided that should Mummy Elephant show up, we probably didn’t want to be there. 

A few minutes later we hit the local watering hole, where we got our first sightings of Crocodiles, and Hippo… once again we got called “silly” Aussies as Dave and I were in awe of what we were seeing, completely ignorant of the fact that 20m away there were 3 leopards chilling out.  Fortunately, we arrived just in time to see one of them, albeit fleetingly as it ran into some bushes – it staggered me how small it was.  Sure, it was a juvenile animal, but it not only had the capacity to kill me, but also carry 3 of me up a tree, whilst being about 2/3rds of the size of me!  The assassin of the Savannah certainly was impressive, and seeing its sleekness and grace as it moved off was something to truly behold.

So far, we haven’t even had lunch, yet we have seen 3 of the Big 5 (Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Rhino and Buffalo).  We had lunch, looking out across another of the watering holes and, whilst seriously considering what life would be like if I lived here really I just soaked in the atmosphere.  So close to some of natures finest specimens, enjoying a cup of coffee with good friends seemed so close to paradise for me that I really didn’t want to leave.  On the way back to our accommodation that night, we completed probably one of the luckiest days of Safariing, by driving past two groups of White Rhino.  They were a long way off, and somehow – whilst driving – Graham (our wonderful host) managed to pick both of them on the horizon. 

This completed what I thought was the perfect day of Safari – I turned out to be wrong, when we arrived back at our wonderful pad, our good friend Gawain Jones had arrived with Heindrich, and we proceeded to have a Braii (South Africans do claim to chuck on a god BBQ, as it turns out they don’t have misplaced confidence in their abilities on that front!), and listen to the African night.  The sounds of lion roaring, general chatter amongst the animals turning in for the night and the sunset is something I will never forget.  So to Graham for organizing it, Heindrich for his help throughout the trip and to my fellow wayward travelers from (literally) all corners of the globe, thankyou the trip will be something I will never forget

A young bull going in for a fight.  One, two, three, four... five?? ooohhhh

Zebras and Giraffes chilling out.  Bridging fact: Giraffes have a heart which weighs 20kg, and only sleep around 20 minutes per day!

The lion cubs stole our Braai meat, we figured we'd let them be!

Whats the scarier prospect.  A lap around the car, or sitting across the board from this guy?  Right now, im closing my eyes and running!

The piercing looks these guys gave us made it extremely difficult to believe the driver when he said that they are unable to distinguish us, and only really see the larger mass of our car. Can you believe this was 4m away?

A tale of wayward travellers

As I write this (in all likelihood extremely pesemistic) post I am begging for a shower, waiting at the Mendoza airport for my flight to be called.  The volcano that erupted in Chile has wreaked havoc across the Latin American continent and has caused increasingly growing problems in Australia in New Zealand.
After having what could best be described as an interesting and educational weekend in Buenos Aires which included amongst its highlights: Visiting Uruguay drinking Malbec, more tequilla in an hour than can healthily be consumed, and inadvertently ending up in bar where I was offered significant discounts on the products available, I have finally arrived somewhere where it is possible to get home (flights being called, so will finish this later).

I finally made it back to Santiago just before midday, and had the absolute best shower ever - but after 18 hours in airports, 20 hours in a bus I was back, and feeling surprisingly good.  Fortunately for me my good friend Matt had his flight cancelled due to the volcano also, so we were able to spend some quality time complaining about the amount of seismic activity in this part of the world.  I felt terrible for him, but at least now he has gotten himself on a flight to Lima en route to LAX and the Sydney.  Have a safe trip mate!

Currently I am in the Atacama again, working on the commissioning of some new items at a plant we have up here, and whilst I am in the dryest place on earth, I can't believe how cold it is here.   Commissioning is for me the best part of the job, where you get to see all of the things that you have imagined in your head and then translated to a sheet of paper end up physically in front of you.  You get to do all the things that you never get to do (or are normally really bad results!) to the plant as well, and get to hear pumps cavitate, instigate trips, alarms and generally do all the stuff which in the future you will dread hearing about.

Immediately after I finish up on Friday, I fly back to Santiago, then to Sao Paula on my way across to a new continent.  I will be meeting up (again) with Dave to head on a safari with a couple of friends before we convert into table ridden jugadores de ajedrez, at the Commonwealth Championships.  It really is looking like a super tournament and I can't wait to get there.

I have well and truly cought the travel bug, and am extremely excited about getting to see everything else that the world has to offer!

Hope all is well back home, and I do apologise on behalf of the volcano here for making life for my New Zealand and Aussie mates significantly more difficult.

Tim Tams save me from the depression of a tigers loss

Well, after relatively regular baggings of Port Adelaide, my much beloved Tigers really turned it up on Saturday night against the Power. After getting up at god knows what hour to watch the game on Saturday morning I always had the feeling that Richmond were going to be slightly too good for the Power, and when in the third quarter the young tigers were 3 goals up, I thought that the dam was about to break. To their credit though, the port boys really stood up and (courtesy of some flick passes from Daniel Motlop that Billy Slater would be proud of) really dominated all but the last 10 minutes of the game. It was a really bad result for Richmond who would have been looking at backing up from a great win in the dreamtime game and getting themselves into the 8 with some momentum.

As disappointed as I was with the result, (personally I share the view with most commentators that at the MCG or Etihad Richmond would have won comfortably), the thing that really stung was Gary March coming out and slamming the team for the performance. I found it an extremely scathing criticism, and in my humble opinion pretty unwarrented - don't get me wrong I don't want to be excusing a poor performance, seeing as they have been served up to us loyal fans of the yellow and black all too frequently - however, the decision to sell the game was not made by the players. Of all the teams to play in Darwin, seemingly Port was the worst team to play there, not because the Power were going to be a tougher proposition than Collingwood or Geelong, but not only was the expectation that we would win, but we were playing against a side who has played in Darwin several times, and comparatively much more accustomed to the heat and humidity that the Northern Territory presents. This combination means that we not only lost, but the Tigers appear to have (by no means deliberately) traded the 4 points for a $500,000 injection to the bank account. All in all, I think those who made the decision to sell the game should shoulder an equal proportion of the blame as those who ran out onto the field in 75% humidity.

Now I have had my rant about the depression that is associated with being a Tiger supporter (which most of you aren't in the slightest bit interested in) I should provide something of an update on things happening in the eastern hemisphere. My good friend Matt has arrived from Newcastle, and whilst he was only here briefly before he departed for Brazil as the first leg of his whirlwind work trip around South America, it was nonetheless good to see him and catch up on the wheelings-and-dealings that have been going on in the Hunter. Also nice was the new football and guernsey that he brought with him.... although both of those things were massively overshadowed by the Tim-Tams he brought across also. Having a hit of Australian chocolate was something I had been craving for a few weeks, and luck would have it, my lovely grandparents (there you go guys, you got a shout-out!) had sent me a package of Haighs chocolate frogs which were a treat from them and my mum when I was younger. So a combination of those and the Tim-Tams means that my endorphin levels have been rather high this week. Add that to the fact that I have been able to do some longer runs, and have been training with a local triathlon club (who just about killed me on one of the hills on Monday night) I am feeling pretty good about everything right now.

This coming weekend I am heading across the Andes to catch up with Dave in Buenos Aires, who returns from Iguazu falls to explore one of the most amazing cities in South America. A couple of days of sightseeing in clean air will be a nice change from the dry and smoggy environment here in Santiago (the lack of rain has made the smog extremely bad right at the minute!)

Anyway I will post some photos and some rants when I return from BA (or if I have internet there, possibly a post from the hotel room).

Que tengas un buen fin de semana! :)

Santiagocation

So a big night, primarily based around the celebration that was Dreamtime at the 'G meant that this morning getting out of bed to head to training was something of a struggle.  The alcohol induced celebrations from Richmond doing the deed against the 'Dons,  leaving them outside the eight only on percentage, meant that the alarm going off to tell me that I was about to have to see sunlight, kick a football and do physical excercise was nothing short of nightmarish. 
A few hours later, a bunch of water and some fresh air cured the "caña", however as I right this post the cold is rather doing its worst to make me feel as though I have a guerilla army going at it in my throat,,, one moment I feel pretty reasonable, the next I crash and burn into a coughing fit.  I think tonight is going to be a quiet one, where Dave and I enjoy some fajitas (god bless free delivery) and watch some Californication.... probably followed by Rogue Assassin (one of my favourite Jason Statham movies).  I really need to thank Dave for intruducing me to californication, it is hilarious and, lets face it is lucky to only have an MA15+ rating.  Its got plenty of "action" and some great one liners, none of which are repeatable on what I like to consider a respectful blog (more to the point I don't feel explaining some of the concepts to the less "savvy" members of my family).
What these one liners did do though was make me thing about some of the more humorous lines which I have enjoyed on the TV screen.  This is a completely subjective list and I guess is largely based around movies and shows which have significance for me, so I encourage you to include some more in the comments below.

"He's not the Messiah, he's just a very naughty boy" - The Life of Brian
"Stop talking about the war!" "Why?! You started it" "No we didn't" " Yes you did, you invaded Poland" Fawlty Towers
"Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch" - Sheldon Cooper
"I must say, Amy, pretending to have intercourse with you has given me a great deal of satisfaction" - Sheldon Cooper
"Thats the reason that your headache didn't go away, its pronounced analgesic, not anal-gesic... the pills go in your mouth sir!" Dr Turk, Scrubs
 "Siiiiiilenceeee. I kill you!" Achmed, the dead terrorist
 "Are my boxers made of wool, cos my weasels getting heat stroke" Dr Kelso, Scrubs
"Ted, even if she is married, its a Canadian marriage.  Its like their currency and their army...  nobody takes it seriously" How I Met Your Mother
 "According to most studies, peoples number on fear is public speaking.  Number two is dying, does that sound right?  This means that to the average person, if you go to a funeral you're better off in the casket than giving the eulogy" Jerry Seinfeld
"Antiquing" Bender
"Cmon, Europes the size of a postage stamp... we can practically walk to Berlin" Eurotrip
"Two fingers? Better make it three" Roadtrip
"I gueess this is an insight into marriage with Ike Turner" Wedding Crashers
"Theres my wife, see that? Always smiling? Hi honey.  Judging, watching, "Let it go"  Old School

A lot of honourabl mentions, most of which revolve around legen... wait for it, and I really hope you are not lactose intollerant... dairy!

Suit up!

Coming off second best.

Its Friday night and apart from it meaning that I don't have to work tomorrow, it also means that as normal I have enjoyed the delights that are Serrano 14, the location of the Club de Ajedrez de Chile. One of the unfortunate things associated with my friday night pilgramage along the metro is that I always seem to end up out of the prizes on tiebreak (tonight was the 4th time I have come 4th on tiebreak).  Dave won our bragging rights game tonight, and as expected won the tournament undefeated, and as always we enjoyed some blitz slanging matches where the sledging was as much a part of the game as the ability to move the pieces (just as well, seeing as its probably the only area of the game I would have an edge!)
When Dave and I got off the metro tonight, I commented that it was nice to not see riot police and that tonight must be a quiet night... I clearly provoked the locals who are passionate about their education system and the new hydroelectric proposal, because no more than half an hour later there would have been 10,000 protesters marching and chanting... causing such a scene that the riot police duly arrived, and charged the protestors with horses, riot shields and then ultimately armored trucks with water cannons.  I must admit I was extremely impressed by the determination of the protestors, returning mutlitple times and making sure that their message was heard.  I'm assuming that the repeated offendors will wake up in the morning feeling sorry for themselves after coming off second best... oh well I guess at least they are not Port supporters (watching the game, and 10 minutes into the second quarter thay are 59 points down against the Dockers.)  I Its a cracking Saturday afternoon at football, the Demons vs the Saints... a battle which is hardly going to live up to the fight which normally happens between my left and right shoulders... Although I must admit its interesting watching the priority picks struggling :)  The other game, the Power vs the Dockers at AAMI stadium is just a dreadful game of football, and from the looks of the crowd, more people were needed to be employed to put tarpaulin over the seats than have shown up to watch the footy.  Its really sad to see the state of things in SA footy, in particular the club spawned from the Port Adelaide magpies which I grew up following - hears to hoping that the move to Adelaide Oval will not only breathe fresh financial life into the club, but also toughen them up - right now, I think Fremantle would get a harder hit-out from the carebears!

Tomorrow, Dave will hopefully have overcome the nasty bug he caught in Mendoza, and I will go to a belated "dreamtime at the 'G" with some of the Los Santos crew.  Going to be difficult for me to restrain myself from checking the result, but hopefully my Tigers boys step up against an undermanned Essendon.  I look forward to seeing a few of the Essendon boys feeling a little sorry for themselves after receiving a few of Dustin Martins trademark don't argues.

Dustin Martin one had a fight with Superman for a bet.  The loser had to wear their underpants on the outside of their clothes for the rest of their lives..... that is all.

A tale of two cities (in one day)

So after a lot of planning my good friend David Smerdon finally arrived yesterday, and after having a few small issues getting through the customs line and el taxista being extremely worried something had happened to him, Dave arrived at my place in Las Condes.  It was great seeing him again, and the shenanigans that will ensue over the next couple of weeks will no doubt, as always, go down in the memory book as some of the best times of my life.

Last night was the second social event for Los Santos for the year, where at the Bar California we all got together and watched the Pies vs Geelong game.  The game was an absolute belter and I think apart from some technical issues which will see me fined it was a good night.  A big thanks to Bar California for the happy hour drinks and putting on the venue.  The supporter base was a little lopsided with the usual Pies vs The World mentality, but the cheering was done it good spirit and the atmosphere in a pub a 20 hour flight from the MCG was awesome.

The weekend ahead doesn't hold too many big plans, we have footy tomorrow and are going to do some exploring around Santiago, some markets and possibliy head to Saint Cristobel and have an Apricot nector and Barley drink.. hmmm Rico!!

Anyway amigos, just a quick post - I should probably make start on the day!!
Heres to hoping the Tiges can get up tonight... Eat 'em alive!!

I'll put "Rare dry spell" in the column.

Its been hectic as hell here, continuing to work on my spanish and (thankfully for the recountable past) I haven't made any more significant gaffs with my spanish.  I am across the idea that to say "es bueno/a" means thats good, whereas a similar "esta bueno/buena" means you are attractive....  This has made my time here a whole lot less awkward and consequently a little less entertaining, but to be honest it has just been nice to be living in something of a routine and feeling as though Santiago really is my home, rather than being on a secondment.
I went across to Mar del Plata for the easter, or Semana Santa break, and whilst the easter bunny left me out of his delivery schedule (I guess he is as discerning as Santa when it comes to those who have been naughty and nice!) I had a wonderful time which was assisted by making some fantastic new Argentinian friends who I will definitely look forward to going to say hi to in the next year.
Mar del Plata is an extremely accomodating city, similar in size to Newcastle and has equally beautiful beaches with plenty of interesting history.  The chess tournament was a success for me, scoring a respectable 5.5/9 where I played once again significantly above my rating.  However if I can learn to close out tournaments I will be able to convert my 4.5/6 into a slightly better score in the future.. nonetheless good signs!
Here in Santiago, its bloody cold right now, single digits during the day, and low single digits and hitting 0 a few times..... and apparently its only going to get colder.  Due to this, and in combination with being a touch sick I have had a lot of time in front of the television, rugged up trying to keep myself warm.  Watching Chileno news and combining it with reading the various news webpages in Australia has kept me up to date on the current state of the world.  Heres my two cents on the news I have read in my blogging absense.

So its been way too long between drinks here, so I will be do my utmost to find the time necessary to continue to keep this updated,

• Gold Coast Suns win a game.... well whilst its great that they young list have been able to get a win, it just goes to show what a joke the Power are, bordering on irrelevance at the moment. Primus appears to be doing a really good job in stamping out some of the alleged cultural issues inside the club, but its a sad state of affairs when the best players in the side need to be banished to the SANFL.  I can't possibly fathom how you can win the showdown and then lose to the GCS, a side who had 15.4 94 to 0.1 at quarter time against them.  I like the call "Gold coast were out to make a point in the first quarter... looks like they achieved it!"
• The royal wedding.. wow I can't believe it was news here in Chile... it was broadcast here, but in all seriousness, without wanting to be too disparaging, because a wedding is a fantastic thing for those involved, how is the wedding in a family with nothing but symbolic relevance to the modern world such big news!?!  I at least understand why it is news in a commonwealth country like Australia, but seriously in a country conquered by the Spanish, it staggers me the amount of airtime it got.  I think the last time I was over something as much as I was over this international event was when was sitting in a Transfer Phenomena lecture.
• The new substitute and concussion rules in the AFL.  Love the new concussion rule, its been widely recognised that the potential for lasting damage due to recurring hits to the head is a serious threat and I really applaud the AFL for putting the health and wellbeing of its players (and in this context, effectively their employees) ahead of the potential result of the match.  I think the debate about losing a player for the remainder of the match being to severe is nothing short of ludicrous, as is the supposition that the club doctors would ever compromise their professional standards (and dare I say it the Hippocratic oath) to win a game of football, regardless of the stakes.  It obviously hit the Richmond side pretty hard, losing Jack Riewoldt early in the first quarter against St Kilda, but there is no way I would trade his health for the extra two points.  As for the substitute rule, GET RID OF IT!!! I am sick of seeing blokes in my dreamteam get subbed off for no damn reason, other than the new player has the chance of making an impact.
• Osama Bin Laden - not a lot to say here, but surely it its more important globally than the Tiger Woods scandal!?  Can't say it seems that way from the media coverage I've seen.
• Paul McCartneys concert in Santiago....  Once again, not heaps to say here - but the prices of the tickets are an absolute disgrace.  For the cost of entry, I would hope that there is a filet mignon for dinner, a champagne bath and a massage during an interval.  Australians would scoff at the prices for the tickets, and this is a country where the median monthly salary is less than 20% of that in Australia (numbeo)

On Sunday, the Los Santos footy club had their first intra club game, and all up it was a great day. I was pretty excited about playing my first game of football in several years.  Its a good way, in conjunction with the variety of footy podcasts I have been able to feel like I am still in some way involved in footy. It looks like the plan for Friday night will be to head to the California bar and watch the (hopefully) cracking match between Collingwood and Geelong. Hopefull my good friend David Smerdon won't be too tired for it, as he arrives on Friday to check out Latinoamérica as part of his slightly bizarre route from Australia to Amsterdam.

I hope my first post back on the horse and regularly blogging will keep some of those of you off my back for a few dats .)!

A tale of miscommunication and my list of T&F "usted"

T&F you

The last week has taught me how much we truly take for granted when we live in our home country.  Not only do we have our comfort zone completely established and constantly communicate in a language where we don't have to worry about the possibility of saying something completely faux pas simply because you don't have a full grasp of the language, or even if you have researched the word, local interpretations can leave you in an awkward situation.  In the last few days I have had some interesting which have allowed me to create a list of T's and F's (the astute reader will understand what I am meaning here... if you are however immediate family please don't).

T - The helpful sales agent from Paris helped me choose a coffee table for my living room and organise it to be delivered.  He went out of his way to give me a hand, and hopefully it should be delivered this afternoon!

F - The equally unhelpful Paris assistants from the liquor section, when I said "abrir mi cerveza" and then acted out on a beer me trying to use a bottle opener on a beer they looked at me and laughed, and said "No!”  Me refusing to believe that the alcohol section wouldn't have a bottle opener went looking further and ended up finding some.  When I took it back to the counter (I decided on one of the waiter’s friends) they tried to tell me it wasn't for a cerveza, only wine.... I really do see where the dumb blonde stereotype comes from... 

F - Google Translate - firstly, I don't know how the second one of these occurred I have checked back repeatedly and haven't been able to replicate it, but nonetheless I have to give Google translate the proverbial finger for giving me some dicey moments.  Two of which came in the following conversation over the sametime messaging system at work.  (For some context I am having some friends around for dinner tonight.  The actual Spanish conversation is first, what I intended is then in Brackets.  Below is what the actual conversation read.)

Conversation and what I intended.

Colleague: todavia va el asado del viernes? (Is the BBQ still happening on Friday?)   

Me: Si, Soy excitado! (Yes, I am excited!)

Colleague: jajaja.  La palabra excitado no es la usaste mal, pero se usa mas para temes sexuales.  Aqui debes usar emocionado. (that word does mean excited, but is more commonly used to mean in the sexual context.  Here you must used "emocionado")

Me: jajaja, mi entiende, Soy muy embarazado! (hahaha, I understand!  I am very embarrassed)

Colleague: jajajaja

Actual Translated Conversation:

Colleague: Is the BBQ still happening on Friday?   

Me: Yes, I am horny!

Colleague:  hahaha That word does mean excited, but is more commonly used to mean in the sexual context.  Here you must used "emocionado"

Me: hahaha, I understand!  I am very pregnant.

Colleague: hahahaha

So Google translate I am extremely grateful I told a colleague I have had lunch with once and met twice that I am not only a sex fiend but will be the second man to give birth! (on a side note, does anybody know why when I look up a word one day and have to check it again the following day it can yield different results?)

T - Google Translate, having disparaged it in the previous comment it has really been fantastic and I have two windows open with a Spanish - English and an Inglés a Español version of it to help me find words which I have no idea about.  It has sped my vocabulary learning up significantly, and it would be much more difficult to get by in the office without it.

T - The AFL - it looks like I will be able to watch AFL games through lifeafl.tv for us plebs in Latin America 5 Live games and 3 delayed games per week.  Yeahyeahyeah!  I also have dreamteam to keep me sane!

F - The bus driver who despite me pressing the button to get off at Plaza Egaña last night drove straight through it and refused to stop until the next stop.  800m along a poorly lit road was exactly what I felt like after losing my game last night (most of you will know how grumpy I am when I lose anyway!).

F - The Chilean government, it was decided two weeks ago to extend daylight savings, a good decision really, it means that we can enjoy the beautiful weather more for the next two weeks.  What it did do though was mean that all "smart" devices changed times on us on Sunday night.  It meant that planes were missed, meetings screwed up due to the computers not handling it, and most of all made me late for footy training. Sorry lads!!

So tonight I have some colleagues from work coming around for a BBQ at my place, I need to give it a bit of a tidy before they arrive.  I have organised it quite early (well by Chilean standards anyway) and so people are getting there between 9 and 10pm, so I have plenty of time to get ready!  Then I want to have a wander around the city for the rest of the weekend, probably go to the Los Dominicos markets tomorrow and just generally relax.  A kick of the footy on Sunday will give me my Australian fix.

Looking forward to 5am next Friday for the AFL season kick off.  Let’s hope it lasts longer than the last time I had some optimism about the AFL season.  From memory, halfway into the second quarter the coach was doomed and we were down by 9 goals.

Eat 'em alive Tiges!!

Risk vs Reward

The concept of Risk vs Reward is a well understood one, the more you are generally prepared to put on the line, the more you gain.  For example, blasting out Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in your boardies rocking out the air guitar in your apartment might seem relatively low risk, but the satisfaction of knocking down a power stroke to the end of one of the greatest guitar solos appears to be high reward in comarison!!
Now consider the job of painting the outside of an apartment block, a well secured lift, a nice and quiet job outdoors in beautiful weather with fantastic views seems another of those reasonablly imbalanced scenarios.  Now combine them... I'm reasonably confident that tomorrows greeting of "Buenes dias, ¿Como Estas? will be made with no eye contact.

On a more serious note, I have been finding the last few days relatively difficult.  My spanish is coming along in leaps and bounds, but its basically exhausting to be constantly around a language where you need to be continuously concentrating just to survive.  I have been finding that I am requireing a lot more sleep and that naps are becoming a native part of my day, as soon as I get home from work I have a brief kip so I can recharge the batteries.
The other thing I have been struggling with is not being able to get in on jokes.  You are having a conversation, and I am doing my utmost to keep up with everybody and all of a sudden everybody is laughing.  Even if I do understand whats being said, I mightn't pick up on why its funny - the Graduate Program here is called "Jovenes Talentos" directly translating to Young Talent.  However, if you put the emPHAsis on a slightly different syLLAble it can become "Joven esta Lentos" which translates to Young is Slow.  When this comment was made, only the gringo didn't laugh, at least my cubiclemate was patient enough to explain it to me!

Anyway as difficult as the last few days have been, they have also been some of the most rewarding.  I have personally achieved quite a deal, successfully navigating my way around Santiago on the Metro, performing well above my rating in a Blitz Tournament (including beating the current Chilean champion), conversing for several minutes with complete strangers and having over half my meeting today in Spanish.  Its been fantastically rewarding and right now the only feeling I have more of than exhaustion is pride. 

I am extremely fortunate to be in the position I am, and am feeling like I am well ahead of schedule in what I am expecting to achieve here.  Looking forward to friday night, having a few of my Jovenos Talentos amigos around for an Asado and a few cervazas.

As for now, I think an early night is in store.  But first I must finish watching Jason Statham going nuts in The Expendables as him, Stalone, Bruce Willis and the crazy electrical dude out of Ironman 2 go all commando in Cuba!

Peace!

Did you know Pacman was originally named Pucman - an Ode to the Santiago Metro

Don't you just hate the feeling when you are standing there at the train station, hoping that the train will arrive at when the timetable promises.  As the clock contunies to tick, you suddenly realise that the train was meant to arrive 5 minutes ago and that, always the public transport system has let you down.  Not only does this automatically mean that you are going to be late, but also that you are invariably going to miss your connection and more than likely sit next to one of the following, an overly talkative nana, a fat guy with horrible BO  (especially for 8 in the morning), somebody listening to Delta Goodrem, The Spice Girls or Katy Perry at a rediculous level on their iPod or an emtpy (this option generally applies if you fit into one of the previous categories).

Well, in Santiago this situation isn't a problem.  It could be that over here, nobody has heard of Delta Goodrem, nobody likes the Spicegirls and Katy Perrys filmclips are watched, but not listened to.  It could also be that nana's give up on talking to me when they realise my Spanish is not sufficient to maintain a conversation when they speak at 600 words per second.  Primarily though, its because ths Santiago trains like clockwork.  Here, trains seem to appear every 5 minutes, and connections are so simple - you follow the signs leading to the next platform and bingo a a train rocks up to the station.  When you get on its also pleasant to note that the guy who sits next to you doesn't have a BO problem.

The well coordinated system really puts anything I have experience in Australia to shame, and to be honest its rather embarrasing that a system which services six million people is able to run on time so much more efficiently than a system in Adelaide which ensures that its population of around a million people are, on an almost daily basis late to work, school or university.  It really provides some food for thought, and I honestly hope that the people from AdelaideMetro are reading this - it is possible to have a public transport system that runs on time!

Anyway ladies and gentlemen, its almost midnight here - and more importantly Scott Pilgim vs. The World is nearly finished.  I don't precisely know what that means, as I can't say I have fully understood everything that has happened.... although points flashing on the screen and people exploding into penny's has been a remarkably entertaining movie I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I have Sainters practise in the morning and will hopefully not meet any girls with a large number of crazy ex's who I must defeat in mortal combat!

Chao Amigos!!

When life gives you lemons, make a fruit salad

I apologise in advance, there is every likelihood that this post will be slightly boring.  I needed to do some shopping yesterday, so after work I took a leisurely stroll across Parque Araucano, saying Buenos Tardes to my friendly Compleato vendor from whom I got my daily Agua con gas.  I hopped into Tottus, a supermarket which I don't think really has a parallel in Australia - you can buy your groceries and a Television in within 10 metres, and on the other side of the store you can pick up an anorak whilst doing your booze shopping (speaking of alcohol, at 2000 pesos a 6 pack, and at 7% alcohol, there is a fiscally responsible argument against sobriety here!). 
As the previous point would suggest that I immediately ventured to the right of the store and grabbed myself a six-pack of Cristal before heading to do the electronics section so I could grab some fruit and veges.  The fruit here is of extremely high quality and so I grabbed myself a variety apples, oranges and stone fruit - all at significantly under the price I would have paid back home.  For example, I paid 800 pesos each (about $1.80) for a punnet of strawberries and raspberries, around 1500 pesos/kg for apples and around 1300 pesos for a tub of Streets peppermint chip icecream.  Hellz yeah!

Afterwards, I spent the evening cooking, cleaning and watching some of the DVD's of my favourite TV shows that I brought across with me.  Genius gets bandied around alot these days, but having said that I really feel that Hugh Laurie does not get anywhere near enough credit for the comic legend he is.  Seeing Hugh play Dr. House raises a few questions - firstly does the younger generation realise what they are missing out on not having seen Black Adder?  Secondly, why on earth did I stop watching House in the first place??  His ability to play a sarcastic, drug addicted narcissist who also happens to be an incredibly gifted diagnostician is spectacular and provided me with a few good few hours entertainment before I switched to Two and A Half men.  Normally I don't enjoy reality TV, but watching a series of drunken sexual adventures resulting in nothing worse than a hangover and a wardrobe full of absolutely terrible bowling shirts.  Unfortunately, now it appears that its not only Charlie Harpers mother who is disappointed in him - I'm clearly going to have to fill the spare time vacated by two dysfunctional men, a kid and a bunch of alimony jokes by watching the Cleveland show.... and that's just not good for anyone!

Anyway its midnight here, and unfortunately for me I have a medical first thing in the morning to prove that I am going to be able to breathe at altitude, so must vamoose.  I hope you are all going well, chuck me a comment and let me know how you are!

Hasta Luego Senores and Senoritas!