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 .)!