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.
