Meat Round Two

Hello all. I think that I was victim to a bit of a stomach virus last week as opposed to the original hypothesis of my tummy-ache being a result of the "Revenge of the Alimentary Canal," but I am back. I spent pretty much all of last week at home in bed, though Thursday night I felt well enough to go for another barefoot run and Friday I ventured out to the Flore Generico and the Museo de Bellas Artes. The barefoot run was a bit painful, yet again, as I am still not used to it, though I must say my muscles are already doing ok. This time I ran during the day and the street was boiling hot; the pain came not from being sore but from the resulting blisters. I know, I know, why do I afflict myself thus? Well, my knee has yet to hurt, and once my feet and muscles are used to it, it may be the best way for me to run.
The Museo de Bellas Artes was, well, suffice it to say that I liked it a lot more than the MALBA. Hang on, I didn't write about the MALBA yet? Wow, it has been a while. Let me take a step back. On Wednesday (I think it was) I also ventured outside and a met a British friend and a Colombian friend of his to go to the MALBA, one of the lager art museums here in BsAs (I do not remember what it stands for off-hand). Until February, almost the entire museum is hosting the Andy Warhol museum from Pittsburgh, and they have two floors full of Andy Warhol. It was neat to see, especially the New York iconography, but I cannot say I am really into Warhol. He did something no one else did, he chose to see certain things in a way no one else saw them, but he was only a first. I feel he is famous more for being a first, and perhaps for 'social commentary' than anything else. For many that makes a great artist but for me it only makes an imaginary didact. The museum also had some other Argentine pop-art, which also did not really impress. That night my host-folks had all of their kinderlach and einiklach (hijos y nietos) over for the birthday of their twin sons. What a feast! My host-mom cooked up a dairy storm with bollos (stuffed pastries), empanadas (stuffed pastries), and calzones, pronounced cahl-son-ehs (stuffed pasta, similar to large ravioli). All of it was homemade and all of it delicious, though none of it worked wonders on my then-tender stomach.
On Friday I ventured outside for a bit and saw the Museo de Bellas Artes, which now houses a wonderful European Masters exhibit, from pre-Renaissance to the 19th Century French masters, which includes some great Italian and Dutch Renaissance, and some really good Rodin sculptures.
The Flore Generico is a massive metal sculpture in the middle of one of the parks here that opens with the rising of the sun and closes when it sets.
Shabbos was nice; we ate by one of my host-mom's sons Friday night (and davened at their Sfardi shul, where Shir HaShirim took as long as the rest of the davening and the rabbi's speech as long as everything put together). Shabbos day I went to the Chabad youth center where I met two Brits and an Argentine, one of whom knows Nina (small world). We all (the four of us and many more Argentines) ate at the rabbi's house. The rest of Shabbos was normal, with a nap, mincha, etc. Saturday night was nothing exciting either.
Today I went to the Hillel to help with AKIM, an organization that organizes activities and assistance for mentally handicapped people. The Hillel hosted a day of activities for the organization, run by my hard-working and very involved apartment-mate which, as far as I could tell, was quite a hit. The highlight, for me, was a great magician, who showed some of the extranjero (foreign) volunteers some of his tricks pre-show. I was blown away, and I have rediscovered that I really like magic shows.
Tonight I met said apartment-mate's mother, sister, aunt, and aunt's significant other, which was a lot of fun; they took us all out for dinner, it was very nice of them to come out to a foriegn country and take an otherwise unknown fellow out to dinner. We went to Al Galope, where I had the infamous intestines, but this time avoided the offal and stuck the multiple meats that we got for the table. And hummus! Finally! The sister, Maya, was a real pleasure to talk to. She is 6, in second grade, and almost finished the entire Harry Potter series, and has read Roald Dahl. She reminds of someone else at her age :)
Funny story about the small intestines; when I came home I told my host-folks that I ate chinchuines, the Spanish for small intestines. The next day I felt terrible, and it is now a running joke in the family. If anyone's stomach hurts, they must have eaten chinchulines. They were even teasing me tonight in the restaurant, and Mario (my host-dad) went so far as to teach the word to Maya, which she yelled at me with all the glee of a six year old discovering a funny new word that gets grown-ups to laugh. It was really a nice dinner. I also got a peak at the bill, and, while I will not divulge how much they spent on dinner, I amazed to find out that 8 people ate salads and kibbehs and meats and drinks and wines till we were full and there were left over for less than 100 dollars. Crazy!!!!Here's to a week of feeling better and progressing a lot farther in Spanish!