La antorcha olímpica y mi cumple

Birthday Friday, and also the day the torch made its way to Buenos Aires, its only stop in a Spanish speaking country on its way back to the other side of the world. Even though I for sure don't support that they're giving China the Olympics this year, the running of the torch was still an event that I felt was necessary to see, but I'll get into that a little further later.

A couple friends (Emily and Esteban) and I headed out to Puerto Madero, where we were told the running of the torch was supposed to begin. We had absolutely no plans for the day and truly had no idea what was going on and where to see it. One of the universities we take classes at (UCA) is located in Puerto Madero so we just went there as a reference point to venture out. When we got to UCA we saw a ton of people and busses with Olympic stickers and all that good stuff on them, so we naturally followed like sheep to see what was going on. When we got inside the main building of UCA we realized it was a congregation of all the torch carriers for the day and it was really cool to see all of them, ranging from businessmen who have had a positive influence on business between different countries, to Olympic athletes who have represented Argentina to special Olympic athletes. As things started to break up, we noticed one of the carriers was right in front of us. My friend Emily, who will talk to ANYBODY, tapped on his shoulder and we asked him a few questions and took pictures. Turns out he's a three time Argentine Olympic cyclist (1988, 1996 & 2000), named Gabriel Curuchet. We talked to him as long as we could and he ended up trying to get us tickets to the after party at the very end of the relay, but time didn't allow, and he actually ended up giving us his email address to send him the pics we took from the day, pretty cool experience.

After Gabriel got on the bus, we went to the Plaza de Mayo to see what was going on, and as usual, it was definitely a hot spot. There were tons of people with Chinese flags, but also tons with "Free Tibet," and other sayings for human rights, and "El regimen comunista Chino: encarcela a periodistas" (The Communistic Chinese system: imprison journalists). There was also another torch called "La antorcha de derechos humanos" or the human rights torch, which was pretty interesting. We stayed in Plaza de Mayo and just watched everything that was going on and finally the torch came by. It was pretty anti-climactic, but still really cool to see. You could tell the torch bearers were incredibly honored to have such an experience. My friends saw people with huge buckets of water trying to put it out, but I don't think anyone was successful at any point along the 13 kilometer run.

After we watched the torch, we followed it to the obelisk and it was pretty intense. People were throwing shredded paper out of windows and there were thousands of people walking down Avenida 9 de Julio, which is supposed to be the largest street in the world, which was pretty cool to see. After that whole charade we split our separate ways to go home and change because it's actually gotten a little bit cold in Buenos Aires, with the plans of meeting up later to try to get into the after party/ceremony on the other side of town.

We met up a couple hours later and got on a colectivo and tried to find our way over there. We accidentally got off way too early and had to spend our last monedas to get back on the bus (People are INCREDIBLY stingy with coins here, which are the only way to pay on the bus, because a lot of people think there's a shortage of them right now ). We got back on the bus and finally arrived to the event as it was becoming dark. When we got up there we realized that the event was ending and everyone was going home. We kind of stood around for a minute trying to figure out what to do, but found some people giving away free t-shirts, which we of course took advantage of. As we were about to head home, we saw Gabriel walking out of the gates where the press conferences were and we (and by we, I mean Emily) yelled his name to get his attention. He came over to us, and showed us what he had received as gifts, an Olympic torch, and cards and hand-made crafts from China with messages from students in China written on the back. I'm not sure if the torch was the one he carried lit, but he let us hold it and take pictures with it and it ended up being absolutely amazing. He explained the symbolism of the torch and was absolutely amazingly nice to us. It ended up being one of the greatest experiences I've had in a looong time.

On the whole topic of the Olympic torch, we talked to a couple of the runners just randomly at the end of the day, one being Gabriel, and another very old man and a pretty young kid, who looked younger than us. Each of them was overflowing with joy and emotion of having the honor to carry the torch, and the symbolism it has as a uniting force around the world. All of them said things along the lines of it being one of the most exciting experiences of their life to have the opportunity to carry the torch, and the older man (who was carrying the torch because he was a businessman who had some part in strengthening relations with the government in Argentina and indigenous tribes here, not entirely sure about all the details) called it "el sueño de la paz," or the dream for peace. It made me realize that the protests that have been going on around the world against the torch are against what the Olympics represent in itself. I think it's wrong the way the Chinese government functions, especially with all the occurrences in Tibet, but the Olympics are about uniting the world not dividing it. It's sad to think that people are attacking the running of the torch, which in effect is one of the biggest days of many of the lives of those who have the opportunity to carry the torch. Gabriel was overflowing with emotion and honor at being able to carry the torch, and made a comment about how this day was just as important to him as having had the opportunity to PARTICIPATE in the Olympics. To him he was having the honor to show his love and nationalism for Argentina. In all I feel the protest against the torch are disrespectful in many ways and are extremely tacky; we shouldn't be protesting the torch which represents the unity that is the Olympics but rather the protests should be aimed at the government of China, not the Olympics which embody the exact opposite. I realize and understand the counterarguments, but that's the way I felt after conversing and seeing this take place in front of my eyes.

Anyway, last night we went out for my birthday to a restaurant called Kansas. I invited a few people and only expected like maybe 10 to show up max, and it ended up being 18 of us, and it was really fun. I had a full rack of barbeque ribs and coleslaw and french fries, and it was AMAZING. I miss barbeque! And Mexican food. And spicy things. And peanut butter. Don't get me wrong though, the food here is really good, but bife de lomo (pretty much steak) and pasta tends to get a little old after a while. After the restaurant we went to a couple bars and just hung out, it was a really fun time and I'm glad everyone came out to celebrate.

My host mother also made me an apple pie type thing for my birthday too and it was pretty much amazing. She also gave me a little wooden compass sundial. It's really cool, and she's way too nice to me; I totally wasn't expecting a gift.

Anyway, that was an EXTREMELY long entry about just one day, sorry about the length, but thanks if you took the time to read it all. Thanks also to everyone that sent me emails/facebook comments/comments here wishing me a happy birthday!!!

Everything is going really well and it's hard to believe that I've already been here for almost two months now. Only three to go, scary…

Here's a link to the pics from the torch and the birthday festivities:

Click here.

Chau.