A Gringo in Buenos Aires » Culture

Argentines: The Past Masters of Nicknames

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 12:00:59 +0000

Argentineans might just be the best and most prolific users of nicknames (‘sobrenombres’ or ‘apodos’ in castellano) in the entire universe. One has only to look at the Argentine football team to get some choice examples. I give you:

Lionel Messi aka ‘La Pulga’ (the flea) due to his small size and his playing style (popping up everywhere and stinging the opposition);

Sergio Aguero aka ‘El Kun’ due to his resemblance to Kun-Kun, a Japanese anime character who’s popular in Argentina;

Carlos Tevez aka ‘El Apache’ because the barrio where he’s from (Ejército de los Andes) is itself nicknamed Fuerte Apache;

Javier Mascherano aka ‘El Jefecito’ (the little boss) because he replaced Leo ‘El Jefe’ Astrada as the number five player for River Plate;

Juan Sebastian Verón aka ‘La Brujita’ (the little witch) because his father was nicknamed ‘La Bruja’;
Gabriel Heinze aka ‘El Gringo’ because he’s blonde and looks like a foreigner;

Sergio Romero aka ‘Chiquito’ (shorty) because he’s really tall (6ft 3in);

Gonzalo Higuain aka ‘El Pipita’ (little pipe) because he’s the son of Jorge Nicolás ‘El Pipa’ Higuain;

Martin Palermo aka ‘El Loco’ (crazy) because he has a highly eccentric personality, and finally

Jonas Gutierrez aka ‘El Galgo’ (the greyhound) due to his long legs and ability to run and run.

Aside from specific nicknames like these, Argentines also love generic nicknames – the type that’s usually based on a person’s most distinctive feature. Anyone who’s overweight is ‘gordo’ (fat) or ‘gordito’ (little fatty), anyone with darker skin is ‘negro,’ anyone who looks Asian is ‘chino,’ Russian ‘ruso’ and so on.

Finally, in preference to using names at all, Argentines will commonly refer to their friends using random terms of endearment (which often double as insults if used as such). Hence we have ‘che’ (dude), ‘boludo’ (big balls), ‘pelotudo’ (lots of different translations but personally I like ‘dumbass’), ‘loco’ (crazy) and many others.

So let’s get all professor-of-linguistics for a bit. Why are nicknames so popular in Argentina? It’s a very interesting question.

One answer to this question, maybe not a complete one, is that there is no such thing as political correctness here in Argentina. Political correctness, or in other words ‘the practice of avoiding language and behavior that might offend,’ has become so natural to us in the West that the fact it doesn’t exist here is hard for us to wrap our heads around. But here, deliberately dwelling on the fact that someone is fat by calling them ‘gordo,’ or Chinese (or Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese) by calling them ‘chino,’ or black by calling them ‘negro,’ is perfectly fine.

Another possible answer is that it’s natural to use nicknames when you’re already altering nouns (as Spanish speakers do) in order to convey different meanings. These alterations are called diminutive and augmentative suffixes.

Diminutive and augmentative suffixes are used for all kinds of purposes. A ‘casita’ usually just means a small house but if you call your grandmother ‘mi abuelita’ it’s not because she’s small but because she’s dear to you. If you ask someone to wait ‘un momentito’ it’s because you want to sound friendly, and if you call someone ‘gordito’ it’s because they’re chubby rather than obese.

Similarly with augmentatives – ‘grandote’ just means very big, but a ‘cabezazo’ is a header (as in, of the ball) or a head butt, and a ‘perrazo’ is a big and/or a mean dog.

So given that you’re already messing about with words to convey things like affection, maybe it’s only natural to mess around with what you call people by using nicknames (which a lot of the time is an affectionate thing to do).

A third possible answer to this question is that maybe nicknames are necessary in Argentina for identifying people due to the fact that there’s less diversity in first names, and hence more pairs of people with the same first name among groups of friends and associates.

It seems to be anecdotally the case that first names are less diverse here than in other countries (think of all the Juans), and it also makes sense given that anyone naming a baby in Argentina must choose from a list of pre-approved names deemed sufficiently Argentine by the government.

Well. Whatever the reason may be, I personally find the extreme fondness for nicknames here highly endearing, and I dream of the day that I get one of my own…as long as it’s not gordito!

Buenos Aires Television Guide (Part Two)

Tim Gringo in BA — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:00:40 +0000

Cable TV

Cable TV is absolutely huge in Argentina. The biggest provider is Cablevision Digital, but there’s also Telecentro and Multicanal . Their lineups are pretty similar.

DirecTV is actually satellite TV, but it broadcasts in NTSC (good if you have a TV from the US) and better choices if you want to watch shows in English. (The best channels in terms of English language programming include WB, Fox, E! Entertainment, Bloomberg, CNN, BBC World, Animal Planet, and National Geographic.)

All these options have their supporters, so check out their websites to see what suits you the best. Note that the providers usually have packages that include internet access as well.

Other ways to watch

So far we’ve covered watching TV in Argentina; both regular free-to-air and cable/satellite. But are there other ways to watch TV here? Of course! The following options will allow you to watch TV shows from home to your heart’s content.

Video on demand: for free

The BBC’s iPlayer and the website Hulu in the US are both free and increasingly popular ways to watch TV on-demand on your computer. However, these services are location-limited, meaning that you are only meant to be able to use iPlayer if your computer is physically located in the UK and Hulu if your computer is physically located in the US. There are one or two ways around this though.

One option is to use Overplay. This service fools website into thinking that your computer is located somewhere other than its actual location. You download the software and then connect to whichever country you want, depending on what you want to watch. Overplay is a paid-for service, but it only costs $10 per month.

Another option is Surf The Channel, a sort of aggregator of links to a variety of other websites that allow popular TV shows to be streamed for free. Surf The Channel itself is free to use too, but is supported by pop-up ads.

Video on demand: paid-for

Along with iPlayer, Hulu, Surf The Channel and the like there are also some video on demand services on the internet that are paid-for. Amazon’s Video On Demand (go to the Video On Demand department) is one, iTunes is another, and Netflix is a third.

There’s not much to say about these options. They work well, but you have to pay for each show. Whether you’re willing to do that is up to you.

Also, like iPlayer and Hulu, Netflix On Demand doesn’t work outside the US (unless you Overplay or something similar).

Slingbox

Another option is to get a Slingbox. This product is, as the name suggests, a box. You connect the box to a TV and to an internet connection in the country you want the TV from. Then you can connect to the Slingbox (after installing some software) from a computer connected to the internet anywhere in the world, and it transmits (or ‘slings’) the TV programs to that computer. The TV that the Slingbox is plugged into doesn’t need to be set to the program you want to watch, and in fact the TV doesn’t even need to be on. If you don’t keep a residence in the country you want the TV from, you could just set it up at the house of a friend or family member – it won’t bother them at all.

Note that while the Slingbox system works well, there will be some degradation in the picture quality and occasional signal loss is not uncommon. Internet connections with more bandwidth, both here and where you have the Slingbox, will help.

The one thing that you need to keep in mind with a Slingbox is time differences. If for example your favorite show is on at 10pm in California, you’ll be up in the middle of the night if you want to watch it here in Buenos Aires.

BitTorrent

A final option, though one of questionable legality (use it at your own moral risk), is to use BitTorrent to download whatever TV shows you want, whenever you want, and then watch them on your computer.

The popular website Lifehacker has posted a very easy-to-understand beginner’s guide to BitTorrent which you can find here.

The best place to find TV torrent files is EZTV.

For watching downloaded shows (normally they’ll be .avi files), by far the best option is the extremely highly regarded and free VLC Media Player (download it from here).

Finally

As you can see, there’s no shortage of options for watching TV in Argentina, whether it’s local TV or shows from back home that you want to watch.

I’ll leave you with this: one local channel that you absolutely must check out during your time here is Cronica TV. Cronica is a hilariously awful a 24-hr live news channel. It’s unflinchingly tabloid, features some of the most amateurish camerawork and interviewing you’ve ever seen, and announces news with (sometimes ironic) giant white letters on a plain red background set to a military march (The Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa). It’s great.

Buenos Aires Television Guide (Part One)

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:00:37 +0000

Everyone thought that the rise in popularity of the internet would kill the appeal of watching TV shows. But actually, all it’s done is give us more ways than ever to watch the shows we love! Nice one internet!

Equipment

How you handle the equipment side of your TV-watching depends on a couple of things. If you’re not in Buenos Aires for long or if you don’t want to spend much money, then you’re better off using whatever TV there is in your furnished apartment, watching shows on your laptop (more on this below), or possibly buying an old CRT TV on MercardoLibre.

If you’re going to be here for a long time or indefinitely, you have money to spend, and you like your TVs BIG, then you’re going to want something like a flat-panel LED HDTV.

It would be simply ridiculous to a big, expensive TV in Argentina, as electronics cost at least double or even three times as much here as in the US. Indeed the price differences are so great that you could fly to Miami, buy a TV there, and bring it back for less than the price of buying it here. It looks like you’re taking a trip!

Buying a big TV in the US and bringing it with you to Argentina is perfectly possible. Before you buy one, check your airline’s baggage allowance and compare it with the dimensions (the weight is less likely to be a problem) of your prospective purchase. Remember that the final boxed and padded package will be at least 3-4 inches larger in each dimension.

Speaking of which, once you’ve bought your TV you should assess whether the packaging it comes in is robust and padded enough to survive an international plane journey and being thrown around by baggage handlers. If in any doubt, re-package it with a sturdier box and copious quantities of bubble wrap and Styrofoam. After that it’s just a matter of checking it in and hoping for the best.

Finally, note that if you’re a resident then you’ll have to pay customs duty on your new TV when you land at Ezeiza. It’s currently 50% of the item’s value over $300, but if you’re traveling with someone else then it’s only 50% of the item’s value over $600 (you add your limits together).

If you’re living here on a tourist visa then you probably won’t have to pay the customs duty, but then again it will seem a little strange that you need a huge TV for a three-month stay, so awkward questions might be asked.

NOTE: DirecTV and Cablevision Digital (see below) are NTSC and so they work with TVs from the US. You’ll also need a power converter from 220V to 110V, but you can easily get one here.

The stations

There are five national free-to-air TV stations in Argentina. They are América, Canal 7 (aka TV Pública), Canal 9, Telefe, and El Trece (aka Canal 13). Here’s a little more detail on what they offer:

América. The lowly América is the 4th most popular TV station and to be frank it’s not hard to see why. It brings you talk and gossip shows, news and some comedy programs during popular timeslots, otherwise it’s infomercials and televangelists. The most popular show is called Intrusos en el Espectáculo. This a gossip show is the most popular of its kind in Argentina, so if you want to know who’s doing what to whom you should tune in.

Canal 7. Also known as TV Pública, this station specializes in cultural programming and documentaries and (unsurprisingly) has the lowest ratings of the five channels. It’s good if you want to see coverage of news events and find out what the government is doing (always good for a laugh).

Canal 9. Canal 9 is based in Buenos Aires. It’s a general entertainment station with news, soap operas, talk shows, and movies. There’s not really a lot more to say about it. Moving right along!
Telefe. Telefe (short for Televisión Federal S.A.) is number ONE in the ratings, and has been since 1990. As you would expect from the top-rating station, it offers a diverse program of shows. It has The Simpsons (dubbed, of course) and soaps from Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. It’s top-rated shows are the game show Justo a Tiempo; Caiga Quien Caiga (aka CQC, a humorous and satirical news roundup show); the singing talent show Operacion Triunfo; and teen soap Casi Ángeles. Telefe’s biggest star is the Botox-faced and totally scary Susana Giménez. She usually hosts Oprah-style chat shows.

El Trece. Also known as Canal 13, El Trece is Telefe’s major competitor, and in fact it regularly beats Telefe during prime-time (Telefe always wins the afternoon slot). El Trece has the most-watched nightly news program in the country, Telenoche. It has some of the biggest celebrities in Argentine TV in its stable, and one of the biggest shows: Showmatch, an absolutely awful Dancing with the Stars-style show featuring monotonously pornographic choreography. Watch it if you dare.
For program schedules (free-to-air and cable alike), point your browser to:

www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cartelera-tv-cable/index.asp if you just want a listing, and
www.lanacion.com.ar/espectaculos/cartelera-tv-cable/TeveBuscador.asp if you want to search for a particular show.
Note that you may not be able to get free-to-air channels with a TV that you brought in from the US, as most US TVs are NTSC receivers and Argentine free-to-air channels are broadcast using a PAL-N signal. However, you can get TVs that are compatible with both systems (most HDTVs can handle both). Also, DirecTV (see below) is broadcast in NTSC.

(This guide continues in Part Two – check it out!)

Nazis & Argentina: a History Lesson

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:51:38 +0000

Any expat living in Buenos Aires will be aware of Argentina’s open door policy towards immigration. After all, lots of us just hop over to Uruguay every three months to perpetually renew our tourist visas. Technically it’s illegal to spend more than six months per year here on a tourist visa, but no-one seems to mind.

In fact, Argentina has had an open door policy on immigration for the last 200 years, including a long period where immigration (specifically from European countries) was actively encouraged. And how’s this for a factoid: between 1821 and 1932, Argentina was #2 in the world in the number of immigrants that it admitted, a staggering 6,405,000 people. (Wondering which country was #1 in the world during this period? It was of course the United States of America, admitting approximately five times as many immigrants as Argentina!)

So far all this sounds innocuous enough. It’s nice that so many people who want to settle in Argentina have been able to. But in the aftermath of World War II, Argentina’s door was open to a much more sinister group of people: Nazis and Nazi collaborators fleeing Europe in order to escape trial (or, one supposes, a bullet in the head courtesy of Mossad) for their war crimes.

Shameful enough, but it gets worse. Despite an official position of neutrality, it appears that the Argentine government also actively supported Nazi Germany during the war, and that the offer of a safe haven to Nazis after the war was simply an extension of this support.

The main villain of this piece, perhaps unsurprisingly, was Juan Perón. Perón was sympathetic to the Nazi cause and in 1943 traveled to Germany to discuss the possibility of an arms deal between Argentina and Germany.

Investigators believe that following the war, a cabal of ex-Nazis and Nazi collaborators formed in Argentina and worked with the Perón government (he became president in 1946) to organize the emigration of hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of their kind to Argentina. Members of the group frequently travelled to Europe to look for and bring back more of the fugitives.

It’s not known exactly how many ex-Nazis were brought to Argentina during the late 1940s and early 1950s. One researcher identified 300, but there easily could have been more. What is known is that they included Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann and his adjutant Franz Stangl, Erich Priebke (a former Captain in the Waffen SS), Klaus Barbie – also known as ‘the Butcher of Lyon’ (a former Captain in the SS and a member of the Gestapo), Ustasha Dinko Šakić (former commandant of the concentration camp that was nicknamed ‘the Auschwitz of the Balkans’) and many, many others.

The ex-Nazis were given landing permits and visas and it has also been claimed that many of them were even given jobs in Perón’s government.

In 1998, while opening the Commission for the Clarification of Nazi Activities in Argentina, the Argentine foreign minister Guido di Tella described the collaboration between Argentina and Nazi Germany as a ‘painful and shameful’ episode in Argentina’s history. It is undoubtedly that. However, in fairness it must also be mentioned that as well as accepting ex-Nazis, Argentina under Perón also accepted more Jewish immigrants than any other country in Latin America. Today Argentina has over 200,000 Jewish citizens, the sixth-largest population of Jewish people in the world. While Perón clearly sympathized with Nazi Germany, he also sympathized with the Jews. Also, it seems that a big motivation for Perón in inviting ex-Nazis to Argentina was that he hoped to acquire from them German technology that had been developed during the war. It wasn’t, or wasn’t only, that he wanted to protect the ex-Nazis from the consequences of their crimes.

But what about the present day. Might there be ex-Nazis still alive and living in Argentina today? Could you see one on the street of Buenos Aires? It seems unlikely. After all, someone who was 35 in 1940 would be 105 this year (2010) and probably would have died of natural causes. However, the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (which is dedicated to tracking down escaped war criminals) believes that potentially dozens of lower-level Nazi war criminals – who would have been younger than their superiors – might still be alive. The Simon Wiesenthal Center has launched an operation called ‘Operation Last Chance,’ which is a final effort at finding and bringing to trial as many ex-Nazis as possible before they die of old age.

The Argentine Soccer Team

Tim Gringo in BA — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:03:59 +0000

It’s World Cup time. Argentina could win. And you’re living in Buenos Aires – your timing is impeccable!

As I write this the Albicelestes have just played their second game in the group stages of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. It was a convincing 4-1 thrashing of South Korea in which superstar Lionel Messi shone and teammate Gonzalo Higuaín hit a hat-trick of goals, the first so far in the competition.

But you knew all that, right? It’s pretty hard to live in Buenos Aires and not get caught up in Mundial fever with 40 million people shouting ‘gooooooool!’ in perfect harmony every time the blue-and-whites find the back of the net!

The Team

Argentina has one of the most successful national football teams in the world. They’ve won the World Cup twice (in 1978 and 1986) and the Copa América 14 times. They’ve also won the Confederations Cup (in 1992) and the Olympic Football Tournament twice (in 2004 and 2008). They also had, in Diego Maradona, one of the best players of all time, a man who lead them to victory at the World Cup in 1986 and to a second-place finish in 1990 (more on him later).

So much for history. What about the current crop of Albicelestes though – do they have the stones to make it to a fifth World Cup final, and even to win?

In a word, yes. Despite a series of stuttering, unconvincing performances in their World Cup qualifying campaign, this star-studded team has now put two wins on the board at the and looks to be peaking at just the right time.

Any description of the Argentina national team must of course start with the current world’s best player, Lionel Andrés Messi. With his small stature, Beatles-esque ‘do and quiet personality, Messi is an unassuming young man…until he gets on the pitch, where for Barcelona in Spain’s La Liga and for Argentina he tears other teams apart with his blazing speed, insane dribbling and lethal shooting with both foot and head.

Voted Fifa World Player of the Year in 2009, Messi is one of the few players to really impress so far in the 2010 World Cup. At the age of just 22 people are already saying that he might be the best of all time, better even than the former ‘world’s best player,’ the current manager of Argentina, Mr. Diego Armando Maradona.

What about the rest? Yeah, they’re pretty good too! They include the abovementioned Gonzalo Higuaín, also 22, who plays for Real Madrid as a striker and bagged an amazing 27 goals for his club in the 2009-10 season. Joining him up top are Sergio Agüero, another 22-year-old, who plays for Atlético Madrid and is engaged to Maradona’s younger daughter, and Carlos Tévez (26), Manchester City’s star hit man who scored 25 goals for the club last season.

In midfield there’s Angel di Maria, yet another 22-year-old, an exciting winger who plays for Portuguese club Benfica. He scored the winning goal in Argentina’s Goal Medal game against Nigeria at the Olympic tournament in 2008.

Protecting the defense from midfield Argentina has team captain Javier Mascherano (26), the enforcer who plays for Liverpool and is regarded as possibly the best central midfielder in the world.

Between the sticks Argentina has the talented 23-year-old shot-stopper Sergio Romero, and in front of him they have the experienced Marseille and ex-Manchester United left-back Gabriel Heinze (32), and the commanding Bayern Munich centre-back Martin Demichelis (29), among others.

The Manager

So that’s the team. But what about Maradona? His position as Argentine national manager is somewhat bizarre. Yes, he was a great player – undoubtedly one of the greatest of all time – but his personal life since his late 20s has been an absolute train wreck: cocaine addiction; cavorting with hookers; yelling abuse at journalists and paparazzi; gross obesity; stomach stapling; friendship with Fidel Castro, and the list goes on. He has been both idolized and crucified many times over in Argentina. Is this really a guy you want captaining your ship?

Probably not, but for better or worse he’s the man in charge at this World Cup. And even if that’s Argentina’s loss, it’s definitely our gain, because his crazy antics and wild ranting at officials, opposing managers, journalists, the new Jabulani ball and anyone or anything that dares to cross him ensures that there’ll never, ever be a dull moment when he’s around. In short, he’s a walking headline, but you just have to love him all the same.

Conclusion

The best player in the world (and maybe of all time), a brilliant if sometimes erratic team, and a crazy manager who’s the ex-best player in the world and the biggest character in the game. Yep, I’d say the stage is set for more thrills and spills in South Africa and possibly even a big ole’ trophy at the end of it all.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be watching every game.

Some Great Spanish Learning Resources

Tim Gringo in BA — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:39:56 +0000

No, don’t worry, we are not suggesting the Spanish learning product featured in the above photo. It is just an awesome photo. It must be from the early 90’s, no? I am not sure, but that boy sure is having fun learning Spanish. And so can you!!!! Ok, enough with that, just kidding. Lets cut to the chase!!!

A lot of things are helpful when you’re learning a second language. A great teacher is one. An inability to feel shame (or at least, to be able to quickly dismiss it) when you make embarrassing mistakes is another.

And then there are these five resources. True, none of them are essential, but together they make a pretty damn fine package. Three are websites that are free for anyone to use, while the other two are books that are easily worth outlaying a few dollars on. Enjoy, and please share your comments if you have used any of them.

Practice Makes Perfect Spanish Verb Tenses, Second Edition (Practice Makes Perfect Series)

This is simply the king of Spanish workbooks. It has a 5-star feedback rating on Amazon.com and deservedly so. It’s set out simply and it progresses through the tenses with clear explanations and plenty of exercises to help you lock the information in. It focuses on the all-important verbs, and covers them very thoroughly. It’s like a Spanish course all by itself.

Best For: getting the rote-learning of verbs done so that you can focus on conversation the rest of the time.

SpanishDict.com

This is where you want to go when you’ve heard or read a specific Spanish word and you want to look up the meaning. Yes, like a dictionary, but come on, this is 2010! Paper dictionaries are yesterday’s news. The dictionary entries are comprehensive, and they include links to any threads in the users’ forum where someone has asked a question about the word, which is very handy for trickier definitions.

Best For: learning the meanings of new words and replacing your print dictionary.

The Spanish – English forum at WordReference.com

Studying Spanish inevitably throws up a lot of questions – about what phrases mean, how you translate something from English, what to say in a certain situation, and so on. If you have a teacher or a Spanish-speaking friend you can of course save up your questions and ask them, but really, these are ideal questions problems for ‘crowd-sourcing’ to answer. That’s where these forums come in. A recent post, for example, asked how you say “hey babe” in Spanish. Needless to say, it got plenty of responses…

Best For: asking thorny questions about things in Spanish you don’t get, and reading the answers to other people’s interesting questions.

Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish

Like Ms Richmond’s book (above) this one also has the coveted 5-star rating on Amazon.com. It’s written by a native English speaker (from the US) who learned Spanish the hard way, and now speaks it well.

The book has chapters on things like swearing, how not to seem like a gringo, 64 important verbs, how to describe people’s personalities, how to respond in different ways during a conversation and more. It does exactly what it says on the cover: helps you to break out and start speaking Spanish in a more natural way. It’s also a lot of fun to read.

Best For: learning what sounds fluent and natural in spoken Spanish, as opposed to what is merely correct.

Destinos: An Introduction to Spanish

If you want to improve your Spanish comprehension there are of course plenty of options. You could watch TV in Spanish, listen to music in Spanish, try to overhear people on the subte and so on. None of these things are designed specifically for Spanish learners though. Enter Destinos, which is essentially a Mexican-style telenovela that was developed for Spanish learners. It’s in 52 parts, all of which are freely available on the website quoted above.

Best For: hilarious late-80s fashion (the size of Raquel’s shoulder pads is truly awe-inspiring), and practicing your Spanish listening in real-life-like situations.

What else? Check out Bueno, Entonces the video based Spanish learning product that we talked about yesterday.

Learn Spanish with Bueno, Entonces

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:00:59 +0000

I have recently started to use Bueno, Entonces to supplement my Spanish learning here in Buenos Aires and I have to say, it makes learning Spanish A LOT more fun. While there is no substitute for getting out and speaking the language as much as you can, it doesn’t hurt to supplement your learning with different tools.

Bueno, Entonces revolves around “video lessons” with Jimena, a gorgeous Spanish instructor, and David, her jackass student from London as he learns Spanish in beautiful Buenos Aires.

While their dialogue is played, screens pop up showing grammatical information.

While I could explain it more, it is probably easier to watch this youtube clip and see what it is all about:

While being priced at around 100 dollars it might not be worth it for some people to purchase. But if you are looking for an alternative to the boring Rosetta Stone and something that actually puts a focus on Buenos Aires (it teaches “Vos” instead of “Tu”!), Bueno, Entonces is a great choice.

You can also download episodes of Bueno Entonces from itunes to view on your iphone or ipod. These are a great way to get some practice in while you are on public transportation or need something to distract yourself while you wait.

Check out Bueno, Entonces for yourself!!

Watching the World Cup 2010 in Buenos Aires: Your Complete Guide

Tim Gringo in BA — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:19:15 +0000

Awwww yeahhh! For the round-ball lovers amongst us, June and July 2010 represent something we’ve been waiting four long years for: the World Cup. Woooot!

Whichever way you slice it, the World Cup of soccer is waaay bigger than any other event in world sport. Bigger than the Olympics. Bigger than the Rugby World Cup. And definitely bigger than the World Series (which, let’s face it, is highly inappropriately named!).

There’s no doubt that many, many expats living in Buenos Aires will want to watch as many World Cup games as possible. So to help you do so, we’ve put together this handy, all-in-one guide to watching the World Cup 2010 in Buenos Aires.

Who’s playing when?

First things first: in order to properly enjoy the World Cup, you need to know exactly what’s going to happen and when. That’s not easy when you have 32 teams in eight groups playing up to seven games each over a full calendar month!

But never fear, young soccer fan, because a certain website called Marca.com has designed a brilliant free web tool that allows you to very easily find out who is playing, where and on what date. You can query it by team, date, location, group or stage, and there’s zero loading time involved. This is essential information in a very well put-together package, so go here and bookmark it NOW!

What time will the games be on?

In South Africa, the group-stage World Cup games are scheduled to begin at one of 1:30pm, 4pm or 8:30pm local time (check the above link to find out what time your team is playing at).

Here in Buenos Aires, those times translates into 8:30am, 11am and 3.30pm. Keep in mind that aside from Argentina games, bars are probably not going to open at 8:30am or even 11am just to show a game, so plan ahead if there are games that you’re going to want to watch at these early times.

Finding pals to watch games with

Obviously, having the maximum possible fun watching the World Cup means watching your team play while surrounded by your countrypeople. No doubt we’ll all be watching the Argentina games as well, but nothing beats a liberal sprinkle of patriotism at a time like this.

If you don’t already have a group of friends from your country, the best place to search for and find your people is unquestionably the forum at www.baexpats.org. There have already been several threads written by people doing just this, so do a search first before you start a new thread.

Venues

Unless you have a huge TV and all your mates are coming over for the games, you’ll want to head out for the World Cup games, and that means finding a good sports bar.

For expats, the front-runner in popularity at this stage seems to be Sugar, located at Costa Rica 4619 in Palermo. They say that they’re going to play all the games in English and they have two screens, meaning that they can show two different games at the same time. Pints, wings and burgers round off a pretty damn attractive option for World Cup-watching fun. Just keep in mind that for England and USA games it’s likely to be RAMMED with people, so go early if you go.

Another option is the Gibraltar English pub in San Telmo. They’ve said that they will definitely open for the 11am and 3:30pm games, so it’s a good option if you can’t find anywhere else that will open early. On the other hand, Gibraltar is not ideal as a sports bar, being a bit cramped and without enough seating.

A third option offering a more complete package is Bar Malasartes at Honduras 4999 in Palermo Soho (right on Plaza Serrano). They’re having a ‘World Cup party,’ meaning that they’re going to show the games but with all kinds of add-ons (check out their Facebook page at here for more details). The downsides are that they’re going to charge admission (30 pesos for a ‘day ticket’ – up to three matches) and that you’ll need to reserve a table ahead of time, but it might still be worth it. They plan on showing at least two of the 8am games.

Finally

Do a little planning for your World Cup viewing experience now, and ten minutes before kickoff you’ll be settling back with an icy Quilmes in your hand as opposed to running around trying to find a sports bar that’s open.

May the best team (or Argentina, that would be pretty cool too) win!!

The Barras Bravas of Argentine Soccer

Tim Gringo in BA — Tue, 04 May 2010 12:00:21 +0000

If you’ve ever been to a soccer game in Argentina you’ll have noticed that elements of the crowd can get somewhat “enthusiastic” during the match. Drums, flares, singing, wielding giant banners and flags and so on are par for the course. So who are those people? They answer is that they are the barras bravas.

In Europe, another place where enthusiastic soccer fandom is not an unknown phenomenon, the most hardcore groups of fans are called “ultras” – because they’re not just fans but ultrafans. In Argentina (and in fact the rest of Latin America too) these groups are known as barras bravas, which translates as something like “wild gangs.” Basically, each team has its ordinary fans…and then it has its barra brava.

Calling the barras bravas “organized soccer supporters groups” is one way of describing them, and the way of describing them that the Argentine Soccer Association would prefer you to use, but as we’ll see, “soccer hooligans” is a lot closer to the mark.

Here are the top teams of Argentina’s Primera División along with the barra brava for each:

* Club Atlético Independiente – Los Diablos Rojos (The Red Devils)
* Club Atlético Boca Juniors – La 12 (The 12)
* Club Atlético River Plate – Los Borrachos del Tablón (The Drunkards of the Stand)
* Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro – La Gloriosa (The Glorious)
* Racing Club de Avellaneda – La Guardia Imperial (The Imperial Guard)
* Club Atlético Rosario Central – Los Guerreros (The Warriors)
* Club Atlético Newell’s Old Boys – La Hinchada Más Popular (The Most Popular Fans)
* Club Atlético Colón – Los de Siempre (The Usual)
* Club Atlético Talleres – La Fiel (The Faithful)
* Club Atlético Belgrano – Los Piratas Celestes de Alberdi (The Sky-Blue Pirates of Alberdi)
* Club Atlético Vélez Sársfield – La Pandilla (The Gang)
* Club Ferro Carril Oeste – La Banda 100% Caballito (The 100% Caballito Band)
* Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata – La 22 (The 22)
* Club Atlético Huracán – La Banda de la Quema (The Burning Band)

So if you’re a member of a barra brava, what does seeing your team play entail? Well, not two hours of sipping mate and applauding quietly at appropriate junctures, that’s for sure. Try: standing up for the entire game in a special section of the stadium; singing at the top of your lungs; waving flags; pounding drums; lighting the flares that you smuggled in, and starting fights wherever possible with supporters of the opposing team.

All innocent fun, right? Well, if all the barras bravas did was make a lot of noise at soccer matches and start the odd fight then that wouldn’t be so bad. And in fact, for most of their members, that’s probably all membership entails. But it seems that the leaders of the barras bravas (many of whom have criminal records) are into a whole lot more than that.

The shadiness of the barra brava leadership is borne out by the fact that there have been three barra brava-related killings in the Argentine city of Rosario this year inside a month of each other. On 19 March 2010, the former head of the barra brava for the Newell’s Old Boys club was shot and killed while standing in the doorway of a bar. His friends said that just prior to his death he had commented that he thought he was being trailed by the police. A few days before that, a former leader of the barra brava of Rosario Central had been killed outside his home. And a member of the barra brava of the second division club Defensa y Justicia, was also stabbed to death around the same time. These three murders took football-related killings in Argentina since 1924 to a total of 249.

So why are barra brava members getting killed? No-one knows, but given some of the stuff that the leaders of the barras bravas’ are apparently into, it seems like there would be plenty of reasons.

Here are some of the activities that barra brava leaders have been known to be involved in:

* Drug dealing;
* Fighting turf wars for control of the drugs trade;
* Hawking (at inflated prices) bunches of tickets given to them “under the table” by their clubs;
* Side businesses such as selling player t-shirts or photos;
* Organizing parking outside the stadium;
* Organizing security for music gigs played at the stadium;
* Charging foreign tourists to watch games in the stands next to the team’s fans;
* Organizing dinners with players in exchange for tickets to matches, and
* Receiving money from politicians for holding up certain banners during games.

On top of all of this there’s the corruption. Allegedly, certain officials within the clubs rely on the support of their barra brava to succeed in internal elections. Barra brava leaders are apparently also enlisted to do dirty work like harassing unwanted coaches or players until they quit the team, and threatening players with violence unless they perform better in matches. In return for their services, the leaders of the barras bravas’ get kickbacks from their clubs that include free tickets to games, money and jobs.

Some people think that the barras bravas are such a problem that they’ve actually set up groups to combat them. One is Salvemos al Fútbol (Let’s Save Football), which is a non-governmental organization that is trying to eradicate violence and corruption in Argentina soccer. However, this is Argentina, and the complicity of the clubs coupled with unreliable law enforcement makes the problem of the barras bravas especially difficult to solve.

“There is no strong political determination to put an end to the violence and corruption in football,” Mónica Nizzardo, president of Salvemos al Fútbol, is quoted as saying.

Unfortunately, the support of the security forces and political and sports leaders very probably means that the violence, crime and corruption that the barras bravas are involved in are not going to be eradicated any time soon.

So next time you go to see a soccer match in Argentina, take a look at those fanatical fans and give a thought to what kinds of nefarious activities they might be mixed up in besides just cheering on their team. Then go back to enjoying the game and stay the hell out of their way

Fileteado: Buenos Aires Style Artwork

Tim Gringo in BA — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:00:12 +0000

FILETEADO. What is it? Well if tango is the distinctive porteño dance, and steak-and-Malbec is the distinctive porteño meal, then fileteado is the distinctive porteño artwork. But actually, it takes a while to realize that fileteado is a distinctive style at all. That’s probably because it’s a style of artwork that decorates things – buses, cars, signs, shop windows etc. – and so it takes a back seat to what it’s decorating. You’d never see fileteado hanging in a gallery; it lives on the street.

Buenos Aires Fileteado

Fileteado is a sort of filigree style with a lot of common motifs. The common motifs are things like flowers, scrolls, leaves, ribbons, little balls and lines, both straight and curved. It combines these elements with things like rural scenes, couples dancing, and famous characters such as Carlos Gardel. It’s also very bright and colorful, traditionally painted with synthetic enamel that is highly resistant to the elements and doesn’t fade over time.

On a Bus (Collectivo)

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact origins of fileteado because, just as for tango, there wasn’t one defining event or person that can be said to have begun it. However, there were a trio of Italian immigrants named Cecilio Pascarella, Vicente Brunetti and Salvador Venturo who most people agree all had a hand in creating it.

On a Pizza Store Front

Pascarella, Brunetti and Venturo all worked in factories that made carts designed to be pulled by horses (this was around the year 1900). For whatever reason they began to decorate their carts, using a style that probably came from Europe and in particular from the traditions of the Gypsies. The first people to imitate them were their own sons, but the style quickly caught on and before long fileteado art was on the carts (and before long, buses and trucks) that travelled every street of Buenos Aires.

Fileteado as Flowers

In the heyday of fileteado, colectivos (that is, city buses) were privately owned by their drivers, and so they were free to choose whatever artist and fileteado art for their vehicles they liked, resulting in a lot of very colorful buses. Maybe the drivers felt that their bus would attract more customers if it was elaborately decorated, or maybe they just liked the way it looked, in the same way that petrol-heads get their cars spray-painted with flames and other intricate designs today.

Sign of a Record Store

Today, a small band of passionate fileteadores carry on this distinctive Porteño artwork. Their artwork is particularly common in San Telmo and on El Caminito in La Boca. Stroll down Calle Defensa and pay attention and you’ll see it everywhere. There’s also a lot of it in Abasto on Jean Juares, particularly on the fronts of houses (oh and by the way, if you ever have to give that street name to a taxi driver, it’s inexplicably pronounced “Jan Johray”).