Getting Better in Argentina
3/16/2011 9:14:21 AM | Field Hockey
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Day 3 was the day we refocused on the real reason Syracuse Field Hockey came to Argentina… to get better at hockey and grow as a team. We had our first match last night and lost 4-1 to a club called River. River executed their penalty corners well (unfortunately!) while Leonie Geyer scored our goal, also on a corner. We will endeavor to do better this evening, against Naval. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has so far contributed to fund-raising for our trip. We would not be here without your support and anyone who would like to donate (we are here on borrowed money so to speak!!!) would be our heroes: we thank you in advance! Money Chat aside, a minor detail we cannot fail to mention from last night is the pre-game weight training session our opponents did. We arrived on our bus and saw about 15 girls doing squats in the woods (I mean an actually forest) with bars and weights on their shoulders. It was what I imagine Freddie Flinstone did back in the Stone Age when he was honing his guns. Some bats and owls were chilling in the branches watching the forest workout. Ange was also there, definitely taking down notes.
Earlier in the day, when we weren't wearing our 'game face', we went on a bus tour of Buenos Aires. A favorite stop was in the Boca area, home to Boca Juniors, Martu's soccer team. The houses in this district are painted rainbow style (Lynn really liked the pink house) because when people first moved to the area, and were poor, they stole paint from the ships at the port to make their lives brighter. The government at the time thought it looked a bit juvenile and started giving them paint so the residents could really get their color on. So much more important than public health insurance.
The area is full of little shops and market stalls. Kelsey Millman, majoring in Graphic Design at Newhouse School of Communications, didn't bring her camera because Christopher the Camera was so tired out from the day before that the battery died. Other people stepped up and started flashing (the cameras were flashing, not our girls, just in case clarification was required). Needless to say everyone started flashing their cash too, none more so than Steve Simpson who, amongst other things, invested in a beautifully posed photo with a 'chika' who was doing the tango on the street. Her male partner was definitely threatened by Steve's alpha male status. I would also like to report than I almost started suffering from Enthusiastic Tourist Syndrome because Boca turned my frown upside down, it was that cool.
We then drove elsewhere; forgive my ignorance I can't remember the name of the place. We were running low on time, so once we arrived we had 20 minutes to get lunch. What commenced will go down in urban legends as Operation Ham and Cheese. We have a distinct lack of accomplished Spanish Speakers on the team. Amy Kee claims to once being 'fluent' in Spanish. This is definitely a lie. Haley Bomboy, who studied Spanish at Syracuse, manages 'Hola' (with a well pronounced H) and COCO (because that obviously means cola… right?). Anna Crumb is just 'so pumped' to be outside of America even if she knew Spanish she surely wouldn't be speaking it. Laura Hahnefeldt is actually good at Spanish but blushes and starts giggling when required to use it. However Adrian Chambers, our resident Greek, is down with the lingo. I like to think this is the only reason why all the boys talk to her and no one else. Or maybe they just don't talk to me. My hair is beginning to looking like the Friends Episode when they go somewhere humid and Monica's hair starts expanding to poodle-status. I'm coming back to Syracuse with dreadlocks with sea-shells on the end and then I will definitely be more successful and meet my very own Chandler. ANYWAY, everyone was milling around like useless fools, unable to order lunch anywhere. Time was ticking. We saw a clean looking establishment, went in, and, with the help of some somewhat broken Spanish, ordered 12 sandwiches. Geyer and Hahnefeldt decided they would rather eat cake for lunch and went elsewhere. People started asking what could go in the sandwich: confusion abounded. Then like a shining beacon of light from the sky we collectively decided to all order the same thing. HAM AND CHEESE. Even non-red-meat-eaters sucked it up and ate pig. I think it was a biblical moment. Suddenly the guy in the kitchen moved faster than he ever had in his Argentinean life, he started putting that ham and cheese on there, and before we knew it we were sitting on a random wall, inhaling our sandwiches, and feeling irrationally pleased with ourselves. It didn't even matter that we forgot the mayo.
I'll leave you with the ham and cheese triumph. We play at 8.30 tonight and plan to play the only way we know… The Syracuse Way. Later Alligators.
