C:\Marlow\

I haven´t had time to email everyone so I figured I´d do what I rarely do and write in this damn blog.

Things have been a bit difficult at times, but amazing so far. For one thing, I definitely underestimated the language barrier. It´s been a while (about 3 years…?) since I was in a country that didn´t speak a language that I spoke, and I guess I had forgotten what it was like. I had assumed a lot of things:
Everyone would speak at least a little English, Spanish is similar enough to French that they´ll understand you, and finally, that I can get by with hand gestures alone So lets address those one by one, shall we? Nope, nope and nope.

Very few people in Argentina can speak any English, even the younger generation! This was surprising to me not because I´m incredibly ethnocentric, though that´s a possibility, but I guess because when I was in Korea all the students had to take English much in the same way we take french but they took it through public school as well as high school.

The Frech-Spanish similarity is actually not so far fetched, some words are similar enough, but not to the extent that I understand what the hell anybody is saying. If I hadn´t started listening to a speak spanish mp3 class thing I´d definitely be completely clueless.

There´s a joke to preface the third. If an Argentinian falls off a boat without a lifejacket, how do you keep him afloat? Keep talking to him. Buh-dum bum.. Argentinians are very expressive with their hands and actually have a sizable gesture-vocabulary. So when a Canadian guy comes bumbling along, gesturing wildly like a gorilla having a seizure, they are completely lost, bewildered and most likely scared they´re going to get knocked silly by a flailing limb.

Despite the communication problems though things have been amazing. The weather has been amazing, the men are incredibly friendly and helpful (women tend to avoid eye-contact oddly enough, I guess I look like a sexual predator…) and I´ve met some incredible people.

This past Saturday I went to a bboy jam that was partially organized by the crew I´ve been hanging out with, United Rockers Crew. Christian, the bboy that I met off of www.bboyworld.com that certain co-workers assumed was going to rape me/harvest my organs, was DJing the event and Rafa was judging. Their crew was entering the battle and were a man short so they asked me to battle with them. Despite having sprained my ankle about 4 days prior and again the day before I was feeling up to it and Christ was playing some good tunes so I couldn´t help but join them.

It was a bit crazy because some of the other crews there were absolutely amazing. URC´s rival crew, LACREW, were in the opposite bracket to us  and got eliminated in the semis in one of the most intense battles I´ve seen live since Rivers vs Mind 180 in S. Korea. It was a shame Lacrew lost because I really wanted to face them in the finals, I really liked their style and they had incredible blowups and power, even if they had a bit of a bad attitude while battling. So when we got to the finals the crew that had just barely beat Lacrew (it was a crazy close battle) had used most of their power and blowups already. We were able to control most of the battle using the commandos and routines we had come up with before the battle started and it worked because we got a unanimous victory from the 3 judges My ankle is suffering for the victory but it was worth it and it seems to be healing up.

Anyways, I´m off to Corrientes today for a crazy boatride through the wetlands and then off to Iguassu afterwards to see their world-famous waterfall(s).

Peace!

This morning I went to the dentist (student dentist @ U of T’s Dental School) to get depulped. Why? Well, it’s the first stage of a root canal.

This involves me getting my tooth hollowed and scooped out. Yup, fun times. I pussied out last time I went because I get really anxious with local anaesthetics, whether it’s the needle or the feeling of losing control of my own body, I don’t know. But yeah, I pussied out.

So this time, I get the nitrous!

My teeth don’t feel too great but I’m looking forward to this weekend.

I’ll be going down to Hamilton with my crew, Skillz 2 Kill, for Steel City Cyphers. There’s going to be a 5 on 5 competition that we’re entering. I’m excited to be getting out to jams again and competing. Throwing down in cyphers, soaking in the vibe, and hanging out with some great people.

If anyone is in the area and wants to come out and support my crew or even just party after the jam then give me a call. I’d love to see some familiar faces in Hamilton.

Look out for me, I’ll be the one killing beats like Dwight Shrute

Peace!

Salut mes amis!

I found a nice cheap internet cafe so I should be able to type out a half-decent post at least; grammar and creativity allowing.

The plane encountered some delays so I was about an hour late getting in the airm but I sat between two interesting people so it wasn’t half bad. The woman who gave me my ticket gave me the pick of the litter for seats (I think she liked me, I have a way with 60 year olds…) and I requested a fire exit seat for the extra leg room. She did however neglect to tell me that my seat would be right in front of the stewardess’ chair. Yeah, bye-bye legroom again. Anyways, the plane ride was fairly uneventful: pleasant conversation between fellow passengers and the stewardess, shitty meal, and all that jazz.

Arrived at Charles deGaule airport at around 11:30 and that place is a dump, it reminded me of a changeroom at a public swimming pool. I beelined to the RERm the Parisian metro, and paid the 8 euros to get to Paris instead of the lsightly higher 30 euro airport bus

Checked into my hostel no problem, once I found the place and immediately met two guys that I approached with “bboys?”. Turns out I was right and we sessioned for a little bit while they were getting our rooms ready and then went out to look around Paris.

We went to the eiffel tower first and took all the standard photos along with all the other tourists and then walked around the park for a little. We decided to stop in at a marché for some food because restaurants are a bit pricier than most in Paris, especially around the tower. We grabbed some cheese and juice and stuff and I stopped in at a bakery for half a baguette and the woman at the counter asked about my accent, who was I to think I could pass as Parisian? So I told her I was Canadian and my friends were from Spain and she got so excited and wanted us to like Paris that she filled a giant bag with fresh (and hopefully un-poisoned) pastries! Nicest lady so far, in retrospect I should have taken a photo with her, damn I hate how hind-sight is 20-20.

On the way back past the eiffel tower we heard the call… “bboys?” There were two other bboys, French and German, waiting under the tower for a third bboy, American. We talked for a bit as we waited and they invited us to go to this big practice at La Defense!

It looked kind of like a scummy mall but the French bboy kept saying it was “the street” and that Parisian bboys “keep it real”. He was super nice and we shook hands with all the bboys at the session, apparently if you don’t it’s a huge insult and there will be beef. Met some more cool bboys and watched a guy get attacked by a pet bulldog.

So my first day, despite delays and terrible weather (cold and rainy) was awesome. I can sum up my second day as completely uneventful because laziness struck the Spaniards that I foolishly stuck with a second day and we did nothing, so we will never speak of this day again.

I’ll be going back to that practice again so hopefully I can finagle a tour guide out of one of the people there

Adieu mes amis! I will blog again when I have the time.