Forgive me because I am a little drunk as I write this post. It is 5 in the morning and I just returned from a night of drinking and playing pool with my friend Alfredo and host brother Jose. I was actually doing pretty well with my game, normally I don’t make any of my intended shots and I look like the typical girl that can’t play pool. By a stroke of luck I managed to fake being good for one night. I thought that I won the first game but unfortunately I didn’t. Why did I think I won? Well, I successfully got the 8 ball into the pocket that I had intended it to go in, with another ball blocking my shot. It was like a miracle shot. Once it went in I let out a victory “whoopie” and gave my puzzled teammate a winner’s handshake. I was immediately informed that I was supposed to get the ball into the pocket of the last ball that went in — Argentine rules. WHO THE HELL PLAYS LIKE THAT? Anyway, from that point on my “game” continued downhill as I learned even more rules to the game of pool in Argentina. I could barely keep the rules straight for American pool and now I have to remember all these messed up rules for Argentina? I say to hell with all the rules, let’s just get drunk and knock some balls around.
On the third liter of beer I was good and toasted and could no longer play worth a damn so we quit and decided to talk world politics for about 2 hours. I don’t know why the conversation always leads to politics, especially American politics. Probably because that is what makes people so miserable and aside from romantic drama people only have drama with the GOV. I’m glad that Alfredo thinks the way I do about governments and power because I more enjoy the company of smart people versus the company of dumb people that I have to argue with. It makes life so much simpler and less stressful when someone is on your level with the way they think about the world. When we had exhausted our bucket of complaints about the way our different countries are run so terribly, we decided to seek out some super panchos (all hail the mighty salchicha!) for drunk consumption. I’d have to say that is the best way to end an evening.