Berry Drank

I was waiting to make the third blog until I had been through Christmas and New Year's, since they had told me that it was a pretty big deal here. And, in keeping with my blogging tradition, this is being written at a disgusting hour of the morning while my mind is not totally functional.

Christmas was passed in Vedia, in the northeast of the province of Buenos Aires. About twenty eight family members got together in the big house there, but since it's summer here most of the time was passed outside and in the pool. When I say Christmas I mean the 24th, pardon me. The whole day was spent eating and swimming and sunbathing and talking about Argentine politics. Everyone got dressed up for dinner, which was eaten at about ten or ten thirty, I don't remember exactly. After dinner we sat around talking until midnight, when we all toasted and fireworks started going off everywhere. At that point everybody really started kicking up the drinking and started dancing all over the place. And I'm talking here about adults. Like 50+ adults. The old people starting winding up their party at around three, at which point the young people moved the party over to the club. Vedia is a tiny city (10,000) so it only has one club. They told me that when the kids were younger the festivities were designed better to include them, but I'm not sure I believe it. The whole thing seems to revolve around drinking and dancing, just like every other party in Argentina.

New year's went almost exactly the same way except some of the family changed and we were here in Río Cuarto. Also, unlike in Vedia, where I got a ride to the club with a cousin, here I needed to take a taxi. But because it was a holiday, they were occupied all night long and I couldn't leave the house after the family party wound down. That was a bummer.

I'm going to talk about the family, which I'm actually surprised I have yet to do. My host father is named Fabian Zanotti. He's ridiculous. His role in the family is to go to work and play golf and sit at the table and dish out disapproval about people's study habits and things like that. His job is to manage country. The way he's explained it to me is that families own chunks of land and work them and plant things in them. He connects them to people to buy what they grow and organizes transportation for the goods and payment and things like that. I've learned a lot of dirty phrases in Spanish from him. He's a huge believer in giving me a hard time about nothing.

My host mom's name is Claudia Maria Chanferoni de Zanotti. She helps Fabian out with the paperwork for his job, cooks, and makes everybody happy. That sounds silly but it seriously seems like part of her job is to make sure that everyone's happy all the time. I've had some lovely talks with her, and when I first showed up she was the one to explain a lot of how the country works to me.

The oldest brother is Emiliano Zanotti. He is Fabian's son, but not Claudia's. He is twenty six years old to the best of my knowledge. He works at his dad's office, but doesn't live in the house. He comes by time to time but I don't see him a lot.

Maria Paz Zanotti is twenty four and is studying chemical engineering in the capital of the province of Salta, in the northeast of Argentina. I hadn't met her until recently, when summer vacation started and she came down to pass it here. She's dating a guy named Diego, who seems cool. Her parents seem fine, so whatever.

Pedro Zanotti is beyond words. I'll try to get a video of him when he's excited to more accurately demonstrate who he is. He's twenty one, goes to the university here in Río Cuarto where he studies agronomic engineering, and lives in the house. He's very animated and emotive. I rarely see him just sitting neutrally. He gets very happy or angry very easily and expresses how he's feeling to the exact degree to whoever happens to be around.

Pablo Zanotti I share a room with. He's seventeen, he just finished high school here and is going to Córdoba capital in February to study architecture. Pedro used up all of the loudness that should have been alotted this kid. He's quiet and reserved, but that's ok because this is an overwhelming country and I can't have my roommate freaking me out all the time.

That's the direct family. There's also a set of cousins who live in the city and go to university here. They have an apartment to themselves, but they're in the house a lot since they have a strong connection to this branch of the family and they don't have to pay for the food that they eat here. Their names are Maria Agostina (22), Juan Martin (20), and Maria Sophia (18) Chanferoni. Agostina has the curly hair. The tiny one is Inés (12). She's never around because she lives with their parents in Serrano in southern Córdoba.

 I'm also getting asked about the music here a lot. For the convenience of the reader I will break it down by category.

Club music:
Descontrol - Daddy Yankee http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpoFBlH4wMI
Pa Pan Americano - ?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC82c2bv3pg
Tonight or something equally silly - Black Eyed Peas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSD4vsh1zDA

Cumbia Villera (this is the cultural equivalent of gangsta rap):
Quieren Bajarme - Damas Gratis (which translates to, "Free Ladies") http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U69BrLTQ1o
Reacostada en la Cama - Damas Gratis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUTzOzfwIqw

Reggae:
Tu Sin Mi - Dread Mar I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gkTDsBjg8w
Open My Eyes - SOJA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvXmAligSnc

Rock:
Confesiones de Invierno - Charly Garcia http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT_DEN8--G8
Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCvMKcNJCAY

Folk:
Preguntan de Donde Soy - Atahualpa Yupanqui http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXgHnaSPi3g

Ska:
Yo te Avisé! - Los Fabullosos Cadillacs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOJLsqhdqpo

I'm sure I'm leaving a ton out but that's a rough idea of what it seems like people listen to.