Weekend Report - 04.25.2010

This past weekend was a lot of fun. I already told you about Reggaeton Night on Friday. Well, on Saturday I spent most of the afternoon studying, but that evening I went with some buddies to a birthday party. The girl hosting the party was from Italy, and pretty much everyone there was from Europe or different parts of Latin America. I enjoyed this crowd a good bit more than the last ex-pat party I attended several weeks ago. That last ex-pay party was part of the inspiration for my very first blog post - see "Gringo".

Anyway, on Saturday I started out the evening with my friends, Felix and Sebastian. That is Felix on the left in the picture. He is a buddy from my Maritime Law class at the UBA. Felix is a great guy and lots of fun to hang out with; however, I do not think he will be be helping me out a whole lot in preparing for exams because he doesn't show up at class half the time. I've also seen his handwriting, which is complete sh*t. I'll be much better off studying with a nice girl - a strategy I have discussed in a previous post.

Sebastian is the guy squeezed in between me and the skeptical-looking girl with big hair in the picture above. Sebastian is one of Felix's best friends, and we hit it off pretty well when we all went out together a couple weeks ago. Sebastian is one of those guys who seems to know everybody. For example, in Buenos Aires the stores stop selling alcohol at 11:00 p.m., but Sebastian always seems to be on a first-name basis with the owner of the Kiosks. He generally walks in and exchanges some jokes and banter with whomever is working, and then they go ahead and sell us

Belinda

This is a picture with Belinda Peregin. She is a 20-year-old popular singer from Mexico, and pretty good looking in my opinion. I saw her at Reggaeton Night where she was interviewing people for MTV. Actually, I didn't know who she was. My friend Consuelo told me I take a picture with the MTV girl, so I did. Then when I got home I realized that I have some of her music on my computer.



Anyway, this picture doesn't do her justice - so check out one of Belinda's music videos:

Reggaeton Night

On Friday, I went to Reggaeton Night here in Buenos Aires. Reggaeton is a music genre that has developed as sort of a mix of reggae, cumbia, hip-hop and rap. Most of it is in Spanish, although there will occasionally be some English thrown in there.

Reggaeton has developed in countries through Central America and the Caribbean, and it has actually gotten pretty popular in the U.S. Many people consider it a "guilty pleasure". This is because reggaeton isn't always exactly "good" music - the lyrics are often cheesy (with some exceptions - see Calle 13), the rhythms and melodies repetitive, and the singer is usually decked out in platinum chains and other over-the-top bling.

But it is feel good music, and it is great for dance clubs. I guess people start considering it a guilty pleasure when they leave the dance club and start listening to reggaeton on their iPods.

Well, I listened to a whole lot of it when I lived in Panama. As a matter of fact, I still listen to a lot of reggaeton. I listen to it on my iPod in Boston, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. Anyway, I need to get back to telling you about what happened at the show.

The 3 singers on Friday night all came from Panama - Eddy Lover, La Factoria, and Makano. None of these guys

Clubbing with a Kingpin

This is a picture of me with Guillermo Coppola taken in the VIP area of the Terrazas del Este club, in Buenos Aires Argentina.

Your first question may be, "What was Ryan Bullock doing in the VIP area of a club in Buenos Aires?" Well, the explanation is that I was not Ryan Bullock that night - I was "Chip Duracell". That's right... of THE Duracell family. My great grandfather started the Duracell battery company, and I am the an "heir to the Duracell family fortune". Of course that is ridiculous - there is no Duracell family. But Chip Duracell gets to step into the VIP area.

The next question is who is Guillermo Coppola. Well, here in Argentina he is known as "El Rey de la Noche" (the King of the Night). Basically, he is a major socialite, politically-connected celebrity, and womanizer who many believe has had links to organized crime here in Argentina. Coppola was Diego Maradona's manager for years. For those of you who don't know, Diego Maradona is a former Argentine soccer player and the current manager of the Argentine national soccer team. Many people consider Maradona the best professional soccer player in the history of the game. He is certainly one of soccer's most controversial figures.

Coppola was arrested back in the mid 90s after police busted him with more than 500 grams of cocaine in his Buenos Aires apartment. He was initially charged with drug possession with intent to sell. Police claimed that he may have been part of a drug ring that sold drugs in resorts along Argentina's Atlantic coast, and Coppola was potentially facing up to 20 years in prison. Here is a New York Times article from about a week after the incident. After he spent over a year in prison, it turned out that the drugs may have been "planted" in Coppola's house by an undercover police officer. Anyway, they let him walk.

There is certainly a lot more to tell about Guillermo Coppola. Back in 2009, he released an autobiographical book full of stories and anecdotes about Maradona, power, drugs, jail, women, scandals, and nightlife. The book cover is pictured here:

Diego Maradona used to say that Guillermo
Coppola could "smoke under water", which is
an argentine expression that means that he
can do anything and everything. That explains
the picture on Coppola's book cover.

Fútbol Argentino - San Lorenzo Celebrates 102nd Anniversary

This past Wednesday, I attended the 102nd birthday celebration for Club Atletico de San Lorenzo de Almagro. My buddy, Francisco is a huge San Lorenzo fan. Several years ago he bought me a jersey, which I proudly wear when we attend San Lorenzo soccer games. San Lorenzo is the only Argentine soccer team whose fans organize each and every year to celebrate the anniversary of their club's founding. Lemme tell you, they put on quite a party. On the Club's 100th anniversary, more than 17,000 people filled the streets of the small Argentine neighborhood. This year where were more than 3,000.

I have included a short video that I recorded on Wednesday night. We started off in front of the church where the Club was born. I'll tell you more about that later in this article. Several bands and singers took turns performing for the group of gathering San Lorenzo fans. A priest even stepped up to the stage to lead the group in a prayer - he followed the prayer by putting on a San Lorenzo hat, which contrasted with his full clerical robe. That was when they unloaded the flag. I say "unloaded", because the flag is 100 meters long. You can see part of the flag at the very beginning of the video I have included. We all helped to carry the flag about 17 blocks through the streets of the neighborhood to Avenida La Plata, where the original San Lorenzo stadium was located until the late 1970s. I'll tell that story in just a moment.

Understanding Argentine Soccer
Unlike professional sports teams in the U.S. or even soccer teams in the U.K., Argentine soccer clubs are not structured as corporations - they are "associations". There are no equity partners or shareholders - the clubs are made up of "socios". These are fans who pay annual dues for membership in a club, and they elect the President and officers who run the clubs, allocate funds, hire the coaches, and negotiate contracts with the players. San Lorenzo currently has more than 25,000 "socios", but in its heyday it had more than 40,000. Each and every "socio" has a recognized stake in the Club.

To fully appreciate the passion of the Argentine soccer fan, you have to understand that unlike professional sports teams in the U.S., these clubs represent much more than the actual teams. The clubs are more like community institutions. For example,

Somebody Who Loves Me...

That is a loose translation of the name of a popular Argentine novela - see Alguien que me quiera. "Novelas" or "telenovelas" are sort of like a cross between soap operas and mini-series in the U.S. Novelas are packed full of passion and drama like soap operas, but they generally run for a much shorter duration.

This guy in the picture Miguel Ángel Rodríguez. He is one of the characters in the Argentine novela "Alguien que me quiera". I have run into him a couple times at San Lorenzo soccer games, so I guess he must be a fan.

Apparently Viggo Mortensen was also at the game yesterday. He is an American actor who has been in a number of films - the most well known is the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I learned yesterday that he spent a substantial portion of his childhood living in Argentina. Apparently he is also a pretty serious San Lorenzo fan, and he shows up periodically at the games.

Why I Like Latin America

A number of my classmates at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) have asked me why I would want to come study in Argentina. Is anything that I am learning here relevant to the work that I will do as an attorney in the United States? Of course I have made a point to choose classes that are international in scope (International Private Law, International Arbitration, Maritime Law). There are potential indirect benefits - not many U.S. law students study abroad, so maybe my exposure to Civil Law could make me slightly more marketable in certain areas of U.S. law such as maritime and admiralty law, international contracts and disputes, and even some M&A. In the current job market, maybe an Argentine perspective on international law could help to distinguish me from the thousands of U.S. law students who will have an "international law" class on their transcripts. There is also the benefit of developing a Spanish legal vocabulary. There is an increasingly large Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., and they are all potential clients. On the other hand, much of the substance of what I am learning at the UBA may not be DIRECTLY beneficial to a legal career in the U.S.

The truth is that I just really enjoy spending time in Latin America. Here are a few reasons why:

Excitement & Challenges. Vacations are fun, but when you spend some time living abroad you find that what would ordinarily be mundane tasks become a lot more interesting and challenging. I'm talking about the little things - grocery shopping, making a photocopy of a document, or buying an random item such as a stapler. These things would be simple in your own country, because you'd know exactly where to go and you'd be able to anticipate approximately how much it will cost you. In the U.S., you would also feel confident that what you are looking for is in-stock and that whoever you need to talk with will be available during regular business hours. Well, here in Latin America you have none of those assumptions. If the notary office in Panama is open between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., that just means that the notary might (possibly) be in the office during those hours and definitely will not be in the office outside of those hours. Maybe you need a three-pronged folder for your law school class, but in Argentina you find that all of the folders are two-pronged. When you need to get to work or to an appointment, the street might be flooded resulting in a traffic back-up - or maybe a group of protesters has blocked the avenue. Your weed-wacker is broken and needs a replacement part, but the stores only sell replacement parts for obscure Chinese brands. There is a guy who sells the part you are looking for, but he is on vacation for the next 3 weeks. This is especially unfortunate, because he is also the town's notary public. You are probably better off just buying a new weed-wacker. It is a pain, but it can be really satisfying when you start learning to navigate through the inefficiency. Maybe we should move on to a better example of why I like Latin America...

Less Expensive. I do not come from a particularly wealthy family, but in Latin America I have some money. I can afford

A Phone Call from the Buenos Aires Police Dept.

When I arrived to Argentina on February 17th, my buddy Francisco went to the airport to pick me up. Not only that - he even had a room prepared for me at his house where I stayed during my first few weeks in Argentina. In fact, Francisco and his wife even invited me to live with them free of charge during the entire time that I am studying in Buenos Aires. The offer was particularly gracious given the fact that Francisco's wife is pregnant and expecting a baby in mid-April. I thanked them and explained that I would not feel comfortable accepting such a generous offer.

I was very fortunate in that I already had some contacts here in Buenos Aires before I arrived. Obviously, my friend Francisco is a hell of a guy. I'll have to tell you more about him later, though, because this story is supposed to be headed in different direction.

The story I want to tell you really begins when I moved into my own apartment about 2 weeks after arriving to Buenos Aires. I had only been in the apartment for about 3 days when I awoke one morning to an incoming phone call to my land-line. I groggily answered the phone, and the man on the other end of the line explained that he was a police officer with the Buenos Aires police department.

When you are a half-asleep gringo and receive a phone call from the Buenos Aires police department, you immediately start thinking of what you may have done wrong the night before. I suppose the officer anticipated this concern, and he explained to me that he was calling in regards to a robbery that had just occurred a few minutes ago here in the Capital. Apparently the 2 victims had been murdered

Weekend Report - 03.28.2010

It has been a fun wknd. On Friday I got some work done and signed up for the classes I am taking this semester. That night my friend Analia invited me to a birthday dinner for one of her friends. It was a little bit of an older crowd - most of them in their thirties. Of course we ate a lot of beef and went through several bottles of wine. Beef is a staple here in Argentina, and you eat a lot of it wherever you go.

After dinner, we went to a salsa bar called Cuba Mía. This place was great. When we arrived around 1 a.m. there were all these couples dancing salsa. These folks really knew how to dance, so it was cool watching them. Apparently my friend Analia has taken some salsa classes, and she got out there a couple times. She was really, really good.

At around 2:30 they started playing more diverse music. There wasn't a D.J., but there was always someone up there singing and leading the music. I recorded some video with my cell phone, but I do not have the cable to connect the phone to my computer. So instead I have included the YouTube video above of one of the songs they sang. My ex-girlfriend had this song in her head for months after she came back from Cuba last year. Great song - listen to it! I also drank Fernet, which is definitely an acquired taste...

On Saturday, I spent most of the afternoon at my buddy Francisco's place. I have recorded a couple of my Arbitration classes, and Francisco offered to listen to them with me and help me with anything I didn't understand. Unfortunately,

With a Little Help from Florencia

Yesterday I had coffee with this girl named Florencia from my International Private Law class. She is from La Pampa province of Argentina, she is about 24 years old, and she is extremely good looking. I sat next to her on the first day of our class, precisely because she is so attractive. I do my best not to hit on her, though, because she has helped me out a good bit in the class we have together. I'll explain my reasoning - if I were to hit on a her and it were to go badly, then she might feel less comfortable helping me out with the class material, helping me find where to find the reading assignments, navigate the UBA infrastructure, etc. This actually isn't so much of a problem here in Latin America as it is in the United States, as there is an assumption among many Latin women that guys may hit on them and, you know, generally act like guys. Of course, there is always the possibility that I hit on a classmate and it goes really well - but then the whole thing could go sour a week or a month later. Either way, I'd end up without an ally... So I try to be smart and not blatantly hit on Florencia. Anyway, she is a cool chick and seems smart and interesting, so I'd like to have her as my friend (see?? I am not a complete ass!).

As an exchange student, I think it can be a good idea to try to sit next to the best looking girl on the first day of every class. As a counter example, in my Arbitration class I just walked in on the first day and sat down without much thought as to whether I was sitting next to an Argentine hot-body. As it has turned out, I have a very difficult time understanding the professor. She talks extremely fast and does not really stop to ask questions or initiate discussion with the students. The worst part is that there is a horrible echo in the classroom. As I do not have a hot girl interested in making sure I understand the material and do well in the class, I have resorted to making audio recordings of each class and then trying to listen to them later in my apartment. The problem has not been quite so severe in my Maritime Law class; however that professor also speaks very quickly. I may end up needing help from a nice girl to survive in that class as well :-)

The point is, if you don't sit next to a great looking girl on the first day, you will be on your own. The path will still be walkable, but you risk stumbling as you will be alone when you encounter obstacles along the way. Furthermore, there are indirect benefits. When a gringo sits next to an attractive girl, he does his best to exude confidence. That cockiness can be a virtue if it helps the gringo to confront the inevitable challenges to be encountered in a law school class taught in a foreign country and in a foreign language. Just to be safe, sit next to a beautiful girl like Florencia and do your best not to hit on her...

UPDATE: As the semester has progressed, I have met good looking girls in both my Arbitration class as well as my Maritime Law class. That makes me feel a little better about things - it looks like they'll be willing to help me survive these classes. The lesson here is that sometimes you can go back and fix past mistakes and omissions. A 2nd lesson is that there are an abundance of great looking women in Argentina who have good handwriting.

Getting Robbed in Latin America

I keep up with a couple news blogs in Panama, and I just read this morning that the former Minister of Health in Panama was recently the victim of a home invasion robbery. Another article from the same blog explains that it is projected that the small Republic of Panama could see more than 1,000 murders this year, mainly related to drug trafficking.

Crime is a problem everywhere, but the risks can be particularly real for foreigners traveling and living abroad. As a tourist abroad, you may be carrying important documents such as a passport. More generally, when traveling anywhere you may carry larger quantities of cash. As you may be unfamiliar with the city or country, you may also be more likely to find yourself in a "bad neighborhood" where you stand out even more than usual. This also applies to you ex-pats living abroad (see my post about why you are still clearly a gringo).

You may also be partying and drinking more when you are on vacation. For example, there was the time several years ago that a guy punched me and took my money in New Orleans. That was in my own Country, but the point is that I might have prevented the whole thing by

Gringo

Step 1: My name is Ryan, and I am a gringo...

Yeah, the term encompasses a lot of negative connotations and many consider it to be offensive - but I am a gringo. I always have been.

I don't think I realized that I was a gringo until I began spending time in Latin America. I was born on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and I always considered myself a southerner until I realized that I am a gringo. When I was 24 years old, I moved to Panama to work for a U.S. real estate developer building a resort on an island off Panama's Caribbean coast. During my first three weeks, the company became engrossed in a strike with a radical labor syndicate called Suntracs. This labor union is well-known in Panama for shutting down streets, burning tires, throwing rocks, and pitting itself against the local police who arrive on the scene to break up the "peacefull protests". The company I worked for had this little golf cart that we often used to cruise around the little town near where we were developing, and one day I found myself headed straight toward a group of protesters marching down the main street. I probably should have just turned around and gone back to the office, but I was on my way to the supermarket to pick up something for lunch. I suppose I was feeling a little cocky, and I just kept driving forward. As the protesters and union reps passed by me, I heard someone yell, "F*ck you, gringo!"

I was excited to tell my co-workers about about my adventure when I arrived back at the office. We gringos really get a kick out of this sort of encounter, and we usually assume that our miraculous adventures in Latin America are completely, 100% original. We drink beer with some local guy, visit or get robbed in a "bad neighborhood", or pay a guy to guide us into the jungle - whatever we do, a gringo likes to think that he/she is the first gringo to do it. Of course, there is nothing better than being invited to a party where you are the only gringo. These make for fantastic Facebook photos and/or blog postings. We accumulate these stories, and then we go to gringo parties where we scoff at other gringos that who have arrived to Latin America more recently. As a gringo who has been in Latin America for several days, weeks, or months, you can be sure that all those other naïve gringos cannot possibly have had the plethora of interesting experiences that you have. My personal preference is to look down on dirty "backpackers". They show up in little Latin American towns, eat avocado and tuna from the can, and spend 2-3 days getting drunk and not showering before finally moving on to some other town where they will criticize U.S. materialism and will not put any money into the local economy. See, it is easy!

That day on the golf-cart was the first time that I was ever called a gringo. I have also been called a gringo as a term of endearment. So, what does it really mean to be a gringo? What I have realized is that I am a gringo because I just don't quite fit in here. I'm not from here; I'm from "allá". I speak Spanish well, I am well-versed in Latin American politics and history, and I eat the local food - but I'm a gringo. I listen to Latin music, date Latin girls, and enjoy watching The Simpsons dubbed in Spanish - but I'm still a gringo. Almost two years ago I moved from Panama to Boston for law school, and guess what... I don't quite fit in there either! After three semesters of law school at BU Law, I'm still a visitor. At some point I'll leave and move to some other place where I won't quite fit in. I suppose it has become a way of life, but I really like it.

Right now I am writing from Buenos Aires, Argentina where I am an exchange student at the national university's law school. Let me tell you, it feels great to be down here again having new adventures. Being "away" for a lengthy period of time, a guy begins to think about things in a different light and develops a perspective that lies somewhere between clarity and naivity. Starting now, I am going to write it all down. After all, its not like something I put on the internet creates a permanent virtual footprint that can come back to haunt me indefinitely. I'm sure I can just erase it all one day when I grow up, get married, and decide to pursue a political career... :-)