Posts Tagged ‘Buller Pub’

I figure instead of telling you about my great week, I might as well show you. Here’s how it played out… MONDAY: Buenos Aires contemporary artist shmorgishborg @ ArteBA ’10 Monday afternoon I went down to La Rural in Plaza Italia to soak up some much needed culture. The coolest thing about Buenos Aires is that it’s an artist playground. There are so many insane artists here in Buenos Aires doing incredible stuff. The ArteBA showed off some pretty solid contemporary art from both well-known and underground artists. My Personal favorite? It had to be the sick ATM booth my buddy Tranqui Yanqui setup. The Mayor of Buenos Aires also checked out the exhibits this week but he decided to break stuff. TUESDAY: Buller Pub football match at 3am after bartending in Recoleta. After a quick cocktail stop with the boys from the Buenos Aires Pub Crawl to help kickoff their first ever Palermo Hollywood …

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Yesterday marked the 9-month point along this incredible adventure. As I reflect back on the whole experience all I can think about is… shit, time has gone by fast. I could of had a kid in that time. However, at my mother’s request I’m still baby-free, loving life and trying to maximize the time I have left here in Buenos Aires. In 9-months I’ve traveled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, started my bi-lingual journey, immersed myself into a foreign culture and built lifelong friendships. However, like coal for Christmas, this gift is a curse. Now I crave new adventures, I want to explore more of South America, speak better Spanish, learn more, see more, do more, ahhhh! Para, para, para. Let’s break it down: The Blog: After an eye-opening breakfast in Salta, Argentina with Leigh and her family from thefutureisred.com and Simon and Erin from neverendingvoyage.com I realized that I need to network better …

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Lots of random events to talk about this week so I figure I’ll just throw ‘em into one post. Monday I was invited by my friend and fellow bartender from Buller Pub, Mika, to the 10th Anniversary Party of Bar & Drinks Magazine at the Buenos Aires Golf Club in Palermo. As you see from the picture above it was a very classy event filled with bar owners and promo models. There were a ton of liquor companies with booths setup and you could just walk around and drink anything you wanted from Johnny Walker Black to blackberry caipirinhas. One Promotion company even setup a Wii station! The great thing about it was that nobody wanted to play because everyone was too busy trying to act to classy. Needless to say, Mike and I had an epic Wii Tennis battle, swinging the controllers around like banchies, trying not to spill our …

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As mentioned in the 6-month Status Update, my formal Spanish lessons have been put on hold as of late due to tight funds. I have been working on a proposal to trade Spanish classes for marketing services but to be honest, I just haven’t finished it yet. Even without classes, I’m still learning a ton through co-workers and friends. I’m also trying to watch more Spanish TV to attack this beast from all angles like the boys from Sandlot. It’s frustrating though… I just want that damn ball already. The funny thing is, is that I’ve met a few people who I’ve asked “How’s your Spanish?” and “How long did it take you to learn?” and their response was… “oh it’s great” and “I just picked it up after living in blah blah blah for a few months.” Bull Shit. I’ve heard a lot of these same people attempt to speak Spanish after I’ve …

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April 1st marks 6-months that I have been in Buenos Aires. That’s crazy! T2T has reached the half way mark, well, for this mission anyway ; ). Actually it’s even more than the half-way mark because I have to get back to New York for a few weddings in late August/September. So, really, I only have about 4 and a half months until I have to go back to the States. 6 months is the longest I have ever been away from home, although it only feels like I have been here for about 2 months. Time is flying by and there is still so much still left to accomplish here before I leave. Every day is filled with new stuff to do, people to meet and things to see that I haven’t given much thought to my return to the States. Which could make for an interesting story if/when …

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Greeting like an Argentine is a vital part in the path to becoming a townie. I decided to create this instructional video one day at work to demonstrate the do’s and dont’s of giving a good salutation here in Buenos Aires. I also explain some of the mistakes I have made and some things you need to remember when smooching acquaintances. You also get to meet some of the people I work with at Buller so it’s a win win. Below is a list of the 7 different types of greetings I discuss in the video. All of which I have personally experience first hand. The Standard: A simple kiss (beso) on the right cheek for both men and women. This is done when saying hello and goodbye. Usually hands are position on the shoulders, arm, or back. If you know the person better a hand on the waste or …

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I haven’t done a STATUS UPDATE in awhile so I feel like I should take a minute to get myself organized and briefly fill everyone in on progress of the Tourist2townie.com mission. It seems crazy to be writing this 4 and a half months in. It honestly feels like i’ve been here for 2 weeks. With so much stuff I still want to do and see, the key word has definitely been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed that I still have awkward lost in translation moments everyday. Overwhelmed that I don’t have the time or money to travel everywhere I want to go here in Argentina (and outside). And overwhelmed at the fact that there is so much I want to add to this site it’s ridiculous. BRIEF RECAP SPANISH: I feel like I have hit a wall with my Spanish after the 2-week intensive class at BASP. So much information was absorbed that …

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The guys from Buller organized a football match last Wednesday after work. Although it was 3am and I was dead tired from class and work I couldn’t turn down the invitation. This was the second time I’ve played soccer since I’ve been down here and my skills haven’t improved a bit. I consider myself a role-player. A whatever-it-takes kinda guy who hustles for everything and yells a lot. Kind of like my ice hockey “career”. Inevitably, they stuck me on defense to guard the cherry pickers. It was the kitchen vs. waiters/bartenders. We closed up the bar at about 2:30am to play in a 3am game at an outdoor field (gancha) about 20 minutes away. It ended up being 7 vs. 7 and the competition was tough. The teams mostly consisted of Argentine guys from both Buller locations but there was also an Italian, an Uruguayan, my Colombian roommate Sergio, and …

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Have you ever had one of those times where all of a sudden you snap out of being in the moment and look at a situation and say “What the F** am I doing here?” Like your doing something really stupid or just in a really awkward situation. Well for me, it used to happen a lot, but not in a good way. I would be working on some project at my old job and all of a sudden realize, man this is really stupid or pointless. And we would call that a “WTF moment”. Well last night I had one of those moments. However, in this case, it wasn’t because I was running around some college campus in a giant Beaver custome. It was actually pretty cool and it made me step back and say “How did I end up in this situation..” I was cleaning up the bar after a pretty …

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Before we start I have to say that I’ve kissed a lot of men since i’ve been down here and I’m okay with it. There, I just had to get that off my chest… Yesterday was Natalia’s last day at work. She’s been bartending at Buller for 2-years and was certainly a centerpiece to the Buller family. Her departure gave me yet another glimpse at the passion that permeates life here. I say “here” as in Buller and as in Buenos Aires. It certainly opened my eyes to our interactions in the States. Not just in business but in our everyday communication with friends, family and co-workers. My boss actually asked me last week “why are Americans so cold?… what’s with this handshake thing all about and the awkward greeting?” I didn’t have a good answer for him, I just made sure I gave him an extra big embrace at the …

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The honeymoon is over and it’s time to start bearing down. I’ve been able to penetrate some Argentine social circles and now its time to actually build relationships. I’m decent with salutations (Hellos, goodbyes, etc.) but where the conversation goes from there is anyones guess. I’m also okay with the “where are you from?” and “what are you doing here?” and other basic questions, If spoken clearly. Now, I need to get beyond that and actually interact and have successful conversations that don’t begin mediocre and end in a frustrated look, blank stare or confused customer. Anyone who tells you they learned a language in 3 months is full of shit (I hope). Okay, if they moved to a foreign country with a ton of college experience or were in intensive language courses for the 3 months I can see how they could manage. I’ve taken classes and for the most …

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Tuesday was the Private Christmas Party for friends and family at Buller. It was a long crazy night filled with great music, drunk employees and crowd surfing bosses. With the bar packed with locals my spanish skills were really put to the test. Usually everyone who comes in sits down and orders a beer or cocktail and I give them a check at the end, without intense/rapid interaction. However, on this night everyone was there to just drink and socialize, so I had to step my bilingual game up. Three things really helped me keep the awkward moments to a minimum. For one, all cocktails and beers were $20 pesos, so as long as I had 20,40,60, etc. down I was okay.  Secondly, We didn’t have to serve a lot of crazy cocktails like Mai Tais or Cosmos. Lastly, the music was so loud that I could say “que?” if …

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