So up until this point, the only person I have spoken to in the country was the agent. He had his son and another player on another team with him, but they didn't speak English. It was fine though, the kid was young and the other player wasn't on my team, but I knew that the people I met in the city would surely speak some English...Wrong again!
-No one speaks English. Not my coach. Not the president. Not the owner. Not my teammates. I mean they know a few words, but definitely don't have command of the language. The only two people that do in this city are my one American teammate and my friend who I met that lives here but goes to college in another town, we will call him John. Now back to the story.
So I had lunch and the agent and my friend translated for me. Then my agent left and they brought me to the hotel and I slept.
-So I came here under the conditions that it was a two-week tryout period. I had to pay for my plane tickets, but they would pay for food and housing. If I made the team they would reimburse me the money for the plane ticket.
I woke up and I was of course hungry. It was about 7 pm in Rio Tercero (an hour ahead of eastern time) when I decided to go to the restaurant beside my hotel. Locked. A chill went down my spine as my stomach grumbled. I decided that I would just find something else to eat. I walk down the street and I see nothing to eat. Again I had no way of contacting anyone and didn't know how to order anything. After a half an hour I decided to walk back home and just eat a sandwich I had from the trip. I walked by the restaurant again and I saw that some of its curtains were open! I saw someone inside and knocked. They came to door and I said one of the few Spanish words I knew, "Abierto?" He said no and started speaking in Spanish. I asked he spoke English, he said no. However, we were able to communicate that the were open at 8 pm. Huh? They are closed at 7, but open at 8? I said ok and went back to my room until 8.
I came back to the restaurant at 8:15 and sure enough, they were open. New problem. Ordering food. They gave me a menu and I ordered the only word that I understood. LASAGNA! It was very good and filling so I was happy. I went back to my room and John messaged me on facebook to see if I wanted to go bowling and hang out at 11. "Sure why not", I responded.
After bowling we sat down and talked and I asked him questions about Argentina including why in the world was the restaurant closed at 7 and open at 8. He told me about how here in Argentina they don't eat a big American style breakfast, they eat a regular lunch, and then don't eat again until 8 or 9... WHAT!?! My first thought was I'm going to starve here. There is no way that I could go from eating At Least four meals a day to only two! Anyways, we hung out until about 1:30 and then we decided to go home. I noticed when we were leaving that there were still children running around...these people are like owls. Day 1 done.
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