Another busy day in Buenos Aires! We began by heading back to the church we worked at yesterday to watch the Argentina-Nigeria 'football' game. It was really fun watching the game with the members of the church and we all went nuts when Gabriel Heinze used his head (literally) to give Argentina the only point of the match. Argentines absolutely love their football, and with good reason. They may have the best team in the world, according to ESPN. ESPN also rated Lionel Messi as the number one player in the world, a matter of national pride. It's almost hard to convey just how crazy this country is for football (notice how I'm not saying soccer). Almost half the billboards we see have players from the national team on them. There are flags being hung from windows, gateways, porches, car doors, arches, balconies, garage doors I-THINK-YOU-GET-THE-POINT. It's very possible that we are visiting the future 2010 world champions. Serious bragging rights: "I visited Argentina when they won the world cup."
Moving on. Almost. During the game Camilla brought an absolute gem of Argentine cuisine for us to eat in the form of Empanadas. These were, in the author's opinion (who had 5), the best food experienced thus far. They came in two varieties: ham and cheese, and simply meat. Our hosts distinguished between them in those exact words. The meat was simply the beef version. We would like to thank Camilla's husband for cooking these for us. Allow me to emphasize the fact that he cooked over 200 empanadas. You, sir, are a master of your craft and you have our deepest thanks.
After the game we continued to work on painting the tables, chairs, walls, and bathroom of the church. The most exciting and moving part of the day was when the members of this church presented Jason with two gifts. The first was the flag of Argentina and the second was a model of Noah's Ark made by the children of the church. They were both very meaningful and generous gifts. The Ark is for sure going in the Element room as a memento. We finished the day at the church by praying for each other, first in Spanish and then in English.
We ended the night at San Andres college for the third concert. We added some flavor to this concert by rushing out to the stage during "Living on a Prayer" and jumping and dancing to the music. Our very own Jonathan Lutz did a simply amazing rendition of the moon walk during Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror." Jonny, you gave us all a memory we will never forget. Michael and Jonny's host mother Sylveen could be heard in the audience screaming, "That's my son, that's my boy!" in a manner that any proud mother would display. She felt no shame, only pride (as we all did). We rushed the stage near the end of the concert again and were joined by many members of the audience. It was, as Michael Transon said, "Like a domino effect." When we got a large group up there singing and dancing, people couldn't resist themselves. It was contagious. There was a lot of jumping, so much so that some of our calves were sore in the morning. Thanks has to be given, once again, to the band for doing an outstanding job. You guys rocked!
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