A United States citizen´s perspective of an Argentine World Cup match.

The Perfect Cross-Culture

It was a lazy Tuesday in the Previgliano household as I dropped my stuff at the entrance of the duplex in Belgrano.  My host brother Marco had been let off work for the Argentina vs. Greece World Cup matchup and was already busy in the kitchen – read that as Marco was already yelling wildly in celebration after every successful Argentine pass.  Clearly I was late for the action, but I hurried into the kitchen to cheer on my second home. The game was already thirty minutes in, yet no one had scored yet.  Of course, I already knew that since I did not hear any honking or see any 65-year-olds parading around outside when I got off the bus.  I took a seat at the table and picked up a factura – although Ms. Previgliano, Marco, and his sister all had something on their plates, they were too firmly glued to the television to have taken a bite yet.  I was going to ask if there was any marmalade left, but I figured I had better wait until halftime. "Ma!  Como no fue adelantado!?"  Marco was wrong, the Greek player was definitely onsides, but I was not going to be the one to tell him.  "Siempre dicen que Messi esta adelantado!  No es justo."  I guess I can’t blame him for being so tense.  After all, if the United States had the perfect team I would be disappointed by anything less than perfection as well. The halftime whistle sounded and was accompanied by a round of coordinated audible sighs from the Previgliano family.  "Parris, vamos a sacar Indio."  A quick walk around the block with Indio, the family dog that has to be AT LEAST as old as Maradona, would certainly help to calm the nerves.  Marco slipped the dog-sized Argentina jersey over Indio and we were off.  We couldn’t pass a single person without either hearing or initiating a conversation on the game.  From what I heard, the reason Argentina had not scored was a mix of bad refereeing, Greeks fouling Messi, and a conspiracy against Maradona.  I must say that I was not aware of all the forces working against the Argentine soccer squad. Whipping out his cell phone as the ring tone went off, Marco let me know that the second half was about to start.  Whether Indio was done going to the bathroom or not, we had to hurry up and get back in the apartment.  We plopped down in front of the television just in time to see the kickoff – and to see Maradona cross himself approximately 14 times (I may or may not have actually counted.)  If quantity of blessings had anything to do with it, Argentina was definitely going to come out on top. Thirty minutes later, the score was still tied at 2-2.  Even with the windows open, I could tell that the neighborhood was uncharacteristically silent.  I did not even hear the sound of a colectivo honking at a taxi driver.  Another corner kick for Argentina.  The ball comes swinging in on a perfect cross and… Demichelis gets a foot on it… but a teammate is in the way.  I smiled at the bad luck while the Previglianos let out a string of delicately chosen Spanish profanities, but the play had not ended.  As Marco stood up in excitement and disgust at the missed opportunity, I watched as Demichelis collected his own rebound and slammed it into the net.  I was trying to get Marco’s attention, but it was not necessary.  Through the windows rushed the sounds of air horns, car horns, adults screaming, children screeching, and Coto employees abandoning their posts at cash registers to celebrate in the streets.  I followed Marco onto the balcony – read that as Marco yanked me by the arm out onto the balcony – to wave the Argentine flag and sing “Vamos vamos Argentina!”  I turned back to the television in time to see Maradona crossing himself a few more times. With two minutes left, it looked as if victory was sure for the Argentine team, but I would not dare say anything to jinx it.  Silence pervaded once again as we all anticipated the final whistle.  Messi and the rest of the boys seemed to be playing keep-away now just to waste away the clock.  That must have been what Greece was thinking too, because they sure were not ready for the shot taken in the 89^th minute from just outside the box.  The ball rebounded off a Greek and, of all people, Palermo was just in the right place to send the ball right into the back of the net.  For this game, no final whistle would be needed to call the game.  The neighborhood erupted once more and Marco shrieked through the house shaking his mother, his sister, and me by the shoulders.  (He might have even shaken his sister’s baby, but I don’t think it was hard enough to cause shaken-baby syndrome.)  I caught a glimpse of the screen as Maradona jumped onto one of the assistant coaches.  Despite all of the doubts, he had coached his team through the group stage. The final whistle sounded after 92 minutes of play, and I took to the streets.  At first, it looked like a horrible traffic jam with everyone honking, but given then I realized that it was just a giant celebration.  People were leaning out of their cars and shouting “Palermoooogolllllll” or “ArgenTIna, ArgenTIna!” As an American, I can’t imagine such a celebration in the United States, especially for a soccer game.  I have played soccer all my life, but I realize that the rest of my country does not see it as a major sport.  This actually baffles me.  Americans are said to be some of the most patriotic people in the world, but have I ever walked outside of my house after an Olympic basketball game to hear my entire neighborhood cheering?  No.  Have I been dismissed from school because the United States had a World Cup match?  No.  Have I ever truly felt that the United States was ALTOGETHER “united” under one cause?  My honest answer would have to be “no.”  Sure, soccer is just a game, but shouldn’t that make it even easier for all of us to support it unilaterally?  We may be ahead of Argentina in some aspects of society, but we certainly can’t claim to be more patriotic.  After experiencing an Argentine World Cup match with a true Argentine family, I am beginning to rethink what we really mean when we say “The United States of America.”  I’ll let you know when we get the “United” part right.

This week Tanya from Montréal had her first day as a volunteer at the English school "By your Side" in the neighborhood of Pablo Nogués. The school: 

Tanya in the class room: We were greeted by Silvia, the founder of the school. 

We also met Camilla, who has been studying English at "By your Side" for five years and said that "English is her life". She impressed us with her fluency in English and eagerness to learn. Camilla demonstrates that the school with the help of volunteers has been successful at motivating children and teenagers to learn English.

Back in 2006 Bernadette Hoste saw a Poster of Voluntario Global at her Spanish classes in Buenos Aires. She applied through an email. Since then she has come back every year for a couple of months, to volunteer at Voluntario Global. Her first day started off in Villa Soldati. In 2007 she continued working in La Chispa, in order to help out and teach the students. In the following year she gave English classes to the kids at the same place.

She started a project in February 2008 to collect money through her friends and family in Belgium, France and England. This can also be seen on her website, which was created two years ago: www.la-chispa.org. Bernadette enjoys teaching and continued doing this the last two years. She started giving English classes to many different students and also preparing them for their upcoming exams. In addition she went to the home in Beccar, helping out with the younger kids.

This year she also went to the Kindergarden in J.L. Suarez and had great fun playing with the little ones and helping with handing out lunch. In 2010 she already helped out at the kindergarten and therefore wants to enlarge her project to collect funds, not only from family and friends but also from other people. For that, she will soon make her project “official“. We wish Bernadette all the luck for her new project and are looking forward for her coming back next year. 

Cinemas across Buenos Aires are now showing *Invictus*, a Clint Eastwood film about Nelson Mandela and the troubles he faced when first coming into power. Although your personal opinions on the film may vary, one message remains clear: despite being set directly after the abolition of apartheid, in the film the entire South African nation is united through an international rugby match against Australia. We can use this example to highlight the importance of recreational activities in bringing together groups of people. Indeed, this is something Voluntario Global does on a daily basis as VG international volunteers interact with more marginalised groups in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It goes without saying that Nelson Mandela's achievements are nothing short of remarkable, and in the years following his presidency we have been able to witness progress in other previously divided nations. For example, Evo Morales became Bolivia's first indigenous president and is now able to offer equal treatment to this group of people that had been neglected by all the country's previously unrepresentative leaders. As history progresses we shall see instances of many more incredible stories, in which disadvantaged people defy all odds and achieve success, be it in the political sphere or elsewhere. We at Voluntario carry out this mission too. Although the people whose lives we change may not be the next great politicians to serve their nation, we always strive to help them fufill their potential. We believe that social differences should not hinder social equality and through our diverse projects we try to make our vision a reality.

Hello. I'm Matt and I've been volunteering for Voluntario Global for 3 months. I've spent most of my time in the ''Comedor Los Pibes'', a social political organization in La Boca. I recently spent a week in the beautiful province of Jujuy with 11 compañeros from the Comedor under the catchy title of ''Comunitarian self management for the exchange of knowledge''. The idea being to exchange information and ideas between the Comedor and the sister organizations there. I went for Voluntario Global to look into possibility of volunteers working there. I'll try and give you an idea of how the week went.

We left at the barbaric time of 8am on Sunday to cover the 1,600 km to Jujuy from La Boca. Having worked there for a few months I felt comfortable in the group although more as a volunteer than a compañero, for this I was a bit unsure about how the week would go but they were very welcoming and friendly, especially La Negra (not as racist as it sounds) who continued to call me ''Hello'' until Wednesday. Sunday was basically the journey and Argentina's finest service stations, it ended well with celebrating popular compañero Pedro's birthday.



On Monday we arrived early in San Pedro and at our temporary home of Romina Fernandez, the co-ordinator for Comedor Los Pibes San Pedro. The first of many many meetings began soon, I had been charged with video recording the week for the Comedor which can best be described as learning by error. The meeting went well with a good exchange of ideas and after lunch and a walk around the village, the 2nd meeting began. It was again productive but a bit of a stretch at 3 1/2 hours, people were literally falling asleep at the end which is usually a good time to call it a day. In the evening we celebrated dia del niño with the towns children and some unbelievably dressed clowns, after some delicious home made empanadas, we were about done and the 1st day was over. The solidarity and generosity between the groups was something I quickly noticed, be it opening their house to us and feeding us for free or Los Pibes donating a computer or a projector, it was touching to see such humble people prepared to share so much.



On Tuesday we went to Tupaj Katari in the capital city San Salvador. Tupaj Katari is similiar to the Comedor in that it fights for social justice whilst also providing a service to the community. It made a good impression on me, I found them driven and intelligent people based on the principles of ´´action and talk´´. Perro Santillan, the Tupaj Katari leader and a prominent Argentine militant also stressed the importance of solidarity. After a tour around the town and its beautiful countryside, and creating a panic by going for ice cream without telling everyone. The meeting began, it was again positive but more so the assembly later on as there was a heated debate with where our compañeros spoke passionately about their work. It was an unusually passionate meeting but for this reason, successful. We returned to San Pedro pleased with the days work. For the 1st time in Argentina, I felt I had arrived in the true Latin America today. For a province where 40% of the people live under the poverty line, the problems and injustice were brutally clear, I think any volunteer would feel enthused and motivated working there.



To be continued next week…