How 3 Seconds Lead To 3 Years That Changed Everything

Posted by Dominick on Nov 10, 2011 in Featured, Matador U Assignments | 5 comments

“Come on baby, just turn over…please you have got to get moving, no matter how cold it is outside. I know you don’t want to leave home, but its time to go to work.” I spoke those words as I had every morning during the Chicago winter, not to my car, but to my body as I lay in bed. I check what the weather is like outside by simply taking the covers off myself, “Another beautifully frigid day”. I get up and get dressed for work, after the first 3 layers of long underwear I decide that should be sufficient for the day’s activity and head outside only to repeat my earlier plea, this time to my car.

I wonder why  that memory has overtaken my mind just now as I sit in my quaint little cafe in charming Buenos Aires. I decide to start writing this story, wondering how what started as such a normal day could lead me to where I am now.

Petting Tigers, Midnight Studies, & Living Standards Clash

Posted by Dominick on Sep 29, 2011 in Tales From a Faraway Land | 0 comments

Greetings friends and readers! I just got back from a long day in the field ministry, ad I wanted to through something new up for you to read and enjoy.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only line of communication back home from this place. However this is only because I constantly forget that I am not alone in my efforts to share the wonders of Buenos Aires. In fact among my friends and congregation we have many that produce admirable works about their life here. As much as you may find my experiences here to be fascinating and inspiring (thats a little much I think), I often times find that reading about the experiences of my fellow expats can be quite enlightening. In fact I especially appreciate reading their take on events which I have previously written about myself.

Tonight I wanted to share 3 posts I feel are excellent reads, and will enhance your appreciation for the city that I love so dearly…

Xerxes and Argentine Infrastructure

The first one is from our good buddy Xerxes aka “The Mad Persian”.

Xerxes is a good friend and excellent young elder at our hall, hailing from the great state of…Connecticut (?) He has been a  great help to us here in the English Congregation through his amazing talks, calming voice in times of distress, and cheerful companionship in and out of the hall. Even if at times he is a bit of a “Jerkxes” (ok more than a bit…more like nearly all the time), he is still one of those few people you never want to leave.

As Xerxes is a fellow American expat, he is a good sounding board for those times when living in another country can just get oh so frustrating…Xerxes himself had a lovely experience dealing with what we call the “Argentina Business Model”. Basically it describes the Argentina mindset during business; they are doing you a favor by selling you something, its your loss if you decide never to come back due to dissatisfaction. He had some amusing experiences, and notable insights in his latest blog post here:

http://onexerxes.blogspot.com/2011/09/infrastructure.html

Heartwarming Ministry Account & Tiger Taming

Our dear Aaron and Sara…what would we do without them? As collectively our largest friends (like someone ran the sizer bar on the screen a little further up than normal), we enjoy having them form our late night service posse when we go African hunting in the wee hours of the night in some of the cities seediest areas. Coming to us all the way from Seattle these two lovable buddies of ours definitely are a joy to have, to hold, to drink with, eat with, and kill people with… I mean save people with 🙂

Take a peak at two posts from Sara’s blog that are quite revealing. One showcases their visit to the Lujan Zoo just outside the city. This zoo is not the tiny petting zoo, no touchy the glass zoo you remember going to last…this one you jump into the cage and handle animals you would never dare to stare at. Outside of this zoo the only time you would feel comfortable this close to some of these animals is if there were serving as your rug.

http://mangotangoland.posterous.com/zoologico-de-lujan

This post is a brief description of some of the environments we get to conduct our ministry in. Here Sara relates the results of some of our late night African hunts, and how regularly going into less than admirable hotels late at night while avoiding street dwellers, and hookers that seem to be having an male/female identity crisis can be oh so rewarding. Enjoy!

http://mangotangoland.posterous.com/55479801

So…Where Have I Been?

Posted by Dominick on Sep 3, 2011 in Featured, Tales From a Faraway Land | 6 comments

In case you haven’t noticed, this is my first real blog post since March (5 months!)…Firstly, for all of you who perhaps upon realizing this said “YAY!!! No more terrible stories to read!” (Dave!)…I would like to offer my most sincere thanks for your unwavering support 🙂

For the rest of you, whom I assume (quite pathetically at times) still enjoy reading my blog at times,  I hope you will enjoy the fruits of my renewed literary resolve here on this site.

But perhaps some of you do not know what exactly lead me to abandon my blog for such a large period of time…I guess now would be a good time to play the catch up game and explain whats been going on in the last few months.

…And Then Came The Spring…Or was it The Fall? I Can Never Figure That Out…

The last 6 months, nay, really the last year or so has been filled with several elements that have contributed to varying degrees to my more chaotic than normal lifestyle since then.

Mamma No Esta Bien

The foremost of these has been the continuing health condition of my mother. In late August, less than two weeks before I was to move to BsAs full time, she was diagnosed with Lymphoma.

Instantly, I began thinking about how this news was going to affect my plans. I initially began thinking that I should put off my move to BsAs…I even considered the possibility of moving to California to be closer to Mom. As these worries were tearing me apart, I managed to convince myself to hold off from full freakout mode until after we knew exactly what was going on.

After a very tense week or so for our family, the doctors finally told us that she had a very good chance of beating the cancer with a evidently “routine” chemo regimen. After a brief, less than fun, last minute visit, I managed to make my flight to BsAs, confidant Mom was in good hands in California, and that the situation was under control…

Fast forward to early January, we receive news that despite the favorable odds for a full recovery, Mom’s treatment was not 100% successful against her cancer. Needless to say this situation was quite distressing for all of us. Speaking for myself, I know I initially felt an immense regret over my choices regarding the previous six months of my life. I began having thoughts of feeling guilty over leaving her, etc…

Anthony & Dominick – (Literally) Worlds Apart, or Are We?

Posted by Dominick on Aug 26, 2011 in Tales From a Faraway Land | 0 comments

I found this to be an interesting little concept, perhaps you will think so as well. Around the same time I originally moved full time to Argentina in September of 2010 to find adventure fortunes of experience, my good ‘ol buddy Anthony Pozzi was setting out on his our journey of self-discovery to South Korea. I found it ironic that Anthony who so often served as my intellectual partner in crime e.g. nerd to hang out at the book store with, discus literature, etc… was now embarking on a journey of self determination much the same as I was. The irony I have found in many of the different details of our separate yet seemingly similarly motivated journeys to the most distant parts of the Earth.

Case and point: Go to this site here, which shows you two points on the Earth that are directly opposite

of each other and move the pointer to be directly over Buenos Aires, Argentina, and notice where the other point ends up…You will see that the place I have traveled too, is with 100 miles of the exact spot where Anthony now lives in South Korea… Perhaps other will not think that interesting that we somehow managed to both come to reside on exact opposite sides of our planet, but for me, I find it to be but one in a very long list of strange and ironic occurrences that only add to the uniqueness, and intellectually-perplexing nature of the paths two friends can walk that at times are so alike, other times literally worlds apart…

http://www.zefrank.com/sandwich/tool.html

Welcome To My New Site

Posted by Dominick on Aug 22, 2011 in Featured, Tales From a Faraway Land | 2 comments

Welcome friends, family, and visitors! I want to say thank you for taking an interest me, my life here in Argentina, and my other assorted musings/creative oddities by visiting this site.

Firstly, I think it would be a good idea if I explained what my motivations are for running this site. For me the experience of moving from my native soil to another country on the opposite side of the Earth has been dramatic in its effect on me. To describe my experience here using clichés such as “eye-opening”, “profound”, and “monumental” are but mere words that the bewildered use to express thoughts and feelings about experiences which are larger than their comprehension or communicative skills allow them to express adequately. I do not pretend to be above so many others in the art of communication, in fact I’m sure I fail to measure up to even the better half. However, I will endeavor to not take the easy way out and settle for providing your average travel writing experience by denying you and myself of a superior experience I know I can one day provide. This site will enable me to hone my skills as much as it will allow for you to hear my thoughts, feel my emotions, and see through my eyes as I present you with tales of my adventures from the far side of the world…

Secondly, you might be interested to know what my plans are for the type of content you will find on this site. Naturally, this new site shall be first and foremost about my experiences and continuing adventures living here in Buenos Aires, Argentina. However, I also wish to use this site to explore other creative outlets simultaneously. As such, I will be creating new sections along the way to showcase other things such as photos, creative writing, among other things.

I hope you enjoy what you are going to find here, and that it moves you more than your average reading material.  I firstly hope that you will come to see for yourself the joy that can be had from taking “the road less traveled” especially when you are doing so for noble reasons. Sadly, as is the case with most things in life, chasing adventure requires often painful sacrifices…for me the greatest of these has been leaving all of those so near and dear to me, and having to find my way in the world without them by my side. I hope these ones will be able to stay with me as I go along this path to wherever it may take me. The parting of friends is painful, but brings forth great rejoicing once reunited. I hope that as our lives have lead us take different paths, that we can be strong, and be reunited in the end at our shared destination.

Thanks again for reading…

Sincerely,

Dominick DalSanto

English Congregation!!!

Posted by Dominick on Mar 8, 2011 in Old Blog Posts | 1 comment