A Little Taste Of Home – Oh How Sweet It Is
“If you keep searching for it as for hidden treasure, and as for gold itself…”
Ok so maybe it wasnt that hard to find this stuff here. But to say Peanut butter is “Not that hard to find” in BA is a terrible understatement. Just liking trying to find good pizza in San Francisco that has not been ruined by the dirty hippies with Pineapple, so it is that this amazing substance is a rarity indeed. You can sometimes find it in certain grocery stores near tourist areas. But if you do manage to find it, (usually some junkie brand like Peter Pan that is unnatural and bad for you) it will run you about about $15 USD. Strangely enough the best place to find this culinary gem, and anything else that’s outside of the “Argentine Norm” is in the city’s China Town.
So now i present the beauty that is…the PPJ
1. Take the most prized object itself
2. Jelly all the way from Patagonia…Que bueno
3. A vino bottle of Vino. It tastes better, and is better for you than Coke, for about the same price. (Is this place great or what?)
Add it all together and what do you get?
Answer: God’s gift to a young, hungry, American
living abroad that is looking for a small taste of home…and that my friends is priceless.
Read MoreBrazil Part II – Rio de Janiero – A Small Touch of Paradise
So when I last left off on the story we had just finished with the English Convention in Sao Paulo. We had a house with people who took us everywhere, and were more or less babysitting us all week. Now began the real adventure of the trip; the journey to Rio de Janiero.
This is the part of the trip where me and Xerxes parted ways and each followed ou
r own path. He left by plane from Sao Paulo to meet his parents in Rio, and then stay with them in a hotel once he arrived. Originally i had planned on renting a car with another friend from the English group in BA, and driving up from SP to Rio, and then after our week driving back to SP and flying home to BA from there. But at the last min this friend was not able to go (Pablo!!!) so i was stuck with a ticket returning from SP to BA.
So instead of paying for another roundtrip ticket, i decided to take a bus from SP to Rio. I promise the image of a dirty Grayhound that is coming up into your mind is not accurate. In Argentina and Brazil, the bus system is much nicer, and much more extensive than what we have in the states. 
In fact it is far more popular than flying here, and it cost only a fraction of the cost. I personally believe that its a great way to see the countryside. So for about 40 bucks i got a one way ticket to Rio from SP, a distance of about 270 miles.
After an overall uneventful ride, (the scenery was lovely though) i arrived in Rio late. I grabbed a cab and headed for the scribbled address i had for the brother i was going to be staying with in Rio, my new friend Gilson. After arriving at his place (somehow i manged to get a cab, tell him where to go, get in the door, and get upstairs without any Portuguese) me and Gilson went out for a nice Rio dinner around 1 am. My favorite part of
the whole night was when i got to his place, at first he was not there, but his elderly mother who live with him was there to greet me. She dear sister insisted on trying to communicate with me, despite that fact that she spoke no English or Spanish, and I spoke no Portuguese. After about 10 min of just being completly incomprehensible to each other Gilson finally arrived home.
The next day, my first in Rio was spent mainly just getting “Pleasantly Lost” as I have termed it. I have found that one of the best ways to explore a city, is to pick a place you want to get to, and try to get there on your own, by walking if you can, and then try to get home. So i wanted to see the world famous beaches of Rio, Copacabana, Impanema, and Leblon. So i started out that way (Its easy to get there, Gilson has a sweet pad that is only 5 blocks from Copa, and 8 from Impanema). And well, blah, blah, blah, half the day later, i was very tired, but deeply touched by the natural beauty of this place.
After dinner that night with Xerxes, his parents, and a few others, I went home and crashed.
Me and Pablo’s Lady after she came out to dinner with us one night…
Day II in Rio – Corcovado 
I went and met Xerxes and his parents for a trip to the top of Corcovado to visit the Christ The Redeemer statue, and with it the best view in the city. To say that this was an amazing view would be the greatest understatement ever! However there simply is no way to convey to you what it was like being up there.
To get to this, the highest mountain in Rio you take a rustic, historic train to the top. At the top is the huge Statue of Christ with his arms open to the city below (Im sure all of these people live their lives like they care at all…). All of it is set on this almost unearthly, surreal set of stone platforms. At one point its like walking on a sidewalk that is simply floating in the clouds. (See picture below)
Once you are there you are simply put into a trance as you begin to take in the vista that is all around you. Beyond breathtaking, this simply stopped my dead in my tracks. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be the first Portuguese to
have climbed this hill and looked out over this amazing place. It is not so much that the City of Rio is all that great (not bad, looks a lot like Miami) but Where this city is built, the harbor, and beaches, and the coast, will without a doubt in the minds of anyone that has sen it, be among the top 5 most beautiful places on Earth. And now where is that better seen than from the feet of Jesus (or at least this huge statue of him) atop Corcovado. My only regret is that i did not have my nice SLR camera, because these photos on my little tiny compact camera simply do not do it justice.
That night, as with the night before, our friends from
the local English congregation (Thanks again Patricia, and Bob-Rachel) took us out to eat Sushi. We had a nice little sit on the floor table with paper walls and everything at this place we went. Brazil has one of the largest populations of Japanese people in the world. As such if you find a good place, run by real Japanese, you can get great Sushi.
This reminds me of a lyric i once heard talking about the hypocrisy of Religions
The numbers look the same on their credit cards”
Meaning: While on the streets of Rio you can go find more Immoral, things than you would ever believe this world can offer, you come up here, and you see this huge Jesus, and then at the bottom of it you find them selling anything and everything they can with his picture on it for money. In the end both are just for the money, and run by the same people.
Download ] Download ] Day III & IV in Rio – Beach Bumming it, Samba, & More Beach Bumming
The next two days became less and less interesting to read about. Basically I just bummed it out
hardcore on the beach. About 6 hours of sleeping all together, and countless more simply hanging out on the endless expanse of white sand, and fighting against the endless, fierce South Atlantic waves. I had wanted to rent a surfboard and spend the rest of the week just attempting to conquer the surf, but i was unable to find a shop that would rent (I guess next time i will just have to borrow one from Pato).
Later that night our new friends from the hall took us out to a Museum / Restaurant / Antique store / Samba hall for dinner. This was a super cool place and for some reason i did not take a single picture of it. I guess it will forever have to live only in my memory. But rest assured that we had a great time. After a fine dinner, we headed to the dance floor downstairs to enjoy the live band and learn to Samba. This would turn out to be the last night for Xerxes and his parents in Rio as the next day they flew to BA to spend a week there.
Xerxes and his Parents – Note the nice Devil Beard he has going on here….
The Final Adventure – The Meeting & Getting Home
This whole time I still not sure how i was going to make it back to Sao Paulo to catch my 10 am Sunday flight back to BA. After the meeting 
(Which was Saturday Afternoon) I was able to finally buy a return bus ticket back to SP leaving from the station at Midnight. After somehow managing to get the people at the station to give me my ticket; I guess hanging them my confirmation number, passport, credit card, and pointing at the screen with my name on it, and saying confirmation in Portuguese was not a clear enough way of telling them that I had a reservation – I finally got my ticket and began my epic journey back to BA.
I arrived back in SP the next morning at 6 am. I had planned on taking the Airport shuttle from the bus terminal to the airport. imagine how frustrated I was when they told me that it only when to the other airport, and the one i needed (this was despite the fact that Gilson had called and asked if it went to my airport and they said YES). So not wanting to sit in traffic for 2 hours to get to the other side of the largest city in South America (and spending 50 USD to do it) discovered that I could take the Subway. If only i could figure out the map that was in some this strange, alien language i could get there. One long subway ride, short cab ride, and 90 min later I had done it, i made it to the airport.
Once there I had 3 hours before my flight to get on the plane and head back to good old Argentina. Once again, imagine my shock when they started telling me that they didnt have my reservation! I had to leave the counter and go over to the help desk. And wouldn’t you believe it, that despite everyone in the service industry in the world speaking English, all 8 people in there did not. After nearly an hour in line, i did finally manage to get up there only to have to try and work with translating from Portuguese into my limited Spanish, and then into English. And then somehow reverse the whole thing tell her what I needed. Again somehow I manage to be blessed with a miracle and they found my reservation.
2 hours later, with barley an hour to make it through customers, baggage, and security, i somehow managed to get to my plane on time and off i went. Now all that remained was to make all 3 connection, not loose my bags, and once i returned to Argentina meet the guy from the Apartment agency at my apartment and get the keys to my apartment.
Even with a few bumps with my bags, i did finally mange to land in one piece 8 hours later in Buenos Aires. I never thought i would be so happy to hear people speaking Spanish in my life! It was not close to 730 pm, with suitcase and vastly overloaded backpack (Before i left I took most of my things to a friends house and left them there, since i did not rent an apartment while i was gone just to save pay for the place to be empty for two weeks. However after dropping everything off i remembered that i forgot to empty my one dresser out so i had to lug a lot of extra stuff with me for two weeks in Brazil) in tow i rolled up to my apartment right on time to meet the guy with the keys. After somehow managing to pull off so many 11th hour victories over the course of my 22 hour sojourn, I simply could not have been prepared for what awaited me…The guy got mixed up, and thought i was coming in at 8 AM, not PM. So tired, bags in tow, and very VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY HUNGRY, I waiting in the hallway for 2 and a half hours for nothing. After calling every number i had, I decided to try and go to Xerxes to meet up with his roommates and try to email the agency. They were kind enough to let me stay there that night (The next day i did manage to get in).
So after everything i finally made it home. I did manage to finally get something to eat, (Empanadas have never tasted so good) ad i even made it in time to go and play soccer with some guys from the hall (I know i normally am not that good, but after such a long trip, no sleep, and overstuffed with Empanadas i was even worse than normal).
Conclusion
I am so pleased with the way my Brazilian adventure turned out. I got to meet a lot of really amazing people and make many new friends, visit one of the most awe-inspiring places on God’s green Earth, and even have a bad travel experience that while terrible to have gone through, now in hindsight will hopefully bring laughs to all of my friends and family back home. And in the end isn’t that really what we are really out here to do…
Read More
Brazil Part I – Sao Paulo & The English Convention
Note: It took me a while to get all of the pictures together for this. Hence it was written when it was happening, and i’m just posting it now a week later.
What a brotherhood we have in Jehovah’s Organization! This last week here in Sao Paulo has been truly among the most amazing experiences in my entire life. Time will fail me if I try to do 
this story justice by including all of the pictures, experiences, and new friends that I gained over this week. As such I will endeavor to relate as much as I can.
Brazil Bethel
Our first full day in Brazil started at 6 AM when we left our house and headed towards Bethel which is located very far outside of the city limits
in the country side. We met a brother at the train station who then took us all the way there in his car, about an hour and a half long drive. Once we arrived we were so happy that we had arrangements for us to eat lunch with the Bethel family. After our lovely meal of rice and beans (a Staple food that is sorely lacking in Buenos Aires), fresh fruit, and fruit juice, we stayed for a while and met many different brothers and sisters that our Hosts knew.
We even met a sister who spoke English and offered to give us the tour in English. What followed was a lovely tour around the complex that is the most expansive I have seen outside of New York. The Brazil branch houses one of the largest printing operations in the world along with Mexico, Germany, Japan, and of course the USA. It was nice to see how Bethel life is very similar no matter way you are in the world. All of the departments we have in the States are here also. The rooms look the same, the dining room, the meals, and Bethel routine; it’s all the same no matter where you are.
One of the things that was very unique about Brazil bethel is that, in addition to the facilities, there are also two very special expositions that are located there for the tour groups. One is a detailed look at the story behind Jehovah’s Witnesses under Nazi Assault, and the second 
chronicles the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brazil.
The Nazi exhibit is full of pictures, artifacts and stories about the extreme persecution our brothers underwent during the Nazi regime. While going through it you cannot help but be moved by the suffering inflicted one these dear brothers during this time. It also shows in great detail how the Catholic Church played a large role in Hitler’s rise to power, and the blood that is on their hands because of it. This is especially striking to most of the visitors who see it because this is the largest catholic country on Earth. This entire exhibit was show throughout the country on several occasions resulting a great witness being given. The most moving piece for me was at the very end there is a large black stone wall that has engraved upon it the names of all of the brothers and sisters who were killed as a result of the Nazi régime. I tell you the truth I do not see how it is possible to look at that, and shed a tear…
This is the brother who wrote “Forward You Witnesses” while on a death march in the camps.
The second exhibit about the history of the Witnesses in Brazil was quite a bit happier than the other one. It shows how from 8 Brazilian sailors who found the truth while their ship was in port in New York in the 1920s, the work has expanded to the point that now Brazil has the largest amount of publishers outside of the USA in the world.
During the course of our day we also were introduced to a 
lovely couple from Sweden who had been sent to Brazil as Gilead Missionaries in the 1970s. They kindly invited us up to their room after our tour for dinner. After we spent a few hours with them, we started on the long trip home. We arrived home around 11:00 pm truly a full day, but one well spent.
Sao Paulo
On Thursday we wanted to explore Sao Paulo
a bit. So we recruited Stephanie (Who ditched school for us) and a sister Xerxes had met in BsAs who was visiting from Sao Paulo named Mariana, to show us around the city. As I had said before, Sao Paulo is not really known for having things that are of interest to visitors. Our main guide Mariana however did manage to introduce us to a few new things, and give us a lovely day in the city. Mostly I took pictures of the crazy exotic fruit as you will see. Here are some of the pictures to show you what that involved.
The Convention 
Our house was full of guests as we were not the only people that our host family was putting up for the convention. Including us, there were a total of 10 different people that stayed over for parts of the weekend, in addition to the 4 in the family who live there. So as you can imagine it was not the easiest thing for that many people to all get ready in the morning but somehow we did it. (It helped that the house we were staying in
had 8 bathrooms.)
The convention was held at the local Assembly 
Hall which conveniently was only about 5 min from our house. Absolutely beautiful is the only way I can describe it. As you look through the
pictures below you will see what I am talking about.
This convention was the first full three day convention that has ever been held in the country. There is an entire circuit here of English with over 10 full congregations, and several groups spread throughout the entire country. The brothers and sisters who has parts were mainly Brazilians who had learned English, but there were a few notable exceptions with several American, British, South African, native speakers having parts. (Our Swedish friend Lars from Bethel also had two talks) While the English might not have been the easiest to listen and pay attention to, the effort put forth by the brothers to do all of this in a 
foreign language (For them) was truly remarkable.
Below are some pictures and videos from the program. (More coming soon)
This brother was interviewed during the talk about being disciplined by Jehovah. He related 
how he was reproved as a young man when he had many privileges and how hard it was for him to go through the embarrasment. But then he related how much it benefited from it, however thing in his life got better from that moment on. When he started listing the good things he has now in his life (his Ministry, Elder, English Congregation, Wife and Family) he started to cry in thanks to Jehovah for everything he had…needless to say this was the best interview of the whole convention. Then this brother had about 3 min to pull himself together because he had the very next talk (Pictured here).
But of course my favorite part was all of the dear friends that we met. Me and Xerxes we kind of celebrities most of the time among the friends there. On the one hand we were American, but we also were representing the Buenos Aires English group, and along with it the whole of Argentina at the convention. It was quite a surprise to me, that several brothers thought that Xerxes and I were real life Argentines (Since they don’t speak Spanish and can only talk to us in English they simply assumed that we were native Portenos).
On Saturday night our host family had a cookout for us, and we were pleased to see that a good number of the people we had met at the convention were there also.
Many email exchanges, and a million pictures later we were sad to see that the convention had reached its end. Today Xerxes left for Rio by plane, I elected to take a bus for around $50 and enjoy the scenery along the way. I will never forget the love that this family showed for us, and the brothers and sisters we met and came to know.
Extra Convention Pictures
Funny Moments From Sao Paulo
How does your mom make lazanga, with meat? – Xerxes
You know…dead animals… – Dominick
No she doesn’t use dead animals! She makes it, you know with cheese and ham…Stephanie
Where did the ham come from? – Dominick
Oh ya, I have luscious lips – Xerxes
Teaching Swearing Class:
Since Xerxes and I were the native speakers all weekend…many people had many different questions for us. The most common questions usually had to do with which words are swear words, and whether or not we can use certain words. Since one of the main ways that people learn English here is by watching movies which include lots of swearing, they often have a hard time figuring out which words are really swears and which are not. All of this lead to what I termed “Swearing Class” having to be taught by Xerxes and myself. We introduced a system of grading the severity of the swear words by using a Pyramid design. With the worst words at the top and then working our way down. After this class was taught, we heard a lot less “Good Faith Swearing” (As I have come to call it) coming from our new friends.
Level 1
Words you are never, ever allowed to say!
Level 2
Words you hear on TV and in Movies, but that Witnesses also never would say, but are not quite as bad as level 1.
Level 3
Words that you hear people say, but as Witnesses we should not say, unless readin certain bible verses that contain them used properly.
Level 4
Words and phrases that people say all the time, but you really shouldnt say on the stage or in the kingdom hall.
Level 5
Words and phrases that are a personal matter.
New words learned at the Convention: (I promise these are the actual words all 1,200 in attendance heard uttered)
After that long hard day at work, I was just so “Anointed” when i got home. (Annoyed)
I really want to go to this party Dad, I mean “Gaytering” (Gathering)
Many are taught that God has A Bo Don Dun ed (Abandoned) them.
Stop “Jewdg ing” and you will not be “jewed” (Judging).
Have you ever been asked to do a “down” task? This thing was very “downing” for her(Daunting).
Mary was very “Sexy-ful” in completing her role. (Successful)
We must be “Fu&*usd” (Focused) on the bible. (My personal Favorite)
This was my favorite picture. This is in the Bathroom as the Assembly hall.
Nickname List
Just to show that even in other countries i still end up giving nicknames to everyone i meet i present you with this, the list of all of the nicknames we came up with for people we met over the week.
Charley
Polla Pollita
Drago
Feris (Ferret)
Chiquita (Andressa)
Dominos
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Mom
Viking Princess (Norweigen)
Mad Persian
The man of the sons of Anakim (Dutch Monster)
Stan Lee
Colonel Sanders
The 12 Year old stalker
Chancho’s Brasilia Girlfriend
A New Adventure
As if Buenos Aires Argentina was not far enough away from home, I now found myself sitting at the airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Me and my good buddy Xerxes (Fellow American Expat living in Buenos that goes to our English) are traveling to attend the English District Convention in Sao Paulo, Brazil and then proceeding to Rio de Janiero.
This is my first real time being in Brazil (I had a layover here in the Airport once) and I’m a little overwhelmed by the experience. Even though I live in Argentina which is a foreign country, there they speak Spanish, which while I am by no mean fluent in Spanish, I am able to get by, and not get myself killed. Here however this is my fir
st real experience with Portuguese, and let me tell you all…it’s freaking me out. Whenever they start talking, I kind of know what’s going on from my Spanish, but then things take a crazy left turn right when you are not expecting it. It sounds like someone from France, whom after learning to speak Spanish poorly, and then speaks it to you.
Today in the airport was quite an adventure trying to get around without knowing even a word of Portuguese. I managed to somehow exchange some money (Airport Exchanges are the biggest crooks), and then head up to the food court. However after my experience buying a English – Portuguese dictionary went bad, I didn’t have the courage to try and order something strange Brazilian food items, from a bunch of people that don’t speak English, so please forgive me for what I have done but I felt that my only option for lunch was…MacDonald’s. Even there the girl at the counter had a hard time working with me. I guess the way I said “MacChicken” was not clear enough. Then apparently there was something she didn’t like about the 50 Real note that I gave her so I had to pay with my credit card…still trying to figure that one out.
After hearing all of this you must be wondering how in the world I expect to get by going to Brazil for two weeks? Well to be honest I don’t really know. But fear not, we are staying with brothers from the English hall in both Sao Paulo, and Rio, and they have already told us that they are going to take good care of us. So I am not too worried about it all.
We arrive late tonight in Sao Paulo, and then we have a few days to play there, and then we have convention all weekend. Me and Xerxes plan on visiting the Branch on Wednesday (We already have a place at lunch…See why you should be a Pioneer…) and then service on Thursday with the English Congregation. Saturday night the family we are staying with has planned an “Asado” (Cookout or BBQ) with us as the guests of honor. Already I am finding these brothers and sisters to be among the most kind, and hospitable I have ever met.
After our near week in Sao Paulo we will be traveling to Rio. There I will be staying with a brother from the English Congregation there, while Xerxes’ parents are flying from the states and staying with him in a hotel. Our plans there are a little less set, but with so many things to do in Rio (which is a Tourist paradise with world famous beaches) compared to Sao Paulo (Which is the Business Capital of the country, Think New York without the culture) I know we will find plenty of cool things to do there.
Right now as our trip is just beginning I can only tell you of our plans, and what we believe will happen. But as any seasoned traveler (World Travelers especially) will tell you: nothing ever goes according to the plan, and the best travel stories and adventures always come from the unexpected. So I will try to write about this trip as I go, and keep the updates going.
Thanks again for reading and I will talk to you all soon.
Ciao Ciao
Back To BA…
So here I am at last. Despite what seems like such a long time since my last trip here (Jan – March 2010) I am finally back living in Buenos Aries. The only difference this time around is that I am planning on being here for a whole year this time. A whole year! Am I crazy?…Dont answer that! Either way, this is going to
be an interesting experience for sure. One that is going to be unlike anything else that I have ever experienced in my life. And even though I plan on returning after one year here, I might find out after all is said and done that I want to remain here even longer, or else I will want to try out living somewhere else. For now we will play it by ear and see how things go.
Please keep in touch all of you back home, and keep reading this blog, as it will be my main way of keeping in touch with
all of you, unless you send me a personal email.
Ciao Ciao
Read MoreNew website
Hello everyone, i know its been a while since i put up a new post…seeing as i have been back in the states for almost 2 months now, my supplier of BsAs stories is running a little low. Anyways i have exciting news. I have just launched my side project http://www.buenosairesenglish.com This new site will be my side project from now on. I plan on getting a lot of content on it, and then hopefully a lot of traffic coming to it, which could mean making some money off of it one day. Anyways take a look around and tell me what you think about it. I dont have anything meaningful on there at the moment content wise because i am still working on the design part. Talk to you all later.
Read MoreAbout Me & My Blog
My name is Dominick, and I started this site as an outlet to share my thoughts, feelings, and adventures with you.
I am from Chicago, Illinois, USA, but I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I have an amazing girlfriend, awesome friends across many countries, and several continents, and a meaningful existence preaching and working hard to help others here.
I hope you enjoy my stories, writings, pictures, music, and whatever other creative oddities you may find here. Thanks for stopping by...