Redshirt-freshman Milagros Cubelli returns for another year of the women’s tennis blog. Nothing is off limits to ‘The Purple Argentine’ as she delves into all things tennis related. In the second edition of the 2013 blog, she revisits her recent trip back home with teammate Katy Krauel.
Be sure to bookmark www.portlandpilots.com/CubelliBlog to keep up with all her latest posts!
Hola Pilots!!
The women’s tennis team has been busy during the last couple of weeks. We beat Montana State yesterday and that is our third victory of the season. Next week we are travelling to Pullman to play Washington State and Lewis & Clark State.
Today I want to share with all of you some anecdotes from my “Winter” Break. As I mentioned in my previous entry, one of my teammates came to visit me back home in Argentina during the break. Since I first came here, everyone made fun of me because I have always said that there are many things that are better in Argentina (Side note: Our weather and our steak. Period). They thought I was too cocky, too proud of my South American ranch. However, it took me bringing one of my American teammates to prove them wrong.
“Argentina is the best place in the world!”, is what Katy Krauel says every time she is asked about her experience in my country. But I don’t want to talk about that. I don’t care if Argentina is the best place in the world or not, I love it anyways. I want to share with you guys how Katy represented Amerrrrrrrica in the Southern hemisphere.
Sightseeing Buenos Aires:
The truth is that Katy was a little bit confused before flying to Argentina. She didn’t know what to expect. First, she thought that Argentina was in Europe. Then many of my teammates told her that I lived in a farm. I also told her that in Argentina there is a federal law that prohibits people of eating bananas in the street due to a possible monkey attack (Side note: confusing Katy is one of my favorites sports).
When Katy finally landed in “the Paris of South America”, she was surprised to see how big and pretty my city was…
K: “I would never have thought that Buenos Aires was so big. I'm surprised how clean the air is. New York is way dirtier. Oh wait… this place is called Good Airs!!
Good start Katy…
Among other things, we went to visit the Cathedral of Buenos Aires. Guess what was the first thing that Katy said when she walked in?
“Oh man, the priest must be so loud here! I bet he has to take a lot of cough drops”
Sure…
Surprisingly or not, comments like this kept coming and they just made my days. I could write a book with her quotes…
Watching some Tango downtown…
K: “When I dance Tango I like to lead”
Me: “When did you learn to dance Tango?”
K: “Oh I’ve never danced, but I feel like I know”
Language Barrier…
Katy had never ever spoken a Spanish word in her life (even if she did, understanding the Argentine slang would have been impossible.) However, she had the strong belief that she was going to learn the language in her visit. This might explain why whenever a stranger would try to talk to her she would answer “
QUE?” (What?), knowing that she wasn’t going to understand anything when the other person repeated the sentence.
ME: Can you stop saying “
Que?’ every time someone talks to you in Spanish? You aren’t going to freaking understand what they say. Just speak in English. People do know a second language in my country!!!!!
K: I don’t know, dude. I feel like I’m gonna get the next one. I’m starting to understand some words.
Annoying, I know.
But my family made things easier. My parents invited my brothers and I to Uruguay to spend some family time at the beach (Btw,
mama y papa: if you are reading this, thanks again). My brothers invited their girlfriends and friends. And I invited Katy, of course. The house was full of people. Eight Argentines and one American. The Spanglish House.
Eight from eight Argentines spoke in English. Since the house was full of very competitive athletes, they all decided to start a competition to see….who spoke English better. Katy was declared the judge, and the first and the last day she had to establish a ranking to see who had improved the most during our stay and who was the best English speaking Argentine of the house. My family is so competitive that they bribed Katy in many ways. She received huge dessert pieces from my mom, she was spoiled with private rugby lessons from my brothers, she was overprotected by my brother’s girlfriend, and she was threatened by my dad. [Editor's note: the Cubelli family is quite good at rugby, and two of them have national team experience.]
Despite all of the pressure that Katy had, she was able to enjoy her stay with the Cubellis.
(The nine members of the Spanglish House)
Ya, she survived in South America. What’s more, every once in a while she asks/begs me: “Mila, please, when are we going back?”
Welcome to my homesickness struggle, Katy!!
There are many other funny stories that I can’t share in this blog, but I will be pleased to personally tell you guys how Katy performed in the Argentine dance floors.
Hasta la vista, baby!
The purple Argentine
PS: Katy just called me… “Mila I just heard you are writing about me in the blog. Remember what you said: what happens in Argentina stays in Argentina, right? So, please don’t say anything about that time that I…”
