Opening Day!

Jonathan was very excited to be in Buenos Aires for Opening Day, as unlike Galicia, people here actually know what baseball is. haha.  Baseball is not popular here; people have no idea how it is played, but the games are televised in certain locations throughout the city.  During some of our first few days here, Sebastian and Santiago, our cousins, asked Jonathan how baseball is played.  If you think about it, there really aren't any other world sports to compare it to.  Here's a picture of Jonathan teaching the boys the rules of baseball, which of course, he made way more complicated than it had to be.

 But after about a month of some heavy culture exchange, Sebastian was ready to watch his very first baseball game too.  Because Buenos Aires  has such a large immigrant population, there are several expat bars where you can go and watch baseball.  Sebastian found two bars where they show US sports.  The night before, we called them both and were told that the Yankees game would be on in both bars.  So we set out the next day, ready to take in some baseball and eat a hamburger.  Jonathan and I found a blingin' Yankees necklace in the train station,which we presented to Sebastian when we met up with him at the bar to commemorate his very first baseball game.  So we went to The Alamo, which according to internet forums is a US sports bar that also has a large middleaged, gay male following, so we were excited to take in this strange culture clash atmosphere.  Upon arriving at the Alamo, we were told that they did not open until 4pm (the game started at 2pm).  The conversation went like this:
Jonathan: Explained that the baseball game started at 2pm and that we had called the night before and were told that they would be open.
Waitress: Sometimes the owner opens early for special sporting events.  Is this a special game?
Jonathan:  It's opening day.  Could you call the owner to see if you will be open for this game?
Waitress:  Oh.  We'll were closed now...what sport do the Yankees play?

Jonathan: baseball.
Waitress:  Oh.  We're closed. 

We decided to move on, because luckily we had called another place ahead of time.  So then we headed over to Sugar, a cool expat bar that we had gone to a few weeks prior for a few drinks.  They were closed too.  Sebastian, who by the way, is amazing at confronting businesspeople when they suck (I will never forget the day he called the telephone company to complain after having the wifi installation guy stiff us 4 times in a row) explained that we had called the night before to be sure that they'd be open.  The conversation basically went like this:
Man: We're closed.  We don't open until 6pm.
Sebastian:  I called last night and was told that the 2pm Yankees baseball game would be playing today.  I even repeated myself on the phone to verify that they understood me.
Man: Yes, that could be....but we're closed.
Sebastian: But why would you tell someone that you would be open when you are not.  I called last night and was told that the Yankees game would be on. 
Man:  Sorry.  We're closed.

So we then regrouped and put our thinking caps on and decided to head over to TGI Fridays  (let the public shaming begin.  I went to TGI Fridays while in Argentina).  But first we decided to call.  I don't know why we put any faith in whatever they were going to tell us, but we called.  We were told that the Yankees game would be on when we arrived.  Upon arriving we immediately asked that they change the channel from the basketball game to the Yankees game.  The waiter seemed confused and explained that they are playing the basketball game now.  We explained that we had called 15 minutes prior and were told that that the Yankees game could be played.  He went go to find out if he could change the channel.  We also asked him to bring us some beer when he came back.  When he came back he explained that they don't have the channel that the Yankees game plays on.  I then spotted the manager at the bar putting a new roll of receipt paper in the cash register.  The conversation went like this:

Me: Hi.  I called about a half hour ago, it may have been you I spoke to (I paused here, but she didn't respond).  But I called and asked if the Yankees game was going to be on and someone told me yes.  So we came here, but now they are saying that they can't play it.
Lady:  looks at me.  continues fiddling with the receipt paper.  asks a waiter if the Yankees game is going to be on, to which they replied "I don't know".  She continues fiddling with the paper and then just kind of walked away. 

So by the time we had finished our beers it was around 3pm, so we decided to try calling the first bar again.  Sebastian then called the Alamo and spoke to an American waitress.  He asked if the Yankees game is going to be on.  He was told that they were open and she was watching it as she spoke to him.  Sebastian started to explain what had happened before, but then just stopped, and told her we'd be there in 15 minutes.  We arrived at the Alamo (sadly, we were the only other people in the bar).  We ate bad wings and sandwiches and got good and drunk.  I am wearing Sebastian's hipster glasses in these photos.  It's also important to note that Sebastian thinks baseball is boring.