2: "Friday Lunch"

My class schedule runs from Monday to Thursday, so I've always got a three-day (if not often four-day) weekend. I had met a student of the National University a few weeks ago, after a screening of a documentary while we hung out at the AGMER union hall. Daniel and I bumped into each other again, at the Barriletes community center, again for a film screening.

He lives off the same street as me - La Prida - but on the other side of downtown, where it becomes La Paz. He lives in a house with Claudio, a social sciences student at UADER (Daniel studies communication), and Guillermo, a pediatrics doctor in residency at the hospital down the street. The house is spartan, with peeling, unpainted walls, light bulbs dangling from holes in the ceiling. It's got a patio on the first floor, and a big rooftop, with a brick barbecue. The PC in the front room can play music that reaches through the bedrooms and into the kitchen, where we eat lunch.

I woke up at 11:30, about my usual time these days. I got dressed and left, arriving a little late, past noon. Daniel was cooking. The past couple times Claudio had cooked, making pizza from scratch, frying it in a skillet on the stove as their oven doesn't work. Martin, a friend from UNER, was over, too. The food was ready - bow tie pasta with a sauce of tomatoes, squash, and onions, and a baguette on the side.

We ate. We talked. Claudio had loaned me some music last time. One of the groups was Sumo, a short-lived rock group from the 80's. I asked Claudio if he'd ever listened to Joy Division. He said there was some link between the bands, somebody had a girlfriend or boyfriend between the two. Martin asked me about Obama, about the perspective of Latin America from the U.S., about academia there. We finished lunch and ate bananas for dessert, then smoked some Marlboros and cleaned up the kitchen. Claudio boiled water and filled a bottle for his yerba mate, to bring with him to afternoon classes. I left with Martin. We live near each other and walked home together.