Thursday, July 24, 2014

"Mi Buenos Aires Querido" (versión en español)

A veces la página en blanco te da miedo. Se queda ahí, mirándote fijamente, desafiándote a llenarla con tus palabras y tus pensamientos, pero no te viene nada. Capaz en esta edad de computadoras y smartphones y tablets la página en blanco se ha hecho más fuerte, más brillante, más poderosa, o capaz estoy sufriendo de un caso de bloqueo de escritor y estoy tratando de encontrar algo concreto a lo cual echar culpa. No es que no tenga nada en mi mente, al contrario, no paro de pensar, de repensar, de reflexionar, de imaginar, de meditar, de filosofar (bueno, por ahí sería mucho decir que realmente filosofo...) sobre la vida, el amor, la familia, los amigos, el trabajo (o el no tener trabajo), el fútbol, la salud, mi cirugía, la soledad, el propósito, la falta de propósito, la riqueza, la pobreza, la alegría, la tristeza, pero mi problema es: ¿cómo hago para expresarlo todo con la palabra escrita? ¿O debería aún escribirlo?

Escribir me da miedo. La mejor escritura abre la puerta del alma de una persona, pero no es fácil dejarse tan expuesto. ¿Qué pasa si la gente te rechaza? ¿Qué pasa si lo mejor de vos no alcanza? ¿Qué pasa si tus luchas personales son insignificantes y patéticas y tus sentimientos son impotentes y superficiales? ¿Qué pasa si tus preocupaciones más profundas son tontas e irracionales? ¿Qué pasa si todo este asunto de hacerte adulto no es para nada como lo habías imaginado y a los 24 años te encontrás de nuevo viviendo en la casa de tus padres? ¿Qué pasa si tenés un dolor constante, sofocante que empieza en tu pecho y sube hasta tu garganta cuando pensás en tu amor, tu mejor amigo, que está a miles de kilómetros porque sabés que no lo vas a ver durante más de dos meses y a pesar de las nuevas tecnologías asombrosas que te dejan comunicar virtualmente, no es lo mismo?

Todavía no respondí a mi problema inicial: ¿Cómo hace uno para escribir sobre estos temas? Por lo menos lo intentaré:

Estoy de nuevo en los EEUU, en Dallas, Texas si vamos a ser precisos, sufriendo de un shock cultural, un poco de depresión y de un calor de más de 38 grados todo al mismo tiempo. Mi familia y yo, asimismo con el cuerpo técnico y médico de River Plate Fútbol Femenino, estuvimos de acuerdo que volver a EEUU para mi operación del ligamento cruzado anterior y la primera parte de mi rehabilitación de 6 meses sería lo mejor para mí. Honestamente, no fue fácil convencerme de dejar Buenos Aires, tenía toda la confianza en los médicos del club que me iban a operar ya que son los mismos que han operado a muchos jugadores de primera, y no sólo a los de River. La logística postoperatoria, sin embargo, fue lo que me empujó decididamente hacia volver al país de los yanquis para la cirugía.

Durante el mes y medio entre mi lesión y mi viaje a los EEUU, tiempo que pasé luchando contra la atrofia muscular en mi pierna lesionada y trabajando para recuperar la movilidad completa en mi rodilla, intentando ir y volver de kinesiología sin auto fue bastante complicado. Le médica de fútbol femenino en River, además de mi mamá paranoica (y amorosa), me prohibieron usar transporte público ya que una rodilla inestable más colectiveros locos hacen una combinación peligrosa y tendría el riesgo de lesionarme aún más. Entonces, tuve que depender de amigos con autos que, por razones obvias, no siempre me podían llevar y traer a kinesiología en el club, que queda en la otra punta de la ciudad de donde vivo yo en Buenos Aires, y en esos momentos tuve que gastar como 25 veces más en taxi que lo que hubiera gastado en colectivo.

Y voilá, acá estoy nuevamente en Texas, pero esta vez no por mi propia voluntad. A pesar de que estoy agradecida por la oportunidad de pasar más tiempo con mi familia y de ver a amigos que no veo desde hace más que un año y medio en algunos casos, es imposible no extrañar a Buenos Aires en toda su locura gloriosa. Es como si hubiera sido arrancada de la tierra y plantada en un universo paralelo, pero mis raíces fueron dejadas atrás; mi cuerpo está en Dallas, pero mi corazón y mis pensamientos se quedaron en Argentina con mi equipo, mis estudios, y mi Cris.

El martes a la mañana me reuní con el traumatólogo que me va a operar. Un hombre alto y grandote con años y años de experiencia y cientos de cirugías de rodilla en su haber, me aseguró que todo iba a salir bien y que saldría como nueva—con la estipulación de que siga exactamente y fielmente sus instrucciones a lo largo de mi recuperación. Después de explicarme los detalles de la operación, que tipo de injerto recomendaba para el reemplazo del ligamento (para los que están interesados, usará un tejido semi-tendinoso del músculo izquiotibial), como será la rehabilitación durante los próximos 6 meses, y otra información que ya olvidé al otro día, la enfermera entró y, durante lo que me pareció como sólo 5 minutos, me dio un millón de instrucciones sobre lo que tendría que hacer inmediatamente antes de la operación y en las semanas siguientes. Traté de prestar atención, pero sentí que mi mente se iba deambulando y me encontré preguntando por qué tenía que pasar por esto. ¿Por qué la pelota en esa jugada no habrá pasado por arriba del travesaño ? Si hubiera sabido que iba a ocurrir todo esto, capaz debería simplemente haber dejado entrar la pelota al arco. Pero no puedo volver al pasado—aunque quizás lo deseara.

Algo que he estado repitiendo a mi misma y a los otros que tratan de expresar su simpatía por mi lesión (pero principalmente para mi misma) es "todo pasa por un motivo" aunque no creo que entienda todavía cuál es la razón en este momento.

La operación fue programada para el lunes, y estoy ansiosa por comenzar el proceso de mi rehabilitación para poder estar nuevamente en la cancha, haciendo lo que amo.

Este fin de semana, sin embargo, mi mente no estará pensando en mi cirugía sino en mi equipo ya que nos tenemos que enfrentar con nuestro rival, Boca Jrs., en el Superclásico del fútbol femenino. Este año está todo en juego, con 2 ex-jugadoras de River (que no se fueron de forma muy amistosa) entre las titulares de Boca y el campeonato que se debe ganar. Ojalá pudiera estar ahí para verlo en persona, aún más ojalá pudiera jugar en el partido (es el segundo Superclásico que pierdo por culpa de una lesión), pero me tendré que conformar con alentar desde lejos—y a través de Whatsapp.




 Dale River Carajooooo!!!!

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"Mi Buenos Aires Querido", homesick in Dallas

Sometimes the blank page is scary. It sits there staring back at you, challenging you to fill it with your words and thoughts, but nothing comes. Maybe in this age of computers and smartphones and tablets the blank page has gotten stronger, brighter, more powerful, or maybe I'm just suffering from a mild case of writers' block and am trying to find something concrete to blame. It's not that I have nothing on my mind, quite to the contrary, I can't stop thinking, reflecting, brewing, stewing, pondering, wondering, thundering (wait, that doesn't quite work...) about life, love, family, friends, jobs, soccer, health, surgery, loneliness, purpose, lack of purpose, wealth, poverty, joy, sadness, but my problem is how the heck do I write it all down? Or should I even write it down?

Writing is scary. The best writing opens the door to one's very soul, but it's not easy leaving one's self so exposed. What if people reject you? What if your best isn't good enough? What if your struggles are insignificant and pathetic and your feelings impotent and shallow? What if your deepest worries are foolish and irrational? What if this whole becoming-an-adult thing is not at all as you had imagined it and at 24 years old you find yourself once again living with your parents? What if you have a constant, suffocating pain which starts in your chest and goes up to your throat when you think about your love, your best friend, who is thousands of miles away because you know you won't see him for more than two months and despite the amazing new technologies which allow you to communicate virtually, it's not the same?

I still haven't answered my initial problem: how does one write about such things? I'm at least going to try:

I'm back in the US, in Dallas, Texas to be more precise, and suffering from culture shock, slight depression, and 100 degree heat all at once. My family and I, along with the coaching and medical staff of River Plate women's soccer, all agreed that returning to the US for ACL surgery and the initial part of the 6-month rehab process would be best for me. Honestly, it took quite a bit of convincing to get me to agree to leave Buenos Aires, I had complete confidence in the club doctors who would have operated on me as they are the same ones who have performed the same surgery numerous times on first division and youth Argentine professional players. The post-op logistics, however, were what pushed me decisively toward heading back stateside for surgery.

In the month and a half between my injury and my trip to the US, time which was spent fighting against muscle atrophy in my injured leg and working to regain complete mobility in my knee, trying to get to and from rehab without a car was complicated. The team doctor, as well as my own mother, forbade me to take public transport, as an unstable knee and crazy bus drivers make for a bad combination and would put me at risk for further injury. I was forced to depend upon friends with cars who, for obvious reasons, were not always available to take me to and from physical therapy at the club, which is on the other side of the city from where I live in Buenos Aires, and in those cases I had to spend about 25 times the bus fare for the same trip to take a taxi.

Et voilà, here I am, in Texas once again, but this time not voluntarily. Although I'm thankful to be able to spend more time with my family and to see close friends after more than a year in some cases, it's impossible not to miss Buenos Aires in all its hectic glory. It's as though I have been torn out of the ground and planted in a parallel universe, but my roots were left behind; my body is in Dallas, but my heart and thoughts remain in Argentina with my team, my school, and my Cris.

Yesterday morning I met with the orthopedic surgeon who will operate on me. A tall, heavyset man with years and years of experience and hundreds of knee surgeries under his belt, he assured me I would be fine and come out of this as good as new—with the stipulation that I faithfully follow his instructions throughout my recovery. After he explained the details of the procedure, which kind of graft he recommended for the ligament replacement (for those interested he will be using a hamstring graft), what the recovery will look like over the course of 6 months, and other information I've already forgotten just a day later, the nurse came in and in what seemed like only 5 minutes gave me a million instructions of what I would need to do immediately before the procedure and in the weeks following. I tried to pay attention, but I felt my mind wandering and wondering why I had to go through all this in the first place. Why couldn't I just have tipped the ball all the way over the crossbar? Had I known that this was going to happen, maybe I should have just let it in. But I can't go back in time—though I wish I could.

Something I've been repeating to myself and to others who express their sympathy for my injury (but mainly for myself) is "everything happens for a reason" though I'm not sure yet what the reason is right now.

The surgery has been set for Monday, and I'm anxious to start the rehab process to get closer to being able to do what I love once again.

This weekend, though, my mind will not be on my surgery but on my team as we have to face our biggest rival, Boca Jrs., in the Superclásico of women's soccer. This year the stakes are as high as ever, with 2 former River players (who didn't leave on particularly friendly terms) featured in Boca's starting line-up and the league championship on the line. I wish I could be there to watch in person, even more so I wish I could be playing (this is the second Superclásico I'll miss due to injury), but I'll have to settle for cheering from a distance and through Whatsapp.



Dale River Carajoooooooo!!!!

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Brasil decime qué se siente... Argentina returns to the World Cup final

The streets are silent. Not even the occasional bus speeding past the apartment interrupts the vacuum of sound. The only cars on the street have been parked long before in anticipation. It feels like Sunday afternoon at the end of a holiday weekend, except it's Wednesday evening. For almost 3 solid hours, the silence would persist, only once was a half-hearted shout for goal heard which was subsequently quenched by an offsides whistle. The entire nation's attention was held captive, mostly by choice, by Argentina taking on the Netherlands in the World Cup semi-final in the neighboring country of Brazil (the term "neighbor" is not to be mistaken for friend, however, which, if ever in doubt, was clearly evidenced by the 7 shouts for goal which echoed throughout Buenos Aires during Brazil's own semi-final match, or rather fiasco, against European-powerhouse Germany).

For 3 hours, international conflicts, financial instability (25% inflation and falling national reserves), unreasonably high crime rates, family issues, health problems (ACL tears and upcoming surgeries...), opposing ideologies, any non-fútbol related concerns were put on hold, which is not to say there were no arguments or shouts of frustration or joy during the game, as in any major sporting event, it was quite to the contrary...

"Sabella! What the heck are you doing? You're seriously making a double substitution right now? And you're taking off the two guys who were just involved in our only goal scoring opportunity in the last 20 minutes? He actually wants us to lose. Oh, and now you're putting on a guy who's in the twilight years of his career? Great, just great..."

"Calm down, the guy knows what he's doing. He's the national team coach for a reason, isn't he?"

"Of course he's there for a reason. The same reason anybody gets to be anywhere in AFA. He's friends with the rest of the football mafia-types."

"Just shut up and enjoy the game! We can still win this! Even though the Dutch are looking a bit more dangerous than us right now..."

"Penalties? Are you kidding me? My heart can't handle this anymore!" (Which was true for the 2 Argentine men who died from cardiac arrest while watching the match)

Some prayed quietly to themselves, some crossed themselves incessantly, others turned the other direction or covered their eyes while peeking through their fingers, but everybody went silent as the first Dutch player stepped forward to take the first kick. All of a sudden even the Argentine goalkeeper's (Sergio "Chiquito" Romero) harshest critics went silent and began to cheer him on in their hearts then out loud and uncontrollably after he made the brilliant save on the Dutch center-back's poorly taken penalty attempt. Screams and shouts of joy echoed against the walls of the apartment buildings lining the streets of Buenos Aires, but as Argentina's star, hope, "Messi"as, walked from half-field to the penalty spot, silence once again reigned supreme and each person resumed what they had been doing before the first kick. Despite the Dutch Ken-doll goalkeeper's attempts to intimidate little Lio, he took his penalty decisively, sending the young blond diving in the wrong direction. The celebrations resumed where they had left off after Romero's save until the next Dutch player prepared to take his shot, and so forth until Argentina's Maxi Rodriguez scored Argentina's fourth and decisive penalty sending the "Albiceleste" to the World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years, since Maradona had led the team to the ultimate stage in Italy only to lose to the same rival this 2014 team will have to overcome on Sunday.

I'm getting ahead of myself though, nobody in Argentina was even thinking about Sunday's final on Wednesday night. As the rest of the Argentine team sprinted toward Romero and Maxi Rodriguez to celebrate the win, all of Buenos Aires headed to its windows and balconies to do the same, singing and yelling and cheering. Within minutes the streets began to repopulate as cars and pedestrians alike made their way toward different meeting points in the city, the Plaza de la República, the Plaza de Mayo, and other important intersections. In a chorus of honking horns and hoarsely screamed songs, the country joined together in celebration. My parents, my sister, and I couldn't help but join in. We sang along as well as we could, making up the parts of the songs we didn't know and screaming along with the parts we did know, which as the night went along became more extensive. Flags and jerseys waved and swirled overhead, arms flailed, guys and girls alike ran arm in arm (some even skipped along) while cheering and singing, it was the closest I've even been to witnessing so much joy together. All the main avenues of the city were blocked off to automobile traffic and were turned into pedestrian walkways. For the first time ever, the chaos of cars and people didn't lead to cursing and fighting. When pedestrians would cut in front of slowly moving cars, instead of being insulted and threatened as would happen in normal circumstances, the drivers would respond by honking the horn in tune with whatever song the crowd was singing at the time, and the passengers would join in with the cheers while hanging out of the windows and out of the sunroof. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen.

We finally made our way along with the crowd to the Obelisco where already thousands of people had gathered. We stayed for a little while to enjoy the celebrations, but after a little while decided to head back home before things got too rowdy (my injured knee would have made it difficult to run in case a fight or another sort of disturbance were to break out...). As we walked back, the crowds kept coming, an eternal parade of bliss made up babies in strollers, children on shoulders, teens and young adults, middle-aged men and women, and even elderly folks from all different social backgrounds joined together, if just for a couple hours, to relish in the excitement of Argentina's return to the World Cup finals.

(In an upcoming post I'll talk a little bit about why the World Cup and soccer can inspire such a celebration in Argentina)