Five minutes of Fame

September 10, 2010

My five minutes of Argentine fame have come and gone, how fleeting they were! They left my head spinning and it still hasn’t fully sunk in how many porteños on their way home from work had a chuckle at my imperfect Spanish… But, I’ve already jumped ahead.

While in the computer lab at our exchange program’s headquarters, one of the coordinators, Juan Mallea, asked me for a favor. I was expecting to help him get a point across in English as I’ve done in the past. I’m always asked, “But, how would an American say it???!”

Anyhow, Juan briefly explained to me that a journalist was seeking to interview an exchange student in Spanish that afternoon. Was I free?

Definitely – the theme of life here has been to run with spontaneous opportunity and I just had a feeling about this one. In moments, I was on the phone with a woman who worked for the network station run by La Nación – a media giant in Argentina on the scale of the Times. I didn’t understand exactly what they wanted from me and asked if I needed to come into the office for an interview? Not exactly, she said. The interview was going to be conducted on air live with a radio show host named Rolando Hanglin. Was that okay? My response in Spanish was mostly a stammered affirmative. Yeah, most definitely! She explained how they’d be calling my mobile shortly and that I just needed to be sure to pick up when it rang.

An hour later on my way to the subte station to go meet Brian for an afternoon in the park, my tiny Motorola mobile exploded in my pocket and I fought to get away from the crowds on the street and hear what was coming through on the other end. Laura asked me if I was ready and told me it would only be a moment before I’d be on the air! Then her voice left my ear and I heard Rolando (I imagine a radio persona with Limbaugh or Imus status) introducing me, “Next we’re going to be talking with Will Cousino from Toledo, Ohio who studies International Politics…” I held my breath until he greeted me and all I managed to get out at first was “Good afternoon everybody!” You’re only talking to tens of thousands of listeners throughout Argentina right now, no sweat boludo.

After explaining why I chose to study in Buenos Aires, talking about my likes and dislikes in Argentina and about my hometown Rolando asked me, “So Will, how bout the Argentine girls?” We’ll I’ve made plenty of friends with them and when they’re not out drinking in the boliches (clubs) they seem really studious, I said. “And????” He was obviously looking for more. La realidad es que tengo una novia quien está en África. “Well tell us about your girlfriend!” Sobre mi novia? I asked. So my moments in the limelight came to a close with me shamelessly plugging Brendan Thompson’s NGO Children of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya. If you’re curious – check it out! I’m certain my English speaking friends and family will find it more navigable than the Argentines who heard about it last week : http://cokf.blogspot.com/.