When I first came down here I had a set of expectations, for the language, the city, the people, and especially for myself. I had a set of goals I needed to accomplish while abroad. Looking back at the Kelly who got off the plane at Ezeiza Airport... I can almost laugh at her for thinking that she could plan and predict the world she was about to encounter. I've now past the halfway point in my journey. I have about 2 months in the country and only around 30 days of classes left to fulfill whatever it is I came here for. Even as I write this a sense of anxiety is creeping up from underneathe me at that thought. Am I utilizing my time to its utmost? Will I have any regrets upon going home?
Usually on mornings when I wake up with a sense of disquiet and unsurety of what I will do with this day, I find myself saying " I have no idea what will happen to me today." And while such an unknown would have terrified the pee out of me only months before leaving, today it gives me peace and comfort. Some of the best things to have come to pass for me so far have been unpredictable, unpremeditated, and spontaneous. The character challenge that I have thus been facing is opening up to the frightening myriad of possibilities, accepting the lurching free fall, and trusting myself and my capabilities to tumble with grace and find my way back onto my feet after crash landing.
That said, since my blogging has been so sporadic recently, I'll fill you in on the events that came to pass since my last entry:
Monday: previously mentioned computer ordeal.... my week got better I promise!
Tues: Trekked down to the Correo Nacional to pick up my care package from Mom. Canned salsa, muffin mix, red beans and rice, and best of all SPICES! It was a box well worth getting rained on, let me tell you! That night around 9pm, I went out to Cafe Vinilo, a trendy little bohemian cafe in Palermo, with live music every night of the week! A guy I met through ISA was playing with his Argentine folk band comprised of 2 guitarras hispanolas and him on the classical bass.Together their intricate musicianship formed a pure, gorgeous, unadulterated fusion of jazz and folk. I was floored by the dexterity of those men's fingers! It was there also that I realized that Argentina has officially transformed me into a wino! Yes, I am now a wine snob through and through... it helps that even the cheapest lowest quality of wine here is still utterly superb. But I ordered a simple glass of house red, una copa de vino tinto de la casa, and immediately noted the reflection of its rich ruby red color in the candle light at our table, marked the tell-tale tears on the sides of the glass, swished the floral scents through my senses and let the smooth rosy netar spal into my tongue and trickle down my through like the tranquil music in my ears..... see what I mean?!?!
Wed: La Tormenta de Santa Rosa, which arrives every year around August 30th, brought an ugly, cold, rainy day with wind so loud you'd swear a poltergeist had decided to throw a Halloween party with all his buddies in my living room! So to avoid going outside until the absolute last possible minute before class, I stayed in and baked my mother's blueberry muffin mix... I don't know how she remembered those were my favorites. Ana doesn't have a pan with muffin cups in them, so they came out a little free-form looking like fat little amoebas, but their taste was still delicious. I left them on the counter and the family loved them so much that they didn't even last the night! Ana seemed excited that I'd figured out how to use the oven on my own, converting Farhenheit to Centigrade and Cups to cc's and everything!
Thurs: Exceptionally normal. Rain, class, Mask and Breathing Theatre workshops that I'm loving more and more each week! I did bring my friend Tom to tango class at UB though, I mean we desperately need more guys so I thought it'd give me brownie points or something (not that I need them when I'm already Jose's favortite student... and not necessarily in a good way!). But to my shock and surprise Jose FREAKED OUT! He comes over to me while I'm teaching my friend the basic steps and with a smug little attitude goes, "Where'd you get your doll?" He proceeded to give Tom dirty looks all the rest of class, and used me as an example to demonstrate to the class more than usual today probably cuz he just wanted to show off how great he is at shoving the woman around on the dance floor. UGH! I swear the tanguero ego is the most suffocating and infuriating thing I may have ever encountered, and trust me, in my line of work I encounter alot of egos.
Fri: I woke up early and took the bus to the bus to Escobar to visit los ninos, but for reasons unknown to me, it was closed. No one was there and all the doors were locked. I have no idea why but I wherever those kids ended up spending that cold soggy day, I hope that it was warm and dry. I tooled around Escobar for awhile, but there's nothing much to see out there and it wasn't very nice earther for a stroll, so I just took the bus back to BsAs, bought myself some fuscia hair dye on a whim and added some fun streaks to my already ostentatious blonde! I figure that in the state I can never have funky hair if I wanna work and be in shows... but as it were I won't be working or performing for at least a few more months and I gotta do something crazy while living in South America right?? That night a group of us went to the milonga at La Viruta. There were a ton more people than I am used to seeing during the week, unfortunately none of them were under the age of 40. Now as much as I love being shuffled around by slimey old men, or viejos babosos as Ana calls them, not my idea of a fun Friday night. So I got talked into going to Crobar, a boliche where the young people dance!! Again, a spontaneous "Well, why the heck not?" decision that ended up being alot of fun! I realized that one of the reasons I don't like going out to the boliches is constantly getting hit on by men that think they are hotter than I do. BUT I have now learned the system, and was with a really fun group of friends, so together we took turns fending off the vultures. I even had an opportunity to utilize some Argentine curse words!
Sat: Since we left the club at 6am (you know its time to go when there's so few people left you can actually see the dance floor!) I let myself sleep till 3:30pm! I think that's a new record for me. I was fully prepared to do hw and laze around the house in my pjs for the rest of the afternoon, when Ana excitedly asks me if I wanna go to the mall with her to have coffee with some old college friends of hers from Brazil! Going to the mall like a real mom and daughter!! I was so flattered and thrilled to be invited! So Ana, Sofi, and I went out to Recoleta, to this really high end mall and sat and talked to her old friend and his wife and son for hours in a delicious cocktail of Spanish, Portugese, and English. She introduced me as her American daughter, and they invited me to come visit them if I'm ever in Brazil... which I am totally planning on being sometime very soon. It was such a fun little family outing. OH and ps. Ana like any good mother does not like what I did to my hair, and when we were arriving at the mall, I started feeling really self consious about it... until her friend's wife took one look at me and exclaimed how cool she thought it was and how she wished she could do something like that to her hair!
Sun: We planned a lunch party for the Brazilians in our apartment, so I helped Ana clean up and get the table all set. We had empanadas, pasta, tarta de manzanas con helado, and $200 Malbec from Mendoza! I let my hair be wavy and wore my favorite tunic top that day... so they all made fun of me as a "hippie chick" and put a flower from the table behind my ear. After a couple more glasses of wine though, they all had flowers behind their ears too! They made me do an impromtu sing for them, which was awfully embarrassing. Also, given the fact that I have not had so much as a piano to do scales on for the past 3 months, I'm a little rusty. They didn't know the difference though, and loved it of course! After the meal and socializing, I snuck into the kitchen to start on the dishes while Ana said her goodbyes. I was already halfway finished when she realized, but she actually let me do them! I've never in my life been so proud of the opportunity to wash dishes. Its trivial, I know, but it makes me feel integrated into the family that has given me a home in this country. It was the perfect weekend.
Mon: Again, another normal day. Went running in the park, ate the rest of my red beans and rice, skirted off to class, and afterwards went down to Plaza de Mayo to take pictures of the architecture for my Arte Contemporaneo project due the next day... yeah, I'll never learn punctuality. We got there just at the time of night, after the sun has sunk behind the buildings and silhouetted their dark distinct outlines against a peachy sky, the city lights beam a little brighter, and the streets fill up with cars and people heading home after a day of work. As I am focusing my camera on the Pyramida de Mayo in the center of the plaza, I hear drums and sirens and song, and turn to see a massive demonstration of young people with colorful banners marching down the middle of the street from Congreso. That's one of the things that love about this city.
Tues: Practically no one went to their classes today BECAUSE the Espana vs. Argentina Bicentennial futbol game was being played this afternoon at the River Plate Stadium about 5 blocks from my apartment. The partido between La Madre Patria and her former colony in honor of Argentina's 200 year birthday this year, would have been a big deal in itself, but seeing as Espana just took the world championship title in the Mundial only months ago?? IT WAS A BIG FRICKIN DEAL! So I skipped out on tango (...oops!) and Erica and I went back to my apartment to share a $5 peso box of wine, Wheat Thins from home, and cheese on my balcony listening to the crowd from the stadium. Every time we heard an uproar we'd run inside to the tv to watch Argentina score another embarassingly awesome goal. 4:1 Argentina.... someone explain to me why we didn't take the world title again??? Probably the girliest way to watch a sports game though right?? I don't care! It was fantastic!
Wed: I was in a funk today. Couldn't explain it. I was just plagued with a shadow of nostalgia and homesickness that followed me around on my run through the park, while I sipped my coffee and watched the news, while I added some purple to the fuscia streak in my hair, and to all my classes. After Spanish I caught #15 to La Viruta to see if I could tango it away... and actually that worked! I recognized the names and faces of all my favorite Wednesday night partners, no babosos here, and finally fell back into my element, putting myself at ease and quieting my thoughts long enough to listen to the moves. I even met a couple new friends who I'm excited to dance again with next time
Today: I'm currently sitting in the sunshine on my balcony, thinking about grabbing some reading and going to the park before class. That sounds like a good gameplan for now... but like I said, I really have no idea where that will lead, what if anything will intervene, or if on my way over there I'll spontaneously decide to add some green to my hair!
Nadie sabe!
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