We went to a wonderful little hole called Cafe Tortilini -- sorry, Cafe Tortoni... Anyway, it was the most beautiful presentation I'd ever seen in dance form. Meli knows the couple because Jose is - was - her dance instructor. The two are clearly madly in love and it comes out so beautifully in their art.
I learned a little about tango. It started out as a brothels-only genre and then some rich punks took it to France and brought it into the ballroom. Eventually it returned to Argentina and became a beloved tradition. They even have their equivalent of a Frank Sinatra in a famous tango singer named Carlos Gardel.
Anyway, it was the best experience thus far and I hope it will be many times repeated. The feminine half of the dancing couple is one of the sweetest people I've ever met in my life. She saw Meli and exclaimed: "Mi viiiidaaaaa!" (literally translated means: "my life.")
Still trying to get used to coming home in the morning from going out at night. :) Until later...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Christmas
It´s Christmastime in the city....
I just spent Christmas Eve for the first time away from family and with only one familiar face - for which I was eternally thankful. For those who don´t know I spent 3 days in Minnesota packing 2 big luggage-fulls of crap to survive living in Argentina for 7 mos and when I left Panama I got the first real taste of Latinoamericana ways... I called the airline (Avianca - don´t ever fly with them!) and asked about weight limits on luggage and guess what? 30 kilos and no more, period. Unless you are willing to pay $12 PER extra KILO. So my sweet and wonderful Che and his mom offered to take one of my bags back to the US with them. After crying for about 3 hours and Che being the most wonderful human being on the planet I re-packed all of my possessions in one bag and flew without any further problems to Buenos Aires.
Meli is also one of those wonderful human beings who I happen to treasure. I was unaware but there had been bad weather and the flight was delayed. Furthermore, I was a GENIUS and forgot to email her my ITINERARY! Pinche idiota... Meli, the resourceful and actual genius that she is, investigated (called my daddy) and found out that my last flight was coming in from Columbia so she knew where to find me - except by the time I got to the airport at 7:30 she had been there since about 5:45 (am).
I´m so glad to have such smart people in my life!
Christmas Eve was spent sleeping... I fell into the bed at Meli´s host mom´s appartment after trying hard to be polite and not too grumpy - and slept in a real bed for 10 hours. I woke up and found that we - Meli and I - were required to spend our dinner with the host mom and her family. That was not so fun. Her host mom (sorry Meli) is a lunatic (loca). And Meli had told her 3 months before and a hundred times since then that we had a party planned for that evening.
We escaped that dinner at around midnight (they don´t eat here until about 10 or 11pm) and finally made it through the explosions in the street, past the doggy shit on the sidewalk, and only after going to one measly wrong building and going down one silly wrong street did we make it to a motly party made up of a bunch of lost souls who had no family on Christmas.
By the way, I cried a little because the calling card I had didn´t work and I wasn´t able to call my family on Christmas Eve or Day... (sad face). So this is my official and last MERRY CHRISTMAS to all my family and friends and those other fools who find my blogs interesting.
Love!
I just spent Christmas Eve for the first time away from family and with only one familiar face - for which I was eternally thankful. For those who don´t know I spent 3 days in Minnesota packing 2 big luggage-fulls of crap to survive living in Argentina for 7 mos and when I left Panama I got the first real taste of Latinoamericana ways... I called the airline (Avianca - don´t ever fly with them!) and asked about weight limits on luggage and guess what? 30 kilos and no more, period. Unless you are willing to pay $12 PER extra KILO. So my sweet and wonderful Che and his mom offered to take one of my bags back to the US with them. After crying for about 3 hours and Che being the most wonderful human being on the planet I re-packed all of my possessions in one bag and flew without any further problems to Buenos Aires.
Meli is also one of those wonderful human beings who I happen to treasure. I was unaware but there had been bad weather and the flight was delayed. Furthermore, I was a GENIUS and forgot to email her my ITINERARY! Pinche idiota... Meli, the resourceful and actual genius that she is, investigated (called my daddy) and found out that my last flight was coming in from Columbia so she knew where to find me - except by the time I got to the airport at 7:30 she had been there since about 5:45 (am).
I´m so glad to have such smart people in my life!
Christmas Eve was spent sleeping... I fell into the bed at Meli´s host mom´s appartment after trying hard to be polite and not too grumpy - and slept in a real bed for 10 hours. I woke up and found that we - Meli and I - were required to spend our dinner with the host mom and her family. That was not so fun. Her host mom (sorry Meli) is a lunatic (loca). And Meli had told her 3 months before and a hundred times since then that we had a party planned for that evening.
We escaped that dinner at around midnight (they don´t eat here until about 10 or 11pm) and finally made it through the explosions in the street, past the doggy shit on the sidewalk, and only after going to one measly wrong building and going down one silly wrong street did we make it to a motly party made up of a bunch of lost souls who had no family on Christmas.
By the way, I cried a little because the calling card I had didn´t work and I wasn´t able to call my family on Christmas Eve or Day... (sad face). So this is my official and last MERRY CHRISTMAS to all my family and friends and those other fools who find my blogs interesting.
Love!
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Goodbyes
Today was the departure day... It was nerve wracking, I felt sick to my stomach, but I remained calm. I'm now on the first of three flights that will take me to my first stop... those who know and love me know which stop that is. :) I love being paranoid and secretive - I feel like a spy. Alias, baby!
Well, I feel confident - at least more confident - that this is where I am supposed to be. This is where the adventure begins! I heard from several different sources that I will be so different when I come home again. Mixed feelings on that score. I know that I am happy with "me," but I don't know if there is a better (or worse) "me" after this adventure is over. That is enough worrying about that. I understand now more than ever that I need to be worrying about me in this moment and not worry about the future. God has it all laid out for me and if I worry I know I'll screw it all up. So, I will worry about the fact that my battery loses power much faster than I had hoped, which means that I will need to plug it in soon (where? my nose?) I will also worry about the fact that my tukas gets sore after only an hour or so of sitting in the same position. Considering the duration of this flight (2 hours) is only a fraction of my flight time, I'm in for a treat... Grrr... It's a good thing that mom made me pack that hot water bottle.
I don't feel much like a spy anymore. I'm sure spies have buns of steel. THAT would not be me. I think my buns are made of homemade cookies - its just a shame when you sit on them.
By the way, by the time this blog reaches you it is likely that I will already be past the Atlanta airport and on my way to the next layover (Grrr....). I decided that each blog will include an "Emily was here" clause, which I find reasonable and I'm not so paranoid that I'm not even going to tell the world that I'm going to some city located in that one country in the southern region of that one continent. See? Totally trusting. I think the world is a wonderful place where everyone is another's family.... "Hi stranger on the plane, we should exchange Christmas cards at the next stop, whaddya say? ... no? You're going to do what to my where? .. Oh, I know you don't mean that.... you don't have to take that tone with me, I'm only spending Christmas away from home and I will defintately miss the first snowfall of the season, and the single most wonderful ski trip on the planet! (Sorry again, Sis'!)
Since writing the above I have since arrived to my first destination. I am happy to see Che. He is one of those people that as soon as I see him I can’t help but want to reflect the bright happy smile he always has on his face. His parents are fabulous people too. We are going tomorrow to buy toys to give to the poor kids for Christmas – like Operation Christmas Child – so that should be interesting… toy shopping. J Maybe I will find something for myself!
Well, I feel confident - at least more confident - that this is where I am supposed to be. This is where the adventure begins! I heard from several different sources that I will be so different when I come home again. Mixed feelings on that score. I know that I am happy with "me," but I don't know if there is a better (or worse) "me" after this adventure is over. That is enough worrying about that. I understand now more than ever that I need to be worrying about me in this moment and not worry about the future. God has it all laid out for me and if I worry I know I'll screw it all up. So, I will worry about the fact that my battery loses power much faster than I had hoped, which means that I will need to plug it in soon (where? my nose?) I will also worry about the fact that my tukas gets sore after only an hour or so of sitting in the same position. Considering the duration of this flight (2 hours) is only a fraction of my flight time, I'm in for a treat... Grrr... It's a good thing that mom made me pack that hot water bottle.
I don't feel much like a spy anymore. I'm sure spies have buns of steel. THAT would not be me. I think my buns are made of homemade cookies - its just a shame when you sit on them.
By the way, by the time this blog reaches you it is likely that I will already be past the Atlanta airport and on my way to the next layover (Grrr....). I decided that each blog will include an "Emily was here" clause, which I find reasonable and I'm not so paranoid that I'm not even going to tell the world that I'm going to some city located in that one country in the southern region of that one continent. See? Totally trusting. I think the world is a wonderful place where everyone is another's family.... "Hi stranger on the plane, we should exchange Christmas cards at the next stop, whaddya say? ... no? You're going to do what to my where? .. Oh, I know you don't mean that.... you don't have to take that tone with me, I'm only spending Christmas away from home and I will defintately miss the first snowfall of the season, and the single most wonderful ski trip on the planet! (Sorry again, Sis'!)
Since writing the above I have since arrived to my first destination. I am happy to see Che. He is one of those people that as soon as I see him I can’t help but want to reflect the bright happy smile he always has on his face. His parents are fabulous people too. We are going tomorrow to buy toys to give to the poor kids for Christmas – like Operation Christmas Child – so that should be interesting… toy shopping. J Maybe I will find something for myself!
Friday, December 1, 2006
16 days and counting....
And so the jitters begin...
Usually when I leave home - my safe place - there is no overwhelming feeling of worry, panic or doubt. It's true I haven't left home for more than 3 weeks at a time so this is different. Really different. 7 and 1/2 months different. No M.A.S.H. or Matlock after a hard days' play... No ants on a log for a snack... no tampons? These are the things that plague my mind and cause me to lose sleep at night. Does this make me heartless? No family, no familiar faces, no good pastors, no professors to schmooze, no known streets and sidewalks, smells, restaurants, hangouts... my bed... MY BED
The more I think about it though, surprisingly, the less I worry, panic and doubt. This is either a good omen that this is where I am supposed to be in life, or a big fat warning sign that I am too naiive to do this by myself.
It's a funny thing too I feel that all - ALL - my friendships are strained and distanced now. It's like this surreal 'get-ready-cuz-now-you're-all-alone-in-the-world' feeling that doesn't seem to want to go away. The relationships that seem to have gotten a little thicker since the acercamiento of my departure date are those I have with my immediate family. My twin brother, my oldest brother, my sister, my mom.... It's like we know that there won't be as many moments that we have with all of us together so the ones we have now are treated a little differently than they used to be. With Nanners going to Africa, Enrique to Iraq, Madodi in a serious relationship with a guy whose family lives in Belarus, and me leaving for Argentina - I think these moments are soon to be much more rarified than before.
I think the danger in posting your life online is that people tend to get dark and "angsty" - as I've heard it called by La Espia T. Isn't it sad that only sadness is interesting to us anymore?
Well, today I am going against the proverbial grain. My thoughts are on flowers and rainbows and sunshine - until they die, it's too dry, and clouds cover the sky.
Usually when I leave home - my safe place - there is no overwhelming feeling of worry, panic or doubt. It's true I haven't left home for more than 3 weeks at a time so this is different. Really different. 7 and 1/2 months different. No M.A.S.H. or Matlock after a hard days' play... No ants on a log for a snack... no tampons? These are the things that plague my mind and cause me to lose sleep at night. Does this make me heartless? No family, no familiar faces, no good pastors, no professors to schmooze, no known streets and sidewalks, smells, restaurants, hangouts... my bed... MY BED
The more I think about it though, surprisingly, the less I worry, panic and doubt. This is either a good omen that this is where I am supposed to be in life, or a big fat warning sign that I am too naiive to do this by myself.
It's a funny thing too I feel that all - ALL - my friendships are strained and distanced now. It's like this surreal 'get-ready-cuz-now-you're-all-alone-in-the-world' feeling that doesn't seem to want to go away. The relationships that seem to have gotten a little thicker since the acercamiento of my departure date are those I have with my immediate family. My twin brother, my oldest brother, my sister, my mom.... It's like we know that there won't be as many moments that we have with all of us together so the ones we have now are treated a little differently than they used to be. With Nanners going to Africa, Enrique to Iraq, Madodi in a serious relationship with a guy whose family lives in Belarus, and me leaving for Argentina - I think these moments are soon to be much more rarified than before.
I think the danger in posting your life online is that people tend to get dark and "angsty" - as I've heard it called by La Espia T. Isn't it sad that only sadness is interesting to us anymore?
Well, today I am going against the proverbial grain. My thoughts are on flowers and rainbows and sunshine - until they die, it's too dry, and clouds cover the sky.
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