During one of the literature classes I tried at UCA, I spoke to a Japanese girl in Spanish. Two nights ago at a bar, I spoke to a boy from France in Spanish. It is really interesting to communicate with someone in Spanish who speaks neither Spanish nor English for their first language. We were both at similar ability levels, but we made different kinds of mistakes. Unfortunately, he had to return to France the next day, but I guess you can't be best friends with everyone. The next day, my friends and I took a day trip to Tigre, which is only a half hour away by train. Tigre is right on the Paraná river delta, and there are lots of boat excursions available. We took a boat to an island where we intended to rent kayaks. There didn't seem to be much communication between the original place where we paid for the kayaks and the actual kayak rental place. When we got to the island, we told the owners that we paid for kayaks. They seemed very confused and said that they don't just rent kayaks there, you have to stay at the resort and buy lunch. We didn't understand why the other place would sell us a package deal for something that didn't exist. The cook just told us that the lady who sold us the excursion packet was stupid. That's very helpful, thank you. As we stood there looking bewildered at the kayaks that were not in use, he told us in a flustered manner that he could not deal with us right now. He told us to go sit somewhere for 30 minutes and then come back. After our time-out, he beckoned us back and said we could rent kayaks now. What?! He proceeded to give us canoes. "We rented kayaks," I said. "Yes," he responded. "And these are canoes," I said, wondering if there was a difference in boat terminology in South America. "Yep," he said. And then he handed me and my friends kayak oars to use to maneuver our canoes. At this point, we just wanted to go on the water. We smiled and got into our canoe with our kayak oars. The river was beautiful and lined with houses that some people lived in year round, and some just for vacations. I imagine that would be a nice place to escape to every once in a while.
Every Friday night at a place called Boedo Tango, there are tango shows from 10 til about 1, and then music to dance to until 4. It was the first time I had seen a considerable amount of tango in one sitting while in Argentina, and it was fantastic. I went with friends from my program and my new friend Pablo who we met in Uruguay at the karaoke bar. The female dancers were beautiful and wore sparkly dresses with very long slits that revealed the majority of their legs. An orchestra of accordions, violins, and cellos played in the background while a man sang the soulful tones of tango. The dancers moved slowly and seductively at some points in the music and then very quickly at others. They danced very closely to each other; you could feel the electricity from the audience. They moved so fluidly and effortlessly together that it looked as if they were one person. The women kick their legs up frequently with sharp movements and sometimes jump off the floor and wrap their legs around their partner. It was very romantic and not as sad sounding as I have heard the tango to be. Perhaps it depends on the song. I never know if performance dancers know exactly which movements they are going to do with each beat and each sound of the music, or if they just know a set of movements and improvise the order. There are cheap Latin American dance lessons on Mondays somewhere nearby; I definitely want to check it out and maybe become 1/28th as good as these dancers.
I went to my first Argentine Indian restaurant, Tandoor, with a few others who had a similar craving for dal and nan, and was very disappointed. The servers made their disapproval of us apparent the moment we entered, and the dishes were very pricey. I do not mind spending a bit more on very good, authentic Indian food, but this was mediocre at best. The nan was very flat compared to the airy, fluffy nan that I am used to, the saag (spinach purée) was watery and lacking in flavor, and the paneer was bland and rubbery. They also brought my friend the wrong dish, and it took some convincing to get them to bring the right one. Well, no one told me to come to Argentina for Indian food. I guess this will just make my return more exciting when I am able to indulge myself in the delicious masalas of Kama Indian Bistro once more.
Last night it was Noche en Vela, a night of cultural expression in the different barrios of Buenos Aires from 7 pm until 7 am. By the time we got to a lot of the locations, such as the zoo and the botanical gardens, they were at their maximum limit of people and we weren't allowed to enter. But we did make it to a plaza with Latin American contemporary dance, and it was worth every second. There were about 10 dancers in spring-colored leotards and leg wrappings that hopped around the grassy hill like sprightly nymphs. The fairies collided and gracefully wrestled. It amazed me how they could topple down the hill, spinning so fast, and then jump right back up again and run in a straight line without falling over. I know my vestibular sense is more sensitive than most, but that is skill. They spun in circles like tornado-like whirlwinds. They were light as feathers and with every crescendo in the violin music, their long hair flew with their every movement and they were the world. No words were necessary to express such strong emotions of desperation, excitement, recklessness, and the desire to be free. It reminded me of A Midsummer Night's Dream. The fairies ran freely and swiftly for their lives and for their humanity. I wish I could make my body move like that. I feel like it would be a much more efficient way of expressing myself rather than trying to fumble with limited vocabulary and restricting sentences. I felt especially connected because I realized the connection between the audience members and myself; verbal communication and language barriers were irrelevant in this magical performance that evoked the same emotions in all of us. We all stood there, gathered in a grassy hill on a brisk night in Buenos Aires, and breathed in gusts of this cultural experience that was bringing us all together.
The next dance performance in a plaza across the street was just as incredible, but in a very different way. Stick-skinny girls with toned abs who looked like they had just gotten out of year-long boot camp started walking mechanically in a procession to the stage. They wore black swim caps, black masks, black bras, and fishnet stockings. Their faces were emotionless. With the squeaky electric music their hands twitched, and it sounded like the clanking of their bones. They were chaotically synchronized, like a swimming team in an inferno. They moved with such perfect harmony and with such stolidity that I had trouble believing they were human. They all turned their heads suddenly in one direction, and I swear they could have made someone disintegrate into a pile of ashes with that death stare. One at a time, their bodies started convulsing as if they were in invisible electric chairs. It was unreal. I got the sense that they were all in prison for being completely above the law and other people. But the prison system couldn't bring them down. They were fighting the system and refusing to be weakened by it. They depended on each other but were simultaneously fearlessly independent and needed no one to tuck them in at night. As they fell into each other one at a time, they looked like Gothic dominoes. The whole performance reminded me of an odd mixture of the Rockettes, with their perfectly synchronized movements, the Cell Block Tango in the musical Chicago, with the strong woman in prison attitude, and Fight Club, because of the feeling I received from watching them, the feeling of having a near-life experience. What a way to spend a night.
I just had lunch with my host sister, her husband and their daughter, who I have met before. We talked about politics, meaning that I didn't comprehend most of the conversation. It is obligatory to vote in Argentina and if you do not, you have to face a court case and other difficulties. 56% of eligible voters in the US voted during the 2008 Obama election, which is more than usual. It seems like citizens should want to vote, because it is an opportunity to have a say in the ruling of their country. However, I don't know if making it mandatory is a good idea, because then more people are voting who are uninformed. Maybe it evens out with people voting randomly on both sides, who knows. We also talked about James Bond, a subject of which I was happy to give input. My brother was/is(?) a fanatic, and has all 20-something movies, so I have seen quite a few of them. My host grandparents were there also, so I was able to meet them for the first time. I've realized that while my Spanish is at the level that it is right now, I can only understand the middle of two extremes in the age spectrum. I have trouble discerning the loud and chaotic words of small children, and the muted and meshed together words of elderly people. This is quite inconvenient. Maybe I should make some toddler and elderly friends and we can play card games.
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Los instructores de IFSA nos trajeron a mí y a otros vegetarianos en el programa a un restaurant natural y vegetariano. Es re simpático de ellos ofrecer este tipo de oportunidad y para mostrarnos que es posible no comer carne en Argentina, aunque la mayoría de la gente le encanta carne. La comida fue deliciosa y quiero regresar a Lotos con mis amigos algún día. Hablé con un chico de Francia, y fue muy interesante hablar con una persona en castellano que no habla castellano ni inglés por su primera lengua. Tuvimos un nivel semajante de castellano, pero equivocamos de maneras diferentes. Fui a Tigre por un día con amigos y fue muy divertido. Había muchos árboles, como en Colonia. Fui en una lancha a una isla, y allá alquilamos canoas y kayaks. Era un día lindo y relejado. Siempre es bueno salir de la ciudad grande por un rato. Fui a la Noche en Vela, una celebración cultural en varios barrios de Buenos Aires. Vi un espectáculo de danza contemporánea y fue increíble. El primer grupo que vi incluyó unos bailarines vestidos en colores brillantes. Parecían a hadas. Saltaron en la colina y bailaron con los otros de una manera que me dijo que querían escapar de sus problemas y estar libres. Después, había otro grupo de bailarinas vestido completamente en negro. Hicieron movimientos cortos y rígidos y tenían caras sin emoción. Todas movieron juntas y con sincronización perfecto. Parecían independientes y sobre el sistema del cárcel o ley. Fue muy interesante y poderoso. Ahora con mi nivel actual de castellano, no puedo entender a la gente grande ni a los niños muy bien. Tengo que practicar mucho para mejorar.
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