Yesterday my friend Gabi and I were walking down the sunny streets of Palermo looking for a place to eat lunch and we stopped to look at a menu at a diner near my apartment. We decided to continue on our search, but an old man demanded to know where we were from as we began to walk away. We told him we were from the United States, and he insisted on buying us coffee. And well, what can I say? It was quite an experience. He talked a bit disjointedly and I couldn't tell if he was slightly intoxicated, an oddball, or just overly excited. He claimed to be a psychiatrist who enjoyed to tango, and even offered to tango with us right there. I don't think we were quite ready for that. His name was Fernando and smiled a lot with big teeth while smoking a cigarette. Everyone seems to be surprised when I reply that I don't have a lighter on me. Smoking is very common here. Later in the conversation I said Fernando and he gave me a big kiss on the cheek because he was so excited that I remembered his name. Mucho gusto, Señor!
Attempt #1 at attending a tango class.. It ended up being canceled without any sort of notification to its participants. Why am I not surprised?
My host mamá and I have been getting along beautifully. I bought her flowers and she was so happy! She buys me granola cereal that I really like and lets me eat fruit and yogurt in the house. Sometimes she surprises me with alfajores and dulce de leche and invites me to eat with her family when they come over. I knew that we had a wonderful relationship, but I didn't realize that this is not the norm with host families here. I bet there are a lot of great living arrangements, but I have heard about some less pleasant ones from a few friends. Some of the host moms look at their host mom duties as strictly business. They do not go out of their way to make their students happy; for them it is just a job. I am very thankful that I got so lucky to have such a compassionate caretaker. And my thought that I would be happier with a big family always milling about the house has definitely been corrected. Of course that could be fun too but I really think it's more about the personal relationships you develop rather than the quantity of people. My mamá is treating me like a very special person in her life and I appreciate her so much. One of her choir concerts is during one of my classes, but I really want to try and make it to the next one. That would be awesome to see her perform after always hearing about her rehearsals. I think I would enjoy being a host mom someday :)
Last night we had dinner with Ana Lucía, my host sister. I think I relate to her better than my other host siblings because she's younger and isn't married with kids yet. I am taking a Popular Urban Music in Argentina class and I have to listen to music from all the decades of rock for homework. She looked at the bands that I have to listen to and told me a lot about the band members, their popularity level, and some of her favorites. She even showed me YouTube videos of some of the songs. What a fun sister. I'm really glad I'm taking this class; I received music from the 60's til the present of various Argentine bands. I think this is a really good way to connect to the culture. The theme of this class is popular music, but it also has a Castellano (Spanish) component where we strive to improve our grammar, conversational skills, etc. because it is a class through IFSA, my exchange program. We have to read four classic Argentine novels, and I just started one called Boquitas Pintadas by Manuel Puig. As I was reading, I realized that it didn't matter that I didn't know every Spanish word in the dictionary.. I was comprehending what was going on and forgot that it wasn't in my language! It was an amazing feeling and I realized that I have missed reading novels. My psychology texts are really great because of all their interesting information about how humans function, but I now remember why I am majoring in English and Spanish literature. There is something so special and transcendental about reading a novel that is entirely different from reading about studies and research. I felt like a part of the protagonist Nené's conscience as she wrote letters to the mother of her secret lover who died.. I felt sad when she felt sad, and scared when she felt scared. I've missed this level of connecting with myself. I am trying two more classes tomorrow (yes, still more classes), and then after this week I will hopefully have my schedule finalized. I am trying an Argentine literature class and a Spanish literature class. Hopefully I will be able to comprehend and enjoy one of them so that I can read more books.
I talked to my Structure of Subjectivity teacher today and it's amazing how much my comprehension has improved. I can even laugh at her jokes! It feels loads better to be on the same page as the other students. Plus, the class is based on Freud and the texts are translated from German, so it is even difficult for Spanish-speakers to understand the structure and content of the translations. The professor read a paragraph aloud and one student said "Qué?!" ("What?!") It made me chuckle.
I felt genuinely happy today. I felt comfortable walking down the bustling streets of Buenos Aires. Like I belonged. Not to say I know my way around.. I have a feeling that I am going to get lost until the day I leave. It's such a big city with so many parts that I haven't yet ventured to. But at least I learn from getting lost, and it's not as stressful of a situation as it used to be. Today I was super confused because I got off the subway and was all of a sudden near two streets that shouldn't have been there.. And then I realized that there are two subway stations on two different lines that have the same name. Gotcha. But I feel like being lost in a city is better than being lost in the country, because there are people willing to help, whereas I doubt cows are good at explaining their whereabouts.
I drank café (coffee) for the first time without azúcar (sugar) today! And I actually enjoyed it. I was impressed with myself, since I didn't drink coffee before I came to this country. I still need milk in it, but in time I will adapt. Baby steps. I love media lunas! They are sweet croissants, and they consume them like water here. Every restaurant has them, and they are the perfect snack to eat around 4 or 5 to last you til a 9 or 10 o'clock dinner. My parents are visiting this week-end and I am so excited to see them! It will be weird showing them around instead of vice versa, but it will be fun. Also, I finally get to be someone's translator :) I have a wonderful family and wonderful new friends and wonderful old friends. I am lucky and I know it so I will clap my hands.
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