moving, shaking, adventuring

Greeting before heading off to Mendoza in about nine hours! So I will be celebrating Passover on a 12-hour bus ride. O well. It doesn’t have as much meaning without my family anyway.

Still keeping busy. Last Friday I went to Uruguay for a day. Can check another country off my list. It was ulra-touristy but also beautiful. And got “free” champagne on the way back because there were only first class seats left….Saw MALBA (the fine arts museum) and loved it. There was this special photography exhibit that I particularly enjoyed. This guy would create inverted projections of the view outside his window on the ceiling from a camara oscura. Don’t totally get how it works but it was re-lindo (that’s Argrentine Spanish for very nice/pretty).

I think it’s possible that my Spanish is getting worse. My brain is so confused. This part Saturday I was in a boliche for the first time and some guy, that was way too old for me anyway, asked me where I was from. I responded “no sé” (I don’t know) because it was so loud that I couldn’t understand him. I had ended up there with Cynthia and her friends sort of by accident. It was super argentine - don’t think there were any Americans, and it was a very interesting cultural experience over-all. The crowd there dressed differently than in Palermo and listened to different music. I also became acutely aware (because they told me) that Cynthia and her friends dance very differently than I do. She’s commented to me before that we (Americans) dance much more “sensual” or “sexy”, but I don’t know how to change how I dance. I guess they move more kind of bouncy up and down…not my thing. It feels unnatural to me to change how I move and try to copy others, even though obviously the way I dance was probably at some point just an imitation of what I saw other people doing. But it’s so ingrained in my body now that I never thought about it like that. Or it was a passing thought, not something that I had to concern myself with. But now I don’t want to be giving off slutty vibes or whatever. I just want to dance! It’s fun! It’s just interesting because you expect the language stuff to be a challenge and for there to be a cultural barrier there, but I find the dancing thing way worse. Taking a tango class is one thing – learning how to move like a whole country of people is a whole other thing that I’m not sure I can tackle. It’s not really something someone can teach you. Honestly though, I’m going to try by best to fit in here and dance more PG, but I enjoy moving my hips and Argentina is not going to stop me. So there.

I bought tango shoes yesterday at a vintage/consignment shop and they’re beautiful. I kept passing them in this window by my street, but they had always been closed before. The old ladies in the store said that a bunch of people has tried them on and they never fit. It was destiny. Everyone in my class has black shoes that they paid twice as much for. I totally win. Check them out.
Jealous? I know. I love Buenos Aires.

Random thing I love about this city… It’s kind of a problem, but I love how they do helado (ice cream) here. You always get two flavors and they think you’re strange if you only ask for one. In the states it’s the opposite. I always get weird looks or sighs when I ask if I can get two flavors. I can never make the decision and always wonder if the grass is greener on the other flavor but here I never have to wonder. And, like everything else, it’s effing cheap.

Another thing I love is that they play a lot of random American music in restaurants, that usually doesn’t fit with the place at all, but once in a while a song that you haven’t heard in forever will come on and remind you of home and feel so wonderfully familiar. Right now Third eye blind just came on my shuffle at just the right time. I love being in another country and all the cultural confusion, but reminders of home in musical form are so comforting and necessary sometimes. The other day Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing" from Armageddon came on in this cafe and it was phenomenal.

Colonia, Uruguay:

Artist Guillermo Tragant in the Recoleta Cultural Center, another place that I've explored and enjoyed.
Side note: I’m considering being an aupair in spain or doing organic faming in argentina for the summer because my options for summer work in the states might be very limited…I’d appreciate thoughts if you have any (if anyone even still reads this). Brain too full to make decisions…

Hopefully getting away to Mendoza and exploring the vineyards will help clear the mind :)

Much love, besos, Sarah