!Tranquilo!

First thing today I bumped into my friend Pablo in the kitchen and he said something to the effect of, “What’s your plan for today? I’m sure you’ve got something going on, you always do!” And I thought, YIKES, I’ve already managed to establish this reputation in 4 weeks of living in a foreign country. And in a foreign country where “go, go, go” isn’t exactly the traditional lifestyle. This past week I haven’t even left myself the time to write a blog. After this conversation in the kitchen, I decided to plant myself on the back porch with my book and my journal and spend the day doing nothing in particular. Running from place to place and activity to activity is not the way I want to spend a year in Argentina! I am going to make a conscious effort to calm my tendency to over commit and over “do”. So what kept me so busy this week?

-For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been taking 20 hours/week of group Spanish classes. I’m done now, but I’m still going to continue taking private lessons with my really fabulous teacher, Florencia. If anyone decides to come to Buenos Aires and study Spanish, I highly recommend my school, Expanish. It’s a lovely place with a terrific staff. This week I spent more time with people from the school—figured I’d make some connections with folks before the end of my time there. Check.

-I got a job with an American company called VivaTranscriptions. Basically, doctors send in audio dictations and this company hires out people to transcribe them. I’m not transcribing (thank god), I’m just correcting the dictations. Though I’m sure it will be about as boring as it gets, it’s perfect for me because it’s so flexible! I can work as many or as few hours per week as I fancy, and I can travel! I can do my job from somewhere else, or I can pass up work for any given amount of time. The office, peopled by 20 and 30-something-aged American dudes, is very laid back and friendly. I start tomorrow. PERFECTO!

-I went to a yoga class. I need to find a new yoga class. I got more exercise walking the 10 blocks to the gym than I did in the hour-long session. Upon entering the studio, I was greeted by another student who was approximately 80 years old, and then the teacher asked me why I had such a thin mat (the ones everyone else used were about 4 inches thick)… bad signs. We never stood up once.

-I don’t need to run down all of my nighttime exploits, but I will say a few things. I’ve now gone to 2 different places which are bars/restaurants/parties inside someone’s house. It’s really a spectacular thing! The food is great, the atmosphere colorful, and the entertainment extraordinary! At one place, we ended up dancing to a 4 piece live band comprised of Spanish guitar, trumpet, trombone and vocals. The musicians jumped up and down in the middle of the room while people danced around them. They played and sang their hearts out—after just one song they were all sweating profusely. At one point the trombone player actually crashed right into me. The energy in the room could’ve knocked me over if he hadn’t. That night it sunk in that I’m not in Kansas anymore…

A tremendous modern tango band played at the other house/restaurant hybrid. I mean FABULOUS! Really, there’s nothing like finding yourself in a tiny room with this kind of thing! In Buenos Aires, you just never know what you will encounter when you walk into a room at night.

Earlier in the week I met a guy named Marcelo who told me that he plays for a progressive rock band. When I was able to list off a couple of his influences he jumped from his chair, hugged me, and I was his new best friend. He told me to come to his show Saturday night, so I got a group of friends together and went. It was AWESOME! The show was in a theater, and everyone stayed seated the whole time. The singer could wail, the guitarist could shred, and my buddy Marcelo could really rock those keys! Apparently this group, Fughu, opened for Dream Theater when they played in Buenos Aires. It’s not my usual style of music, but they are really freakin’ good at what they do. The artistic talent pool here is astounding. A couple weeks ago I saw theatrical/acrobatic show-type-thing. I can’t even categorize anything. The whole thing was gorgeous and the performers were no joke! These people could do incredible things on all manner of strange circus equipment. The entry fee? 15 pesos, which amounts to 5 USD.

Maria and her friends started a soccer team in a women’s league, and she invited me to join. We play on Saturdays, and we stink to high heaven. But it’s great to get out and run around. We won our first game 8-0 because our opposition, uniformed in pink tank tops, was just about as girly as it gets. I could have broken any one of them in half with my left pinky toe. And my right pinky toe is definitely the dominant one. Yesterday we faced far more formidable opponents and lost 2-3. Go Mediapila! (Go Half-Battery!)

I went to a tango class last Sunday, but I think I’ve had quite enough of that. It’s almost obligatory to give it a try here in Argentina, but I’m pretty sure it’s just not my bag. Most of the people in the huge class could actually tango, and I hardly had the opportunity to learn the basic step before I had men grabbing me for a dance. Each subsequent partner enjoyed 3 minutes of extreme frustration with my inability to flick my leg correctly. They implored me, “Bailar! Bailar! (Dance! Dance!)”, and seemed quite unsatisfied with my explanation that I didn’t know how. Call me cold, but I just don’t really enjoy dancing cheek to cheek with strangers.

I didn’t completely succeed in my goal to stay home today. During the writing of this blog, I accepted Pablo’s invitation to go run errands. But I was close! I’m gonna keep at it. Maybe I will become perfectly satisfied lying on a 4-inch mat next to an 80-year-old woman for an hour of light stretching. Maybe as the months go by my blogs will get shorter and shorter, and eventually I will write you just 3 sentences summarizing a week of complete solitude! Maybe after a year I will be holed up with monks somewhere “doing” nothing but breathing in and out!! Maybe just working towards some level of balance would be good.

What I Think I’ve Learned About Argentina #3:

- People here love to talk about politics!

- People here love to ask you how old you are! (And for some reason, most people think I’m about 5 years younger than I am).

- People here talk excitedly about all kinds of future plans, but only about 10% actually come to pass. I’ve learned not to count on anything, and not to get my feelings hurt when someone doesn’t follow through. I think it’s rude to say “no” here so everyone just says “yes” to everything, often with no real intention behind it.