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again, just downstairs.
the 2 broads were just downstairs at our local pizzeria/cafe, after listening to the guy who plays 'girl from impanema' 50 times a day. my attempt to honor 'the sartorialist'.
and perhaps an attempt to affront the sartorialists everywhere, i bought this fantastic hat, made of, i believe, goat hair. it is one hell of an incredible purchase. ms s and i went back and forth, deciding about whether or not to get it, and after making ourselves and everyone around us crack up, we went ahead. it is, perhaps, the best thing ever. the 1st pic is right side in, the 2nd, inside out. amazing. how jealous are you? ask yourself.
i also decided to let my yankee freak-flag fly today, and wear my obama shirt, which got more looks and reactions than anything else i have worn. one woman even took a picture of me. si se puede, indeed!
thanksgiving, and the rest of the world marches on, yankees!
we took class in the morning, talked with other US ex-pats about where to score some pavo, and ate pizza for lunch, napped and then had some salad, watched 2 episodes of BIG LOVE and went to bed. we had class yesterday am, and needed to be shiny to remember how to conjugate. try saying, 'i had been/i have been' en espanol, i dare you. last night, however, some kiwis and some frenchies came over and we wined and then dined on the square where they were doing flamenco (not tango - we now know the difference). amazing. there was a guitarista there that shana was convinced i was going to leave her for, and a dude slapping a box that im convinced shes gonna leave me for. incredible dancing and music and kids and cucarachas the size of rats running around on the ground. this is on a square, so its not in a restaurant and you just accept that theres bugs on the ground.
and the worst, im not kidding when i say the worst service i have ever experienced. europe, mexico, asia, england, NZ... the worst. no shit, 30 minutes between every interaction. asked for the bill and the 6 of us sat there, no shit, for a half an hour before i said, 'lets just go'. at which point we 'promptly' got the bill and left, no shit, a 33 cent tip. now tipping aint what it is in the US, but i have never, even after years of living in england, not left at least 5%. this was a meal that totaled close to $100. 33 cents for you, fuckstick. later. wonderful music, terrible service.
(disclaimer: lest i sound like an over privileged american, i waited tables for 5+ years. and i am one of the most forgiving, and, dare i say, generous tippers in the world. i also understand that this is NOT the US, and that i shouldnt expect things to be the same. i dont, and every other customer service experience in this fine country has been great...this was an isolated incident. and if the young man had spent as much time waiting tables as he had doing his fauxhawk hairdo, i would not be even mentioning it.)
then we teetered around, looking for a bar that TIME OUT said was a take on 1930's shanghai. we found it, it was closed. dammit! then back to our place for more booze and conversations about the state of the world, that fact that the US is not, in fact, that bad, and the conclusion that its best not to live anywhere. we are all going to hell in a handcart. it was late, after all, and the 4 hour 'meal' and the long walk in the heat to nowhere left us all a bit despondent. we threw the 2 couples into taxis and crashed hard. so nice to sleep in on a saturday and have naught to do, like normal, non theater people.
we also figured out why you cant get juice in a carton. youre supposed to squeeze it yourself. so this am (pm), we had fresh juice. now thats some liquid sunshine for ya. actually, theres some sunshine for ya. sorry to bore yall with pictures of the sunset from our balcony, but COMON!
!hola! i cant figure out how to invert the exclamation points...
some pictures of where we are and what we have done. the first one is a sign on our street, about 10 blocks down toward la boca, the 2nd and 3rd were taken in parque lezama, a really sweet park on a saturday afternoon. thats a hardcore band, going crazy in the heat, and a few of their friends hanging out and watching. this was last saturday, and the feeling throughout our little barrio is one of quiet and recuperation. but not in that part of the park, the second pic is of the orthodox (not jewish) church, beautifully well kept and in front of the church is a tango class, and folks are all around, watching it go on, and applauding at the end of every song. a real family vibe, with old folks playing cards, people sleeping under the trees, and couples making out on blankets.
this is in direct contrast to sunday. as i mentioned previously, the din is incredible, just outside our window. its incredibly more busy than a weekday on a sunday, and if you click on the pic, you can see just how far and for how long the sunday market extends. miles and miles of stuff to eat, buy, drink, and see. there are bands of people, 5 accordion players, a piano, a stand-up bass, and at least 5 violinists grooving all over the place, plus the guys right outside who do some classics with guitar and sax. and then the drum parade goes by. for about an hour. people banging the shit out. and they are surprisingly together and connected. not a hippy drum circle, thank christ. people dancing along with them and everyone going nuts from the noise. its a curse and a blessing to be right here. the picture from above was taken right outside of our window.
and of course, theres ms s at the end, drinking her glass of wine on the balcony, in a quiet moment in san telmo...
if you ever get the chance to come here, take an intensive at EXPANISH. the folks there are great, and we had an ex-pat dinner for all the students last night in palermo. the food wasnt the best, but it was great to shake hands with canadians and actually have them approve of our choice of leadership.
ms s and i ended the night with the fastest cab ride i have ever gone on. its mr toads wild ride. im serious. its crazy how fast these dudes drive. im not a nervous passenger, at least not in a car, and i was sweating like crazy, and not from the humidity and heat. i was scared shitless and loving it. its also crazy how wide (10-15 lanes) some of the main streets are. and we were hitting green lights all the way home. it took us 10 minutes to walk to the subte, rode 3 stops, then we changed and rode for another 25 minutes, and then walked for 10 more to get to the restaurant. the cab ride home: 30 pesos and about 7 minutes, door to door. whoosh! a great way to see the city, if you can take everything in. we kept commenting on how much like europe this place is. you hear it all the time, but its really true. there are shades of prague, athens, barcelona...and it also feels like nyc sometimes.
these are 2 sunsets, taken from our balcony. the 2nd one was last night, ushering in a wave of heat that cant be beat. its a wet-heat, friends, not like the warm and dry of our western coasts of america. we sleep with the fan directly on us, the only way to get any kind of reprieve from it.
and we are now in school! for the past 2 mornings, we shlep over 6 blocks to the SUBTE and then 4 stops north to downtown, where we are warmly greeted by teachers and students from all over. hardly any yankees, i only have one in my class, and the rest are frenchies and a shitton of brits, a few kiwis, and a dutchie to round out the international mix. then we get lost on the way back to the subte, get help from locals, who are much nicer than they need be. we were standing on a doorstep, trying to figure out where to go, and this voice comes from behind us and says, 'do you need help with the map?' in perfect english. we are pointed in the right direction, and its all a matter of course for the portenos, they expect a bunch of tourists to be clogging up their already overcrowded sidewalks.
almost got my wallet lifted on the subte this morning, too. im a dumbass, but i thought that having it in a buttoned pocket would be enough. it was 1/2 way out of my pocket when i felt something, and grabbed it just in time. looked around and saw the guy behind me, but there really isnt much to do when youre crushed in arse to elbow the way you are in there during rush hour. lesson learned. in all the years i have been traveling, that is the 2nd time i have ever had that happen. and both times, i caught the guy, mid-act. those kinds of things are preventable, and, to my mind, my own fault. i know better, just gotta act better. as usual.
we are watching BIG LOVE when we dont feel like going out and delighting in all the mormon madness. ms s loves it. polygamy is for the birds, yo. way too many things to worry about. much less taking so much viagra it almost makes you go blind.
off tonight to palermo and a dinner with our ex-pat students and teachers. all food is better here. in fact, most food in the southern hemisphere tastes better. ive said a million times that the coffee in NZ is the best ive ever had. cant wait for more, despite the humidity...
although, they tend to write Bs.As. as the short form down here.
market day, sunday. right now, there are about 50,000 people downstairs and the din from the drums and people yelling and shouting and selling, and some dude selling candy with what looks like a cat in a bag, and squealing like a baby being beaten. its amazing. no sunday afternoon naps here, nor, truthfully, is there much sleeping before 3am for us on the weekends, as portenos tend to go out around 12am, and stay out til the wee hours.
all that said, i love this city. we have been here since wednesday, and we are staying in san telmo, at the corner of defensa and estados unidos. theres an old antiques market half a block from here, and they have everything from old telephones to posters from 'back to the future' in spanish, and today, at the bakers, we saw a 'ghostbusters 2' clock on the wall, still giving the correct time. there are leather bags and a cheesemonger and drunks with bottles of wine at 11am. amazing amounts of old stuff, and, if you know me, i could spend the rest of time going through all of this crap. all kinds of precious nonsense. i love it.
since it was the sunday market, we went down to plaza dorrego, and Ms S got a gorgeous little orange vase, and an alpaca wool hat that might as well have been woven from spider webs, its so light. i found a picture from a photographer mounted on MDF, this picture, actually: http://flickr.com/photos/gaston_tomasetig/2899770275/. incredible.
we begin our spanish lessons tomorrow at expanish in the center (at 9am) and im sure there will be more to report.
time for a drink on the balcony, dammit.
again, just downstairs.
