Tango is probably one of the parts of Argentina that is most associated with the country. A lot of the exchange student I´ve talked to mention it when asked why they chose to come to Argentina. It was also a factor in my putting Argentina on the top of the Rotary list, so I got a little worried when I read in Yasmin´s blog (yasmininpatagonia.blogsopt.com if I remember correctly) that people were telling here that tango is mostly done in Buenos Aires and I was even more worried when my seatmate on the plane mentioned that tango was for tourists and there was a ¨real tango¨that Actual Argentinians dance. I figured that no one would encourage me to find a place to learn to tango!
I was very wrong. Ana Lia of Rotary actually wanted us ALL to take lessons, so with her blessing, I ended up in La Peña, a small building across from Colegio Nacional, at 8 p.m. this past Monday.
When we walked in (Elie, Eugenia and I had taken the bus there) the dance floor was filled with elemenraty school aged kids, partnered up and doing a bang up job on a tango combination. When they finished, we payed the entrance fee (22 pesos for a month of lessons, roughly $7.33) and were introduced to Martín, tango efficionado, and a few other people who were there to dance and instruct.
I wouldn´t call what we did a dance lesson (just learning steps), nor would I call it a contra dance lesson (jumping into a line with some good dancers and figuring it out as you go along) but it was somewhere in between. A lady taught us three basic moves: the Basic, which consists of 8 steps with a turnish part on the 5th that I still need to practice; a six step figure that doesn´t have the trunish part, it reminded me of something that you would see a 50s footprint chart of; and the Ocho, a step turn that the ladies do right after the 5th step of the Basic.
After that, we were sent off to practice the steps and every once in a while one of the 4 male instructors would come by to dance with us. It was a fun way to learn, but tango is really hard for me. As I said, I kept on getting mixed up with how my weight was supposed to be in the 5th step Basic, and most of the time I would get a toe stepped on of get corrected mid dance. It was a little frustrating because contra dance is so easy and so effortless and so fun and because of that I have it in my head that I can dance anything, but there I was, in the arms of a gorgeous Argentinian dancer and I KEPT MESSING UP.
But even so, there was one instrucor who knew how to lead so that I could follow and the couple dances I had with him were just incredible. To compare it to contras, there are some people who know how to move you just right. Those are the few dancers with whom you can do a triple twirl on every turn and, to add to it, you can give them a twirl as well. They´re the ones who you keep dancing with when you´re out at the end of the set because the calls just don´t have enough swinging for the two of you, and even if they´re not your close friends, they´re the people you know you´ll have a dance with every time you see them because you simply love how they move. That was what it was like, and it was absolutely impossible not to feel completely confident and beautiful with this new dance.
So, needless to say, I am looking forward to going back on Thursday and working on that darn 5th step, and maybe learning something to bring back to the Grange halls.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
SCHOOL
So many things have been happening lately ¿along with realizing that my exclamation point key comes out like this ª and my parenthases are actually question marks?
Oh well.
Rotary has finally been kicking into action, which was great for me, because it`s given me an oppoutunity to get out of the house and make some friends. I went out for chipas and juice with a girl from Switzerland at a cafe near the park and plaza in the center of Resistencia. I would love to talk about what Switzerland is like, but really we mostly talked about getting used to the city and learning Spanish. Her Spanish was excellent after 6 months of being here, but she said she was pretty fluent after 2, so that gives me some good hope.
That same day we went to a returned student`s house to meet all of the other exchange students... or exchange girls, I should say, because none of the in country exchange students are boys! We had a lot of fun talking about Rotary, and talking about not gaining weight, whích seems unavoidable, but since I don`t know where the scale is in this house, nor the converstaion from pounds to kilos, I have decided not to worry. We also did some of the infamous Rotary pin trading, which was pretty sweet. My only complaint was that the Rotary rep who was there acted like she didn`t think I could speak Spanish, and I have to be honest with you guys, I feel pretty confident in my skills at the moment. I know, I don`t speak WELL, but I know that I can get my point across and I understand most of what goes on around me. But for her point of view, she was probably trying to keep me comfortable, so I try not to worry too much.
There is another girl here from the US! We had to prepare a song to sing at our first Rotary meeting, which is tomorrow, so yesterday all the Resistencia exchange student who were from or had visited the states got together and worked out a song at Ele`s house, Ele being the one from Iowa. It was a lot of fun to hang out with people closer to my age singing and playing music.
When we were done practicing, we all went out to hang out at Saramiento, which is a highway where they play music on Sunday nights and all these kids go and stand around with their motorcycles. But. In Resistencia, all the heavy traffic two lane roads are divided by a big strip of grass and sidewalk where people run and hang out and, in the center of the city, take a gander at the statues that we`re famous for... locally famous.... tour book famous, etc.
BUT. The most exciteing thing that went on recently was MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EN RESISTENCIA, CHACO, ARGENTINA.
IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME.
I actually have switched classes so that Içm in with some people I know, and the girl from Iowa. It truned out to be a really good decision because as soon as I walked into the classroom, Bianca`s novio, Nahuel, who knows just about every Beatles song in the book, shouted HANNAH! and made me feel considerably more at home. ALL of the girls in the class came up and introduced themselves, and I regret to say that I only know a few names. People here don`t go `Hi! I`m so and so!` they kind of just say their name in your ear as they give you a kiss kiss on either cheek, so sometimes I`m left without a clue of who I just kissed, but usually it turns out alright, as it did today.
El Colegio Nacional, the highschool that I attend is a big square building of three stories with classroom all around the perimeter and a big open space on the inside. Students stay in the same room all day, although we do change for Italian, and are with the same group of people for all 5 years of their education. THIS IS NOT AMERICAN EDUCATION.
Our first class was Chem, and we basically took notes and did a few problems. This was great for me because I did chem in 10th grade and, thank goodness for Señora, am pretty good at dictated Spanish. I actually wasn`t really planning on studying, but I took notes and everything, because what else do you do in class? Actually, everyone talked the entire period, they moved their desks around, they borrowed notes and looked on with each other and it was wicked loud, but you could tell that everyone was learning. And they were impressed, or at least amused, by the fact that I took notes, especially when they noticed the occasional insertion of no sè, no sè when I missed part of the dictation.
After that, se got a break, and duing the break, everyone is out in the halls talking and going from class to class. People kept asking me questions about everything and some of the boys from Bruno`s party and Bianca`s friends came over to say hi to me, which was nice.
History was less fun because the teacher came in and basically picked on students to start at a point in history and talk from there on. I didn`t understand everything, so I drew some pictures.
In our break after history, Franco and Yago, again ya conocidos, took me around the school and showed my the different levels and the courtyard where they have sports. They also decided to mention which were the good classes and which ones were not so good as we went by.
The next class, Bio, was a complete wreck. Something happened with the teacher and a student I DON`T KNOW WHAT and then the teacher walked out and everyone was talking and then someone came to egt the kid and then someone else came in and got mad at the class and then realized it was the wrong class and as soon as sc´he closed the door EVERYONE started laughing, which just made the whole situation really silly. BUt when the teacher got back, I guess she announced that there would be a test on Tueseday, but since they had just missed class, EVERYONE got into a huge uproar about it, and their was all this shouting going on and hand waving (since most of the kids are Italian by heritage, everyone does the fingertips to thumb hand shaking thing). At the time, I had no idea what was going on. I figured since it was my first day, it didnçt have much to do with me, so I just treated it as a learning experience `Understanding Under Pressure`or something like that.
Our final class was ,usic, can you believe that? I really enjoyed it because it was kind of a history class and they talked about where certain types of music came from and then we all had to use triplet combinations to write a bar of 3-4 and 4-4 time. So that was good.
I have tango class tonight, for the first time, and school tomorrow, so things are going well!!
Oh well.
Rotary has finally been kicking into action, which was great for me, because it`s given me an oppoutunity to get out of the house and make some friends. I went out for chipas and juice with a girl from Switzerland at a cafe near the park and plaza in the center of Resistencia. I would love to talk about what Switzerland is like, but really we mostly talked about getting used to the city and learning Spanish. Her Spanish was excellent after 6 months of being here, but she said she was pretty fluent after 2, so that gives me some good hope.
That same day we went to a returned student`s house to meet all of the other exchange students... or exchange girls, I should say, because none of the in country exchange students are boys! We had a lot of fun talking about Rotary, and talking about not gaining weight, whích seems unavoidable, but since I don`t know where the scale is in this house, nor the converstaion from pounds to kilos, I have decided not to worry. We also did some of the infamous Rotary pin trading, which was pretty sweet. My only complaint was that the Rotary rep who was there acted like she didn`t think I could speak Spanish, and I have to be honest with you guys, I feel pretty confident in my skills at the moment. I know, I don`t speak WELL, but I know that I can get my point across and I understand most of what goes on around me. But for her point of view, she was probably trying to keep me comfortable, so I try not to worry too much.
There is another girl here from the US! We had to prepare a song to sing at our first Rotary meeting, which is tomorrow, so yesterday all the Resistencia exchange student who were from or had visited the states got together and worked out a song at Ele`s house, Ele being the one from Iowa. It was a lot of fun to hang out with people closer to my age singing and playing music.
When we were done practicing, we all went out to hang out at Saramiento, which is a highway where they play music on Sunday nights and all these kids go and stand around with their motorcycles. But. In Resistencia, all the heavy traffic two lane roads are divided by a big strip of grass and sidewalk where people run and hang out and, in the center of the city, take a gander at the statues that we`re famous for... locally famous.... tour book famous, etc.
BUT. The most exciteing thing that went on recently was MY FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL EN RESISTENCIA, CHACO, ARGENTINA.
IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME.
I actually have switched classes so that Içm in with some people I know, and the girl from Iowa. It truned out to be a really good decision because as soon as I walked into the classroom, Bianca`s novio, Nahuel, who knows just about every Beatles song in the book, shouted HANNAH! and made me feel considerably more at home. ALL of the girls in the class came up and introduced themselves, and I regret to say that I only know a few names. People here don`t go `Hi! I`m so and so!` they kind of just say their name in your ear as they give you a kiss kiss on either cheek, so sometimes I`m left without a clue of who I just kissed, but usually it turns out alright, as it did today.
El Colegio Nacional, the highschool that I attend is a big square building of three stories with classroom all around the perimeter and a big open space on the inside. Students stay in the same room all day, although we do change for Italian, and are with the same group of people for all 5 years of their education. THIS IS NOT AMERICAN EDUCATION.
Our first class was Chem, and we basically took notes and did a few problems. This was great for me because I did chem in 10th grade and, thank goodness for Señora, am pretty good at dictated Spanish. I actually wasn`t really planning on studying, but I took notes and everything, because what else do you do in class? Actually, everyone talked the entire period, they moved their desks around, they borrowed notes and looked on with each other and it was wicked loud, but you could tell that everyone was learning. And they were impressed, or at least amused, by the fact that I took notes, especially when they noticed the occasional insertion of no sè, no sè when I missed part of the dictation.
After that, se got a break, and duing the break, everyone is out in the halls talking and going from class to class. People kept asking me questions about everything and some of the boys from Bruno`s party and Bianca`s friends came over to say hi to me, which was nice.
History was less fun because the teacher came in and basically picked on students to start at a point in history and talk from there on. I didn`t understand everything, so I drew some pictures.
In our break after history, Franco and Yago, again ya conocidos, took me around the school and showed my the different levels and the courtyard where they have sports. They also decided to mention which were the good classes and which ones were not so good as we went by.
The next class, Bio, was a complete wreck. Something happened with the teacher and a student I DON`T KNOW WHAT and then the teacher walked out and everyone was talking and then someone came to egt the kid and then someone else came in and got mad at the class and then realized it was the wrong class and as soon as sc´he closed the door EVERYONE started laughing, which just made the whole situation really silly. BUt when the teacher got back, I guess she announced that there would be a test on Tueseday, but since they had just missed class, EVERYONE got into a huge uproar about it, and their was all this shouting going on and hand waving (since most of the kids are Italian by heritage, everyone does the fingertips to thumb hand shaking thing). At the time, I had no idea what was going on. I figured since it was my first day, it didnçt have much to do with me, so I just treated it as a learning experience `Understanding Under Pressure`or something like that.
Our final class was ,usic, can you believe that? I really enjoyed it because it was kind of a history class and they talked about where certain types of music came from and then we all had to use triplet combinations to write a bar of 3-4 and 4-4 time. So that was good.
I have tango class tonight, for the first time, and school tomorrow, so things are going well!!
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Hey! I re-found my blog!
Well, I thought I had lost it!!
So, For all of you guys out there in the US or where ever you are, here´s what´s been happening the past few days.
The travel agent finally got my papers in and booked my flight for this past Thursday, which I was a little conflicted about since I wanted to go to the Dawn Dand which was SO CLOSE, but I think it´s a good thing that I got out of the country, since I was really just in limbo there.
The flight went well; there were really no mishaps. Ma and DAddo dropped me off at the airport and there were some tears, but there was a nice man in the customs line who just kept talking and asking me questions and pretty soon my mind was off missing peopele. The flight to DAllas went well and we even got a movie!!
In Dallas, I met up with another exchange student who was a really cool girl. She is actually doing a bi-weekly travel column for here local newspaper from here in Argentina. The flight to Buenos Aires was really long, but I didn´get some sleep in the teeny tiny seat I was assigned. Those political cartoons about air travel really have it right.
Flying in over BS AS was crazy, the city looks huge from teh air and is accentuated by the fact that, other than in the cities, there really aren´t that many small towns. It´s not like in the states where you can see the lights of one city while you´re flying over another. Here, there are just big streches of land with nothing nothing nothing.
We went through customs, which was terrifying for me simply because I worry irrationally sometimes, BUT I was missing a paper that I was supposed to get from the Embassy that the travel agent hadn´t given me! So I had to wait for probably 10 minutes (it felt like longer) while the officials went into the back room and verufied that I was not an international criminal.
We took the bus to Aeroparque, the domestic airport, which was cool because it gave us a chance to see a little of BS AS. From the airport, the city seems to grow out f the ground. First there are fields and lots of horses, then these ramshakle pueblo esque houses with laudry hanging everywhere and lots of color, then more modern looking buildings, churches, bridges, and finally you get to the center of the city and there is gorgeous architecture and statues and, well, everything that you see in the tour books. The flight to Corrienes was fine and when we got to the airport (which is under cunstruction and currently housed in a two room building) Rosana, Bianca and her friend Elen were waiting for me with a big welcome sign.
We drove though Corrientes to their home in Resistencia which is an absolutely beautiful house. What surprised me though, is that the whole ward and house right up to the sidewalk is walled in. They tell me that there are a lot of robbers in the city. Most of the houses on Monteagudo and the surrounding area are outfitted the same way.
The night I got there, I hung ou with Bianca and here friends and played music and talked and then, at about 11 (2300) when Horacio, my host dad, came home, we went out for dinner. I was so tired by that time that they basically ordered for me and I don´t think I contributed to the conversation at all, but the food was delicious and I think my family understood that I was a little out of it.
It´s coustomary here to stay out until all hours, especially on the weekend. on Saturday night, I went with Bianca and BRuno (my host siblings) to a local concert in the city, then Bianca and I came home and went almost directly back out to a party at a friend´s house where there was an excellent guitarist playing. He played tango and bossa nova (with an excellent Brazillian singer accompanying him) and also sang some Guarani, the native language of this area. It was a great time, but we were out until 3 (0300) and I was so tired that I didn´t really appreciate the last hour of music. I just wanted to sleep.
On Sunday morning, the whole family was over for Sunday lunch. There were counsis and aunts and uncles, and I don´t think I remeber everyone´s name. BUT we ate asado, which was absolutely delicious. I also drank mate with the abuela. Mate is a traditional Rio de la Plata/ Rio Panara herbal drink and I would have to say that it is... interesting. But so many peple drink it here, you seee people with the traditional cup and straw with a thermos of hot water under there arm in the street, in the park, in the supermarket.
Also in all the streets are horses. People cart around old lumber and wire and other materials in horse drawn carts and at night they let the horses graze by the side of the road.
Last night was Bruno´s brithday party and my first exposure to younger people other than Bianca´s friends (who are very sweet and inclusive and generally girls). So, those of you who know me might not be surprised to hear that I was a little shy and a less than super outgoing in a room filled with about 20 young men watching futbol. At the moment, I understand what people say and can respond well when they are talking directly at me, or in a small group of people, but a conversation with a lot of people goes right over my head. So it took quite a bit of time for me to walk into the room and sit down, butluckily, when I did, I sat down next to one of the friendliest, most outgoing boys in the room who immediately turned to me pointed to the boy next to him and said, in Spanish ¨Do you have a boyfriend? Because he has a girlfriend, but he thinks you´re prettier¨an announcement that was hailed by said neighbor with shouts of ¨mentiras! mentiras!¨ and general laughter. After that, the boy next to me, who goes by Leche, and a bunch of others spent most of the night trying to teach me new words (Rosana told them to behave themselves) joking around with each other (generally telling me that one or the other was un maricon) and asking questions about music, and the US. It really turned out to be a lot of fun. And, I don´t know if I mentioned this, but Argentinias go to be really late... I was in bed last night at 4:40 and I don´t think all the guests had left yet.
So generally, things are going great here! It´s really a lot of fun :)
So, For all of you guys out there in the US or where ever you are, here´s what´s been happening the past few days.
The travel agent finally got my papers in and booked my flight for this past Thursday, which I was a little conflicted about since I wanted to go to the Dawn Dand which was SO CLOSE, but I think it´s a good thing that I got out of the country, since I was really just in limbo there.
The flight went well; there were really no mishaps. Ma and DAddo dropped me off at the airport and there were some tears, but there was a nice man in the customs line who just kept talking and asking me questions and pretty soon my mind was off missing peopele. The flight to DAllas went well and we even got a movie!!
In Dallas, I met up with another exchange student who was a really cool girl. She is actually doing a bi-weekly travel column for here local newspaper from here in Argentina. The flight to Buenos Aires was really long, but I didn´get some sleep in the teeny tiny seat I was assigned. Those political cartoons about air travel really have it right.
Flying in over BS AS was crazy, the city looks huge from teh air and is accentuated by the fact that, other than in the cities, there really aren´t that many small towns. It´s not like in the states where you can see the lights of one city while you´re flying over another. Here, there are just big streches of land with nothing nothing nothing.
We went through customs, which was terrifying for me simply because I worry irrationally sometimes, BUT I was missing a paper that I was supposed to get from the Embassy that the travel agent hadn´t given me! So I had to wait for probably 10 minutes (it felt like longer) while the officials went into the back room and verufied that I was not an international criminal.
We took the bus to Aeroparque, the domestic airport, which was cool because it gave us a chance to see a little of BS AS. From the airport, the city seems to grow out f the ground. First there are fields and lots of horses, then these ramshakle pueblo esque houses with laudry hanging everywhere and lots of color, then more modern looking buildings, churches, bridges, and finally you get to the center of the city and there is gorgeous architecture and statues and, well, everything that you see in the tour books. The flight to Corrienes was fine and when we got to the airport (which is under cunstruction and currently housed in a two room building) Rosana, Bianca and her friend Elen were waiting for me with a big welcome sign.
We drove though Corrientes to their home in Resistencia which is an absolutely beautiful house. What surprised me though, is that the whole ward and house right up to the sidewalk is walled in. They tell me that there are a lot of robbers in the city. Most of the houses on Monteagudo and the surrounding area are outfitted the same way.
The night I got there, I hung ou with Bianca and here friends and played music and talked and then, at about 11 (2300) when Horacio, my host dad, came home, we went out for dinner. I was so tired by that time that they basically ordered for me and I don´t think I contributed to the conversation at all, but the food was delicious and I think my family understood that I was a little out of it.
It´s coustomary here to stay out until all hours, especially on the weekend. on Saturday night, I went with Bianca and BRuno (my host siblings) to a local concert in the city, then Bianca and I came home and went almost directly back out to a party at a friend´s house where there was an excellent guitarist playing. He played tango and bossa nova (with an excellent Brazillian singer accompanying him) and also sang some Guarani, the native language of this area. It was a great time, but we were out until 3 (0300) and I was so tired that I didn´t really appreciate the last hour of music. I just wanted to sleep.
On Sunday morning, the whole family was over for Sunday lunch. There were counsis and aunts and uncles, and I don´t think I remeber everyone´s name. BUT we ate asado, which was absolutely delicious. I also drank mate with the abuela. Mate is a traditional Rio de la Plata/ Rio Panara herbal drink and I would have to say that it is... interesting. But so many peple drink it here, you seee people with the traditional cup and straw with a thermos of hot water under there arm in the street, in the park, in the supermarket.
Also in all the streets are horses. People cart around old lumber and wire and other materials in horse drawn carts and at night they let the horses graze by the side of the road.
Last night was Bruno´s brithday party and my first exposure to younger people other than Bianca´s friends (who are very sweet and inclusive and generally girls). So, those of you who know me might not be surprised to hear that I was a little shy and a less than super outgoing in a room filled with about 20 young men watching futbol. At the moment, I understand what people say and can respond well when they are talking directly at me, or in a small group of people, but a conversation with a lot of people goes right over my head. So it took quite a bit of time for me to walk into the room and sit down, butluckily, when I did, I sat down next to one of the friendliest, most outgoing boys in the room who immediately turned to me pointed to the boy next to him and said, in Spanish ¨Do you have a boyfriend? Because he has a girlfriend, but he thinks you´re prettier¨an announcement that was hailed by said neighbor with shouts of ¨mentiras! mentiras!¨ and general laughter. After that, the boy next to me, who goes by Leche, and a bunch of others spent most of the night trying to teach me new words (Rosana told them to behave themselves) joking around with each other (generally telling me that one or the other was un maricon) and asking questions about music, and the US. It really turned out to be a lot of fun. And, I don´t know if I mentioned this, but Argentinias go to be really late... I was in bed last night at 4:40 and I don´t think all the guests had left yet.
So generally, things are going great here! It´s really a lot of fun :)
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