Buenos Aires: Baile y português. El pensador.

Hola amigos,

My grandparents gave me money to buy a camera as an early birthday gift. ¡Muchísimas gracias, abuelos! I haven't been this excited about a gift since the Colonial American Girl doll I got when I was 10. My picture-taking spree began immediately as soon as the battery was charged. Me encanta mi cámara (I really love my camera) and have been having a lot of fun!

I've started learning Brazilian Portuguese, minha linguagem favorita do mundo (my favorite language in the world), using Live Mocha and some podcasts. It's similar to Spanish, and I can understand a lot, but I want to drastically improve my communication skills. So far I've learned lots of basic vocabulary and pronunciation rules. I set my camera's language to Portuguese and have been speaking portuñol, haha. If you know of any great Brazilian songs or movies, or friends I can practice speaking with, let me know! =)

Other than taking pictures e aprendendo português, I've been reading, writing, and editing and hanging out with friends. I've been feeling a bit like this (The Thinker): not sure what my next enterprise will be. Suggestions, anyone?

Last week I planned to go to el Museo la Ene, a new contemporary art museum that a friend of a friend curates, with Nam. On our way there, though, we ran into a huge crowd with torches, signs, and instruments. It turned out to be an homage to Evita, a famous Argentinean first lady, and we decided to stay and watch. I will post the pictures from the homage soon. There were fireworks, music (mostly la marcha peronista, haha), and I got to hear the president speak.

Another foiled plan I had was to see "Metropolis," a classic movie from the 1920's which they recently recovered lost footage from. I went with Camilo, who I met at the homage to Evita. Since tickets to the movie turned out to be sold out, we went to the Museo Metropólito instead and walked around Palermo. It wasn't what we had in mind, but it was fun. Palermo is, in general, like a giant shopping mall, but I love all the parks and flower kiosks there!

One of the major highlights of my week (and possibly my year) was the dance show I saw at El Caminito: part tango and part danza gauchesca. These pictures don't do it justice! It was one of the best dance shows I've ever seen.

I will have to find some more salsa-dancing friends so I can continue spinning around like this. =)

Other than that, Nam and I went to Congreso to take pictures and at empanadas at La Americana, and on Sunday went to the feria (Nam's last this time around!); Jorge, Jun and I had a pizza night; I went to the Joan Miró-themed café I've had my eye on (I especially loved a painting that says "A painting is never finished: only abandoned); and Jun introduced me to Hugh Laurie's blues CD** (I fell in love instantly!).

I also saw two great movies with Jorge and Leo: "I Killed My Mother" (France) and "Revolution: The Crossing of the Andes" (Argentina). Both were great and had really nice cinematography!