Año nuevo

Hola todos,

Last week I met a Peruvian salsa instructor named Santos. We went to a beginners' tango lesson (free for us because the instructors are his friends) and learned basic tango steps in a big warehouse decorated with paintings and sculptures (the place is called Para el orto and has a chair museum, too). It was a lot of fun! I met a Dutch woman doctor there, too!

Later in the week we went to Uniclub for salsa night. Before dancing, we hung out with some of Santos' Peruvian friends and drank beer Peruvian-style, passing one cup between us like the Argentines do with mate (tea). I couldn't understand everything they said because Peruvian Spanish is a lot different than Argentine Spanish, but they were buenas ondas (cool people / good vibes).

At Uniclub, Santos and I danced right in front of the stage. He twirled me and himself around like a pro. It was really a lot of fun!

On New Year's Eve Day I hung out with Fede. We took a long walk, saw a bunch of embassies and a fancy horse race track, ate lunch and ice cream at a mall (never eat lunch at an Argentine mall... it's always at least two times smaller than advertised), and sat in the shade at a park. He gave me three books he thought I'd like: a Buenos Aires arts map, Stories of the Boulevard, and Gallery 3, a story and poetry review. I'm really excited about them! They are great, and I was just thinking that I wanted something new to read.

Here are some of the things we saw on our walk:

The Hipódromo Argentino: the very fancy Argentine race track.

Fede thought I was crazy for taking this picture, but I thought it was cute that the father and his hijito matched. There was another cute photo opp of two girls sitting in chairs on opposite sides and eating suckers, but I missed it!

I love flower kiosks!

This is a beautiful mosque and cultural center.

At night I went to Santos' family New Year's party. They cooked parrilla (Argentine BBQ) and made a traditional New Year's cocktail drink. We sat on the roof with his family's giant dog (he looked like a black bear!) and watched fireworks, which are traditional here for New Year's! We could see the whole neighborhood as we talked, salsa danced, and chatted with the other people who came and went.

On New Year's Day, everything was closed. I was surprised, because on both Christmas and Christmas Eve, a bunch of stores and restaurants had been open. Since there wasn't much food at Santos' house, I cooked him and his friend Antonio some miso soup.

It was a very exotic meal for them, but they liked it! We had a great time making jokes about our experiences as foreigners and English pronunciation. They are funny: they exaggerate everything and use their entire bodies while telling stories.

I found out that most people in South America are convinced that Beeks Baporu is a medicine that helps with congestion and chest pains and that Madone-ah is a world-famous pop diva. If you say "Vick's Vapor" or "Madonna," they don't have any idea what you're talking about! Likewise, when Antonio kept repeating "Beeks Baporu," I guessed that he was saying "Viva el Perú," not Vick's Vapor!

Later that day we went to Antonio's girlfriend Ariela's house to drink mate tea, eat homemade pizza (it was delicious: the sauce tasted like barbecue sauce), and watch some movies: a documentary about Bob Marley (he's extremely popular here) and the action movie "Constantine." She's a buena onda, too. She has two adorable cats, and most of the things in her house are monogrammed A for Ariela.

After that, I caught up on sleep and work, went to the post office here for the first time (and found out about the looong lines there), did some laundry, and got a few calls for jobs!

My new year so far has been great! Most exciting for me is that this will be the year that I graduate! It is really in sight now, and I absolutely can't wait! =)

¡Felíz año!
Kaeli