Friday, January 16, 2009

Congresso pictures are wonderful. Pizza is wonderful(ler).

Bloggin’ away. I’m sitting here at this little pizza/pasta place (night time). It’s called Roma, I believe. And it’s in Congresso (area’s name); called such because I have this spectacular view of the Congress building. It is amazing. I could probably spend all day (and even more so, all night) taking pictures of this building. I want to go inside! Very badly. After I learn more Spanish, I’ll figure out how to ask, “hey, is it cool if I walk around in there?”, pointing my fingers up the marble (or some sort of stone) stairs. I doubt they’d say yes, but I would try regardless. I’ll report back on this little adventure slash goal slash dream slash naive notion. Wanna see some day shots of the area? Do see:


But!!!, today was great. I had class. Yes I had class. I made it. Yesterday, I did not. My didn’t hear my alarm. Or wait, did I? I have tiny bits of memory that say I hit snooze several times. And on the last time, I turned the alarm off and told myself, “ok, it’s time to get up,” but fell back asleep instead. I donna know.

Today was different. I woke up. Took a shower (much needed after a long sweaty day running AND night existing in my mucho, mucho calor apartment). Had a bowl of oats and dried fruits, accompanied by the new, beautifully tasting Ades soy milk I’ve discovered at the Disco. Thanks Julieta #2 and friend (I forgot his name).

(P.S. Dig this, it’s happening right now, and it happened already today at “The Coffee Shop”… dudes or kids stop by your table, wherever you are and drop little gadgets or cards explaining their handicap and walk away. They just leave it on your table and walk away. Then, minutes later, come back, hoping that you’ll buy whatever they left. Just now, a book nite-light was left. It’s actually really nice. And I would use it if I were reading late, after my mate was attempting to sleep. But that’s not the case. I have my own room and bed and can stay awake reading as long as I want. …..update, two minutes later: two of the folks here bought this dude’s book lights! That’s great!!! Dig it, the first time I’ve seen cats buy this stuff.)

Class today. Learned a lot. Ay Dios mio!!!, and the new vocabulary. Today I described characteristics of family members (and my favorite music person…what came to mind today? Well, even though I listened to Avishai Cohen’s Continuo, Yesterday’s New Quintet (the Stevie Wonder record) and Todd Sickafoose’s Tiny Resistors, I choose Henrik Gorecki. I love him. I love him. If you have a moment (OR SEVERAL), please make sure you listen to his most famed, Symphony No. 3. Have a calm place for this listening excursion. Class was great! Today, we had a new teacher, and I dug him; very animated and excited and down-to-earth and such.

After class, I walked around the area, Madero. Walked down Florida st., again. A street I really don’t enjoy, but lots and lots (mostly tourists) love. They must, because they are everywhere. Alas, I went to an ATM, because, ummm, I HAVE NO CASH WHATSOEVER on me. I haven’t for a couple of days. I’ve run out of the US dollars I brought with me (exchanged for pesos, of course). And I haven’t figured out the best method for getting Bank of America to give me more US$, so I can change it to pesos. (AND WAIT, is Bank of America asking for a US government bail out?!??!?!?!?!?! I read that on someone’s FaceBook status today and was totally confused. I didn’t have time to research what could possibly be MORE and MORE NON-SENSE! Fill me in…)

So, I a CitiBank, they’re stateside, right? I tried their ATM for cash flow. They said no. Wait, they said Bank of America said no. (P.S. I just asked my waitress the name of this restaurant, AND IN SPANISH!!!. It’s called Napoles…. I dig. And I’ll tell you why later.) No cash for me. And I was very hungry. Matthew gets hungry a lot when he’s exercising regularly. And he is.

Few blocks later. Corner of eye. Itau (name of bank, as I recall. But could be wrong) had an ATM that had the U$S symbol plastered on it. Odd. Interesting. I investigated. And lucky me, it took my ATM card, I thought. All the menu options were in Spanish, and they were all words I hadn’t learned in my first three days of basic Spanish classes, but I still just pushed buttons. And you know what? Out popped a 100 in pesos! Awesome. Now, I have no idea what sort of charges I inflicted. I have no idea what exchange rate this or my bank was using, but I was hungry and I needed $$$. And I got it.

Headed over to CBC, as it’s nicknamed. It’s a BURRITO shop!!!!! And yes, I knew about it. A friend (Leah) of a friend (Margot) introduced me via email to her friend back in November. He’s Jordan and he moved to BA. He then started a little burrito shop. I sought it out. Chose a burrito, by pointing (like at Chipotle or Subway) and saying, “aqui”, which means “here.” (side note on “aqui”: in most Spanish speaking spots, aqui is pronounced “ah-key”. NOT HERE! It’s pronounced, “ah-kah”. And that’s what I said/say, cause, like, I’m learning Spanish in Buenos Aires, and not Brasil, or Mexico, or the United States, or Spain. ‘tis fun indeed.) I didn’t actually meet Jordan, but the burrito was yum. And since it’s close to my school, I’ll probably hit it up again. Oh, and again. Have I mentioned yet, that I miss burritos? No (or you don’t remember)? Well, guess what? I MISS BURRITOS!!! (even though I haven’t had one in a very long time, I still miss them. Problem, when it is a problem, solved.)

I eventually walked my way to a totally different area, Congresso. Neato hang. Restaurants, visually stimulated apartments buildings and such. I love it. Then I happened upon where I sit now. In the courtyard (of sorts) of the Congress building for Argentina! It’s great. (see pix above for Congresso, daytie

BUT! (I say, or type, that a lot, huh? “BUT!!!,”??? I do. But it works a lot, in lots of different contexts.) BUT!!!, before I ended up here, eating a most spectacular meal, I went to my very first Tango lesson. Mind you!!!!, Laurie, my girlfriend of 6 years, now my ex-, was a professional ballroom dancer and teacher for some time. I wonder (I don’t really wonder, cause I know the answer. But pretend like you wonder.), what was her favorite dancing style/vibe? Swing? No. Salsa? No. Tango? Yes, but be more specific. Argentine tango? YES!!! And in those six years, did I ever learn a lick of Argentine tango? (your answer aqui:______, which is probably correct based on my sarcasm.) For those of you not hip to catch on to written sarcasm, the correct answer to the previous question is, no. No, I did not learn a lick of Argentine tango from Laurie.

Tonight was my first lesson. And you know what? It was really cool. Very different than I expected. Very close. Not as hectic (at least to me) as other dances. Smooth, slow with quick jolts, but smooth. Sure it was my first class. But it was neato. I will go back. How could I not? It’s great and it’s 12 pesos a lesson, which lasts over two hours!!!! BTW, 12 pesos is less than US $4! A few of the other class members were also from outta country: two from Germany, here on an internship, one from…wait, go ahead, guess… ….guessed yet? From Chicago!!! Small world. Small, small world.

After class, I again, walked around Congresso, because it’s wonderful and took similair pictures I did earlier, but this time I got to use my most favoritest camera trick/method of all time: long/extended exposure. Dig:


And then, I moved in for dinner. Yes, it’s 11:30pm. Yikes. But tonight, I totally went crazy and had a pizza. I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had pizza since Jan. 1 2008!!!. That’s 2008, you see. And not because I don’t like pizza. I love pizza!!! Hello! But I cut out dairy back then for lots of different reasons (to be discussed on a one-on-one basis if you so desire). And this pizza. This pizza I had tonight!! Well, just look at it:

Does it look amazing? …less the olives mom! …I do love olives. And less the tomatoes Laurie! … I do love tomatoes!. But oh, you say, rather, some of you, say, “it looks amazing!” Guess what? (I have you guessing a lot tonight, don’t I?) It was amazing!!!!!!!! It was. And now it’s in my belly, via my mouth, of course.

I’m all done typing up this blog posting. And now, I need to figure out how to get home. Wish me luck.

“Luck.” Oh, thanks random person that wished me luck. Gracias. Buenos noches.

1 comment:

  1. that pizza makes my mouth water, even at 845am! i love tomatoes and mozz.!, its actually my fav. salad although i don't really get that cuz normally when it comes it doesn't even have much lettuce with it....interesting.

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living in Buenos Aires