I dreaded everything about going to class this week. I dreaded being smacked one more time in the lower stomach pooch by my petite, operatic voice coach. I dreaded the sound of my back folding down into my neck during the transition from handstand to roll. I dreaded the unintelligible lectures and most of all, I dreaded the all the cookies I knew I was going to eat to make up for dreading so many things. But of course, my dread was without merit! Because my classes really aren’t so scary, you might say? One, you would be wrong. My classes are terrifying. Two, the real reason I didn’t need to dread having classes was that I didn’t. This week? ONE.
Well okay, I skipped circus. But that was because, well, that dread was based in real physical pain and I just…couldn’t. But my other two classes, both at different universities and neither on strike, just did not occur. Which isn’t to say I didn’t take the hour and a half trip to get to them. Just that when I got there I was the only one. I’ve calculated that of 16 class periods of one class, we’ve only the pleasure of actual lecture 6 times. But only the pleasure of a strike for three of the five weeks we’ve not had class. Correct, five weeks with no class.
But what a DELICIOUS weekend. Thursday night I joined a solid group of friends at a bar with the rest of the United States in Argentina to watch the VP debates. (http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/)We played Palin bingo and shook our heads a lot. It was fabulous fun. It was wonderful to be surrounded by other people from the US and to experience some of that political tension we’re missing out on by being abroad during this most important election. (http://www.votefromabroad.org/) As you may know, “Si Se Puede” is the spanish version of Obama’s “Yes We Can”. After careful consideration, my friends and I have determined what is really going on with Palin. As you may also know, many believe that Dick Cheney is a shape shifter. Fair. Don’t knock it. And late Thursday night, after the debates, we came to the silencing realization that it has been a while since we last saw Mr. Dick. About one month actually…
Friday was jazz night – we went to The Lonious, a chill, live jazz bar in Palermo where we sipped on frozen mojitos and just hung out. My friend Danielle’s boyfriend Skirianos Skirianos is in town and he brought me bagels so I met up with them earlier in the day to grab those and we hung out in Chinatown. First Friday in a while I have actually done anything during the day.
Saturday was pizza at a friend’s studio apartment and then SALSA at Azúcar in Belgrano, my barrio. Azúcar is ridiculous because they play salsa, merengue, reggaeton, cumbia – a bunch of things – but at like 3:30 or so, all the hot young dancers who work there take the stage and lead the crowd in individual dancing. But it ends up feeling mostly like an aerobics class. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li84gR3CtVc) Literally. Watch the video. They were still at it when I left at five. Que bárbaro.
Chau!
Hmmmmm …. what kind of cookies? xoxox