Frustration pays off

26/3

Spanish Language and Grammar class was everything I expected. I stopped myself from falling asleep, but did space out a few times during the 2.5 hour period. The thing about language classes is that you have to be actively listening the entire time or else you might (and probably will) miss something important to put everything else context. So, of course, when I spaced back in I had no idea what was going on and had to wait a few sentences to figure out what my professor was talking about. You might be asking, why, Amelia, are you spacing out during class? You haven't gone out partying and you definitely don't have a lot of homework, so you shouldn't be tired! Well, the unfortunate (and not so unfortunate) thing about being paired up with an organization like API is that they plan so many activities that you don't have time for the little homework you do have! So, for example, here is a typical day for me in the city so far:

8am: Wake Up
8:45-9:40am: Get on the Subte (subway) to Belgrano/Bus to the university
10-12:30 pm: Literature Class
12:40-1:15 pm: Culture Class
1:40-3pm: Bus from the university/Subte to Palermo
3-4pm: Lunch
OPTION 1 4-8pm: API Activity
OPTION 2 4-5pm: Run Errands, 5-9pm: API Activity
9-10pm: Dinner

So far, the API activities have been great! Bus tour, bike tour, and tango lessons (I'll get to that in a bit). But they do take a significant chunk of time from the day, and I do wish I had a bit more free time to run errands like washing my clothes, exchanging more money (since I'm running down to my last few pesos), and buying new underwear (did I mention Otto, my host family's cocker spaniel, ate my underwear?). Today was "option 2", so I had an hour to run into town (I still don't know what to say for this since I'm already in town) to exchange money. While I was waiting for my turn at the exchange office, I looked up at the news on TV and saw that Tom Cruise was in Buenos Aires for 6 hours for the premiere of his new movie. How cool! But of course, Buenos Aires is a big city so I had no chance of running into him. After waiting for 15 minutes I finally went up to the counter to learn that they do not accept photocopies of passports and so I couldn't pick up the money. Well, there's 40 minutes wasted.

As I walked back to the Subte station, I saw a huge crowd of people and guards blocking traffic in front of Teatro Colón, the beautiful opera house overlooking Plaza de Mayo. I got very curious: could it be...? AND IT WAS. It was Tom Cruise heading into Teatro Colón! I went through my bag looking for my camera but remembered I didn't bring it because I had assumed I would just be running an ordinary errand. And for those of you wondering, Tom Cruise looked roughly 1 inch taller than me. And I'm pretty short.

After gushing over Tom Cruise for a bit and then realizing I had to be at Tango class in 30 minutes, I rushed back home and headed over to Gaby's house in Palermo. We learned the basic moves like walking with a partner and 8 count steps. Though it was very basic, it was still a lot of fun since I had never taken a dance class with a group of people I already knew. We switched partners every 15 minutes and had competitions with cookies as the prizes to see which partners could move without stumbling. Gaby also taught us about the history of Tango and places called "Milongas" where people go to dance Tango and meet people (be it to hook up or just have a good time socializing, dancing and listening to the music). Gaby also explained to us that at more traditional Milongas, men ask women to dance by looking at them and motioning with their heads to the dance floor, and a woman accepts by nodding. Then the man must walk over to the woman and take her hand and lead her to the dance floor. At modern Milongas, girls and guys can ask each other to dance verbally and it is more relaxed. But at all Milongas, during the dance, everyone always dances counterclockwise, which is very important or else people will intentionally push you off the dance floor (Gaby stressed this!). I'm excited to go to a few Milongas (probably the modern ones so I don't run into old men known for being creepy to younger women) while I'm here.