Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Feliz Cumple

Okay- that recap from Festival Tango I promised. The name is a little deceiving, it wasn't much of a festival and it hardly had anything to do with Tango, but it was a good show. There were 3 "acts" if you will. The first was an Argentine Candombe (kind of like what I saw at the student gathering the other night). The music had a very carnival feel to it, it is hard to explain. It was the kind of music that really just made me want to dance in a very unorganized fashion if that makes anysense. That is kind of what the dancer you see in from was doing. There were two girls dressed in very bright colored carnival clothes with bright make-up. There was dancing and confetti being thrown while the Candombe continued their rhythm.
After the Candombe, there was a couple that came out and danced the only Tango I heard or saw in the 2 1/2 hours I spent at the theater. It was was a very traditional version of Tango and different from any of the Tango I have seen. It is hard to describe, especially because I know very little about Tango, but as always it was a very passionate dance. The couple's heads were touching at the forehead and the girl, instead of looking away like I have usually seen, was actually looking down with her face facing his. It was interesting and I have yet to take a Tango class! So that is moving up to the top of my "to-do" list this week. They also danced Milango, those two dances are the two most traditional dances in Uruguay I was told.
The last of the acts was probably my favorite. I am not sure exactly what kind of music it was, but the band consisted of a piano, cello, drums, marimba, and an accordion. The piano player was an 81 year old man and he was astounding. I don't think I have ever seen a piano played like that before. I don't have a video of it, unfortunately I do not have a camera that takes video, but his playing was heavenly. It was indescribable really... his hands and fingers were moving so fast they were essentially nothing but a blur for most of the songs.

On Saturday I went to my first Fería, they have a couple every weekend. They are a street market where artesans or stores come out and sell their products, much like a Farmers Market, but with way less emphasis on food! There are tons of people selling Mates, clothes, hand-made goods, children´s books, and a few fruit/ food stands. I bought a couple things, but I decided I am going to go look around and some of the other Ferías these upcoming weeks. Looks like a great place for unique gifts and Christmas presents! This weekend I had my first Chorizo sandwhich (a very popular food I have found) and now I know why... It was DELICIOUS! I thin I might make a weekly or bi-weekly habit of heading tot he Fería for atleast that :)
After the Fería I headed home because it was Andrea's birthday and I told her I would make cookies for the get together she was having.  I decided to make chocolate chip cookies per request of Caro and Andrea's brother and they are simple enough that it wouldn't take me very much time. What I didn't realize was that although we take a Chocolate Chip cookie for granted, they are a rare delicacy here. I made a fairly large batch, took me about 1 1/2 hours to finish them... took them about 10 minutes to eat them. I managed to eat a couple, but more than anything it was a lot of fun baking them and it made me extremely happy that everyone liked them so much! I will definitely have to bake cookies more often now. I think next on the list of cookies will be Snickerdoodles .Along with the cookies we had a peach cake, strawberry cake, dulce de leche pastries, various galletas (or small cookies), Coke, and sandwhiches. It was a very enjoyable night and I got to meet a lot more people in the family!
Sunday was spent catching up on sleep and homework. My friend Rachel came over for a bit and enjoyed some leftover cake with me. Then we walked around a little, but almost nothing is open on Sundays around here so she headed for home and I went back to get some more work done.
Monday was day one of week 3 of classes and everything is starting full swing! I finally got assigned the service project I have been mentioning. I am going to be working in a school with 8 and 9 year old kids in a very impoverished community helping them with English. I went and saw the classroom and kids with the other students I am working with, they are all adorable and I can't wait to start our first session the coming Monday! Tuesday was my first 13 hour day of the semester, photography and samba both started. All of the people in both were very nice and I think it will be good to spend sometime with people who are interested in similar things as me. I even met 3 girls that are in their 2nd year of school studying social work here; they are in Samba and like to go dancing. Hopefully we will all be getting together to go Salsa dancing or something in the upcoming weeks.
Thanks for reading all the way through.. I know this was a long one! I will try to be better about posting sooner next time :)

Un beso


2 comments:

  1. Heather! It seems like you are having SO much fun! I am so happy you are starting to settle in. Ummm one question....did you not have chorizo when you were in Texas?! It's my FAVEY! Love you girl...and dance a little for me! :)

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  2. Yeah I did and I thought it was good but I would venture to say the sandwich I had on Saturday was even better :)

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