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Monday, February 08, 2010

Angelina in Wonderland

Oct 5/09


Hola everyone! Things are going better than I ever dreamed of here in this country. This last week, Gladys found Narnia and I found Wonderland! I'll explain what I mean in abit. To recap, the last time I sent you an email, I told you that I was going to introduce her to the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. So we took a trip to Narnia and guess what? She LOVED it! After the movie she told me that she wants to watch it again another time, this time without subtitles in spanish. Like I said in a previous email, she is one gutsy woman who loves a good challenge.


Speaking of challenges, I challenged myself to do something this week that I had never done before. It was finally time for me to watch my first movie in spanish without english subtitles. This week in Argentina, the latest movie by famed director Pedro Almodovar hit the theatres. I went to see it opening day. The name of the movie is called "Los Abrazos Rotos" with Penélope Cruz. Without giving it away, all I can say is that it is a fine piece of work and I understood the story line fully even if I couldn't understand alot of the lines. The story left me touched *sigh*


But let's stay on the subject of Gladys. Her boldness and determination to learn english as well as my passion to teach have become an unbeatable combination that is paying off. And it looks like we are quickly seeing the fruit of all these lessons. Recently when Gladys started to take the new students around and give them the orientation around the residence, she has started to use english. Some of the new students have just arrived are two english boys named Hugh and Spencer. On a side note, I want to say that Hugh is very good looking and I am glad he got placed on the same floor as me. Hmmmm.......just looking at his body and hearing his cute english accent is inspiring me to try masquerading as a straight girl.


I sat down and had a chat with the boys the first day they arrived here. At one point I brought up Gladys and asked if she was speaking english. They said she was and although she spoke mostly in spanish, when it came to things that were important, she would speak english and they understood her 100%. I told this to Gladys yesterday and she was extremely pleased. And it is really hard to believe that all this is due to my handiwork. The boys and I also chatted about other things. In fact, their first nite we went out for beers at a place around the corner. During the afternoon and evening on their first day, they had walked around the city to explore and they kept coming back to this place near our residence for beers. When I had beer with them later that nite, it was their FOURTH time at this place drinking beer. For the first round of beer, they each had a large bottle of Quilmes (the brand of beer here) and I had a small one.


At one point i asked them how they could stomach so much beer in one day and in one sitting without getting tipsy. And I got the reply that I should have known the answer to. "We're English!!!!!!" They replied. Enough said. We then continued with more lively chatter from me and the englishmen and the one dutch guy that was with us. At one point they started to playfully jest about how women drive them nuts. And then they would look at me and be like "Oh, we don't mean you Angelina!" I chuckled and said that I agree too that alot of my friends who are girls would rather hang around guys and I was the same. They didn't need to explain to me any further all the millions of reasons why women drive them nuts. An amusing part of the nite was when one of the boys named Spencer asked me "Angelina, are you up to buying a coke for me?" And his travelling companion Hugh was like "You've only known Angelina for one day and you're asking her to buy you a drink?" With a sarcastic tone in my voice, I turned to him and said "So I take it you're the kind of guy that goes out on a date with a lady and lets her pay for everything?" And he was like "Yup, that's why all the women love me!" And I am also thinking that is probably the reason why he is still single.


As the nite wore on, it was clear that the day of travelling was taking it's toll on Spencer. His friend had taken a few hours nap but he hadn't. So as the hours passed, at one point Hugh sat and talked sports with the Dutch guy. I sat there pondering what it was like to be the only girl at this table. While beside me Spencer sat there on a stool with his eyes closed dozing under the clear nite sky. What a strange nite this was turing out to be. A few mins passed before he stirred and then decided it was time to call it a nite. I decided to go with him and we bid good bye to the other two boys.


They boys are turning out to be an absolute blast. Naturally, I couldn't turn them down when they asked me in their cute english accents if I would take them around the markets of San Telmo. We did that on Sunday and we couldn't have had more fun. There is nothing in the world like the San Telmo markets. They change from week to week or even from minute to minute. I had gone one round earlier in the day and then come again hours later this time with the boys. And all I can say is that even though I was coming there a 2nd time, it was still an experience in itself.


This is the first time the boys had ever seen the markets and they sucked in every minute of it. Spencer ended getting an old antique guitar that is still playable for the price of $30 CDN and some other items. I helped translate with the girl at the deli to help get Hugh a very delicious Milanesa (all you guys who love to cook, please pull up this word on the internet. It is popular here in Argentina) sandwich. I finally found an artist that I really liked who makes designs on Maté gourds. She will definitely be one I will be going to to buys souvenirs for some of you lucky people as well as a gourd for myself. All of us at one point during the afternoon found ourselves somewhat enchanted as the music of a live tango band playing on the street cast a magic spell on us. The passionate beat of the melody seamlessly danced in harmony with the sounds and rhythms to whisk me away.......


So what an awesome few days it has been! Did I also mention that I found a church that I like. It is close to Florida Ave here in the city. And they conveniently meet very close to a large mega mall call the Galeria Pacifico. So it works out that I can go shopping for new clothing and then come to church and thank Jesus for all my purchases LOL As well as participating in group classes with Eduardo on Tues and both Eduardo and Marisa on Wednesday followed by my very first Milonga here in BA. Sprinkled with the sweet presence of the ever-beautiful Kikki, a lively conversation with Marisa, and topped by a dance with the great Eduardo Saucedo himself, the evening was purely magical and nothing less than elegant.


As you can see, things can get really intense around here that I'll feel the need to escape to a park or a little cafe somewhere. And I couldn't be in a better city to do that. This city is full or parks or cafes and eateries that one can escape to. The parks here are absolutely amazing. Some of them are the size of a suburb. The latest park I discovered was one in Palermo and it was stunning. It had bridges, and a little river with families of ducks all over the place with their little babies.


But the most breathtaking part of this park was the rose garden. All of us have either read the book or seen the movie "Alice in Wonderland". I am so glad that I'm going to be back in Victoria in time when the movie opens in March. But this one rose garden that I saw was exactly that the rose garden in Alice in Wonderland looked like. The whole area was flat with water fountains and trimmed hedges to complement the patches of roses that were there. This is what I meant earlier when I said that I had found Wonderland. It's Angelina in Wonderland.


When I was walking through this amazing patch of land, I almost felt as if at any moment, the Queen of Hearts was going to jump out at any minute to begin one of her crochet games. Along side her comes a very bewildered Alice who is struggling to gain control of a flamingo that that she is supposed to use to hit the hedgehog that they are using as a crochet ball into the hole. All of a sudden, the game stops and I feel the eyes of the Queen of Hearts staring right through me. Incensed to find an intruder amidst her precious rose garden she glares at me for only a second before belting out those infamous words in an earth-shattering scream..............


"OFF WITH HER HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Amorous Alpacas

Amorous Alpacas