Would you like to come over?

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

Last week my friend Linda was here visiting from the Bay Area.  She became a part of my pack so to say.  She hung out with me and my friends.  At one point when we were together she told me that she thought I was doing well living here in Buenos Aires.  "You seem really happy, much calmer than when you lived in the Bay Area." she said to me. Linda teased me.  "You are the same."  She said to me.  "Always busy.  Always doing something. Only now it is different things."
We had  lots of conversations about lifestyle differences.  She is no stranger to living in another country.  She moved to the U.S. from England more than 10 years ago.  She told me that even though the language is the same, there are still cultural differences.  More than most people would imagine.
Linda like most of my friends, knows, that […]

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The Milonga Chronicles: Where is everyone?

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

My guest Gigi and I decided to go out together.  Well actually we didn’t.  She wanted to go to Dandi and I wanted to go to Gricel.  I did not have high hopes for either place, but it is Wednesday and a dancing day for me.
Patricio and Adriana have moved their milonga from Palermo SoHo to Gricel.  The restaurant where the milonga has been held was closed down.  Like a good trooper, I always follow them to their new venues.  I feel bad for them.  All of their marketing materials are for Gricel on Mondays and Palermo SoHo on Wednesday.  Now they have moved.  They are in the milongas passing out flyers.  I feel strongly about supporting them.  I have known Patricio for years.
At the last minute Gigi and I share a taxi.  I figure we can drop me first at Gricel and then she can go on to Dandi.  […]

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Morí para este baile

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

Patricio and Adriana have moved their milonga to Gricel.  Tonight is the first night. Sandra and I have free entrances.  We decide to go.  Capo Lento (Who is now called Harry Potter) will meet Sandra there.  They always have their rendezvous on Wednesday nights. 
Patricio is happy to see us.  He has reserved a special table for us.  Adriana is used to us sitting at my table.  She is confused when Patricio tells her no, he has another table for us.  He leads us to the front row of tables facing the floor.  Sandra gasps.  "If Emilio comes I do not want him sitting next to me."   (Her ex)  Patricio is not sure what to say.  He tells he doesn’t think he will come.  "Do not sit him next to me." She tells him again.
There are few people here.  There was not much publicity about the change of venue.  I […]

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I can’t hear you….I don’t want to hear you…Talk to my lawyer please

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

I have not lived in the U.S. for almost 3 years. I was originally from California.  When I read the
news from the U.S. I am constantly amazed at how people use the court
systems to settle what I would consider personal differences.  From my
vantage point, not only from reading the news, but looking at lists such
as Tango-L,BANewcomers, BAExpats, it appears that people in the U.S. have forgotten how to
interact with each other on a personal level.  It is much easier to go
on the attack using whatever means one can: whether it be the Internet
or a lawyer.

People no longer seem to communicate.  There appears to be this propensity to win at all costs.  I realize in American culture, there is the desire to be the best, to win at all costs.  I believe the real cost has been the loss of what Argentines constantly refer to as ser humano.  To be […]

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The Milonga Chronicles…Not Another

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

Sandra comes to get me.  I get into the taxi.  "I am so bad."  I tell her.  "El cretino me llamo".  Her eyes open wide. "Que dijo el?"  she asks me.  I start to giggle.  I answered my phone.  He said "Hola soy Felipe." Then I said in that horrible way I do like an old lady "¿QUIEN?"  Sandra starts to laugh too. I continue; "He said "Felipe"  I went "¿Quien?  ¿Quien quieres hablar? ¿Quien"  He hung up.  The two of us are cracking up."He probably wanted to know how my hair was, the idiot."  I say to her.  "He hasn’t seen my hair for almost 6 months.  Comehombre probably told him I changed it.  Maybe I should take a picture so he can copy it."  By this time the two of are hysterical with laughter.  "He hasn’t learned" she says, "no pudes preparar el mate sin yerba."
On Tuesday we […]

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Sometimes You Can’t Have It All…

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

Sometimes you have one of those days.  The kind where you realize you should have just stayed in bed and pulled the covers over your head.  In my case I would rather look out the balcony doors and see the city.  Then somehow in the end, everything seems to work out.
I got up this morning and went right to my computer.  Where else would I go?  I was happily working away when all of a sudden I had no more Internet.  Being the geek I am, I checked my router, the modem, all the connections.  Everything was fine.  I rebooted.  Still no connection.  Finally I ran some utilities…ahh the problem is on their end not mine.
I ran to the living room, fired up my notebook, and snarked a connection from one of my neighbors.  Gotta love those people who install their routers right out of the box.  I went to […]

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The Milonga Chronicles…..Calavera No Chilla…

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

look in the mirror.  Ugh.  "I do not want to go out."  I tell myself.  "I do not want to go out."  It’s not working.  My body is moving itself to the shower while thinking about what to wear.  "What am I doing?" I think to myself.  "This is crazy."  I think I have been out every night this week.  Actually I think I have been out every night for the last two weeks.  I have been going on 3.5 hours a sleep a night.  I am exhausted.    I pop a couple of aspirins with caffeine into my mouth. The milonguero secret.
I hate all my clothes.  I have nothing to wear.  My closet is jammed
full of clothes. I sound like my mother.  Only I am not going to be a
raving maniac about it like she used to be.  It was a great way for her
to get the […]

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The Milonga Chronicles…..Calavera Nochilla…

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

I look in the mirror.  Ugh.  "I do not want to go out."  I tell myself.  "I do not want to go out."  It’s not working.  My body is moving itself to the shower while thinking about what to wear.  "What am I doing?" I think to myself.  "This is crazy."  I think I have been out every night this week.  Actually I think I have been out every night for the last two weeks.  I have been going on 3.5 hours a sleep a night.  I am exhausted.    I pop a couple of aspirins with caffeine into my mouth. The milonguero secret.
I hate all my clothes.  I have nothing to wear.  My closet is jammed
full of clothes. I sound like my mother.  Only I am not going to be a
raving maniac about it like she used to be.  It was a great way for her
to get the […]

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Absolutely Crazy

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

One of the more interesting things about learning a new culture, is that you also learn more about your own culture.  At least that is what has been happening to me.  The more I learn about the Argentine culture the more I learn or realize about American culture.
One of the more difficult things for me to understand about Argentine culture is that the Argentine outlook on life is that there is no future, and there is no past.  There is only the present.  People live in the present.
They believe so strongly in this, that they do not even use the future tense.  When they talk of the future many times they use the present tense. A friend might ask, "Where are you tomorrow?"  The answer being "Tomorrow I am in Olivos" rather than "Tomorrow I will be in Olivos."  If the future is really needed, then they use the […]

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3,280 …and the Hits Keep Coming

December 31, 1969 | Filed Under Argentina | No Comments

No I am not talking about Phil Spector, I am talking about the hits to my blog in the last 3 days.  As of now at 7:10 am BA time, that is how many people have come to my blog.  On Saturday morning when I went to check my blog specs I already had almost 300.  That is not normal for a Saturday morning before 10 am.  Most of the time I only average that on a daily basis.
I went to look at where all these hits were coming from.  The link was to the New York Times Sunday Travel Section.  Imagine my surprise to find that Denny Wells the author had mentioned my blog as a resource.  Not only that, I was the only blog he mentioned.  I have never met the author but wow! thanks Denny for the positive press.
Of course every time I end up in the […]

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