Opuestos

The Argentine chapter of my life has come to a close and my Minnesota chapter is beginning. I have been back in the US for a week. My first few days were spent visiting friends and such in Kansas, then I made my way up north to the new house in Duluth, MN. Since my Argentine experience has ended, my blog "Cyndi in Argentina" would be a bit of a lie ... if I start a new one I will let y'all know. Overall my time in BA has taught me a lot of lessons. I believe I learned a lot more because it wasn't exactly what I had wanted or didn't always go my way. I found my second set of parents on the other end of the world, my lovely Argentine and Colombian roommates, some very free and adventurous young adults and grandparents, some great friends from all over the world, my 2 bread bakery men that knew exactly what I would get every day, my favorite security guard at the international office, sprinkle some crazy Argentine men and a few mean people in there as well ... I wouldn't change any of it.



The environments of BA and Duluth are nearly opposites. In BA there is never enough time in the day; always things to do but never enough energy or time to do it. Noise never stops, the city never sleeps, people are everywhere to where you have no minute to yourself, constant awareness of where you are going and if that's the safest route, public transit shared with 10-100+ people, constant awareness of purses, bags, etc., walking everywhere, all that you need within walking distance. In Duluth, my 4 days have ticked by while I have been searching for a holiday job and being the cook and grocery girl. I drive 20 minutes into town in my own car alone feeling like its a waste of gas, rural living, complete dark and quiet at night, deer in our yard several times a day, gas stations called Superamerica, no need to lie about being Canadian just to avoid conflict or extra attention, the most individual time I have had in a long time, a huge comfy bed, lots and lots of time to do what I wish. Surprisingly I have less energy here in MN ... I do less and sleep more ... I still would like to think I am adjusting back to the US culture.

I fear I lost my spicy buds in my time in Argentina. Chipotle was pretty spicy to me ... since then I have been trying to build my tolerance back up. I have a different perspective on food and different dishes after the Argentine cuisine, fresh bakeries and not having a kitchen. My family is celebrating Thanksgiving Argentine style ... that will be fun.

No more meat bites for me. It will take going to another country to let meat touch these jaws again.

After a few days of rusty English grammar and poor word choice, I feel like my brain has flipped the switch back to English. I notice I don't think in Spanish first. I'm working on a place where I can continue practicing. I think I pick up accents pretty easily: my Spanish right now is Argentine tainted, my English adopted a Chicago flavor ... in two months I might be speaking pure Minnesotan ... eh?

Love.

Tourist Bit

With my time slowly ticking away I have been making sure to enjoy my last week here. I have started going to as many vegetarian restaurants as I can find since Manhattan doesn't seem to like that idea. I found a really cute place as small as a normal house kitchen, of a guy that makes whole wheat bread and vegetarian meals. Adorable. I have found that I really like Yucca (like mashed potatoes but better from the Peruvian restaurant. I also took a wheat grass shot ... just to give it a try. It is supposed to clean the blood and help the body detoxify. Tasted like any other plant I eat normally being a vegetarian but in liquid form.

I tried to surround my last week with cultural things that I haven´t quite seen the most of ... tango. I took a few more tango classes; I love it ... I will miss dancing with grandpas that have that old smell. I attempted to go to the world tango museum but a young pop singer was signing autographs across the street so the whole block was closed down by 16 year-old screaming girls. The most touristy thing I have done in my life was probably going to see a tango show at Cafe Tortoni. Its a cafe that has the most history in BA being a famous spot for tango shows and the cafe where many famous Argentine actors and writers would go and for that reason its tourist city. It was a cute cafe .. .but nothing way special to me. Show tango is exactly what tourists want it to be. The low back and high slitted dresses, high leg intertwining, the sensual and movie side of tango ... the opposite of what you see in the milongas and classes. After having a slight idea of real tango (thanks to my dramatic old man professors), I didn't appreciate or wasn't as wowed by the show tango. I did like how there was a real orchestra for the show ... there was a little acting thrown in between the dances but every Argentine joke they could slip in ... just for tourists. The actors did a poll (there were 2 people out of about 60 from Argentina watching the show).
Friday I went and did a touristy gaucho day. I was about the only one out of about 100 people that was under 45 and not married. Married couples traveling through group packages throughout South America or at least Argentina. We took a bus to the estancia (farm) Santa Susana that was about 70 km outside of the city in the pampas (fields, open air, no sight of buildings, plains) of Argentina. We were greeted by people dressed as gauchos (cowboys) and chinas (the gaucho`s woman) dressed in traditional clothing (almost of 1900`s clothes giving us drinks and empanadas. It kind of reminded me Mahaffie Farmstead in Olathe. We had some free time to ride horses, ride in a horse carriage, go to a little museum of the gaucho times, or go to the overpriced gift shop. I did it all ... we didn't get to ride the horses for very long or very far but I was alright with that because my horse skills are zilch so just a little ride was sufficient for me. We had a huge lunch of unlimited drinks, salad, food, dessert ... and they asked if anyone was vegetarian ... a few others were so I joined in and had pasta instead of charred mammal flesh. At lunch I met some interesting people. My favorite was 70-year-old world traveler who was so shy until you got her talking ... she has been on 6 international flights this year and had a list of countries and tips to travel cheap ... she isn't rich by any means just knows how to get deals and use flyer miles and clip coupons at home ... I loved her stories. Then I met some parents who were visiting their daughter who is also studying in BA, they were very friendly and would talk about when they were young and traveled together. There was a dance and music show of tango and gaucho dances and songs followed by a gaucho competition. The competition consisted of little rings attached to a post, the gauchos rode the horses really quickly under the post and snatched the ring with a small pencil-like stick. The competition traditionally won women or money with bets. The first winner of the competition (and gaucho that let me sit up front on the carriage ride gave me the ring in trade for some victory kisses on the cheek. I felt special ... until the gauchos kept competing and giving the victory rings to almost all the women. I fell asleep on the bus ride home and woke up in the center of hustle bustle of the tall buildings and traffic of BA ... the opposite feeling of the relaxing day in the open air.

The church I have been going to had an international party last night: a service and dinner of food from different countries ... it was very interesting and humbling. Lots of people from Brazil and other parts of South America. Sweet people. Different types and styles of empanadas. It has been really great seeing where God has shown himself in my time here and a good reflection of the people and power of love that I have seen here in unexpected places.

Kansas is starting to call me home. At the gaucho day, a man asked where I was from, after saying I was from Kansas he asked if I was from Manhattan ... turns out he was a KSU professor for a long time. Then at the international night of church I met some missionaries who had lived in Kansas before living all over the world. My flight leaves Tuesday night and I will wake up in the lovely Kansas City on Wednesday morning.

One thing I will miss about Argentina is the pastas and pizzas .. delicious.

Love.