My New Tango Shoes

I bought another pair of tango shoes today.

There are two stores just a few blocks from school that have a bigger selection than the place where I bought my other shoes. I had gone there before, and the one with the shoes I like the best - Neo Tango - was a very unfriendly place. No one greeted me when I went in and the guy behind the counter just stood there and didn't ask me if I needed any help. Well, I guess that could be seen as a good thing, but it seemed unfriendly to me, especially since I had no idea what kind of shoes I needed and they seemed to have shoes with different soles.

Today it turned out to be a nice day and after school I ended up walking past Neo Tango. I saw a pair of shoes in the window that caught my eye, and then I realized that the shape of the shoes are different, and more like regular shoes and less like dorky dance shoes (sorry to all the dancers out there). I decided to go in and have another look.

Since I now have a pair of basic black shoes, I figured I could look at something a little different. I found one pair of two toned shoes that I liked, and then decided on a pair of brown shoes that are leather and suede. They are pretty snazzy and I'm now going to have to get a whole new outfit to be able to wear these shoes, as well as a new haircut, and probably even a whole new body. I tried them on and they fit really well. I'm excited about wearing them to the next queer milonga in San Francisco, or one of the Metronome's same sex latin nights.

I walked to school today as it ended up being warmer than I expected. They were calling for this new wave of polar air, but I guess it hasn't arrived. I went to my new favorite cafe, the one with the good coffee. I had a cafe con leche and one medialuna, and did my homework, even though I didn't understand what I was supposed to be doing. I am just doing everything in our workbooks now, figuring it can't hurt.

I decided to stay in the cafe for lunch because one of the waitresses sat down next to me and was eating a salad that looked really yummy, so I asked for the menu and ordered a salad that was supposed to have spicy chicken in it. The chicken was not spicy at all, but the salad was good.

Class today was confusing and I am finding that I am having a really hard time hiding how I'm really feeling. My face apparently is very expressive, and it is getting me in trouble. Claudia could tell when I was bored, confused or internally criticizing her lesson. This is why Martin kept picking on me last week. As hard as I tried, I couldn't sit there with a straight, unexpressive face.

Our lesson today was on 12 different ways we could use the conditional. It was way too much. It was unclear and confusing and overwhelming. When I told Claudia that my problem was that there were too many options, she said it was so that we would recognize all of these different uses of the conditional when we were reading. I heard myself saying the same things to my students. How many times have I presented them with a bunch of different options on how to say something? Now I know what it feels like from the other side. It's impossible to learn that many things at once.

After our break, Cynthia did a presentation. Guess what she talked about...

She really hadn't prepared anything, because she spoke about her favorite subject - China. She told us that the name China (in Chinese) means center of the world - Claudia said -ethnocentrist, and we all laughed. It was fun though and it was an interesting presentation for the most part, but it was really difficult for me to see a postcard of Tibet when Cynthia was showing us postcards from a packet entitled - "Beautiful China". She also was a little confused on her facts - she said that Hong Kong was a Portuguese colony. I, of course, corrected her.

Hernan is making me dinner tonight. I'm excited about that. I'm going to bring him a nice bottle of wine - one level up from the basic cheap stuff. I really wish I could bring some of this wine home with me. I'll have to see what I can find in Trader Joe's when I get back.

Today's photo is of the Supreme Court building. I walked a different route today and noticed that the two sides of the building were very different. One side is a dingy gray color, and the other side was a brilliant, clean sand color with beautiful orange tiles at the top. You can see the scaffolding where they are cleaning it.

It seems like a lot of buildings are being cleaned now, and on Avenida de Mayo, a lot of renovation and cleaning is happening. As long as the economy and political situation remain stable, I'm guessing that in a few years this city will be cleaner, and even more beautiful than it is now. I'm predicting that Avenida de Mayo will be one of the world's more beautiful avenues in a few years. I think Argentina is once again rising out of the ashes.