Mas Cintura!

A busy day today. I think I can not handle more than one thing per day.

Today I had my first tango lesson with Marcelo and my first meeting with Juliana, my Spanish teacher. Both were great, but it was overload for me.

I didn't go to the gym today, partly because I had these two other things planned, partly because I drank too much wine with Hernan last night, and partly because I'm afraid they are going to call me on missing my medical consultation. I told Hernan about that last night and he said I should just go and tell them that I knocked and no one was there. When the phone rang last night and the person on the other end hung up (something that has been happening a lot lately) - Hernan joked that it was the doctor calling to see why I missed my appointment.

Instead of going to the gym, I took my time drinking my coffee, eating breakfast and then I went shopping and got a few long sleeved t-shirts and one cute short-sleeved krinkly t-shirt.

After that I made my next in a series of attempts to find out about classes as the Escuala Argentina de Tango. I found the address, which is right next to my gym, and I now recall passing many times last year when I was walking back from school. I went in and spoke to the security guard. It was a bit confusing, because I had the right address, but there were no signs for the tango school. He informed me that they were not open yet, and that I had to enter through the same entrance as the one I use for the gym. Ok, now at least I know where it is.

I went to my favorite pizzeria, La Continental, on Callao Avenue and Peron - two blocks from my language school, and two blocks from where I was supposed to meet Marcelo for my tango lesson. I like this pizzeria because they have a good selection of things you can get in your salad. I've been having salad with radicchio, beets, carrots and olives. Today I had that salad along with two beef empanadas.

The empanadas are so good. The combination of flaky crust and rich beef with other things like olives and hard boiled egg is really yummy. It was a good lunch.

Then I walked over to Corrientes where I was supposed to meet Marcelo. I stopped in the subte and bought a subway card with 30 rides on it so that after class I would be able to hop on the subway and not have to wait in line. I only had 30 minutes after my tango class to get to Palermo to meet Juliana, and I knew it was going to be tight.

My tango lesson was in a new location. It was not in Marcelo's apartment like before, but instead in a big old building on the corner of Callao and Corrientes. The stairway was incredible - reminded me of Iguazu Falls with all of these different stairs coming together at one point. I was sorry I had decided to leave my camera at home.

I got to the studio, not really sure if I was in the right building, and an old woman let me in. Marcelo was not there. The woman seemed confused. Another couple arrived, and the old woman asked me who I was looking for. I told her I had a lesson with Marcelo. She pointed to the guy and asked if he was Marcelo. He said no he was Alberto, but he was a tango teacher. I said, I was waiting for Marcelo.

Alberto and his student went into one of the rooms and started their lesson. The old woman sat behind the desk and stared at the wall. I played with my cell phone. Finally, at 10 after 1, I called Marcelo, and he said there was a problem with the subte and he was on his way. He buzzed and the old woman jumped in her seat. I guess she does that a lot, since her job seemed to be to buzz people in.

The class was great, really hard, but great. I love dancing with Marcelo. He is a very strong, confident lead. He repeats the same steps over and over again, leading me to the cross, forward and back ochos, and a kind of half molinete (this side stepping wheely kind of move). Because he does the same steps, he really focuses on technique and really worked on me getting my balance correct. I tend to either lean too forward, onto my leader, or lean back too much. Both leans throw me off balance. He worked on balance as well as my ochos (they are a figure eight step). He didn't tell me "mas pivot" today, but instead kept repeating, "mas cintura" - more waist - essentially the same. It is amazing the control he has over his legs and how he can step backwards, pivot and do all of this stuff that is so difficult for me and make it look easy. I was sweating and exhausted after 50 minutes, and fortunately someone else wanted to use the studio, so we stopped exactly at 2. We have another lesson set for Saturday.

From there I was planning on taking the B line to Palermo and taking a cab from Malabia station, like Hernan suggested. But Marcelo told me the B line was not running and I should walk 4 blocks to Cordoba and take the D line. I did that, which was a good idea. The D line is very near where I live, and it was good to know that I can use it to go to Palermo. I could see on the map in the train that there was a station that stopped at Thames, where I was suppposed to meet Juliana. The only problem is that once I got to Thames I had to walk about 8 blocks before I got to the cafe where she was waiting for me.

I debated about taking a cab or stopping to text her and let her know I was on my way, but instead I just walked as fast as I could and got there 10 minutes late.

We met in a nice cafe/bookstore, where I met her last year with Larry. She is really great, and we spent over an hour chatting, catching up, and eventually discussing what we were going to do in our lessons. She did an inventory of my interests and needs and gave me a book to start reading for next week.

From there I headed home. I spoke to a potential conversation exchange partner on the way who wanted to meet me today but I was too tired, so we have plans to meet tomorrow. I was looking forward to getting home and jumping in my gigantic bed with the sun streaming in the bedroom.

I got home and saw a sweater on the counter in my kitchen and some cleaning supplies. I realized that the cleaning woman was here. Ralf had told me she liked to talk. I came into the bedroom and met her - Norma - a woman, maybe my age or a bit younger who lives around the block and takes care of this apartment and two others that Ralf and Tomas manage.

She was very nice, and she DID like to talk. She had also moved all of the things I had placed where I wanted. I had my jacket hung on this thing in the bedroom that is for hanging jackets. She put it in the closet. I had a dish rack on the counter in the kitchen. She put that away. She put things where she thought they should go and I know I will be spending the next few days trying to find things that she put away, so that next week when she comes back she will be able to return them where she put them. I've already decided I'm going to be out when she comes. Even though she was nice and I enjoyed talking with her, I don't like to be around when any cleaning person is trying to clean. I feel like I am in the way - and also if I am not here, she can not tell me where I am supposed to put things.

After she left I relaxed a bit and then went to the Disco to buy something for dinner. But I was so hungry I decided not to cook but instead to look for a restaurant. I stopped in an Italian restaurant on Arenales, a few blocks from here and got a glass of wine, an empanada and penne putanesca (after struggling with the menu because I didn't have my glasses and the first menu they gave me was the lunch menu). The penne had to be the worst I have ever had. I thought I liked putanesca sauce, but this was like some fishy Japanese thing with some sort of tomatoey goo. It was not good. I was glad I ate the empanda and the bread that came before.

I guess I should also mention that it was 7:30, late for me to be eating dinner, and the restaurant was filled with women having coffee and chatting. No one was eating dinner. When I left at 8, they were just putting the dinner menu outside. I think it is crazy that they do not eat dinner until 10, 11, or 12, and they eat big, heavy dinners to boot. As much as I will try to be flexible and do as portenos do, I am not going to eat dinner after 8 if I can help it.