Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tango Classes, Conversation Partner Number...?

I came home from the gym today, had a light lunch of leftover pasta and then thought about not going to my tango class as I had planned. It was quite warm this morning and I was not feeling very energetic. I had a mate and still didn't feel up to going to class, thinking about having women's bodies pressed against me, both of us sweating in the dank basement of the theater where the classes are held. At noon, I lay down on the sofa and decided to take a nap. If I overslept, I was going to skip class.

At 12:10 the phone rang. I picked it up, thinking it might be Hernan. As soon as I picked it up, the other person hung up. Damn! I keep getting these strange calls. I don't know who it is or why they call and hang up like that. Turned out it was my wake up call. I'd had a 10 minute nap, and had no excuse not to go to class. The advantage of going to this class was that I went last week and knew the teacher and some of the students, so maybe it would not be that difficult.... maybe....

The class was smaller this week. Last week it was big because I think a lot of people were in town for this world tango festival at Harrod's. But today there were fewer women.

I took Jorge Firpo's Milonga class and stayed for his second class, which was Vals. In both classes there were not enough women, so I ended up practicing alone a lot. When I did dance with someone else, it was a hundred times more difficult. It was good to dance with a partner, and it would have been better if I'd done it more, but I was more than happy to find a corner to practice on my own.

In the milonga class we continued with the pattern we learned last week, which was great. I hope he does it again next week. In the Vals class, we learned a pattern that was new for me. It was a nice pattern, a bit complicated, and I had a hard time leading it. The scale of difficulty today was slightly elevated and I had a lot of uncomfortable moments, but I persisted and am hoping that each week it will get easier.

Between three hours of tango yesterday and three hours today, my legs are really sore. Tomorrow I have my private lesson with Marcelo, and I think Thursday I might try to arrange for a spa day. I need some pampering.

After class I met a new conversation partner, Javier. He was nice. He doesn't speak a lot of English, so we spoke a lot of Spanish. I felt very fluent. The only thing I didn't like was after we met he told me he had a dentist appointment near Alto Palermo Shopping Center, which was quite a ways away. We walked up Santa Fe and when we got near his dentist's office, we found a cafe and got coffee. The weather report online today said it was going to be 28 degrees, which I know is warm, so I didn't bother to bring a jacket with me. But after class, it had cooled down considerably and we sat outside at the cafe because it was noisy inside. So I was cold, and really tired from 3 hours of tango class and walking 25 blocks to Alta Palermo!

Anyway, Javier seems like a potentially good partner, but I am thinking that maybe Raul is the best option for a true conversation exchange. Javier might be a good person for me to call to do things with (he suggested I call him if I want to go to the zoo or other parts of the city), and this other guy, Leo, who I might meet some time this week, seems too busy to be able to set up something regular. I like that Raul seems open to a regular meeting and seems to get the idea of "exchange".

After I got home I watched Patito Feo, which is a very complicated story. I only learned today that Facundo and Antonella are brother and sister. Facundo spends a lot of time in the same room with Antonella but they didn't seem romantically involved. I was beginning to think Facu was gay. Then he told Antonella he was the one person who truly loved her - I thought he was confessing his love for her, but later I found out he was her brother. The whole thing is very complicated and I think Patito Feo needs one post devoted entirely to her, but not today. I'll save that for a day when I have nothing else to write about. So far, it seems like there is something every day.

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