28 December 2010
Buenos Aires, Argentina
This was my second year celebrating Christmas in Buenos Aires. It's a bit strange preparing for the holidays with 85-90 degree heat each day in December! To help get myself into the spirit, I spent an evening last week making Christmas cookies, drinking spiced wine, listening to cheesy holiday music, and watching "Love Actually", with some girlfriends.
It's amazing the importance that traditions take on when you are away from the homes you grew up in. I never realized all the things that mean "holidays" to me. In Maryland it means cold, Christmas cookie making with mom, hot drinks and warm socks, homemade gifts, stockings and Christmas mornings, home cooking. In Vermont it means extra cold and snow, visits to grandparents, decorating the tree, hiding out from the cold or alternatively, going on snowy expeditions, popovers and yummy homecooking with dad.
One thing that saved my Christmas spirit this year too, was putting out the decorations ("adornos") on the patio on Christmas Eve with Eze, in preparation for his big family dinner that night. We spent about an hour decorating potted plants in 85 degree sunny weather with red bows, little bells, evergreen decorations and fake snowy angels. But this small moment meant so much to me! As I dug through the boxes and discovered his family's ornaments; the things that represent this season to them, I found lots of both similarities and differences to those that have made up my experiences of the holidays.
I explained to him how tree trimming had been done during my childhood. I have discovered that funnily enough, I have expecially fond memories of tree trimming in Vermont! I remember at a certain age, this tradition felt more like a pain in the butt than anything, so it's funny that I would now cherish those times so much. But I suppose that's usually the way it goes! Thanks parents for forcing these traditions on us, that at the time we don't want but will later be the memory touchstones of our youth and family moments!
I remember all the beautiful ornaments, some handmade, some fragile. Some of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street, and some handpainted with beautiful stories and history. Each year rediscovering your favorite ornaments and passing them through your hands once more. Discovering smooth glass or glittery texture.
So obviously, doing the decorations here really transformed the experience to one of holiday joy and all that!
Anyway, I wanted to share with you a bit about my Argentine Christmas. The night's events looked something like this:
Christmas Eve
8:30pm Guests meant to arrive. No one comes to the door.
9:00pm Last minute decorating and Cuca the dog gets a costume; a red Christmas ornament hanging from her collar
9:30pm Notified that ice is on the way. This means guests are on their way!
10:30pm Guests begin to arrive, no ice. After greeting a few family members, Eze corrects me and says that I'm only meant to say "Hola" when greeting guests, not "Feliz Navidad" because they don't say that until midnight. Eze's father has 6 siblings so the Christmas Eve dinner is usually quite large. But this year we had a more intimate gathering because about 13 people were missing. We "only" had 30 people around the dinner table!
10:30-11:00pm Dishes brought by guests are put out and eating begins! Many members of the family bring the same dish each year. Each person has their classic, same in my fam! My favorites were a salad of honeydew melon, fontina cheese and Roquefort cheese, and a dish called a "pionono" made by Eze's mom, that is a roll with fillings of sour cream, chicken, pickles, olives, apples, cheese, etc.
11:30pm EATING! The table is divided up into sections, intentionally or not. At one end you have the prepubescent boys who are already bored and wondering about gifts as they all play games on their individual iPhones...... In the middle of the table is the "adult section" talking about life and children, and at the other end are the 20 and 30 something's, making fun of some of the uncles and chatting about other miscellaneous subjects.
12:00pm Someone realizes it is midnight, the champagne comes out, we have a fake countdown and then a champagne toast! Then everyone mills around until everyone has given everyone else a beso on the cheek (just one here!) and said "Feliz Navidad".
12:05ish Fireworks and firecrackers begin in the streets. Cuca the dog goes crazy and runs for her life into the back of the house. The boys run outside to watch the fireworks, and to look for Papa Noel. This year I also popped out to the street to see what all was happening. There was a rather large family across the street setting off firecrackers in the middle of the street. A steady stream of people headed out one by one to the middle of the street, ranging in age from 5 years old to 30, to set off firecrackers one after the other. A car drove over one right as it went off. It was.....exciting. And also ridiculous and crazy. One of the fireworks went sideways and flew inside a neighbor's house. There was a small altercation as a result. We went back inside.
12:30am The kids come back in and there is a lukewarm....."ooooooh Papa Noel came!". As the adults, we are supposed to make a big production when the kids come back in! But noone was sure if any of the boys were still under the illusion, so it was a little weak this year. Eze's famly does small gifts and each person will get one or two. Instead of writing who the gift is from, for the benefit of kiddies who believe in Papa Noel, the adults have a number system so you can figure out who to thank afterwards.
12:45 - 4:30am Guitars and singing! Each year Eze's father brings his guitar and his book of songs. There are lots of songs from the 60's-80's, and lots of the Beatles too. The goal is to get everyone singing so popular songs are desireable. Back by popular demand, Eze and I played and sang a couple songs too. There was more wine and champagne and TONS of sweets. Lots of "Pan Dulce" which is like fruit cake. Chocolates filled with caramel and chewy sweets with peanuts. I contributed the last of my fruitcake cookies, they were a big hit!
One good thing about summer in December, we are headed to the beach for New Years Eve with friends! Normally, NYE is also a very family oriented holiday, at least until midnight! After the toast, youngins are free to go out and party.
Happy New Year to you all! Next year I have vowed to be home for Christmas!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Falling in and Out of Love.
14. December. 2010
Buenos Aires
What a bewitching city! Today, we are not speaking to one another, my lover city and I.
Just as any relationship, my journey with this wonderful city has its ups and downs. Sometimes we are truly, madly, deeply. Sometimes, I am revolted and ready to jump ship!
When I first arrived, a friend recently recalled a comment I made about part of what I viewed as the strange magic of the city; which its incredible ability to perch just on the edge between order and chaos. During my honeymoon period with Buenos Aires, I viewed this unique atmosphere as one that promised possibly limitless potential. In a city where things are not "done" yet, this means incredible potential for change and growth and progress! Right?
This sense of change and movement and disorder that somehow "worked", I imagined with possibly naive optimism, left space for all kinds of exciting interaction by yours truly! I was amazed and found it exhilerating, and I still often do! But I also sometimes find it exhausting! Yes, the spontaneity is charming. Yes, it makes for incredible, unpredictable surprises and unscripted, beautiful encounters. Yes, this is a context in which creativity does truly flourish. Sometimes it seems to do so as a direct result of this barely ordered chaos. Often, I am certain that this is a city is teaching me how to live deeply and authentically. Without a doubt, it's giving me honest and intense lessons and exercises in patience, resourcefullness and adaptability.
But sometimes, isn't it just nice when things work? When the bus comes on time, when you can depend on orderly process to deliver expected results? When you know where and how to get things done? Isn't efficiency fabulous?
Today I had a lovely lunch with a friend. From there, I was headed to an art gallery to return some materials I'd borrowed about Aida Carballo. (I have been having some really exciting adventures so far in my pursuit of all things Aida, I will write about that soon!) I needed to be at this gallery by 5pm. To be fair, I didn't leave myself enough time. But on the other hand, even if I had left an hour, I don't know that I would have made it on time.
Two of the main streets downtown were blocked off by protests, which is typical in "el centro", or the financial district or downtown, of Buenos Aires. As a result, the streets that I needed to travel on to make my 25 block trip were completely jammed up. This happens every day in downtown Buenos Aires.
Let me be clear, that I absolutely support the right of the people to demand recognition of their basic rights, as people and as workers. But just to give you an idea of the extent of this protest culture that has been developing since the 90's here, I read in an article that according to a study done, (by Nueva Mayoria) in the last 13 years, there have been 17,417 roadblocks in Argentina. Some say that it is to the point that these masses of people in the streets every day are infringing upon others' rights by demonstrating for their own.
I don't know. At first, I saw all of this protesting and I thought, this is incredible. This is what needs to happen for there to be real change in a community. This is what needs to be going on in Washington, DC, and all over the States! People need to be speaking up more and demanding their rights! But then I wonder, what is progress? And how does it come about? I wonder if these groups are creating real change for their own situations, or if they are simply locked in this complicated dance with the city government, and taking advantage of an entity that both mistreats them and also pays out subsidies to temporarily pacify them while encouraging them to continue at the same time?
Excuse me if my views are simplistic or naive. I'll be the first to say that I am learning, and just working through some of the ideas that are occuring to me here during my Argentine experience.
I have no answers, I'm just pondering because I never made it to my destination and my intense frustration is just now fading. Sometimes I'm certain that Argentina is on the verge of an incredibly exciting renaissance and modernization. And then sometimes it seems that it will always remain in this delicate, strange balance, because that's where it "works" best. Because somehow, throughout this country's history, though it has always had all of the resources and potential to be a prosperous and important country, it has always fallen just short.
Anyway, still, the good outweighs the bad, and I know that this season here is important for me in so many ways. But of course in any relationship, sometimes you wonder, "....where is this going?".
Buenos Aires
What a bewitching city! Today, we are not speaking to one another, my lover city and I.
Just as any relationship, my journey with this wonderful city has its ups and downs. Sometimes we are truly, madly, deeply. Sometimes, I am revolted and ready to jump ship!
When I first arrived, a friend recently recalled a comment I made about part of what I viewed as the strange magic of the city; which its incredible ability to perch just on the edge between order and chaos. During my honeymoon period with Buenos Aires, I viewed this unique atmosphere as one that promised possibly limitless potential. In a city where things are not "done" yet, this means incredible potential for change and growth and progress! Right?
This sense of change and movement and disorder that somehow "worked", I imagined with possibly naive optimism, left space for all kinds of exciting interaction by yours truly! I was amazed and found it exhilerating, and I still often do! But I also sometimes find it exhausting! Yes, the spontaneity is charming. Yes, it makes for incredible, unpredictable surprises and unscripted, beautiful encounters. Yes, this is a context in which creativity does truly flourish. Sometimes it seems to do so as a direct result of this barely ordered chaos. Often, I am certain that this is a city is teaching me how to live deeply and authentically. Without a doubt, it's giving me honest and intense lessons and exercises in patience, resourcefullness and adaptability.
But sometimes, isn't it just nice when things work? When the bus comes on time, when you can depend on orderly process to deliver expected results? When you know where and how to get things done? Isn't efficiency fabulous?
Today I had a lovely lunch with a friend. From there, I was headed to an art gallery to return some materials I'd borrowed about Aida Carballo. (I have been having some really exciting adventures so far in my pursuit of all things Aida, I will write about that soon!) I needed to be at this gallery by 5pm. To be fair, I didn't leave myself enough time. But on the other hand, even if I had left an hour, I don't know that I would have made it on time.
Two of the main streets downtown were blocked off by protests, which is typical in "el centro", or the financial district or downtown, of Buenos Aires. As a result, the streets that I needed to travel on to make my 25 block trip were completely jammed up. This happens every day in downtown Buenos Aires.
Let me be clear, that I absolutely support the right of the people to demand recognition of their basic rights, as people and as workers. But just to give you an idea of the extent of this protest culture that has been developing since the 90's here, I read in an article that according to a study done, (by Nueva Mayoria) in the last 13 years, there have been 17,417 roadblocks in Argentina. Some say that it is to the point that these masses of people in the streets every day are infringing upon others' rights by demonstrating for their own.
I don't know. At first, I saw all of this protesting and I thought, this is incredible. This is what needs to happen for there to be real change in a community. This is what needs to be going on in Washington, DC, and all over the States! People need to be speaking up more and demanding their rights! But then I wonder, what is progress? And how does it come about? I wonder if these groups are creating real change for their own situations, or if they are simply locked in this complicated dance with the city government, and taking advantage of an entity that both mistreats them and also pays out subsidies to temporarily pacify them while encouraging them to continue at the same time?
Excuse me if my views are simplistic or naive. I'll be the first to say that I am learning, and just working through some of the ideas that are occuring to me here during my Argentine experience.
I have no answers, I'm just pondering because I never made it to my destination and my intense frustration is just now fading. Sometimes I'm certain that Argentina is on the verge of an incredibly exciting renaissance and modernization. And then sometimes it seems that it will always remain in this delicate, strange balance, because that's where it "works" best. Because somehow, throughout this country's history, though it has always had all of the resources and potential to be a prosperous and important country, it has always fallen just short.
Anyway, still, the good outweighs the bad, and I know that this season here is important for me in so many ways. But of course in any relationship, sometimes you wonder, "....where is this going?".
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