A birthday party
I spent Friday sauntering through the leafy streets helping everyone in Buenos Aires wish happy birthday to Caitlin. The ultimate in entertainment was watching the nice guy that works at the fruit stand near our yoga studio display a truly genuine smile and whip out a bottle of white for the birthday girl. Que caballero!
Speaking of the birthday girl, her self-proclaimed motto is "go big or go home." Well, she did- go home, that is. For her 21st birthday she did pretty well...made it till 5 a.m. After Cait and her little black dress were safely in the building I had the cab driver take me to the bar where our friend Jason was spinning. I have to preface this part of the story by saying that finding good hip hop in Buenos Aires is as difficult as finding good Mexican food in Wyoming. It just doesn't happen very often. Apollo (isn't he the god of music?) was smiling kindly on us last night because Jason was killing us with his remixes.
I'm still devouring
Reading Lolita in Tehran and I must share a passage. Here it is folks, your moment of Zen (Holla Abe George)...
Olga was silent."Ah," cried Vladimir, "Why can't you love me as I love you.""I love my country," she said."So do I," he exclaimed."And there is someting that I love even more strongly," Olga continued, disengaging herself from the young man's embrace."And that is?" he queried.Olga let her limpid blue eyes rest on him, and answered quickly: "It is the Party."It's not often that Nabokov makes one laugh. (From his
Lectures on Russian Literature, sounds like a light read, huh?)
Happy Birthday April Olivia Owen!
chit chat
Carlos looks mischievous, I'm glad he was there to dance with at the end of the night when the crowd had drastically thinned.
Thursday Ramblings...
I just wanted to report that I did my first head stand in yoga yesterday...it was the most exciting breakthrough. Granted, I was only able to hold the posture for about 13 seconds, but it was so exhilirating.
Last night I saw the sequel to
Get Shorty, it's called
Be Cool, and it has a great cast of characters and humor that won't quit. Unfortunately, I was one of the few Americans in the theater and was literally rolling out of my chair (gracias a Vince Vaughn). The rest of the crowd chuckled a few times, at most.
Tomorrow is Caitlin's birthday so we are having a special dinner tonight and a party tomorrow. Thank the Lord it got changed from our house to another girl's place...I wasn't looking forward to a Saturday morning clean up.
Last weekend Carlos (Norway) and Anne had a cocktail party so it was a good excuse to get dressed up...and then get rowdy, well some of us that is (Peter, what?)
I guess this entry has no real substantive value except as a prelude to the pictures below of the previously mentioned Cocktail Party.
As it gets warmer over there...the temperature continues to drop in Argentina, and, correspondling, the edges of my mouth turn downward in the beginnings of a winter's frown.
kelly y los portenos
Eric, look...I'm wearing your bracelet :)
Mom´s latest masterpiece
My Vaio
My computer has taken on a complete personality of her own so last week I took her to the Sony Service Center...for this reason I have been unable to post some of the fabulous pics that we took this weekend. It was a great "fin de semana" with plenty of intellectual stimulation. I saw a really interesting documentary called
Outfoxed, I am sure you can google it to get the dirt. It is about Rupert Murdoch´s empire and the impact Fox News has had on American media in general. Even more pleasurable was another film called
Mondovino, about the globalization of wine markets. I found the director´s style to be legit because the movie was neither pro or anti-globalization. He just gave a snapshot view of what is going on in some of the world´s biggest wine markets. He touched on France, Italy, Napa and a bit of Argentina. VERY enjoyable and I learned a lot. Who know that a farm boy from the U.S., Robert Parker (also a former attorney), now has the power to virtually make or break a wine? Incredible.
Thanks to Abe George I am now devouring an addictive book called
Reading Lolita in Tehran, about a group of Muslim women who have to meet secretly to discuss western classics (which just happen to be some of my favorites) like
Lolita and
The Great Gatsby. I HIGHLY recommend this to those who need a break from those ugly casebooks!
Above is a painting that my mom recently did and I am so proud of it that I had to post it. It was a surprise gift for Natalie, she loves Peacocks, and I think it turned out beautifully. At one point it tried to take flight and nearly became roadkill (read, my mom left it on top of her car and drove off sending her Peacock into the bushes). After a little restoration...I think it´s one of her best so far. And mom, if you´re wondering what the new thing that I learned today was, here you have it: The chief film censor in Iran, up until 1994 was nearly blind. He used an assistant to describe the action and would then dictate those parts that were inappropriate and needed to be cut.
"Is it possible to write a reverant novel? The contract with the reader is that it´s not reality, it´s an invented world....'There must be some blasted space in life, where we can be offensive, for God´s sake!' "YESSS! I am sick of people saying what they THINK others want to hear, rather than saying what´s really going on in their minds...political correctness is good, but it should not rule our lives. I`d rather know someone abrasive than hypocritical. (Not that I`d want to be friends with either, but you get my drift).
An update on my project: I`ve already been getting some great submissions for my project (see below) and I want to thank everyone for helping me to spread the word. I truly appreciate it!
Now, while many of you are preparing for finals, I must devote my time to studying for midterms...here they come...and off Aly goes to work on an organic farm in upstate New York. She`ll come back permeated with the scent of garlic!
http://www.happygoatfarms.com/
The Wanderers
This is going to be a bit repetitive for those of you who already received my email regarding this same topic. I am currently starting a project, which I hope will someday be suitable for publication: a travel anthology of sorts. A description of the project specs is included below. All I ask is that you spread the word to anyone and everyone you know, add it to any listserv you may be part of, and if you are feeling kind enough, mention it on your own website or blog (if you have one). If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me-
kstolpman@hotmail.com.
I FINALLY finished reading
Anna, and although it is FABULOUS, I wouldn´t recommend it unless you are seriously dedicated to the cause. Now I´m reading a book that Abe gave me called,
Reading Lolita in Tehran and it`s going to be difficult to put down...
I want to say GOOD LUCK to those of you who are starting what Hassan and I have termed, "Crunch Time"...finals are around the corner and I am sure you`ll all pull it off brilliantly. To everyone else, I wish you a great weekend. Thanks so much for your help with this project. I REALLY appreciate it.
____________________________________________________________
THE WANDERERS
WHO WE ARE:
Two American female friends living together for one year in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
OUR PROJECT AND ITS PURPOSE:Our project is to draft a dynamic “team” of American woman, willing to share experiences as
women in order to express the ups and downs, the joys and failures, and the constant challenge of living as foreigners. Our ultimate goal is to create a travel anthology for publication.
Our purpose is to illustrate the difficulty in straddling two conflicting interests: our personal desires to explore areas beyond the literal and figurative boundaries of our country and the societal pressures specific to
our culture.
WHO WE ARE RECRUITING:American women of all ages, with a variety of experiences-from study abroad students, to corporate dropouts, to current professionals, or expatriate wives and/or mothers. In essence any woman who has lived or is living abroad for 6 months or more, within the last 5 years.
WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:Memorabilia of life abroad: photos, stories, poems, songs, paintings, sketches, essays, journal entries, and any other media that expresses and explains your personal adventure.
HOW TO SUBMIT:
E-mail us at thewanderersus@gmail.com with your submissions. If your contribution cannot be sent via e-mail please send a brief description of your piece and we will contact you.
We thank you in advance for you contributions and we are excited to learn and hear about your experiences. Please pass this idea on to EVERYONE you know, because this project is a grassroots effort!
dedicated to yoga- body/mind union
Last night the instructor made us chant in my Vinyasa yoga class. It was disturbing at first, but then I realized that perhaps the in-unison chanting of garbled sanskrit was making me smile. They always say that when you are in the "corpse" pose that you should have every muscle in your body relaxed. I like to disagree from time to time, there's nothing better than a smile, or even a giggle, creep into one's yoga practice.
The president of Ecuador, for the second time in four months, has fired the entire Supreme Court. The country is beginning to consider their chief-decision maker to be somewhat of a dictator...
A Chilean man was granted custody of his children because his ex-wife, a judge, has a female live-in lover. According to past Chilean rulings mothers are only denied custody in cases when they are found to be prostitutes or drug addicts...
Guess which politician recently declared his love for yoga in the April issue of Yoga Journal?
a) Howard Dean
b) Al Sharpton (who i spotted at Barnes and Noble in DC last July)
c) Dennis Kucinich (who i spotted near the white house last may)
jeopardy music playing....
"Who is Dennis Kucinich for 3 pesos?"
Hope everyone had a good start to the week. I watched a French film called L'Esquive about youthful love between a muslim boy and a white girl...interesting, but a bit too long.
Eric and Rev
Here's a pic with my handsome brother...and the Aggie mascott Reveille. It's his senior year, so that explains the boots. Unless you're
1) and aggie
2) related to one or
3) abe george...you might not get how great this picture is.
I just have to say- I am SO PROUD OF YOU ERIC!!!
Exhausted
I'm tired, which the photos below will attest too. It was a long weekend, the party on Saturday turned into breakfast on Sunday morning when I got home at 7:30 a.m. Sunday was spent rolling around the apartment, cleaning, trying to studying, missing a yoga class, then walking home half way across the city. While doing so we saw some dancing empanadas, it's a strange form of marketing but lots of business do spectacles in the streets while the traffic lights are red, advertising their services. Caitlin decided that she wanted to be one and so we stopped at the little truck and asked their ringleader how she could get a job. He told her she'd have to do "training" to learn the empanada dance, but that then she'd be on her way to making 3 pesos an hour dancing to tejano and salsa music all while disguised as a giant empanada. Now those pics would be blogworthy! When we got home we were so tired that we gave up the fight and watched two hours of trashy tv- Extreme Makeover (OUCH!) and Desperate Houswives, I like the clever narration but I don't understand why the tip of Terry Hatcher's nose is so pink...
And now something for those of you who listen to Frou Frou (Natalie, Eric, Aly, Claire....who else?) In Tolstoy's Anna Karenina there is a horse named Frou Frou, I wonder if it's a reference or does it mean some meaning in Flench slang (Aly?)? If you don't know this group, they're good...they had a track on the Garden State soundtrack, but all of their stuff is pretty interesting.
the guy in the red is GROSS
Kelly and her Italian Friend
This entry is as much for those here in la Argentina as for those who are a continent away :(
This week Buenos Aires is hosting its 7th annual "Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente." There are tons of films from all over the world and they even have an English version of the website. Better still, it's the first year that they're offering student-discounts...3 pesos for each viewing, feels like robbery to me! I'm not sure if the link will work, if not copy and paste:
https://www.bafici.gov.ar/
Today Caitlin and I had another action packed day...seems like strange things always happen when we're together. After yoga, but before our quest to find peanut butter (they sell it in Chinatown!) we stopped at an ATM where Caitlin absent-mindedly left her card in the machine...code already entered!!! A wonderful woman, I'll call her "The ATM Angel" came chasing after us for more than five blocks to return Caitlin's card. Then, lugging bags of fresh fruit and our peanut butter (no mom it's NOT organic!) we stopped at a store so I could buy some flip flops...the owner was incredibly nice, offered us coffee and we stayed for 15 minutes chatting/charlando (a useful verb to know Natalie!) We spent the rest of the afternoon drinking tea, studying and learning new slang from our friend Maria.
Time to shower and get ready for another Buenos Aires night, I stayed in last night so that I'd have a reservoir of energy...I'm getting too old for this!
Toda Blanca
Armed with our very own apartment in one of the most chic barrios of Buenos Aires, Caitlin and I thought it was high time to throw our very own fiestita. We were worried at first because everything in our apartment from the walls to the leather couches is WHITE. We decided to make this to our advantage and we came up with the idea to have a white-theme: everyone dressed in white and we had white wine, champagne, pina coladas, gin and tonics…Benjamin, a French exchange student went all out and made homemade Caipirinihas, a traditional Brazilian cocktail. (Aure- spelling?). It was actually supposed to be a pre-party, but we were having so much fun that the last guest finally departed around 4 a.m…leaving Caitlin and I with the tipsy munchies…eating French Toast and Ravioli, what???
benjamin making capirinhias
Yes, Peter is in a Lab Coat
