Tuesday, March 24, 2009

buenos aires, night 2



met up with my friend Emily for dinner. we went to a petit restaurant, where I ordered some beef ribs (cross cut, Korean style) and a bottle of beer. Total cost: AR$30 (~US$8.50). I learn something that I find extraordinarily ironic, and a bit sad. However, to protect the involved parties, I won't blog it.

After dinner, she went to a tango workshop, and not having a partner (it's couples only), I hung out until the end of the class, at which point, we met up, and a total of 6 of us went to Salon Canning.

Salon Canning is supposed to be one of the best milongas. We got there around 1AM, and and it was jam packed. And very hot. Everyone was fanning themselves with something, and I started sweating-- I never sweat! Some observations about the (mis)conceptions of milongas. I was told how formal everything here is, but it is not at all. Plenty of men were wearing T-shirts and jeans. Everyone had taken off their jackets because of the heat, so it would've been OK to not have worn one upon entry.

I got a lesson of the politics of tango, about how people are seated, about how people interact and how that demonstrated relationships, and how that translates into the dances one gets. Being new in town (the caliber at Canning is different than that at Tasso), I only got a few cabaceos. My proudest moment was that I conducted an entire conversation in one tanda in Spanish. The woman was quite interesting-- she's a professor of German who moved from Germany 6 years ago and has stayed ever since. I also got shot down a few times. Its amazing how impersonal people are, how judgemental they can be.

The next day is a holiday (don't ask me which one) so the milonga goes until 6AM. By then, the 4 of us left had gone through 2 bottles of wine. We then catch a cab home, and I finally go to bed at 7AM.

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