Month 2 Update - February 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
As time is flying by, here is an little update of our past month.
Valentines Day - We decided to head to dinner directly after we got out of our Spanish class. We walked a half mile over to a Koh Lanta a Thai restaurant I had had my eye on. We arrived just after 8 and strangely to us we were the only customers there. The majority of people here don't make it out for dinner until 9:00 or 10:00 pm. That night was no different. I think we even showed up before some of the waiters. We ate spring rolls, Pad Thai and a honey chicken dish on their roof top terrace. It was a nice evening out; excellent ambiance and great food.
Carnival Season - With Ash Wednesday fast approaching, every weekend the neighborhoods have been abuzz with the Argentinean version of a Carnival street parade called a corso. Where the Brazilian Carnival is dominated by the sounds of samba, the Argentinean have a unique style of music called murga (also the name used for their dance groups) that is synonymous with the corsos. Murga is a percussion-based rhythm usually performed by a marching band, live in the streets. Its dance moves include almost acrobatic kicks and the lyrics usually abound in social criticism and politics.
Each barrio (neighborhood) hosts a block party of sorts where they invite the murgas of other barrios to perform. Because their music isn't amplified, the performance can vary greatly depending on the size of the group. Every group has a set of large drums with an attached symbol on top which sets the beat for the parade of dancers. The typical age of dancers are between 12 - 30 but their are usually a small group of kids at the front as young as 4 years old.
This video is from one of the Murgas in our barrio - Villa Crespo
Aside from the Murga groups, there are kids (big and small) entertaining themselves during the intermission between groups. They are all running around chasing each other with cans of soap foam trying to tag the other kid with the foamy substance. Some of the kids are ruthless. They go for the eyes, the mouth, the empty handed kids or just a absent-minded passerby.
Spanish Lessons - We are getting settled into our Spanish classes. Terry's doing a better job understanding the grammar rules and forming sentences. I on the other hand am still having a hard time comprehending.
End of Summer - Right now in Argentina, as summer is nearing its end the children are starting another year of school and the streets are packed with people back from summer holiday. The school children all look so cute in their uniforms and book bags. Each of them wear some form of a uniform to school. If they go to a private school the uniform is pretty traditional to what we would think of as a private school uniform. But I think the public kids uniform are the cutest and most interesting. They get to wear their own clothing with a long lab coat over top. So if you're outside at around 4:00 pm you see packs of little laughing doctors and scientists walking home from school.
Job Hunt - Terry and I have both been on the job hunt. I've applied with a Nanny Placement company, and have had a Skype interview, my references checked, a face to face interview, and had to take a physiological exam (basically a personality test). Now I'm just waiting on the results from my physiological exam, which could take up to 3 weeks to get back and then I'll get to interview with families and hopefully start working. I started this process in the beginning of February, I had know idea that it would take this long to get going. They say things run slower in Argentina and this is just one example. Terry has turned in his CV (resume) with a lot of large national and international companies here in Argentina and has had a good response back from them. The problem is we are here on a tourist visa at the moment and these companies cant sponsor foreigners at this time. Terry is still on the look out for a company to sponsor him.
Valentines Day - We decided to head to dinner directly after we got out of our Spanish class. We walked a half mile over to a Koh Lanta a Thai restaurant I had had my eye on. We arrived just after 8 and strangely to us we were the only customers there. The majority of people here don't make it out for dinner until 9:00 or 10:00 pm. That night was no different. I think we even showed up before some of the waiters. We ate spring rolls, Pad Thai and a honey chicken dish on their roof top terrace. It was a nice evening out; excellent ambiance and great food.
Carnival Season - With Ash Wednesday fast approaching, every weekend the neighborhoods have been abuzz with the Argentinean version of a Carnival street parade called a corso. Where the Brazilian Carnival is dominated by the sounds of samba, the Argentinean have a unique style of music called murga (also the name used for their dance groups) that is synonymous with the corsos. Murga is a percussion-based rhythm usually performed by a marching band, live in the streets. Its dance moves include almost acrobatic kicks and the lyrics usually abound in social criticism and politics.
Each barrio (neighborhood) hosts a block party of sorts where they invite the murgas of other barrios to perform. Because their music isn't amplified, the performance can vary greatly depending on the size of the group. Every group has a set of large drums with an attached symbol on top which sets the beat for the parade of dancers. The typical age of dancers are between 12 - 30 but their are usually a small group of kids at the front as young as 4 years old.
This video is from one of the Murgas in our barrio - Villa Crespo
Aside from the Murga groups, there are kids (big and small) entertaining themselves during the intermission between groups. They are all running around chasing each other with cans of soap foam trying to tag the other kid with the foamy substance. Some of the kids are ruthless. They go for the eyes, the mouth, the empty handed kids or just a absent-minded passerby.
Spanish Lessons - We are getting settled into our Spanish classes. Terry's doing a better job understanding the grammar rules and forming sentences. I on the other hand am still having a hard time comprehending.
End of Summer - Right now in Argentina, as summer is nearing its end the children are starting another year of school and the streets are packed with people back from summer holiday. The school children all look so cute in their uniforms and book bags. Each of them wear some form of a uniform to school. If they go to a private school the uniform is pretty traditional to what we would think of as a private school uniform. But I think the public kids uniform are the cutest and most interesting. They get to wear their own clothing with a long lab coat over top. So if you're outside at around 4:00 pm you see packs of little laughing doctors and scientists walking home from school.
Job Hunt - Terry and I have both been on the job hunt. I've applied with a Nanny Placement company, and have had a Skype interview, my references checked, a face to face interview, and had to take a physiological exam (basically a personality test). Now I'm just waiting on the results from my physiological exam, which could take up to 3 weeks to get back and then I'll get to interview with families and hopefully start working. I started this process in the beginning of February, I had know idea that it would take this long to get going. They say things run slower in Argentina and this is just one example. Terry has turned in his CV (resume) with a lot of large national and international companies here in Argentina and has had a good response back from them. The problem is we are here on a tourist visa at the moment and these companies cant sponsor foreigners at this time. Terry is still on the look out for a company to sponsor him.
Tags:
Argentina,
Buenos Aires,
recap
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