Tuesday morning I was really struggling to stay awake ALL day but I did meet my wonderful “referente,” who is the professor I will be working with at the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Silvia. She is a very friendly person, and I’m very happy to be working with her in the English department.
After the day long conference at the Ministry of Education, I went back for a nap. Strangely enough, I could only sleep one hour (people who know me, know I’m pretty big on naps so this comes as a surprise) and then I got up to meet our group at El Palacio de Papas Fritos at 9pm. My friend Gillian and I sat down together since we will be teaching in the same region, and a few teachers joined us. I made my third Mendocino contact—a very kind woman named Silvia also. The pace seems to be one new friend from Mendoza per day.
THE MEAL…We all had to order off a special menu that included a drink, a first and second course and a dessert. I wasn’t really hungry, but since the Commission was taking us all out as a treat and I was there, I figured I’d still try a few things.
I started off with something the teachers suggested, which turned out to be a homemade cured meat roll with potato salad (obviously not exactly the same, but something to compare with in the U.S.) Anyhow, I ordered a mini-bife, which by all standards should be a mini-steak. This photo doesn’t really show very well how BIG the steak I got was, but it was huge. And it was supposedly a mini. I want to see what the full size one is. It also came with little pillow-shaped fries with pockets of air inside. Thus the French Fry Palace.
We left at midnight and headed out shortly after to una milonga, or a classic tango social. One of the Fulbrighters happens to be a professional tango dancer so he’s been sharing his culture with us. The place he took us seemed to be really authentic—just a bunch of Argentine couples dancing the tango—which is absolutely amazing to watch. Let’s be clear, however. This is not a dance that most Argentines know and dance when they go out, and it’s definitely not a dance that many young Argentine people know. But all of us Fulbrighters want to learn it since it’s so mesmerizing to watch. We watched our friend Boris enchant all the Argentine cougars by whisking them off their feet. I got a terrible video—it was dark and I was trying to be obscure, but nevertheless, I got a video of a 90 year old couple dancing the night away at 1 a.m. on a Tuesday night. Obviously, most of the people weren’t 90—more in their 30s, 40s or 50s, but I thought this couple was cute.
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