Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Muy Möoi

Have you ever eaten dinner in an Anthropologie store?

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Me neither, but Möoi feels pretty darn close.


Intricate, multi-tonal wall tattoos wind their way across the outdoor facade and indoor painted brick walls.
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Fabric panels line the ceiling.


Hand-knit table runners and candles add ambiance to the tables.
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I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the blue/green glass jug chandelier in the entry vestibule.
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The dessert case.
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A charming, glassed-in, two-story indoor garden/atrium, my favorite part.
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It has a really cool little pool.

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Amazing food. This was the steak.
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This was the lamb.
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The beauty of going out to eat in Buenos Aires is that you can get really fresh, gourmet food in a beautiful atmosphere for super cheap. This meal cost a little less than $15/plate. Versus a comparable meal in the $tates ... at least in D.C.


Lunch specials and hand-knit wall decor. Möoi boasts that it's open all day, every day. They have brunch, lunch, tea, etc.

(Our dinner was served around 11:45 p.m.)

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Next time, I'll take pics of the ADORABLE tea room and teaching kitchen upstairs.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Skater Boyz


In front of La Rural expo center, there is an interesting community, a growing skate scene. The whole "skate park" has been built just since I've been here, and I've seen it growing in popularity. Graffiti artists have also contributed. If I had more time, and better Castellano (Spanish), I would love to do some ethnographic research; some "deep hanging out" at this scene.




I have also noticed more kids around the city and particularly in our neighborhood on skateboards. In the "park" that's not really a park in front of our apt., I notice teenagers gathering and practicing skateboard tricks. (Long into the night/early morning; the way Porteños roll.) Interesting phenomenon, especially in a city that is as NOT conducive to skating as Buenos Aires -- lots of cobblestone, brick, uneven sidewalks, { dog poo }, and reckless motorists.

I would also be very interested in studying the evolving skatewear scene, as this type of dress and shoe is not apparently widely popular or readily available in stores -- it is expensive (imported) from what I can tell from stores I've noticed in upscale malls.

Anyway, just things I've noticed and am interested in.

Winter

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This picture was actually taken June 17, 2009, one day after a little home test told me I was pregnant.


Recently, cab rides have been reminding me of this time last year:

the cold air outside/the sometimes too-warm air inside cabs and the contrast between the two that makes my head and tummy feel weird; funky smelling cabs, stale cigarette smoke, stop-and-go traffic, bus exhaust/car exhaust/stinky, nausea and headache-inducing exhaust, funky smells of food, people and a foreign city in general, fatigue and MORNING SICKNESS.

Luckily I was never physically ill (you know what I mean) from morning sickness, but those cab rides sure gave me a run for my money. I shudder thinking of how uncomfortable it was to have to ride in a cab everywhere when I felt so crappy. I still can't eat ñoquis (gnocchi).

I don't know at all why I took the picture above. I was thinking I needed to take a pic to illustrate this post but I looked through my photo folder just to see if I had a pic of a cab ride and funny enough this one is from exactly the time period I am thinking about.


Thursday, August 12, 2010

Perfection

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 Julie, this made me think of you.

The Strangest Day

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While Amy was visiting, we decided to take a trip to Colonia, Uruguay. It's a quick 1-hr. journey on a huge sea-faring airplane-type boat.

We raced to the docks to make the 8:30 a.m. departure. Little did we realize the passport/visa complications we would encounter.

Long story short, Neil and Nile stayed behind and just Amy and I went.

Long story shorter, it was really hard for me to be far away from Nile like that! I was really sad.

But I tried to have a good time and Amy and I still had fun.

We ended up departing on I think the 1:00 p.m. boat, arriving in Uruguay at 2:00 p.m. Luckily, we saw all (we thought) there was to see of Colonia in the span of one hour, showed up at 3:00 to check in and board, and returned on the 4:00 p.m. boat.

I've never been on a cruise, but this sort of felt like it. The boat looked like this, with two stories; we sat on the upper deck:

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The trip made for a very strange day: I took the day off of work and we went to the port area on a weekday morning, which was out of my routine. I'd never been to Uruguay. Our arrival and the city itself was so weird.

When we left Buenos Aires, it looked like this:
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This:
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And this:
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Shortly after departure, Amy and I both fell asleep.


I slowly awoke to the dull, enveloping hum of engines, like when you're on a plane.

I felt like I was wrapped in cotton; my senses weren't making sense. The light was very low and soft all around me. All I could hear above the cabin sounds was a strange version of "Borderline" by Madonna. I slowly became aware of a TV screen suspended from the ceiling a couple rows ahead, just like on an airplane.

On the screen was a live version of Madonna, playing a guitar and singing "Borderline" in an arena concert venue.

Really strange.

When I turned my attention to the soft light, looking out the window for the source, I saw only softly glowing haziness. I thought we were in the clouds. Half conscious, I thought maybe the boat had taken off and we were now flying through the clouds. Then I thought, "perhaps I died and I am on a plane eternally flying through heaven, with an endless loop of Madonna on the guitar."

"... You just keep -- on -- push -- ing -- my love, over the borderline ..."

I was really confused, and I sat up to get a better look out the window, and this is what I saw:

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Rather unsettling. Where were we? How much time had passed?



Soon after, we arrived in Colonia.

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 How far is Colonia from Buenos Aires? How can the weather change so much??


The city itself seemed cute in a mildly eerie, desolate way.

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A school. I love the blue.
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Amy was really hoping we'd see the Uruguayan team from the World Cup.
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Luckily, we did. OK, so this was a poster in a store window, what?


This scene cracks me up: street dogs chasing a covered golf cart. Not something you see in BsAs.
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The doors to the post office.
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The beach. Strange in winter, with boots on.
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Upon our departure, Uruguay looked as gloomy as when we'd arrived.
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I was so happy to go back to my home in Buenos Aires, where I feel comfortable, and to where my lovely family was waiting.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Over and Over

This song is in my head.



I exorcised it with YouTube and then I Wiki'd Peter Bjorn just to know a little bit more.

It says that in 2006, the song "was also named NME's second-best track of 2006, beaten only by "Over and Over" by Hot Chip."

I don't think I know "Over and Over" but it reminds me ...

I have a lot of stories from the days in college when I worked part-time during the school year and full time during the summer in a nursing home.

I really love the old people.

There was one old lady, a tiny little thing with dark gray/black hair parted in the middle and cut in a shoulder-length, stringy bob. Thick little glasses and a cute face that reminded me of a Podling.

She could walk with a walker, and you could talk to her and she seemed mostly with it; she spoke both English and Pennsylvania Dutch. Interestingly there was another old lady in the nursing home who spoke it, too.

But she would repeat a few words and phrases to herself constantly otherwise.

One such word/phrase was "over." Especially if you were helping her to get up and walk.

"Over. Over. Over and over.     Over. O-ver.    Over.    Over and over."

"Over. O-ver."

"Over."

"O-ver and over."

Mate (MAH-tay)

Along the lines of the previous post ...
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_%28beverage%29

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Gauching Out

Bombacha de campo are pants traditionally worn by Argentine gauchos (cowboys).

Someone got a pair -- and the rest of the traditional gaucho outfit, save the shirt (i.e. scarf, boina (hat), alpargatas (made famous by Tom's)) -- for his birthday a couple weeks ago.

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Monday, August 9, 2010

Typical Argentina


Oh you know, a typical midnight in Buenos Aires: Mafia types in a couple black Mercedes Benz; cartoneros collecting trash and recycling; and a hose with water running, dangling from a building.

Blog Spam Ban

I wish I had a fan base in China/Korea/? who enthusiastically commented on this here blog nearly daily.

But alas, I think all of the comments in characters are from some sort of weird blog spam thing, and not from fans, or even humans at all.

How do I get them to stop??

Sunday, August 8, 2010

AP Stylebook Update

Yes, I am still a copy editor at heart.

This landed in my e-mail inbox the other day, much to my amusement:

A new entry has been added to the AP Stylebook Online. As an online subscriber, you can receive these updates whenever the Associated Press makes them.

Editor's Note: An entry on Wyclef Jean has been added to the Pronunciation Guide. It includes the phonetic spelling and audio pronunciation.

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Wyclef Jean

  Hip-hop artist launching a bid for the presidency of Haiti


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Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Tango: It's Not for Everyone

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Nobody said Nile had to like tango, just because she lives in Buenos Aires.

We took her and Amy to a dinner and tango show. She enjoyed the dinner, or at least enjoyed slobbering all over the spoon and nursing here and there.

She got wide-eyed and quiet when the lights went down, and when the curtain came up and the live musicians and dancers dramatically launched into the show, her face crinkled and she let out a wail.

She then spent the rest of the show in the lobby and upstairs balcony, being held (mostly) by daddy and the relief team, mommy.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Party's Over

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We take Nile all over the place with us. I think it is making her an adaptable, flexible, well-rounded baby. Well, I guess she was asleep for a lot of it.

We would take her to house parties, where she would charm all of the guests until she fell asleep, we strapped her in (key: ALWAYS strap the baby IN) to her car seat and she'd snooze away the rest of the night in a guest room.

Now she's becoming more ...

Well, less portable.

She wants to be awake, and not just awake, she wants to be standing, which means one of us is holding her hands while she stands and bounces on our lap. She likes to be a part of the action. She likes to be entertained.

And she really likes to chew on fingers and drool all over the place.

At dinner the other night, she drooled all over the menu. I think the restaurant owners should take it as a compliment.

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You really thought we were kidding about late dinners in Buenos Aires? Try dinner served at 11:40 p.m.  Redefining "midnight snack."

And now there is the fussiness that comes when you have a baby in a busy restaurant at midnight and all she wants is her crib ...

I guess Nile's party-girl days are over?

Every recent night that we've taken her out, upon our return home I say, "that was the last night we take her out; she's just getting too old for that and needs to go to bed earlier." And then I take her out again. And repeat myself again.

I'm just afraid to get a babysitter, and Nanny lives outside the city.


So we continue to adapt to Life With Baby.

Luckily Neil is totally awesome with her. And I'm not half-bad, if I do say so myself.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

A Magnificent Night at the Theatre

We did not just have box seats -- we had a box suite at the Teatro Colón, one of the top five opera houses in the world.


And not just any suite -- the Mayor's Box! As in, the actual mayor of Buenos Aires. Free tickets. Magnificent. As the video tour shows you, it's a suite that includes its own living room, bathroom, and personal attendant. It was incredible!

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I could live here! Or the Park Hyatt Palacio Duhau ... it's a toss-up.


We went to see the opera "Don Giovanni"; my first opera, if you don't count "El Fantasma de la Opera." I don't think anything will ever measure up to this experience.

We had a car and driver take us (me and some friends, including Amy who was visiting, her first night in Buenos Aires!) to the Colón.

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Upon arrival, we entered the grand lobby. Breathtaking!
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And ascended the stairs to our box.
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The auditorium <-- that word does NOT do it justice!

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looking up ...
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The Teatro Colón has been closed for a complete cleaning and restoration during the past few years -- it was finally reopened on May 25 of this year, and it literally sparkles.

Our seats! Yes, that is the curtain to our left!

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We were right above the orchestra. I love the sound of them warming up.
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The view: Not just about seeing, but being seen.
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~The curtain went up; no pictures during the performance; fast forward to intermission.~


Relaxing during intermission in the "living room." We should have brought pajamas!
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View through the suite to the auditorium.
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~No pictures during the second half; fast forward to after the show.~

The cast took a well deserved bow ...
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... the lights came up ...
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... we left Maggie straightening up the room ...
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... admired the corridors ...
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... took one final shot ...
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... and were picked up in the van and whisked back home.
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