Following in the steps of people like Michelle over at Bleeding Espresso as well as Tango Baby, I thought I’d start posting a “Love Thursday” entry every week.

Here is the first one.

How could I not choose this picture to represent love? And furthermore, how can one not love this cute baby? (That’s Isabella Azul, by the way, with me, Tìa Tina, cuddling close by…)

Photographed by Isa’s mommy, Miss Tango.

Today seems to be one of those days. My dear friend SaraEllen and I have been exercising together lately (while she’s visiting), making use of the beautiful parks in nearby barrios for jogging. Yesterday it rained and so we decided to run up and down the stairs of my apartment building for exercise. And boy was that a mistake. Poor G., whose place I live in, got some complaints this morning about it. It’s understandable though. Safety risk, makes noise, etc. But I sure felt like a puppy with its tail tucked between its legs. I also felt bad for causing G. trouble.

It reminded me of the time when Miss Tango (and Mr. Tango) and I were sitting in the huge enclosed courtyard of the place I had previously lived in (with one2tango). It was a gorgeous space, with beautiful Spanish tiles and fountains that were no longer in use. The caretaker of the property, with two friends behind her for support, came to us and told us that we were not to sit there as it was technically a corridor and only for walking through. We were puzzled as it is a huge, wide open space and we were only right outside my door, not blocking anyone’s way. (We also found out that children living there were not allowed to play in that space for more than a short time. Which makes me sad because Once is not the safest neighborhood for kids to play outside. Having a beautiful outdoor space that is safe from the outside world is ideal for children, so it’s sad that they can’t use it.) Never mind though, it was my last day living there anyway so we went inside.

On top of feeling a little down, I had a deadline today for a translation, and I was putting the finishing touches on it so I could e-mail it to the client, when the phone went out and the internet consequently stopped working. I did the thing we usually do when the home phone stops working: I picked up my cell phone and called my home number, causing the home phone to ring and be reactivated. Ah, the funny little quirks of the Argentine telecommunications system. This particular do-it-yourself process feels to me like trying to hold a washing machine together with a rubber band and a piece of string. (I say this with a giggle of course).

With the phone line once again in tact, I tried the internet, but to no avail. I reset the modem a few times, and the wireless router. Nothing. I was missing my deadline. G. called their technical support and I was surprised to hear him actually talking to a person, as the last time I tried to call (from my other place in B.A.), I had to wait for hours before anyone would help me. Luckily G. later got his computer to access the internet by plugging the line directly into his laptop, so I was able to send my client the file and heave a big sigh of relief. Later the internet came back on for everyone, and I am now taking on another translation job. Let’s hope it keeps working for a while.

Sarah Vaughn:

Dinah Washington:

Ella Fitzgerald (my personal favorite):

Billie Holiday:

Judy Garland:

It is an extraordinary warm and beautiful day.  SaraEllen and I are in the kitchen with the window open, she with her Spanish homework and I with my translations. 

The air smells like summer, and with each breeze and each sound that drifts in, I am warmed inside, thinking that this is exactly how I want it to be.  There is a sense of destiny in the air, an awareness of where I am and what I’m doing at this period in my life.  The adventurer in me smiles because I am doing something pretty exciting.

I’ve always wanted to be someone who lives elsewhere.  Ever since I began traveling in life, I knew I wasn’t interested in the usual tourist sites in the countries I would visit.  I wanted to be one of those people, I wanted to live there, get a sense of what it was like from the inside.  People in Seattle are never surprised when I tell them I’m moving somewhere (Italy, Switzerland, Argentina…).  The only difference this time is that I won’t live in Seattle again.  I have finally closed that chapter and I feel comfortable being away permanently, except for the occasional visit.

Buenos Aires feels new and exciting to me again, and I feel like I just got here, though it’s been 5 and a half months.  I feel particularly alive today.  I’m living my dreams.

My friend SaraEllen is visiting and today I was surprised at how warm it was - for being the middle of winter, it certainly was perfectly pleasant weather for walking outside with short sleeves and no jacket. We walked all the way to San Telmo and back. This picture is one I took as we were approaching Plaza de Mayo from Bolivar.

I decided to follow in the footsteps of Tango Baby and others and see what sort of word cloud my blog would generate.

Here’s what it gave me! Lots of Spanish, and quite a big preposition (”de”) but I also like how the words “beautiful” and “energy” got stuck together.

Brought to you by Wordle.

When I went to visit Helen and Anthony in Santiago de Chile, I woke up with a beautiful view…

we saw some other impressive views from the top of Cerro St. Lucia…

thought we were in Rome for a minute…

saw trees with people in them…

walked through quaint barrios…

went to Valparaiso and walked among colorful houses…

saw a cat on a cold tin roof (get it?)…

went home and drank Pisco Sours out of martini glasses…

saw a clear, post-rain view of Santiago on my last morning…

and I went home, refreshed, to my beautiful Buenos Aires.

Thank you Helen and Anthony!

It is a really intense city, Buenos Aires.

There is no gray, only black and white.  No purgatory, only heaven and hell.

On some days my heart is so full of emotion and I just want to embrace this city and all of its beauty and weep with love.

On other days I feel as if it is choking me and doing everything it can to piss me off and I want to get out.

The thing about it is that even the *good* days here are so intense that they can choke.

Getting out of Buenos Aires was the best thing I could do right now, at least for a few days.  I’m just over the mountains in Chile, taking a breather from the day to day intensity that is Buenos Aires.  It feels good.

It’s like a love relationship - you see the same person, day in and day out.  You get to know each other’s quirks and preferences, habits, everything.  You deeply, unconditionally love that person and everything they bring to your life, but sometimes you just need to go look at something else for a while and get away.  Take your space.  Come back with new energy.

So that is what I am doing.  It is my love for Buenos Aires that makes me so excited to get out for a while - so that I can stretch some unused muscles and come back with new energy and even more love.

I have just filled up on fruit and coffee and toast with dulce de leche while looking at the hills that surround my friend’s beautiful apartment.  Today we will walk around and discover Santiago.  I’m in a good mood, and very happy to see my friends.

I couldn’t just leave to Chile without changing my blog look!

With the genius work of my friend at Roam2Rome, I now have my very own theme.

Changes (adding sidebar stuff, etc.) will be made when I’m back and we have time. For now this is what it will be. Pretty huh!

Note: If you have IE6, you won’t be able to see the sidebar items - maybe you should upgrade to IE 7 or 8, or Firefox. ;-)  In the meantime, sit tight as we try to work with this.

Enjoy!

(P.S. Like the cute little dancers at the bottom of the page?)

It’s amazing what you can find when you’re surfing through todotango.

Like this poem, by Carlos de la Púa

Para vos, Barrio Once, este verso emotivo
con un cacho grandote de cielo de rayuela.
Yo soy aquel muchacho, el fulback de Sportivo
Glorias a Jorge Newbery, que alborotó la escuela.

Yo soy aquel que al rango no erraba culadera,
que hizo formidables proezas de billarda.
Rompedor de faroles con mi vieja gomera,
tuve dos enemigos: los botones y el guarda.

Y, los bolsillos bolsas de bochones y miga,
llené toda la calle de repes y de chante.
¡Mi bolita lechera!… ¿Dónde andarás, amiga?
¡Y aquella mil colores, cachusa y atorrante!

Se fueron con el viejo pepino corralero,
el terror de los trompos, mi trovero baqueano.
Partía las cascaritas con su púa de acero
y a las chicas del barrio les zumbaba en la mano.

Se fueron con los cinco carozos de damasco
de mi ainenti querido… Payanira primera!
Si te habremos jugado con el grone y el vasco
y con Casimba, el hijo de la bicicletera.

Barrio mío, donde garabatié con tiza
robada del colegio: ¡Yo la quiero a Adelita!
¡Abajo el Cachirulo! ¡Boicot al Pataliza!
El que le lee esto es un… Toto afila con Lita.

Barrio mío, donde quedara abandonado
el simbólico tejo diezañero y querido,
hoy -que en esta quiniela del vivir soy sobrado-
tu recuerdo me abuena como un verso sentido.

Tu recuerdo es el gol que me da la victoria…
Porque he jugado mucho, miro claro la vida…
Barrio mío, en tus calles, está toda mi historia.
Es una piedra-libre y una gata-parida.