School week diary, day three:
9:30 Alarm goes off. I begin my bad romance with the snooze button.
10:15 Rise. Have a “big breakfast” of cereal, crackers, and an apple. Listen to Kate Nash and Adele (I woke up feeling like a sassy Brit, I guess) as I get ready for the day.
11:30 Leave the house, hop on the colectivo. I work on memorizing lines as I go.
12:00 Meet Robyn for lunch downtown. It’s been a while and we have stories to exchange. I’ve been craving ñoccis, and it’s the 29th – the day of ñoccis! – so I couldn’t resist ordering some.
13:00 Robyn and I walk a few blocks to get to our private acting workshop (we’re spoiled) that we have each week with Marisa, whom I’ve mentioned before – she’s basically our mom, although she’s not that much older than us. She graduated from the theater program at USal a few years ago and is now busy working in the Buenos Aires theater scene, in addition to running around with the two of us making sure USal is nice to us.
We’re working on monologs and spend a lot of time focusing on full involvement and consciousness of the voice and body. (I’m translating directly from Spanish again, sounds a little weird...) I had a great time acting today – I feel like I can really be expressive with the language now, and it feels lovely. I wish we could have the workshop every day!
15:00 Time for our dramatic theory seminar with Jorge Dubatti! (As I said, we are SPOILED) The classroom is just two doors down, so I grab a quick two-peso cafecito from the vending machine. Delicious!
Dubatti is a delight. Today we talked about Ricardo Bartís,* one of the most highly acclaimed theater directors in Buenos Aires. Dubatti had an interview with him recently, which I attended. His lecture today focused on logically synthesizing Bartís’s ideas, which were a little all-over-the-place in the interview, although fascinating nonetheless. I think that today, I finally convinced Dubatti that I understand Spanish. He thinks I should move here. I don’t completely disagree.
16:00 Class ends. Robyn had to peace out early because she’s been feeling sick :( Thus, all alone, I decide to wander a bit and do some shopping. Spring fashions have now hit the stores.
My most devoted reader (my mother) recently suggested that I write a post about fashion in Buenos Aires. I plan to write said post in the near future, but I’ll give you all a sneak peak now: if I see another floral print, I think I might just puke. There’s also lots of lace going on. And PASTELS. It’s shocking and quite nauseating. Usually, the reason I get frustrated while shopping here is because I don’t fit into the clothes. (They have four sizes for women, and a lot of stores only have the smaller two in stock. Like that store from “Mean Girls”!!! Then there are special stores for “gordas” and “super-gordas.”) But today, I went to a total of seven or eight different stores, and didn’t find ONE THING that I wanted to try on. Sad. At least I’ll save some money...until, of course, I head back to the U.S. and become overwhelmed by the bounty of beautiful things I want. I’m dreaming of H&M and Anthropologie!
16:45 Discouraged, I go to Havanna for a cup of tea. I accidentally order café con leche and medialunas. Oops. I do some reading for class – the chapter, fittingly, is about consumerism.
18:00 I board the colectivo to go home. I should have taken the subte, the traffic was awful!
19:00 I get off a few blocks early in the interest of my physical and mental health. I go into a few more clothing stores. I want to scream at the very, very ugly things I see. I glance in a mirror; I’m looking rough. I head home for real.
I arrive home. I eat apples and granola. I watch “Friends” on tv. Cintia has returned from Mar del Plata, and she gets her friend on the phone whose son wrote and directed an award-winning play that’s still running in the city – she passes the phone to me and I get a theater contact! Exciting.
20:15 I write most of this blog entry because I have nothing better to do and I don’t want to infect the world with my grumpalicious mood that I caught from the awful clothes and stop-and-start bus ride.
20:45 Brief bout of illness. Blegh. At least I know I don’t have yellow fever.
21:15 I sit in the kitchen sipping water. Cintia takes this as a sign that I want to be fed and serves me a plate of chicken and squash that she had prepared earlier. It’s delicious! I eat while she does other things, then sit with her while she eats her dinner. Conversation includes teenage pregnancies. Leticia puts in her two cents from time to time by shouting from the next room, where she is busy with architecture assignments.
22:00 I write the rest of this entry. My arm itches. I want to take a shower.
22:30 Showertime.
22:45 While finishing my shower, I realize that "Para vestir santos," my favorite Argentine show, is on in 15 minutes! Grumpy mood fades. I watch the show. It is excellent.
Well, there you have my miércoles. These things just keep getting longer and longer. Tomorrow should prove to be more interesting, as I’ll be starting my weekend. Stay tuned!
Love,
Isa
P.S. I should note that there are tons of very well-dressed Argentines, and that I have found clothes that I like here. Just not today. To see some interesting alternative styles, check out www.onthecorner.com.ar
*Bartís is the director of “El box,” which you may remember I did not like in the least. Nevertheless, his ideas are interesting...and Dubatti’s sending us to see the play again! Apparently it’s gone through huge changes since I saw it a month and a half ago. We’ll see.
Word of the day: ruso/a –adj. Blond. (lit. Russian. Huh.)
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