La Bomba!

I'm tired, but I want to get this down. I also have a scratchy throat - major uhoh! Argentina's flu season is just beginning :(

This morning was a bit rushed, as I slept in. But I got mi cafe y tostada con frutilla. School was cool -- Eammon gave us a mini-lesson on the present perfect v. the past. I got a lot of ideas for my thesis. We also talked about presenting the past simple, and then how to present "writing" and its purpose/function.

For lunch, 6 of us went to a lovely little hole in the wall that had marvelous emapandas. I got 2, which was sufficent, for 6 pesos, which is less than 2 dollars for lunch. Whoop. I was starting to think I was just going to be paying a lot for everything. They also had some wonderful soup, so if I do get sick, I'll have to go back.

Class got out around 4, and I headed home, where I found my room immaculate and a form on my desk about "homestay rules" from my program. As my fear rose, I wondered frantically if it was the clothes on the bed or the dirty coffee cup that had upset my host mom. I mean, I'll be the first to admit that I am not the neatest person, but I didn't think I was that bad.

So Hasil called, and I scampered out of the house so I could avoid running into my host mom. We walked down to a bookstore quite similar to Barnes & Nobles, which was also next to a beautiful movie theater. It seems most things are beautiful and timeless or old and falling apart. Once we picked up Rebe, we went to the cemetery because I wanted to see Evita's grave. Well, the cemetery had closed 15 minutes earlier, so then we walked back to Santa Fe, where we went into an old theater (think HUGE) that had been transformed into an amazing bookstore. I hope to go back and veg. It was SO neat! And on the stage, there was a coffee shop.

We hung out there for a while, then walked FOREVER to get to a concert. We were tired, and I was cold, and the neighborhood got sketchier. Rebe pointed out the Jewish signs, and I remembered that Argentina has an extremely high Jewish population because loads immigrated here after Argentine independence because the consitution established religious freedom.

Well, we made it to the concert, by La Bomba, en Kodex, only to find that every other person between the age of 20-30 in BA was there for the concert as well. We purchased our ticket, then proceeded a block and a half away to the end of the line. Finally, we made it in, where Rebe and I pushed our way to the front.

This was a percussion band, which I quite love. A group from school was playing when we got there. Finally, the main show "La Bomba" came out, and they were really cool. Rebe and I managed to get within the second "row" of standing people. As I was snapping a picture of the "no smoking" sign, two ladies puff their cigarettes right in my direction. When a cop came by and asked them to stop, they protested, saying "Everyone here is smoking weed and we can't smoke?" Oh yea, that's the kind of percussion group this was. It was so neat!

So Rebe and I entertained ourselves with some of the characters in the band. One guy had HUGE eyes, and he was always staring intently at the conductor. Another guy must've been completely high, and he played with eyes half shut and a look of almost childlike desire to please on his face. The two guys playing the tall drums danced as they played, were laughing and having fun, and they were our favorites.

At one point, some famous dude started singing with the band. Everyone freaked out and migrated to that part of the stage. Rebe and I just hung on to each other so we wouldnt get swept away or knocked over. Then this group of guys got really drunk or something, and started making this huge dancing circle. Unfortunately, like a tornado, they picked up everything around them, and then all of a sudden I was on the outside of the circle. One guy was shoved/fell onto me, and grabbed me, and as I elbowed/shot him the most disgusted stare I could, he shot me a "I'm sorry!" look and fell back into his whirlwind of bodies. Rebe later commended my "get away" look. Thankfully, we had three guy friends there as well, and we ended up in a protective bubble surrounded by them. Guys are good :)

Headed home, and talked with my host mom. She said that that paper just "ended up" on the top of the desk, and that she had no concerns, but I'm still going to pay closer attention to the state of my room. Unfortunately, I didn't get dinner. She assumed I ate out when I didn't come home. So I had some liquid yogurt de frutilla, which was actually really good, and will now go to sleep. Long live La Bomba!