Carnaval!

I meant to send this last night:
 Normally, I'd want to go to sleep at this point in that I have to wake up at 7:30 tomorrow morning to take a Spanish placement exam.  However, I just came back from a Carnaval celebration in Palermo, and I am completely wired.  It honestly was one of the best experiences I've had- tons of dancers, wearing really cool costumes and dancing to different songs and beats as if they didn’t have a care in the world.  They were completely in the moment, celebrating their country and their culture. 
At some points, the participants, who come from different areas within Argentina, danced completely in sync, following the equivalent of what is a conductor, who used a whistle to control the beat. 
But then for other songs, it was all improvisation, a complete free for all, where anyone in the audience, which surrounded the participants, could step onto the street and join in the dancing.  Eventually, my friends Aidan, AJ, and I decided to get in on the Carnaval action and were then thrust into these hilarious dances with random people.  It really was quite a scene.

Certainly beat last night's attempt to find a Carnaval locale, where Jonah, a friend from New York also here for the semester, and I searched for almost 2 hours to find an area with the festivities.  I'm not sure if this is true for all Argentines, but most of them are either totally full of s#$t or they just like messing with Americans.  Every block, we asked another person how to get to the Carnaval event.  This is how the exchange would go:
Me: Permiso, donde hay la Carnaval [Excuse me, where is Carnaval]?
Random Argentine: Por alla, dos cuadras [(pointing as he says it) over there, 2 blocks that way]
Me: estas seguro [are you sure]?
Random Argentine: Si, si [ yes, yes]

Sure enough, we'd walk to the place that the Argentine told us to go and there was absolutely nothing.  In fact, it was usually some completely deserted street.  It was unbelievable.  We felt that all of Buenos Aires was messing with us.  Well at least we got to enjoy Carnaval tonight. 

Other things of note: I have learned the following about my Chabad family in the last couple days:
1. They love bbq's
2. They are very happy Justin Bieber didn't win a Grammy award
3. They love Caipiroska- a cocktail containing vodka, lime, and sugar
4.  Aside from recruiting and welcoming Jews, of which they do a wonderful job, they don't seem to work that much (or that could just be Argentina)- anyways though,
I woke up today at 11 am and I assumed that my family had gone out somewhere.  By the time I had left at 1 pm, I realized that my parents were still sleeping.  Then I thought to myself, don't ppl work in this country? Sure, times are less tense when Carnaval comes around but there just seems to be only parties and sleep here.  My parents were sleeping in the middle of the day and it wasn't just a nap.  But seriously, no emails to check? Nothing to clean? No Shopping? Give me something to indicate that there is some sort of productivity going on.  For example, my dad, who works very hard, happens not to have the luxury of sleeping late anymore or dawdling.  After all, he has just become an official blogger of the Iditarod. 

Anyways, I took a bike tour around some of the many parks here in Buenos Aires today- really beautiful- lots of monuments, some old palaces of former elite Argentines, huge gardens, and small lakes.

2 more things:
observation: Argentines are not shy about PDA, or public display of affection.  While waiting to leave on our bike trip at this giant metal flower, this couple was making out right next to us, but videotaping themselves doing it.  They must have been filming for over 10 minutes.  I know it was a romantic setting but seriously, nobody wants to see that ( or maybe in argentina, they do, that's why they do it)
Complaint: lack of street signs- if you're not familiar with the street, you're bound to get confused trying to navigate your way around the city. 

I tried to upload my carnaval video here but it hasn't worked, so if you have another way of posting the video, let me know I'll try to put it in.

file:///C:/Users/Ariel%20Hoffman/Pictures/2011-03-08%20Patagonia%20and%20Orientation%20Week/Patagonia%20and%20Orientation%20Week%20084.MOV

buenas noches

Ariel