Mate and Tango

I've got about an hour before shabbat starts here so I figured I'd write alittle bit about my last couple days here in Buenos Aires.  Tonight, I'm eating dinner at an Israeli hostel so I look forward to meeting some Israelis.  After all, what would a South American experience be without meeting any Israelis?

Anyway, on Wednesday, we had our formal University of Belgrano orientation at the school.  One huge plus is not having class on Fridays, which I have never experienced before in my college days.  There are some very interesting sounding classes, but I actually make my schedule the day I start class.  I'm excited to get back into class mode, and ppl from everywhere around the world- germany, france, colombia, australia, italy, japan- to name a few, are studying at the University so it should be cool getting to meet lots of foreigners. 

Wednesday afternoon, we learned about Mate, a very popular local drink, a type of tea drunken out of a special cup carved out of pumpkin.  Here is some more info about Mate:

https://po6.mail.umd.edu/wm/mail/genimage/The%20Mate%20Ceremony.doc?sessionid=-595b065bb&uid=1612&off=611666&len=42038&enc=1&type=APPLICATION&sub=MSWORD&mbox=user.ahof

Yesterday, we had a lesson all about the Tango, a dance that originated in Buenos Aires in the later 19th century and remains a huge part of Argentina's culture.  The original Tango was in fact developed by Blacks living in Argentina, many of whom were slaves.  they would create beats called Tangos.  Ultimately, the music became more sophisticated (inclusion of music) but was only performed by people of the lower classes.  By the 20th century, the dance had evolved into a dance for all peoples, including the elites.  Over the course of the century, the dance had its high points and low points, sometimes very popular and at other times, kind of abandoned.  Today, there are many places in the city where you can go to dance Tango or to watch a show.  But if you go to a popular plaza in many places, you are bound to see 2 dancers there. 

After the lesson, we went to a dance club to learn basic Tango steps.  After much tripping and colliding with other people, I think I began to feel comfortable (if not mastered) the basic steps.  You can also learn other dances there, such as Salsa.

Last night, after having dinner at Jonah's homestay, I met up with some kids from my program at some hip hop club in Palermo.  At first, I really enjoyed myself- there was a cool breakdancing show on the dance floor, where different guys took turns doing their tricks. 
Then chaos engulfed club Araoz.  Next thing I knew, I was submerged in a huge mosh pit, everyone on top of one another, attempting to dance without anywhere to move.  The amount of pushing and shoving made post davening kiddushes at shul seem calm and pleasant and I could only take this for so long.  I decided that surrounded by people, with no air or room to move, sweating profusely, unable to breathe and my eyes burning due to the prevalence of cigarette smoke, and my inability to talk to anybody because of how loud the music was is not so much my scene.  So I then left the club at 3:30, an early end to the night by Argentine standards. 

Que tengan un Shabbat Shalom.
con amor

Ariel