Soapy Water and Scandal at the Bingo!

I washed my clothes in the bathroom sink last night. It was such a simple activity, but it felt appropriate for 2008, for the goals and resolutions I have set for myself.

Life in America is simple in some ways. You´ve always got that Staples EASY button to push. I need my clothes washed. Put them in the machine, and magic! Done! And we complain about having to "do" laundry. I need my dishes done. Put them in the machine! (Well, that doesn´t really apply to my NYC friends. I know you´ve been doing your own dishes for years.)

The "reward" of having these chores done for us is time, supposedly. Time to do MORE! More time with friends and family, more time to get manicures and pedicures, more time to consume food and drink and more time to be a consumer of material items. More time to watch TV. More time to exercise, to fret about our bodies, time to worry about...everything. More time to work, work, work.

I´m not judging anyone here, by the way. These are all things I spend time doing in my American life.

And so it´s refreshing to wash my clothes in the sink. To spend time doing something by myself, for myself. It´s work that feels a bit more productive than "work".

Of course, I do have that American mindset engrained in my head. As I stood over the sink full of dirty soapy water, scrubbing my clothes by hand, enjoying myself thoroughly, I conceded that my clothes were probably not really getting very clean. That made me wonder, what is it with cleanliness in America? Things are so sterile (with the exception of a few public restrooms I have visited); we are all so scared of dirt, of germs. Rosa keeps raw meat sitting on a plate, uncovered, in the fridge, and I am certain it has not occurred to her once that this is a problem. I know all of you are getting nauseous at the thought - I certainly did the first time I saw it and realized that was last night´s dinner. But if anyone tried to tell Rosa otherwise, she would balk at the idea. She´s been doing things this way for decades.

Don´t eat too many eggs, wash your hands with soap and hot water after handling meat, don´t eat fish when you´re pregnant, don´t spend too much time in the sun, and on and on. And I know these things have been proven by the people that prove these things, but aack! The rules! The don´ts! I wonder how we function at all, trying to avoid living and eating and enjoying.

I am so relieved of this mindset since being here. I am released from my routine, the planning out of meals, the obsession over exercise. The general wasting of my time.

If only I can figure out how to stay in this mindset after I return. I hope it´s possible.

Okay, I will get down off of my high horse now! No more philosophizing today.

My Spanish is improving. Last night, I was having a pre-dinner cerveza with Rosa and Gerard (the new roommate), and the Spanish just sort of fell out of my mouth, without too much thought. Nowhere close to fluency or understanding, but I am successfully stringing together sentences! I am making palabras into oraciones (use your context clues, students!). And Rosa says my pronunciation is very good. She says, "you no sound like a gringo!" LOVE Rosa.

And, I now have a cable TV in my bedroom, and while I have been enjoying my vacation from American television, Argentinian television is delightful. This morning while I was getting ready, I was watching the local news, and the top story was "Scandal in the Bingo Hall after the Death of a Gambler" (my translation). The coverage was so RAW! The camera was fumbling and bumping up the stairs of the casino, and everyone in the background was screaming and yelling and arguing, and when the cameraman finally got up to the bingo room, there was the corpse, on the floor, covered with the tablecloth of one of the bingo tables, his sandaled foot emerging - it IS a human! We can barely get this kind of coverage on Iraq, let alone our local news. Sterilazation, again.

Many channels play American movies in English (with Spanish subtitles), but they are terribly random and obscure movies. I find that anything I want to watch is dubbed over in Spanish, though, so at least my TV watching will always be educational. I tried to watch the debate last night, but it was dubbed over, so I will have to read up on it on my own. Of course, some things don´t need to be translated. People arguing looks like people arguing no matter where you are. Emotions and gestures are easily read.

I went to a Joan Miro exhibit yesterday morning, and it was the sort of the same thing. Looking at art doesn´t require a translator. I was at first frustrated that I could barely read any of the background information on the artist or the titles of any of the paintings, but it was sort of nice, in a way, to simply LOOK at the art. That´s the purpose of art, anyway, right? To evoke a feeling based on aesthetics alone? And I can´t say I particularly like Joan Miro. Rosa said she things he´s infantile, and I think I agree. Lots of primary colors. Not very appealing to my taste.

Alrighty, I think I am going to try to go over to the Ecological Reserve before class today. And I´m going to a futbol (soccer) game on Saturday with a large group from the school, and I´ve got tickets to see Jose Gonzalez on Sunday with a few other students. Yipee!

Hope all´s well with all of you. And maybe some of my girlfriends would like to write me an email...???