A food-defined day

I can best describe today with the three following foods: mini alfajores maizenas, locro and good 'ole American chocolate chip cookies. I will acknowledge for one moment that this list includes nothing of nutritional value....okay, moment's gone!

Alfajores: Two sugar cookies formed into a sandwich by an inner layer of sweet dulce de leche, and then coated in sugar- These delicious, home-made baby sweets were purchased this morning at the primary school for the equivalent of 15 cents each from an adorable student hoping to raise money for a field trip. Today in the primary school, Miss Veronica (my super-fabulous teacher) and I hoped to rope the students in with an exercise where they write me a letter using the vocabulary for name, address, family, ability and dislikes. We also hoped to transition from the writing activity into that improv game where the class has to guess which celebrity I am by asking me questions about myself. (Just an excuse to finally embody Bob Esponja con los pantalones cuadrados...yes, that is how long it takes to write out the Spanish equivalent of "Spongebob Squarepants") Unfortunately, our divine dream class was interrupted by an assembly (NOW THIS IS TWO WEEKS IN A ROW!) honoring the adorable Kindgergardners. I'm serious. That was all it was about. It sucked to lose the class time, but I must admit that nothing beats teacher frustration better than kindergardners dressed as fruit that hold hands in a circle and sway.

Locro: a traditional northern Argentinean soup consisting of MEATTTTTTTTTTTT and other delicious soup items. The soup is only served in Tucuman on national holidays like 25 de Mayo or 9 de Julio, or on cold days. IT'S BEEN SO COLD!- I took in my locro with Pancho and Lenny, two old pals from my days spent at the Tucuman hostel. Pancho, an aspiring Frenchmen, took us to eat with his local clan of totally cool/totally chill/WHY CAN'T I BE THIS IN LOVE WITH ARGENTINA French pals in their totally dreamy movie-worthy patio-centered apartment. Later, Lenny, a turism major filled with language knowledge, pushed me to become fast bosom friends with a recent hostel guest named Maxi. Maxi has been traveling the world for the past 9 years getting in touch with his connection to nature, learning the art of reading people's auras using the Mayan calender, and smoking pot, Pot, POT! Maxi immediately impressed me with his seductive Jafar eyes (in a nice way). He read my aura and told me that I am a total serpent!! I admired his thirst for adventure, but I couldn't help by question this dude's understanding of the world. Maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better, but isn't it possible to become so in touch with your own connection to the universe that you lose the power of learning from the actions, successes and mistakes of human beings, the thrill of making human connection? And how in touch with your soul can you be when all talk of auras is interrupted every five minutes by the complaint that you haven't had a joint in 2 DAYS! Whatever, I'm learned something. And the guy was sweet. But my favorite moment from this meal came when one guest at the hostel revealed that he'd traveled from Cordoba for a Tucuman reunion of LOCAL DRAG QUEENS! Surprised? I was. I plan to investigate more, and will definitely keep you posted.

CHOCO CHIP COOKIES: You might be familiar- After puppet class and yoga, my gal Nikki and I went to see an amazing experimental play set in what appeared to be a local house. The play started outside in a backyard, then moved to an outside stairwell, and ultimately the interior performance space. Can't totally tell you what it was about, but the acting was incredible, and the imagery totally worthy of the Ivan von Hov for intenseness. (name not familiar? GOOGLE! This is the dude that presented Hedda Gabler with a scene where Judge Brack spits tomato juice in Hedda's mouth). Afterwards, Nikki and I went back to her house, where she taught me to bake homemade cookies. I admitted to her that I can't shake how much I'm feeling like I'm floating here, like I'm not building anything. And while she admitted to understanding how I felt, she pushed me to remain convinced of the idea that each day here is a gift. Ugh, she's right. I mean, look at today. Gifts, gifts and more gifts. Why don't I update this more? Writing down what I do does seem to help keep me in check when events like the release of the Cannes winners pull me into New York withdrawal. Staying positive...