Nov 2008

Just when we got a little too comfortable, it happened. We were at our local cafe where we go almost every day (it's only about 10 steps away), enjoying our cafe con leche with media lunas, when the ASSHOLES came in. Our guard was down because the cafe is small and we actually trust and like our cafe people. My purse was on the back of my chair (a big no-no) and this couple came in and sat down at the table directly behind us. That was indicator number one as the cafe was all but empty and they chose to sit so close. Indicator number two came when the lady somehow made K's purse drop to the ground at the exact moment she was sitting down. Indicator number three included the couple's general (if it looks like shit and smells like shit...) demeanor. Indicator number four, which closed the deal, was how the couple left after only about 5 minutes. The cafe culture is so intense here and we are generally "rushing" the cafe experience when we leave after only 30 minutes. So this was a huge indicator. When K reached for her wallet to pay for our brekkie, that was when she realized that we had been officially f*cked over.

There were other indicators that we realized afterward, but hindsight is 20/20. Our cafe person realized after the fact why the couple kept asking him for small things (ie., to keep him out of sight).

These were professionals. Let us tell you why. K's purse looks like this:

It's a big purse and as you can see, it's a slim purse to get into. K's wallet is attached to an inside zipper and the wallet has a zipper. This women somehow got her hand into K's purse, found the wallet among all the other stuff, unzipped the wallet, and took out all the money. As well, Jorge later identified that the woman had sat directly behind K and the man had purposely NOT sat directly across the woman. This way he was able to keep his eye on Jorge (although he never looked at Jorge - and if you remember, EVERYONE stares at Jorge).

Luckily, there was only about 60 pesos (a bit over $20cdn). The other 100 pesos we had was in the zipper pocket (on purpose) so it wasn't stolen.

In hindsight, we realize we were really lucky the whole purse wasn't stolen. When the purse fell to the ground when the couple first sat down, we now realize one of two things happened: Either the woman had attempted to take the whole purse OR she had tried to take only the wallet, but since the wallet was attached to the purse, it pulled the purse of the back off K's chair. Now today happened to be one of a handful of times we brought the small camera with us. If that biatch had felt around in the purse, she would have had her hands on something far more valuable than the 60 pesos.

We are SO angry about this. Those idiots could have gotten more money off of almost any local, but since they saw Jorge's blond hair, they had to target the tourists. Great, another reminder that we HAVE TO assume everyone around us is a thief.

We are very thankful that only a couple pesos were stolen. We are thankful that the camera wasn't stolen. We are thankful that our cafe people were sincerely annoyed and saddened by what had happened to us and even refused the tip we were going to pay.

In other news... we had a busy day today. We went to two Tango classes and then decided to go to a milonga to see a performance. Our super sweet teacher (and milonguero) was dancing a demo with his wife. The dance was so incredible and so moving that it brought tears to our eyes. It was so filled with the essence of Tango... Not to mention you can't help but be moved by the fact that this milonguero can barely walk, yet when he gets on the floor to dance, he moves beautifully.

We move into our new 2-bedroom place on Sunday (in preparation for the parents who arrive on the 11th of December). We know we won't like the new area nearly as much and it will be a more expensive neighbourhood since it's in a touristy area. Hopefully it will be a nice change though.

It has been incredibly hot the last couple days... We mean sticky crazy hot (lots of humidity). We like it :0) Not sure if it had something to do with the very odd power outage parts of the city experienced...

Our Spanish has and hasn't been progressing very well. When it comes to food and Tango, we're pretty set. The Tango classes are all in Spanish and somehow we can understand almost all of it. However, when someone tries to talk about other issues with us, we're pretty lost! We must sound like complete idiots when we attempt to speak Spanish, but the people here are very patient and let us babble like babies without making us feel incompetent.

This post is a little late coming, but hey, we'll write when we feel like it! :o)

Two weeks after completing his antibiotic cycle, Jorge had white spots in his throat again. We didn't waste any time and headed straight to the private clinic. Unlike our last visit that included a one minute wait on a Saturday, we had to wait almost 2 hours on a Monday. The smart doctor decided to have Jorge tested for tonsillitis this time instead of simply prescribing antibiotics right off the cusp. Great! Except that meant another half an hour wait which included lining up at the lab, going to pay at the cash, waiting in the clinic area for the nurse, getting two painful throat swabs, and lining up again at the lab. We were told to come back in two hours for the results. If only we knew...

We returned on time in order to be told to wait 10 minutes, which turned out to be 45 minutes. Then we were told to go wait elsewhere for the results. That lasted another two hours after which point we were called into the lab area to have another throat swab because their computers had crashed!? Over five hours of waiting to be told the results were negative. Good news, but super annoying.

We were waiting in the baby ward we believe. All the rooms down the hallway had large bouquets of flowers on either sides of the doors. It looked beautiful. Does this happen in Canada or are the flowers only in the rooms?

While we were waiting in the clinic, we observed some interesting cultural behaviour around gynecological visits. The two exam rooms opened directly to the waiting area. Already, that is just not pleasant in K's mind. However, the real "problem" was that the doctors, nurses, and even the receptionists would enter these rooms at any time... WITHOUT KNOCKING. In other words, the doctor could be in the middle of a gynecological exam and the door would suddenly swoosh open!? A little privacy would be nice don't you think? It reminds K of Finland where doctors never leave the room while you undress. K had no problem with nudity in front of the doctor, but undressing... that should be a private act.

Attempted robbery number THREE occurred the other day. Once again, someone opened Jorge's backpack zipper while walking behind him. Jorge felt the tug immediately and turned around to see the thief make an instant U-turn. Grrr...

We've been taking out lots of money lately in order to pay for the 2-bedroom apartment we have rented for the next two months. The companies make you pay all the rent upfront PLUS a month's rent in deposit. To top it all off, they expect you to pay it all in American dollars. With all the attempted robberies, you can imagine how safe we'll feel carrying all that money to the bank to exchange it and then to the new apartment.

We've found our niche in Tango now, although we are spending our time taking lessons and going to practicas more than going dancing at milongas. We don't particularly like going to milongas. That is quite a faux-pas statement here, but attempting to dance on some of these really crowded floors takes away from our enjoyment of the dance. The leader's dancing ends up being dictated by the people and the space around him rather than the music and his creativity.

As expected, our time here is going by far too quickly...