Yesterday was Luz´s birthday party which happen to be the cutest thing ever. There were about 30 rugrats running around the Laborde compound (or campo-as the Argentines say). Most of them were students of mine which was fun because we already knew each other. There were specifically two argentine birthday traditions that I remember to be my favorites.
1. Before the party we had a huge birthday lunch with just the family. Afterwards, they brought out the cake with a big, lit candle on the top and sang happy birthday. Luz blew it out and everyone clapped. I assumed at this point that it was done. I was wrong. The candle was relit and we sang the song in English. "Oh, how nice," I thought. "they are singing in my language since I don´t know the words in Spanish." I was wrong again. They relit again and sang the song in every language. Then they relit the candle for everyone in the family who felt like making a wish. I don´t know if this is an Argentine thing, or a Laborde thing. I didn´t care. Just like everything else I played along. I sang, I helped blow out the candle for Eliseo, and I clapped everytime.
2. As the little guests arrive, it is customary to find the birthday girl before entering the party. They then tell Luz "Feliz Cumpleano, Luz", give her a kiss on the cheek and give her their present. She right then and there opens it. When first seeing this I gasped. Don´t you have to wait for the appropriate time, way into the party, after the cake and then open all the presents at once so that everyone one can ooooohhh and aaahhhh at all your new goodies? Nope. Not here. There is no waiting. I love this.
After observing this wonderful cultural difference, all of the cute, clean little tykes run to the jungle gym in their sunday´s best and begin to play. You have got to see this jungle gym to believe it. This death trap would never pass any safety codes in the states. And here they are of all ages slippin´and slidin´around in dresses and patent leather ballet flats twirlin´ and swirlin´, knocking on death´s door. This thing is complete with home made ziplines and climbing walls. They all run back to say hello, now covered in mud and grass stains. But of coarse, no one seems to care. No one says a word. Piera simply guides Luz into the house and puts her in a new dress. A new dress that will ineviditably have the same fate as the first.
After getting bored, they all linger in the tent and start to snack and reload. The DJ starts to warm up, putting some familiar songs in the air.... and then it´s ON! All of the girls start to gather around and get Jiggy. Every song had a different dance to it and every single little girl knew it. Even the infants. So it suddenly becomes clear to me, this dancing thing is engrained in these people´s DNA. They are dancing when they pop out the womb!
I was watching this one little girl, one of my students, and oooohhhh-wweee she danced harder then any of them. then I had a flashback... she danced exactly how I used to dance when I was her age (back when I actually liked to dance). Back when my dreams were shattered... when my sister told me I sucked at dancing (don´t worry min. i am slightly exaggerating). Upon observing this girl for some time, I realized my sister was right. I did suck. But that is the difference between Argentina and the states. There is no such thing as a bad dancer here. The standards are different... there are none. Dancing is as it should be- an expression of how you are feeling inside.. how the music makes you feel. AAAhhh, how refreshing.
Then came the food.... in DROVES. By the end of the parade, there had been tiny mortadello sandwiches, cheese balls, miscellaneous snacks, jamon cruda, more cheese, bread, cake #1, mini pizzas, cake #2, the main coarse (these yummy rolled up enchiladda looking things- i called them fat rolls because they were exactly that. literally and figuratively), and finally cake #3.
The parents started coming to pick up their kids. Some stayed and some didn´t. This is when things started to spice up a bit. The DJ left and the alcohol was brought out. I started to conversate and then had to leave for a 30-35 minute phone conversation with Jared. When I returned the party seemed a little different. Everyone was still talking in that hard to understand Spanish, but it sounded a teensy weensy more slurred. I look over and see Gonzalo topping off everyone´s already full drinks. I look at him and say "Gonzalo, I was gone for 30 minutes. What have you done to all of your friends?" He just smiled at me with that all too familiar crooked drunk smile and shrugged his shoulders. I should´ve known HE was behind all of this!
1. Before the party we had a huge birthday lunch with just the family. Afterwards, they brought out the cake with a big, lit candle on the top and sang happy birthday. Luz blew it out and everyone clapped. I assumed at this point that it was done. I was wrong. The candle was relit and we sang the song in English. "Oh, how nice," I thought. "they are singing in my language since I don´t know the words in Spanish." I was wrong again. They relit again and sang the song in every language. Then they relit the candle for everyone in the family who felt like making a wish. I don´t know if this is an Argentine thing, or a Laborde thing. I didn´t care. Just like everything else I played along. I sang, I helped blow out the candle for Eliseo, and I clapped everytime.
2. As the little guests arrive, it is customary to find the birthday girl before entering the party. They then tell Luz "Feliz Cumpleano, Luz", give her a kiss on the cheek and give her their present. She right then and there opens it. When first seeing this I gasped. Don´t you have to wait for the appropriate time, way into the party, after the cake and then open all the presents at once so that everyone one can ooooohhh and aaahhhh at all your new goodies? Nope. Not here. There is no waiting. I love this.
After observing this wonderful cultural difference, all of the cute, clean little tykes run to the jungle gym in their sunday´s best and begin to play. You have got to see this jungle gym to believe it. This death trap would never pass any safety codes in the states. And here they are of all ages slippin´and slidin´around in dresses and patent leather ballet flats twirlin´ and swirlin´, knocking on death´s door. This thing is complete with home made ziplines and climbing walls. They all run back to say hello, now covered in mud and grass stains. But of coarse, no one seems to care. No one says a word. Piera simply guides Luz into the house and puts her in a new dress. A new dress that will ineviditably have the same fate as the first.
After getting bored, they all linger in the tent and start to snack and reload. The DJ starts to warm up, putting some familiar songs in the air.... and then it´s ON! All of the girls start to gather around and get Jiggy. Every song had a different dance to it and every single little girl knew it. Even the infants. So it suddenly becomes clear to me, this dancing thing is engrained in these people´s DNA. They are dancing when they pop out the womb!
I was watching this one little girl, one of my students, and oooohhhh-wweee she danced harder then any of them. then I had a flashback... she danced exactly how I used to dance when I was her age (back when I actually liked to dance). Back when my dreams were shattered... when my sister told me I sucked at dancing (don´t worry min. i am slightly exaggerating). Upon observing this girl for some time, I realized my sister was right. I did suck. But that is the difference between Argentina and the states. There is no such thing as a bad dancer here. The standards are different... there are none. Dancing is as it should be- an expression of how you are feeling inside.. how the music makes you feel. AAAhhh, how refreshing.
Then came the food.... in DROVES. By the end of the parade, there had been tiny mortadello sandwiches, cheese balls, miscellaneous snacks, jamon cruda, more cheese, bread, cake #1, mini pizzas, cake #2, the main coarse (these yummy rolled up enchiladda looking things- i called them fat rolls because they were exactly that. literally and figuratively), and finally cake #3.
The parents started coming to pick up their kids. Some stayed and some didn´t. This is when things started to spice up a bit. The DJ left and the alcohol was brought out. I started to conversate and then had to leave for a 30-35 minute phone conversation with Jared. When I returned the party seemed a little different. Everyone was still talking in that hard to understand Spanish, but it sounded a teensy weensy more slurred. I look over and see Gonzalo topping off everyone´s already full drinks. I look at him and say "Gonzalo, I was gone for 30 minutes. What have you done to all of your friends?" He just smiled at me with that all too familiar crooked drunk smile and shrugged his shoulders. I should´ve known HE was behind all of this!
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1 comment:
very entertaining, you write really well!
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