Don't cry for me, Argentina...

I spent Thanksgiving in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it was amazing. I absolutely fell in love with the city. It is very European - from the architecture to the food and shopping. Most Argentineans are from Italian or Spanish roots, so the people look much different than the Peruvians, who are mainly indigenous. And that European influence gives the city a very different feel than the rest of South America. It is definitely the developed world, as opposed to Lima, which is still developing. I could have stayed there forever.

This is Casa Rosada, the official home of the president of Peru. Madonna stood on one of those balconies in "Evita" - I guess I should maybe see that movie now that I have actually been to BA.
We took a city bike tour through BA that was great. We saw lots of the sights and had an adorable Scottish tour guide named Roger who I developed a huge crush on. BA isn't exactly the best city for biking - the traffic is insane and there were times when it felt a little dangerous. I had a minor bike accident involving me and a construction zone that resulted in a bloody elbow, but otherwise I survived. This is me, Jen and Jen getting ready to start the tour.
Jen's friend Jen was visiting from the States and we spent a lot of time in BA with her great aunt, who is Argentinean. This is us on Ailsa's balcony looking over the city. It was gorgeous. Ailsa is this amazing, sophisticated lady who took us to great restaurants and shows and made our weekend in BA.
Ailsa's apartment looks out over the city and the zoo. The view was incredible and we stood out there, drinking good Argentinean wine, forever. It is such a beautiful city!






We went to the cemetery where Eva Peron is buried and visited her grave. It is a big tourist attraction in BA and is actually really beautiful. The cemetery is this maze of huge marble crypts. Evita is buried with her family, instead of her husband, in a fairly simple black marble crypt. This is one of the plaques on the crypt. She is still the hero of so many people in Argentina.

More Moore

Just figured I would keep you updated on the latest purchases from Moore. I keep saying I will be done, but I don't think it is going to happen...

Nike 10K

Jen ran in the Nike 10k this morning, so I went out to Largo Mar to be her cheerleader.

Here is Largo Mar - very quiet on a Sunday morning at 9. I had the place to myself, until all the runners started coming by.








Jen, looking like a superstar. She is training for a marathon in Disneyworld in January, so this 10k was a piece of cake for her.

Pisco Sours Saturday

Jen invited us over for an afternoon of pisco sours and fried yucca. Pisco sours are the national drink of Peru - they are made with lime, egg whites, sugar and pisco (some type of alcohol, I think maybe brandy, but I'm not sure). They are very yummy and VERY potent. Most people can only drink two before they are completely drunk.

Lillian, Jen and Angie enjoying piscos and blending the dip for the yuccas. Yuccas are potatoes and the Peruvians fry them and dip them into this spicy sauces. They are SO good. Lillian is Jen and Angie's Spanish teacher and she taught us how to make the piscos.
Angie and I and the great piscos we made.

FDR Gala

The big fundraiser at FDR is an auction and gala that they hold every year on campus. They set up a huge tent and redecorated one of the gyms. Tons of businesses and people donate things like trips, clothes, jewelry and art and all the rich parents come and bid. There were even 2 cars that were being auctioned off - brand new Nissan SUVs. Jen, Reada and I volunteered for the silent auction portion of the night. We got all dressed up and just kind of stood around, drinking champagne and mingling with the parents and bigwigs. It was an interesting experience. I couldn't believe the things in the silent auction, and how much people were willing to pay for it. The whole night was beyond explanation. The great thing is that all the money goes towards the new performing arts center they are going to build at school, which will directly, positively, impact my program.

Reada, Jen and I all dolled up - it was a great excuse to break out the little black dress and a pair of Moore shoes. By the way, we did not plan our color coordination at all, I swear. It was completely by chance, but made for a fun picture.

The inside of the dinner/live auction tent. Yes, this is a tent! It was pretty amazing. We didn't stay for the dinner, dancing and live auction - it was a little out of our league.

Bartok

Part of the IB curriculum includes studying a prescribed work for the 2 years students are in IB music. The prescribed work for this year's seniors is Bela Bartok "Concerto for Orchestra". Bartok was a 20th century composer from Hungary and this piece of music was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky, the great conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The piece is amazing and overwhelming. We've been studying it sense the beginning of the year and when we first started, I thought I would never understand it and be able to teach it, let alone actually like the piece. Now I absolutely love it! I've made a practice of listening to it every morning before school starts, while I am doing email or whatever. (I'm actually listening to it right now) It has definitely gotten under my skin and I think it is great! My kids really love it too and we are having a great time analyzing it. This photo is one Nick took in class. The caption he put on it was "Can anyone guess what movement?" (it is the 5th, and last, movement, if anyone cares). I thought it was a great picture and it pretty much sums up my life the past few months. I joke with the kids and call Bartok my boyfriend, since I spend more time with him than I do with anyone else in my life. :)

Tri-M music night, part 2

One of my students, Nick, is a fabulous photographer and he gave me these pictures from our concert a few weeks ago. Nick has an amazing eye and takes some really neat shots.

Alejandro on the piano, playing a composition he wrote









Chris playing guitar and singing "Is This Love" by Bob Marley












The posters Nick designed for the concert - aren't they great?













Tommy soloing on "Money" by Pink Floyd

Halloween

Halloween is a big holiday in this country and everyone at school got dressed up on Tuesday. This is a photo of 2 of my 12th grade IB music students dressed up as composers. Yes, they are 12th graders and they chose to dress as dead classical musicians for Halloween. I love these kids! Lucas, on the left, is Schubert (and if you look at a picture of Schubert, they look eerily similar) and Nick is Beethoven.

Heaven and Hell

The teacher tradition at FDR is to have a huge Halloween party every year called Heaven and Hell. It starts at one house, which is Heaven, and then moves to another house, which is Hell. Everyone here goes all out on their costumes. It is amazing!! Halloween isn't really my holiday, so I didn't get into the whole big costume thing, but it was fun to see what everyone else came up with.

The family, all dressed up for Halloween. Reada had just gotten back from the States the day before (where she got engaged!!), so she was sleepy and feeling uncreative. She went as a farmer, minus the cowboy hat that she left in the States. She brought me back scrubs, so I was a doctor, which was very comfortable and easy. Tim was a gift wrapped box with a tag that said "To: Women, From: God" - he was God's gift to women. It was actually very clever and he was pretty proud of himself.
Ben's students said at the beginning of the year that he looked like Mr. Incredible, which sparked the idea for his Halloween costume. He got it made down here and it came out great. We walked to the party together and it was prety funny to see the Peruvian's reactions along the way to this tall gringo in a superhero suit. Troy is Elvis, and a very good one.

The girls - Me, Jen, and Reada. Jen's costume was very clever too. She went as a Twister board. Her costume was super cute and the seamstress made it in 2 days!! It is amazing what you can have done down here. It just blows my mind!

The party was great fun - lots of dancing and even a costume contest. I'm already feeling the pressure to come up with a good costume for next year. Other teachers literally start planning their costumes months and months in advance. This party was one of the first things the veteran teachers told us about when we first got here. It is crazy!!