OK, I've repented from my crankiness, and I'm writing a thankful blog entry instead. This past weekend, we went with all the students, the Penyas, and Lynette's parents to Buenos Aires, Argentina. What a wonderful, exciting, vibrant city! We just loved it, even though we were there only Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Our friends-who-have-been-missionaries-in-Argentina Steve and Lynette Austin, and Tim and Carolina Archer had told us it was great, and had given us some suggestions of what to do and see, and they were right! Too bad we didn't get to do everything, but what we did was just wonderful anyway. I'll write more about other things, but first I want to tell you about the tango.
TANGO
We went to a Tango show on Friday night. We ate a delicious dinner, and a fabulous 4-piece band played throughout, and
then 6 tango dancers
and 3 singers walked us through the various development
al phases of the
tango. A short course for you: it started as a low-class thing, became popular in high class places as well, Carlos Gardel is a biggie in tango singing history, and it's way cool to watch. All of us loved it!
TENGO=I HAVE
Another thing we couldn't help but notice was that, while there was a great deal of wealth in B.A. (1 in 30 people have plastic surgery of some sort), there are many poor, poor people as well. When I visited the cathedral and looked at a statue of Jesus near the Pink Palace (their White House, where Evita stood on the balcony), I could picture him crying as he pictured the haves and the have nots there in B.A. and elsewhere. Attached are some pictures of homeless and rat trap houses, which,
of course, we breezed by in our air-conditioned tour bus. Ken did meet and introduce me to a shoe-shine man, with whom Ken struck up a 3-day relationship of sorts: they visited daily; they shared a meal; they spoke in Ken's broken Spanish; they waved when passing by. This man was doing his very best to make a living for his family, but he was having a hard time making it, but no matter what, he was a have not.When we were at the tango, I thought about the similar word tengo, a Spanish word meaning I have. I have so much. I have a family. I have money. I have stuff, way too much of it. I have an education. I have this wonderful opportunity to travel. I have received so many more blessings than I deserve. I have thankfulness in my heart.
5 comments:
The tango show was so fun. Wasn't the food yummy???
Did they have only meat at this food fest?
Gayla
The food was delicious; the show was great; the evening was wonderful!
They had a selection of foods, Gayla; we could pick an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert from a pre-determined list (maybe 6 or 7 choices for each). I had a fresh mozzarella and tomatoes salad, a steak with potatoes for my entree, and a weird cream dish called Spanish Cream for dessert.
I love Ken's beard by the way, is he going to keep it when he comes home?
Gayla
I don't think he'll keep the beard. He thinks it makes him look too old! But it's been fun for our time down here. Krista asked him to do it, and she's his baby, so he did it! :)
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