Happy 16th birthday shout-out to Kaily!
3 oranges, ½ banana, 3 strawberries, 2 slices of bread, 1 egg, 1 tsp syrup, ¼ tsp cinnamon, 1 cup granola, ¾ cup milk, 1.5 cup boiling water, 1 tsp honey, 1 bag jasmine tea
AKA an incredible breakfast: glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice, french toast and granola with strawberries and bananas, cup of jasmine tea
I tried Peruvian food for the first time, though I suppose I´ll be having much more soon since I´ll be there for two weeks! It was a little seafood-heavy but yummy (don´t worry Kaily, I was told it´s not like that in the mountains). The ceviche was very interesting—raw fish and potatoes and onions are marinated in lime juice, so it´s pickled instead of cooked. I also had the first spicy food I´d had since leaving Houston!
This week I did a class presentation about the Recoleta Cemetery, which you´re probably familiar with by now because I have so many pictures of it. My dad pointed out that it´s no surprise that I´m crazy about that place; when I was a kid, I used to get really excited when we drove by cemeteries. Last Friday I had a lovely conversation with Greta, who feeds the 50 cats twice a day. All of them have names and vaccinations, and are spayed and neutered. There are two “señoras paquetas” (snobby ladies, in the words of Greta) who pay for all of that, and they even pay her to feed them. Pretty sweet deal for the cats, right? I recorded the conversation, which was really cool because she would talk to the cats, things like, “Hungry? I think you were taking a nap. Don´t be mean,” and my favorite, “Hola, Luly, you want to go into your penthouse?” as the cat jumped into its favorite spot—inside a tomb, a foot away from a coffin.
Luly in her penthouse
I found a book online that had a ton of little bios about famous people in the cemetery, including Federico de Brandsen, a Frenchman who fought heroically in the Napoleonic wars and with San Martín for the liberation of Peru and Chile. During a war between Argentina and Brazil in 1827, General Alvear told him to go charge a Brazilian infantry. Brandsen pointed out that they had a huge ditch for defense, and he couldn´t attack succesfuly.
Alvear: “Colonel Brandsen! When Napoleon gave an order on the field of battle, none of his officers argued, even if they knew they were going to die!”
Brandsen: “General, ok! I know I´m going to die, but I will comply with the order!”
And he galloped forth to what they say was a “heroic” death.
I had another lovely day of soccer in the park, but this time with a few girl friends, not strangers. It´s not that common for women here to play soccer, and as we were leaving a guy called out “torta,” which literally means cake but here also means lesbian. That was a first for me. The irony is that all of them except me have indeed dated women!
We only have one more work in my painting class! ): I messed up the last one a bit. We always have 2 four-hour classes for each painting, and the teacher says that after the first one the whole canvas should be covered in paint, like a rough draft. But I always have trouble with the cloth because it´s never the same the second day, and anyway I see lots of students who still have white space after the first day, so I decided to be rebellious and just go object by object and do a very detailed job. The teacher was not happy with me. She pointed out that colors should be painted in relation to their background, not in isolation, and anyway I was really rushed at the end because I didn´t pace myself very well. So that learned me.
Uy, there are only a few weeks left here! It´s terrifying. Food things I´m going to miss: frutigran, empanadas, fugazzetta pizza, alfajores, anything with calabaza, high-quality pasta. I´m going to miss being able to wake up and walk downstairs and across the street to the fruit stand for oranges to make my orange juice. At home I´d have to get in the car, drive ten minutes, walk across that huge HEB parking lot, navigate an acre of food, wait in line, and come back home. It would probably take about 25 minutes. And nevermind at Rice, where my car is a 12-minute walk from my bed and the store is a 12-minute drive at least. I´ll just have to plan better. Ew, how boring.
Last night: chocolate chip cookies and stuffed noodles but not ravioli
This morning: Granny Smith with peanut butter
This afternoon: PB&J. Get excited.
This post is filled to the brim with food. I would just like to say for the record that I´ve been working out.
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