La Ciudad = El Horno

The city and a burning hot pizza oven have now become synonymous. Why is it so hot ? Trust me, I am NOT complaining, but I can only imagine how hellish Summer here will be. Thanks a lot, global warming. Oh well, even more excuse to escape to the shores of Argentina and/or Uruguay for a weekend getaway of sun and fun. I'm thinking Carilo ... I miss it there.

Anyway, so. I guess I will start with the wedding update. It's not even like this life-changing story but it's worth describing because it does deviate significantly from our nice American model. First of all, the whole church ceremony is kind of considered "extra" - Most couples do marry in the church but before that happens they must have the "Civil" ceremony, which is also a cause for celebration ( aka, friends and family attend ). This happens a day or two before the church shebang, and is at a courthouse-type thing in the corresponding area of residence. It's clearly not a formal affair but people dress up for it and look nice, and the Bride carries a nice little bouquet of flowers.

At Hernán & Mariana's civil, we waited about 90 minutes for the stupid room to become available, because apparently Halloween was THE day to get married in Buenos Aires. I'm serious; every 5 minutes a new couple + gaggle of family members would pour out of the doors of the building, throwing rice EVERYWHERE ( I'm glad I was wearing sunglasses ) ... At least the poor pathetic man hired to sweep the rice into a pile after every celebration was kept busy.

Anyway ... Once we got into the room and sat down for the ceremony, the judge man cracked some jokes, said it was a big deal and responsibility to get married, blah blah blah something about society, and then ... in 6 minutes it was over. Done. Finito. See ya. All they had to do was like, sign a piece of paper in some random book that is probably fake anyway and that was it. You're married !! Who would have thought ? So then we took some pictures and stood around and eventually went to the Groom's parents' house for a little fiesta.

We were there all freakin' afternoon. I mean, don't get me wrong, it was a fun time and it was a really wonderful occasion to celebrate ( The couple has been together for 9 years. Seem like a long time ? I know someone here who dated the same girl for 13 years and they ended up breaking up around his 30th birthday. Common law marriage, anyone ? ). But once again, a simple Argentine event ends up consuming every hour of your day. No bother - it was Halloween, sunny, beautiful and a Friday ! I stuffed my face with miga sandwiches and ate some weird cake concoction and called it a day.

Saturday is the main event - the church wedding + crazy reception. When I said that the Civil is more "important" I meant in the legal terms - I guess kind of like in the States when you need to have your marriage license, etc. before you can do the church thing - but it is also celebrated as part of the wedding weekend, I suppose. The Bride is from an area rather far from Buenos Aires, about an hour by car, so that is where we headed for the fiesta. They were to be married at 8.45 P.M. which would then eventually lead us to the reception. Once again, the Church is packed with weddings, seemingly one after the other. Spring Fever ?

We finally get into the Church and sit down, and of course I start weeping like a total freak when the Bride starts walking down the aisle. She isn't even that close of a friend ( The Groom and the Indian have known each other since childhood ), but she looked so happy and so tiny and delicate ! In Argentina, you don't have Bridesmaids and Groomsmen; the parents of each couple stand at the altar on either side throughout the ceremony. I kind of liked that idea, because your parents should serve as role models for how marriage should be and I think it's nice to think that they guide you through your entrance into that phase of life. But I still LOVED being a bridesmaid at my cousin's wedding so there you go.

There wasn't a Mass, no singing, nada. Just some random words from the Priest, we said the Our Father, the couple shared their vows and ta-da !! Married ( again ). It was a rather quick ceremony, albeit pretty. But it just didn't seem as effective ( emotional ? drawn out ? ) as an American church ceremony. We all filtered out of the church and congratulated the couple before meandering to the reception.

And here is where it gets "good" -- aka, kind of weird. I'm really not into the typically Argentine progression of the wedding reception because I don't like the idea of renting out a salon para fiestas ( a party place ) that sort of looks like all other similar places. It had this kind of cheesy facade but was rather nice inside - high ceilings, pretty tables. The wedding was rather small, I think there were only about 140 people ( Indian's sister had just been to one that had 450 people, and caviar. Hello ). After a cocktail hour we filter into the reception hall and wait for the couple to come out.

During this lull, the famous "Wedding Video" is shown - I feel like there are a million companies that offer the exact same service of making a powerpoint slideshow ( with "effects" that should have stayed in the 90s ) with pictures of the Bride and Groom from infancy to when they met to where they are today. It's a sweet, if not trite, idea, but usually never turns out as cool as it should be. Once we watched that, the B&G come in and do some dancing ( horrible DJ ). We are served our appetizers around 12 ... and after we finish ...

Everyone heads to the dancefloor.

What ?

We're in the middle of dinner !?

No, no, my dear friend.

Here in Argentina, you DANCE in between courses at weddings. It's not a bad idea actually but that is where the whole all-nighter thing originates. You eat, you dance for an hour. Eat again, dance for an hour +, eat dessert, and keep on dancing. It was good though because we got up and did some serious bootyshaking that helped metabolize the wine.

At some point during the party, a couple dressed in white and neon green silk some prancing onto the dance floor ready to shake it like a polaroid picture. The woman was dressed in head-to-toe Samba / Carnaval gear, complete with thong, sequins, feathers and fishnets, and the guy had on these horrible silk pants with a silk shirt that was not helping him in the anti-perspiration department. Ugh. Later that night I had to grab his shoulders while we did a Conga line. That idea just made me shutter.

This dancing duo was hired to be part of the party and get the guests involved. Wait. I thought we were already involved ? No ? Great. We had to do stupid things like dance in circles and make weird noises and line up and I don't even know. It was stupid. Sorry. Stupid. Waste. Of. Money. I prefer to have a nice long open bar for my friends and family rather than a weird sweaty Cuban man with a newsboy cap.

Things started winding down after dessert ( 3 A.M. ... ? I think ). But not before each table was given their VERY OWN BAG-O-CARNAVAL GEAR !! At every Argie wedding, the guests think it's funny / smart / attractive / cool to put on stupid giant hats and masks and use plastic inflatable props to run around and wreak havoc on each other. I don't know. I mean, it was fun to put on a sequined hat and walk around with a giant plastic butt mold ( complete with thong ) but I kind of feel like I hope my wedding doesn't have to stoop to that level. Cheesy. It all felt very, very 90s ... but I guess that comes as no surprise because it's always like that here.

Anyway ... it WAS a great night and I had a blast. We rolled in around 7 A.M. and are still finding sequins from the Carnaval props all over the house. I think the plastic butt ( Which I was insistent on bringing home ) is still in the car. I wonder if it will melt in the heat ?

So, that summary was probably not as good as it could have been.

Oh, I forgot to mention how people dress for weddings here ( on the whole ):
+ A LOT OF FAKE FLOWERS IN THE HAIR that are too big for a tiny person's head.
+ A lot of tropical fruit- type colors for long, poorly made dresses that take attention away from the bride ( Seriously, who wears a floor length fuschia satin mess to a wedding )
+ The world's ugliest hairdos you have ever seen. Why would you waste money paying someone to spray your hair with glitter, fry your hair with a barrel curling iron, and then smoosh it all down with an entire can of hairspray ???


So, as you can tell, life here is good and only gets better. Despite my infrequent lamentations that I feel completely useless, pathetic, failure-prone and stupid, I am confident that I will be well established in the next month or so. I cannot rush things, which I know. It's hard not to get ahead of myself but I am just so eager to be established !!

Next post will be about the election and the Argie reaction, as well as my search for the ideal apartment.