Silencio

Monday, 12/28/2009

For most of the morning we fought traffic and went around to shopping centers.

Traffic in BsAs is something a few notches more terrifying than Mexico City or Rome. For one thing, the lane lines are merely recommendation; they are just to indicate the general direction of the flow of traffic. If you were to be so foolish as to follow an indicated lane, you would be in an accident in seconds. The central rule of the road is to make sure you don't hit anyone in front of you. Drivers take no responsibility for those behind them. The margin of error is hair-thin. The right-turn lane is whatever lane you turn right from. The only inviolable rule is to stop when the light turns red.

We drove to the so-called Once (pronounced “own-say”) district to browse the kosher groceries and to see the shops. The district gets its name from the train station Once de Septiembre (11th of September). This barrio is where most of the religious Jews live. On one particular street, there were fabric shops, one right next to the other for the entire block. There were about 10 on one side of the street and 12 or so on the other side of the street. Imagine having to compete in that setting!

In the evening we were invited to the birthday party of Sylvia's brother's wife. The family lives on the 18th floor of a high-rise in a very exclusive district. The view from their balconies in one direction is the Botanico, the Planitarium, the municipal airport in the distance and the river behind that. In the other direction are the hundreds of apartment and commercial towers of the city.

The party was catered. People in starched uniforms offered us hors d'oeuvres, wine, and champagne, from the moment we showed up. Again these appetizers were delicious: asparagus in filo roles, little quiche torts, cheeses of all kinds, and tapenade better than I usually have tasted – made fresh. My wine glass was refilled before I noticed that I had emptied it. Then came the pizza – various types. When we thought we had finished dinner came the brochettes of chicken and beef with vegetables interspersed. Dessert was ice cream with an apple crisp, but that wasn't the end. There was a separate birthday cake, made of layers of milk-soaked cookies (the likes of which can be found only in Argentina) and dulce de leche. The only thing that saves us from the rich foods is the amount that we must walk each day.

The conversation was interesting as usual. We all had a good laugh while we were discussing foreign languages. Sylvia mentioned that when she studied French it became more difficult for her to speak English. I said that language study did the opposite for me: “I'm taking German,” I said, somewhat haltingly in Spanish, “and it has improved my ability to speak Spanish.” (According to Gloria, this statement took between 7 and 8 minutes for me to express.) With that, Gloria chimed in, “Imagine! This is the IMPROVED Spanish! What must it have been like before!” Love is never having to be embarrassed when being laughed at.

Sylvia's brother Mario then gave a magic show, mostly for the benefit of the kids present. His two grandchildren were his helpers. Mario announced “silencio,” and the 3-year-old helper repeated, “silencio.” Mario began to do his magic, but before he said 3 words, the little boy repeated, “silencio!” Mario proceeded, but the audience was apparently not attentive enough, “silencio,” the boy interrupted pointing at individual noncompliants. Every few words he would interrupt, quietly, “silencio,” to the giggles of the audience.

The first trick was to make a green cloth and a white cloth turn to blue and a yellow ones. Everybody loved the trick, but his 3-year-old “helper” was astounded. “Where is the green one?” he asked. Mario did another trick, but the 3-year old was preoccupied. At the end of that trick he asked again, “but what happened to the green one?” A complicated card trick,...pause, “where IS the green one?” Until the entire room was doubled over laughing at the little boy's insistence on finding that missing green cloth.

The evening ended at the relatively early hour of 1:30 AM.