I finally landed after many mishaps. I am beginning to act like an 80 year old granny going daft. One of my drugs makes me this way. Some of my friends find it endearing. I find it a little maddening. I forget names. I forget where I put things. Forget, forget, forget.
I had to check my suitcase 50 times to see what I forgot. In the end, when I was in the airport in Buenos Aires, after I opened my wallet to buy a book, I realized that I had forgotten my driver's license. "Are you alright, are you sick?" the woman behind the counter asked me. "No, just stupid." I told her.
Everything in Buenos Aires always has a solution. I called Amy my little sister. She could get the key and go into my apartment. I walked her through where my license was. She giggled "I feel like McGyver" she said to me. Friday morning she Fed'exed it to me. Hopefully I will get it on Monday so that on Tuesday I can drive in San Francisco.
I land in New Yawk and get through customs. The guy looks at my passport and tells me I have been in Argentina a long time. "I live there." I tell him. "What do you do there?" He asks. I am not sure what to answer. "I dance tango." He lets me through. I get my suitcases and go through customs. Then I realize I lost my boarding pass for the plane to NYC. Off to customer service for a new one.
Finally I get to the gate. I thought. I sat at the wrong gate for 20 minutes. What is wrong with me? I finally make it to the right gate in time to board. Thank God. It would have been terrible to get this far and miss my plane.
Now I am here. In Gayle's totally cool apartment. I feel like an immigrant. No one understands me. I am speaking English. Sometimes I don't understand them either. I went into Duane Reade which is a large pharmacy chain. It was overwhelming. Gayle kept pushing me to hurry up. How could I hurry with 42 types of aspirin?
We go to eat dinner. Sort of an Indian fusion thing. Everything is fusion here. The food is excellent, but I really like plain old Indian food. No one smiles in New Yawk. Everyone seems so serious. I realize the serious is really stress. I used to look like that too.
We get to Batt's benefit milonga. The people are really nice. I see many people that I have met in Buenos Aires. That is thing about tango. We are one big family. It doesn't matter where you go or what language you speak. People are always happy to see you.
Comments