Thank God Its Friday

One of my students reminded me of this important phrase that had lost its meaning recently as days blended into weekends and the ritual of the work week faded from my memory. Well, this week that memory was rudely brought back into the foreground of my cabeza. I ran all over the city teaching real lessons and imparting my expert knowledge of the English language and its pronunciation to my eager students. Hey, for me its beats an office, but it was exhausting. Living in San Telmo puts me in a great position for getting to work in a downtown office, but many of my classes this week were in Palermo or the near by neighborhood of Chacaritas. This is quite a trip, and on a day like Wednesday when I only had 6 hours of work but left my house at 7:30 and arrived home 10:30 after traveling to three different neighborhoods through the pouring rain.
This week, by a stroke of luck, I received an assignment from LV Studios (one of three I'm working for) to teach a Colombian girl from Tuesday till Friday for two hours a day equaling 200 pesos total for my pains. On my first trip out to her beautiful apartment in one of the ritziest (I am currently eating real Ritz crackers, so had to through that word in) neigborhoods in the city. I was 40 minutes late after I got off the bus too early and then got lost before I finally found the beautiful Baez street full of nice restaurants and trendy looking bars. As she brought me to her apartment I wondered why she only wanted classes for the week and how she was able to afford this apartment. She looked not much older than me. Turns our she's only 24, and I wondered even more how wealthy her Colombian family must be for her to stay here. The situation eventually became clear to me when her boyfriend returned home. Bruce, a weathered looking man from California, was obviously paying for their apartment. Turns out they have been traveling throughout South America for quite some time, and they rented the apartment for their one month stay in Buenos Aires. Each day she opened up to me a little more, and the strange details of their relationship were revealed to me. Bruce lives in the States, and she lives in Panama where she has a Cosmotology business. Bruce, an older man, does not like to go out, and does not like for her to go out. This results in this beautiful Colombian girl being stuck in the house night after night with him when all she wants to do is dance to electronic music all night long. She told me in her faltering English about a night where she snuck out to dance all night while Bruce was sick. He wondered why she returned from her "walk" at 6 am with no shoes, but at least she had some fun. With his low level of Spanish and her limited English I wonder how they really communicate. In the end I felt like I was the lucky one, having made a new friend that I really liked who lives in Panama and who has a family in Colombia. But I felt sorry. Her father is a priest, and he boyfriend an old man. Her whole life she has dealt with men repressing her desire to have fun and live a little. I wonder how she deals with it, and why she chooses to see a man with such different interests. I guess they are joined in their love of travel and his ability to pay for it. Que raro, how strange.
In other news, I realized I forgot to tell you all that Chimba has been back with his rightful owner for a few weeks now. I feel that I had more to say about the week, but this will have to do for now. Shabbat Shalom.