The Hora

No, that's not bad Spanglish. It's a Jewish dance.

And I think that we effectively tripled or quadrupled the population of Jews in Cuenca for our wedding.

The dance is easy. You join hands and go around in a circle, doing a grapevine. Sometimes you change directions. Occasionally you expand or contract the circle. That's about it.

I do have a nice video of the dancing, but it just won't seem to upload :(  I hope photos will do.

Influx

Thursday was Carlos's first day of vacation. But he didn't get to do anything relaxing, like sleep in. At 9AM we had an appointment with the musicians to practice the pace of our tango (which wasn't looking too bad by then) and review the Jewish songs. The band had heard of the Hava Nagila, but hadn't ever played it and had no idea of how long to go on. I had to explain, just keep on repeating the same thing until someone tells you to stop.

After only two dance lessons, we decided that this would be a perfect time to practice a bit more.

Breaking news! We have uncovered rare footage of this rehearsal!

First Guests

I arrived back in Cuenca around 2PM on Wednesday.  I met Carlos in town.  We were going to get some lunch, but ended up at the hotel that we had reserved for most of our guests, Casa Ordoñez, coordinating rooms.  We were there for longer than we had thought and Carlos had to return to work (it was his last day before vacation), so I headed to the other hotel, Hostal Macondo, to find Amanda Jones.  She had arrived, along with her husband Jon, the night before (while I was in Guayaquil).  I was so excited to see them, because the last time we had seen each other was at their wedding, about three and a half years before.

Party of the Year

Last Friday night there was a party at IHE. But it wasn't just a typical party, it was held to celebrate the institution's 50th anniversary. So it was a PARTY! For the two days prior, I had been sequestered in the theatre with 18 other dancers eating soggy cheese sandwiches and making my own coffee in order to spend a total of 15 minutes dancing at three different moments (two different pieces on Thursday, only one piece on Friday but that was for the Prince). Let me be clear, I am not a dancer. I should have had that tattooed on my forehead for everyone at the party who came up to me and said something to the effect of, "You look like a professional...you must have been dancing for years...you looked so natural..." I think that was one of my greatest acts of deceit, ever.
To be clear, I had fun, it was a great experience. But the whole time I was on stage, wearing more makeup at one instant than I had ever worn in my entire life collectively, I was wishing that I could grab the headset of one of stage crew and try to blend in with them. I will try post a video of the dances, once I find them, but for now I have a few photos that don't show very much, I just can't decide if I prefer the one of us moving, or standing still. Our costumes were awesome. They were tailor made my the mother of one of our classmates who brought them from Bangladesh. I have to admit that I don't remember the name of these trousers, thus will not write it here until I get permission from my editor. Regardless, they were beautiful and colorful and I was a bit sad to have to return them.

After the performance on Thursday we had some cocktails (as shown here joined by Maria, Angela, and Elena), but after the show on Friday was the PARTY! As I entered our building to be greeted by champagne (would you prefer white or rose?), I knew that this would be a night akin to the lifestyle to which I was accustomed. I spoke with the head chef, Jaco (who typically keeps me well fed) to get an executive summary. The told me that the pasta bar was here, the sushi bar was there (but be sure to get there early), there was a grill in the back, and some ice cream as well. If I dared to venture towards the library I would find, among the cocktail bar and oysters, a chocolate fountain and a casino, stocked with some nice whiskey and brandy (and we even found some cigars).
I know that it doesn't sound all that impressive. It could have been a wedding, or a bar mitzvah, or even just a normal night out in Vegas. I think we were all excited when we realized it wasn't going to be a typical IHE party with the same crowd (besides the students and staff, there were about 250 guests, many of them alumni), the same food (I'd been craving sushi for ages), the same DJ (there were four adorable twenty somethings serenading us with classic rock and roll on the terrace). I cannot really explain why, but consensus was that it was a great party, we all had a good time and everyone is quite sad that we will have to wait another 50 years for another party like this.

Piece of S*!T Bike Lock

So, this evening, after dance class, I try to unlock my bike. As I turn the key, it snaps off in the lock. The first option is to try tweeze the key out of the lock, but the spare key is already bent. So the only other option is cutting the lock. Which basically means I need to figure out how to steal my own bike. Apparently there is a lock cutter at IHE, but I will not able to access it until tomorrow. So I had to walk home. In the rain.

This whole situation would have been quite entertaining if it had been sunny or warm or my back wasn't still a bit sore. But since it is a windy gray day and I've been taking two Advil every 4-6 hours, it was not. Maybe if the sun is out tomorrow the remainder of the bike rescue will be better. Or at least the photos will have better lighting. The end.

Excursion

Yesterday was a long day. I was at school at 7AM for our field trip to Leidsche Rijn, a city adjacent to Utrecht. Field trip sounds so junior high, excursion is a SAT word. But gone are the days of the pink card that needs to be signed by every teacher at least one week in advance (Jones, that was for you). We drove for an hour to this new town that was supposed to be designed as a sustainable city. It wasn't. We received a lecture from the head of the Department of Water Management, followed by a Q&A session. He seemed to imply that the city was self sustainable in its water use, but in actuality it was just that the canals recirculated their own water. Each question that the class asked we learned more about how typical the design was. Drinking water was piped in from Utrecht, wastewater was piped back, and there were no water reuse or conservation measures. The only thing even relatively new was the fact that they varied their canal levels by up to one meter (like a standard detention pond).

Actually, during the field trip we got to see the “stabilized fog” that another professor had been talking about in a previous class. Except the “g” in Dutch is pronounced like a throaty “ch” so when the Dutch say “fog” it sounds like an inappropriate word in English. So the highlight of the excursion was Orgilt (Mongolia), Helga (Honduras), Loreen (The Philippines) and I giggling like school children while talking about the “fog” (and the “sheet” flow, where the “ee” sounds like an “i”).

Anyway, we then spent an hour (in the cold) roaming the streets of the development before returning to Delft for lunch. We were supposed to eat in Utrecht, but that fell through. I would have liked to see the city, but it's alright that we didn't because I was able to go to the market in Delft were I got some eggs and potatoes and some beautiful roses.

After lunch was a discussion about what we learned from the field trip (even the professor was a bit disappointed) followed by a presentation from a gentleman who works for Waternet, the company that manages the water in Amsterdam. That was cool. We learned about the pumping stations and the locks for the canals and how they regulate the levels. But the biggest epiphany was the fact that The Netherlands is just one large cut and fill equation. The Dutch reclaim land from the sea and lakes, but also remove land in some areas to make new lakes and canals. It's like they are constantly redecorating their country, moving water like people rearrange pictures.

I managed to finish my 12 hour day by attending a modern dance class. It was so much fun. I thought it was just a workshop, but the instructor (our head IT guy) said that he was coordinating a performance in June when the school celebrates its 50th anniversary. I never though of myself as a dancer, but that would be cool.

Exams are next Tuesday and Thursday, so I will be studying this weekend.