Muy Domestica

Spent most of the day in bed with a stomach ache. We got a new maid today, Reina, and I'm sad that things didn't work out with Cristina. Reina seems a bit timid; and I feel silly telling a maid what to do. So I just showed her the cleaning supplies and told her she could start by changing Jenny's sheets since she was already in class. Reina asked me where the clothes to iron were, and I told her we didn't have any. We are a very low-maintenance apartment, although it is nice to have someone sweep every once in a while.

Yesterday Jenny opted to postpone Hard Rock Cafe for dinner with Annemarie et al. I was planning on skipping it, but when I heard Silvana and Juan Jo were coming, I decided to eat dinner at home but join them for dessert. ("You came for Juan Jo and Sil, I know you..." Guilty as charged.) Dinner with Silvana and Juan Jo at Hard Rock made me think even more about Iguazu, since Silvana is from Misiones and way back when we all talked of staying with her family and taking a trip there. She called it "un lugar precioso," and now I'm vacillating on yesterday's decision.

Juan Jo had to take a phone call for work and was gone for like 30 minutes, so Silvana and Damian ate half of his brownie sundae while he was gone.

So today I researched hostels all morning from bed, but it gave me a headache to think through all the logistics and I began to feel even more nauseas. So I slept a while and flopped all day, only emerging around 8 pm to let Annemarie in our apartment. By then I had showered and drank some vegetable broth, so I was feeling a tad better. Funny how making yourself look pretty on the outside can make you feel better on the inside, even when you've had a crummy day. So we popped open Mark's champagne and I donned high heels for the first time in months. This was our night on the town: Paula Toto Blake's art show and then dinner at Piegari. Maybe the champagne bubbles eased my stomach, like a 7Up for grown-ups, but I'm feeling better now. The art show was cool, too. Jenny and I ate ham and cheese finger sandwiches to be polite, and I was thinking how that would've never flown in The States (back when I wouldn't eat meat.) I liked Paula's art best, but maybe I'm biased because she was so nice to me. She's a practicing Buddhist and wore a bright blue Chinese dress over her black pants with gypsy earrings. She's beautiful with these steel-grey eyes and black hair. She thought Annemarie and I were sisters.

Jenny, Meg & Annemarie at Paula's art exhibit

the girls at Paula's art exhibit

And was able to eat (or, you know, devour) my spinach crepes and even made room for a dessert of tiramisu. But Piegari was pricey! Carisimo pero riquisimo. I still say it was worth it though. It's a fancy restaurant, but it's tucked under the highway in La Recova with a bunch of other ritzy restaurants I doubt I'll ever manage to sample. But with the job as is, and payment from the Coppola movie, and putting Olsen brunch on my credit card while everyone else paid me in cash; I haven't had to hit up the ATM all week. So I'd say things are pretty okay.

So the plan for tomorrow is hopefully to make it over to Retiro to buy bus tickets to Iguazu, and then maybe catch an early showing of the Sex and the City movie, as it premiered today in Buenos Aires. I figure if I feel like crap again tomorrow, it's God's way of telling me I shouldn't go. But in all honesty, what else would I do with my time? All I have left on my list is boot and/or leather jacket shopping (although my arms are always too long here,) Kim y Novak, Niceto Club, and Amerika. Yes, those are all gay-friendly bars, but I mean, I figure they have good taste in fashion and music and design - why wouldn't I like their bars and dance clubs?