Saturday, May 26, 2018

Tango Staycation

I would have written this post over the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada, but I was too busy on a glamourous Tango "Staycation".

Now, of course we would rather be on a glamourous Tango "Vacation" and we miss visiting our wonderful friends in Buenos Aires, but we have to be home every four to six hours to feed and massage an ancient constipated pet cat.  This one (on the left - I don't know who the guy in the chicken hat is HA!):



And when we told Manolo the reason behind us not flying to Buenos Aires to visit him, he said "Does he taste good with a side of rice?"

HE WAS JOKING!  About getting rid of the cat and about what Chinese people eat!  Cat Lovers and Chinese people, it's JUST A JOKE, OK?

Well, in any event, Vacation/Staycation is just a state a mind and we will use all our powers of Imagination/Zen/Self-Delusion to bring you the following:

THINGS WE CAN DO ON TANGO STAYCATION THAT MAYBE PERHAPS MAKES US THINK WE ACTUALLY TOOK A TRIP TO BUENOS AIRES:

1.  Wear same set of wrinkle free "travel clothes" for days on end.  Wash them in the sink and hang them all over the place to drip dry OR screw that, wear them for days on end and do not wash them. Did you know merino wool clothing supposedly never smells bad and self-cleans? 

Irene demonstrating how to look conspicuously like a tourist.  You don't even need to be in Buenos Aires - we guarantee that this outfit will make anyone stick out like a sore thumb anywhere in the world!


2.  Eat pasta and pizza and red meat with abandon and wash it down with gallons of beer/wine.  Gain 5 lbs in 7 days!



Yes, we can get pretty great pizza here in Toronto.  But would it really be as good and excessively cheesy as the ones at El Cuartito?

3.  Buy random stuff because that's what people do on vacation.

Or better yet - DO NOT buy random stuff and be good to the planet.

"Man Yung, I can't believe we took a photo of this incredible HANDBAG STORE in Buenos Aires and didn't go in or buy anything from it?????  WTF!!!?"


4.  Since cannot buy new tango shoes easily when not in Buenos Aires, do next best thing - resole tango shoes, or wear existing tango shoes in one's possession that don't fit well for that brand new tango shoe feeling. Hobble awkwardly in ill fitting tango shoes at local milongas, it makes it feel like you are dancing on unfamiliar floors!

5.  Dance all night. Or at least until 1 a.m. midnight.  Because we need beauty rest + have to go home and massage the cat.  By the way this past week (in Toronto!) we danced Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  On Monday and Thursday we massaged the cat MORE.

6.  Forget to put on sunscreen because so busy/exhausted.

Unfortunately, this happened all the time when we were in Buenos Aires.  It is not a good idea!  The secret to looking and staying young: Sunscreen, sleep and Tango.  OK, when we were in Buenos Aires didn't get much of the first two but the surplus of the third made up for it.

7.  Go and see the sights and eat the eats in Scarborough, food capital of the world.  Or don't, and nap all the time when not eating and dancing because old and exhausted from dancing + massaging the cat.

If Scarborough is the food capital of the world and we live right in it and have a million choices of what to eat, why do we end up eating the same fifty chicken wings and plate of fried noodles at the same Chinese restaurant?

8.  Watch soccer matches broadcast in a non familiar language.  There are lots on Youtube.   Brings back memories of watching soccer in Spanish in Buenos Aires hotel room (when not passed out from exhaustion or doing laundry in the sink).

9.  Argue.  

Why, don't other people argue while on vacation?

10. Answer work emails. 

Why, don't other people answer work emails while on vacation?  How else can I make sure my inbox is clear and I'm up to date?

There must be more stuff we can do to add to the list to make our "Staycation" sound more exciting but I'm tired from dancing/writing/massaging the cat and need a nap now.





5 comments:

tangogeoff said...

😊😊😊

The Outpost said...

:) And great photos!

I was surprised how much you danced! I got to wondering what Toronto milongas were like and found only one video within the last two years of what seemed like the actual (very nice) music in a real milonga with regular social dancers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNp5pNfOi9s

I found one other video of social dancing edited to the musical equivalent of voice-over https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P92HmZ9OJY ie. not the actual music being played so you can't tell how what the local social dancing is really like. And of course, there are videos of show dancers in regular milongas which is weirdly common worldwide. You'd think social dancers wanting to know what some milonga is like would be more interested in video of...the venue, the social dancing, an interview with the host perhaps and yet there's always more video of show dancers doing a performance in regular milongas!

jessiechung said...

Dear Irene and Man Yung,

Manolo's question about your ancient cat is hilarious. I got asked about why Chinese eat dogs all the time and I am sick and tired of it. Do you have a good answer for me to use as a "standard answer" to those angry dog lovers?

Cheers,

Jessie

Irene and Man Yung said...

Dear Felicity,

Sorry we didn't post your comment earlier! For some reason we didn't receive any notification of any of the recent comments we received. I thought people weren't reading our posts anymore lol!

Social tango dancing in Toronto is unremarkable. Probably looks like just about any other place in the world - not too bad but not great. That's why no one bothers to post videos of it on Youtube - it's likely NOT to be interesting!

The first video you mentioned on your comment was at a milonga hosted by organizers who danced Tango Salon/Villa Urquiza and their students also dance that way too. I don't think (upon last check) that it occurs regularly, I think it might be closed now.

Have a lovely Sunday!

Irene and Man Yung

Irene and Man Yung said...

Dear Jessie,

Sorry we didn't post your comment earlier! As above - we stopped receiving notifications of comments for some reason.

Anyway, that is a really good question. Man Yung explains that Chinese people don't eat all kinds of dogs. They only eat "edible dogs" in Cantonese called "Choy Gou" (Choy = vegetable = dish - I think you know what I mean). You can tell easily that most dogs are not "Choy Gou", they have a very distinctive edible look and you can tell they are neither Fido nor Wifi.

People will be enlightened after hearing that explanation!

Just joking. However, what Man Yung says is true, traditional Chinese cuisine actually differentiate between pet dogs and edible dogs. This is a gross fact that you can tell the people who keep on annoying you about the unfortunate Chinese cultural tradition of dog eating.

We are totally against eating dogs (or cats)! Please do not eat them.

Lovely to hear from you thanks for your comment Jessie!

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