Photo highlights from El Chalten

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Full Album from El Chalten:

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Quick Mombasa Update

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40km bike ride Since the kids were off today, Suzzy and I decided to take a 40km bike ride through the countryside and villages with a guide. It was a fantastic and really, really, really hot experience. I enjoyed shouting momba/boa to the kids in the villages. I also really liked learning about the various trees (cashew, mango, etc). The creek, beaches, forests, fields were all beautiful. Near the end, we biked to the top of a mountain for a panoramic view of the area. School The "Destiny" school is located in Motonga, a poor village outside of Mombasa. I've been helping out in the primary 2 class; kids range from 4-9 years old. Suzzy is helping in primary 3. What exactly am I doing? I'm administering reading tests (eg. the kid reads a list of words and sentences), grading 6 different tests, handing back papers, and recording scores. Suzzy and I also get to play with them, which is really fun. I introduced hopscotch to them and they really love it. They enjoyed p...
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Beginner ballet class was great

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Inspired by the Alvin Ailey dance performances I've been seeing, I took a beginner ballet class yesterday. It was great. I can't believe how much complexity can be in the simple lifting and lowering of a leg. We were mostly doing leg movements holding on to a horizontal bar. We did a plié, in which we squeeze our heels together and toes apart to make a V, and then we bend at the knee to go down and straighten to come up. Lots of stuff to think about even in that simple movement. The teacher, a Chinese-looking man named Finis Jhung, was excellent. He emphasized balance and "equal and opposing forces", like pulling up on the ground to go down and then pushing down to go up. The class was free, because the school, Ailey Extension, is connected to the Alvin Ailey dance company. I saw a performance of the dance company and I brought my ticket stub for a free first class. I was hoping to get an appreciation for ballet and dance in general at the class, and I got that. I...
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Football game and Plaza Dorrego

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We just got home from the football game. Boca beat a higher-ranked local team called Velez. I was amazed at the passion of the fans. They sang pretty much non-stop for the whole game. Loving lyrics like "We will always follow you, Boca" and violent lyrics like "Your mother is a *!#$@# and you are a *@#$!" Boca won 3-2. They scored two amazing goals: one hit the top bar of the goal and the other was a header from almost midfield. After the game we got empanadas at a local restaurant, Cumana, and got ice cream at Freddo's. We spent the early part of the afternoon at Plaza Dorrego, where we saw street tango dancers, a traditional orchestra, and street vendors, and we ate on a balcony overlooking the square. http://picasaweb.google.com/crondeau/BuenosAiresDay2PlazaDorregoSoccer
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