On Argentine Tango

Last Friday my new friend Clara invited me to join her at a restaurant where she and a number of other people come together to dance Argentine tango.  She had told me before that tango was her passion and now I was going to be able to see her dance.

Of course, as the Spanish would have it, you don't want your dance activities to start too early.  We got to the restaurant about quarter to 11pm, which was still early judging by the empty place.  But people started pouring in around 11 and, without much ado, people got to dancing.

Here is a visual for you.  Picture any Hollywood movie staged around WWII, the place at a navy base, officers' ball.  Everyone dressed in their uniforms and the ladies in their evening dresses.  Officers smoking, all quite classy and the music is from 1930s.  Now just loose the uniforms and you have the picture...

Being an outsider and taking things in from a Canadian perspective, it was very interesting to see that: a) everyone wants to dance with a good dancer, so saying "no" quite openly is Ok (there goes our Canadian inclusiveness); b) I was told there are more women than men around, so men, especially the ones that are good dancers, are in high demand (not sure if that is a good thing, as it seemed the men had very little rest and opportunity to have an extra drink :); c) age truly does not matter - there were couples and singles anywhere from their twenties to dancers in their eighties!  And the best part of all, they rarely danced with their partners, rather they switched around to mix up the style and the tempo.

One couple who was there was Spanish professional dance couple, and they did look the part.  While, being a novice, I could not pick up the very intricacies of the dance, I certainly could tell the difference between the very good ones and the so so ones.  I also made a special note of the fact that women bring their dance shoes with massively high heels and men bring shoes that help them dance better on smooth surfaces.

Along with the variety of ages, people seem to mix with various socioeconomic classes.  For example, I sat with a couple, who were very well known neuro surgeon and neuro physician (I was told they were some of the best in Spain).  They were very pleasant, spoke good English and have been to Victoria and Vancouver.  Whenever I tell anyone about being from Canada and Victoria, they always say "oh, I would love to go to Canada, I hear it is very nice", which I readily confirm.  And then I do have to reinforce that in Spain they do have the best food and much cheaper wine :)

At about 1:20am I have to politely excuse myself as my still-Canadian-stamina obviously cannot keep up with the average 80-year-old, so I will need much practice on this.

Kisses on both cheeks, a few handshakes and I head back to my hotel. Very civilized, passionate and enlightening way to head into the weekend...

First impressions... Zaragoza!

Hi all or should I say buenos dias!

So here comes my first (of many) update from the sunny Spain.  Just
finishing my second week here and impressions are plenty.  So here we
go...

First, I must say that for the most part, Spain, and the city of
Zaragoza in particular, have already exceeded expectations.  Cathy and I
came here two weeks ago on a home finding trip and had a few days to
check out living spaces and schools for the girls.  We were expecting
small spaces and were very surprised and impressed with the types of
accommodations that were available for families.  We saw many, and most
all of them were more that adequate.  We ended up getting a lease on a 4
bedroom 3 bath 2 story apartment ( they call it duplex) in a new part of
the city, area called Via Hispanidad.  Lots of windows, 2 terraces, pool
for the complex and a tennis court.  And the most important part: a nice
size bedroom for guests with completely separate bathroom.  Oh, and did
I mention all that closet space?  Our agent thought we were funny when
all we did was ooh and aah about the closets in every room.  Very
impressive space planning.

We also checked out schools for the girls, one interdenominational and
one catholic, so decisions still remain on which one will be a good fit
for the girls.  One very different part of schooling here is the fact
that kids go to school from about 9am to 5:30 pm.  A very long day.  So
this part will be hard to adjust to, or at least that is what we think
at the moment.

We arrived in Zaragoza during one of the most important celebrations in
Spain and Zaragoza, commemorating Pilar, guardian saint of Zaragoza.  As
you may know, Spanish celebrate well, where everything is shut down for
a week; but the advantage is that there are lots of special street
markets and foods from Aragon region.  And, of course, we had to visit
the Basilica del Pilar, which is the largest one in town and one of the
biggest in the world.  Spectacular, and very catholic (isn't the whole
country?) ...

So we celebrated too... Enjoyed our first tapas y pinchas, went out to a
few restaurants, which do not open until 9, but are certainly worth the
wait.  Food here is amazing.  While sodium intake is likely somewhat
higher than in Canada (think much higher!), they don't really use much
processed food, which is much healthier.  Everything is fresh and
prepared from scratch.  And the best surprise of all was our restaurant
bill...  Let me explain: Cathy and I love to do estimating before the
bill comes.  So we did.  (I need to mention here that we are experts at
this game).  The bill came and it was way low.  The reason: we had 2
glasses of excellent Spanish vino blanco each, and each was less than
2$!  Now we are talking!

Wine deserves it's own special mention: Aragon region borders Rioja
region, which produces some of Spain's top wines (which Spanish region
doesn't !?).  Every grocery store has a spectacular selection of Spanish
and world wines, at prices that will make you weep.  For example, vina
Albali 2004' is just under 4$.  Or Monasterio de las Vinas 2003 Gran
Reserva is under 10$.  Ok, ok, I will stop now.

Shopping, being an important part of our lives, is very good and
convenient here.  Supermarkets are plenty, accompanied by very nice
local markets, where you can buy fish, meats, cheeses, veggies and
fruits.  Other than the stores close early and are not open on some
days, the selection is excellent and in some cases much better.  For
example, fish, meat and cheese selections here are much more diverse
than what we are used to.  Notable is the lack of processed foods.
Prices on most basics are at about 60% of Canadian prices, with some
items being similar.

Transportation in the city is very good if you are not driving and
taking a public bus.  Driving here can be tricky, since they have many
roundabouts with no lanes in them, so it is a bit of a road version of
their bull fighting, where you hope not to get hit.  Lots of people ride
scooters and bicycles.  Overall the roads and highways are very good,
and the highway to Barcelona is amazing, with barely any cars on it.  It
appears that during the recent boom lots has been done through
investments in infrastructure.

How is my work going?  Well, it has been an interesting week.  The
building from which we work is located on the outskirts of town in a
place called Plaza, by Zaragoza airport.  It is a bout a 20 minute drive
from downtown.  Our offices are in a brand new building that was built
by Barclays as their flagship Spanish operation.  HP now has taken over
the building and we run the operations in it. 
Operation is just over 500 people, all located in this site on 3 floors
of one big building.  Lots of space with lots of glass.
My first impressions of the team are very good: they are very young,
capable and energetic, excellent potential all around.

My first week hours: 8:30am to 10pm.  I did manage to get out early on
Friday about 7pm :). Reminded me of the days when I joined EDS after 1.0
went live.

Last night I had a few memorable experiences here in Zaragoza.  At 6pm
one of our it analysts, who speaks excellent English, got us tickets to
go to a football game (yes, football, not soccer).  And who was playing?
Nobody other than Football Club Barcelona vs. Real Zaragoza!  Saw Villa,
Iniesta and other stars, who are best players in the world.  It was very
interesting to see opposing fans do their chanting and screaming at the
referees.  These games appear to be a great outlet for human emotion
during the challenging economic times.  Felt like going to church...

After the game, a few tapas and some wine, I met with a lady friend who
was our agent in helping us pick a place to live.  She invited me to
meet a group of friends that meet once every week to practice their
English, French or Spanish.  We met at a restaurant, had a communal
dinner for 30 people, listened to excellent live music and even did some
dancing.  Clara, who took me to meet these people, also is a competitive
argentine tango dancer, so seeing her dance was quite an experience.  I
looked at my watch and could not believe it was 2 am.  Now I am starting
to get why people start work around 9 or 10 am...

So here I am, still waiting for reality to kick in once all that
adrenalin and excitement wears off.   Looking forward to Cathy and girls
coming in mid November.  In the meantime, off I go to IKEA to start looking at some furniture to outfit the guest room for YOUR VISIT!

Miss you all (it is true), and will write more soon.