Trying New Things
- By Indu Shanmugam
- Published 07/21/2008
Indu Shanmugam
Indu Shanmugam is a 20-something, college student from Oregon, USA. She is majoring in English literature and language. She also studied Theology for a short period. She wants to be a teacher. As a literature enthusiast, she enjoys literature of all types and from writers of various backgrounds from the classics, French realists, Christian writings like C.S Lewis and South Asian literature. As for her own writings, "I am still trying to find and develop my own voice." She sees the art of the written word as a way to speak about Christ and explore truth. Before she met Jesus Christ, she has been searching for the meaning of life through experimentation of other religions, philosophies and ideas. At the age of 17, she accepted Christ after a powerful encounter with God through a miracle. God's presence and deep truths in the Bible fuel her creativity. She is involved in church activities and has a love for the church and would like to see every believer grow, become closer to God and live fruitfully. She loves traveling, sipping bubble teas, theatre, music, films and hanging out with friends and has a weakness for cheesecake.
Tango Dancing: Before leaving Argentina, a few of us wanted to take a Tango dance class. There are plenty of dance clubs where they teach dancing and have dances. I took a class all in Spanish. There seems to be a difference between the tango you see on TV and performances and street tango. When you see professional performances, it tends to be a bit more provocative.
Street tango or when tango is done in clubs by average people, it seems different. Actually, you don´t have to dance very close to the partner or dance sexy. You could if you really wanted to. I didn´t see any dirty dancing here because it was an older crowd. Tango seems to be more popular with older people. My friends and I seemed to be the youngest people in the whole place. The guys I danced with were old enough to be my father or grandfather. I danced with one of the dance teachers, an nice elderly man. I´m glad it was a dance teacher because he was teaching and correcting my steps. Tango is not really my style. It´s too slow and serious for me. I like the music though.
Salsa Dancing: That´s more like it for me. I went salsa dancing and took a class and danced the night away. I haven´t done much salsa dancing back home. I´m more into swing dancing but I´m starting to like salsa.
Beef Tongue: I had it in a soup with pieces of tongue. I didn´t even realize that I was eating it. Only when I finished my soup the person told me what it was. It tastes like any other part of beef. I felt a bit weird when I examined a piece and saw tastebuds.
More New Food: I can´t remember the name on top of my head but I had Spanish rice with chicken. Usually, it´s eaten with seafood but seafood seems expensive here in Argentina. It´s a Spanish dish. I had another cream cheese with fruits. I may be wrong but that sounds French to me. And then there´s lot of Italian food. I always loved Italian food. I can see the European influence in the diet. That´s reflective of Argentina in general. Argentina in general is Latin American but has a very eclectic European flair to it. It´s interesting.
Judging the Health Habits: I seriously wonder how do the people here remain skinny? The diet seems to be mostly lots of meat, cheese and bread. They don´t seem to eat many vegetables or fruits. My host mom drinks a lot of coffee and sometimes right before bed. When I come home, I´m not going to eat steak for a long time. In fact, I´m craving spicy foods like Thai (from Typhoon restaurant) and Mom´s chicken curry because I miss spicy foods.
Tomorrow, I´m going to a Gaucho Party! Then next week, it´s my finals. After finals, I´ll be home.
