Devon Alter » culture

Lady Gaga: Little Monster Conversion

Devon Alter — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 17:42:51 +0000

Not long ago, I learned that a friend of mine could not use the Lady Gaga ticket she bought, and I therefore inherited it (for the price of the ticket of course.) I was EXTREMELY excited, as I expected the show would be a spectacle. I truly thought that I would listen to Gaga’s un-autotuned voice which I would only forgive because of her crazy/amazing costumes and theatrics. (Not to mention, my friends and I were planning on getting dressed up, and I was in charge of makeup!) But boy was I WRONG!

First of all, yes, the theatrics and costumes were everything I hoped that would be. But, I was wrong about Lady Gaga. Not only does she have an amazing voice, but she puts on an amazing show, costumes and theatrics aside. She uses this opportunity to raise awareness about LGBT rights. She also uses this opportunity to support all her “little monsters,” enforcing self-confidence and self-awareness. Lady Gaga then follows with a few life anecdotes, including letting everyone know that, yes, she was made fun of in high school for being herself, but look where she is now. She shows unending gratitude to her fans and supporters. She even calls one person in attendance in the middle of the concert and moves them to better seats after a quick convo. Sometimes, she will even agree to meet them after the show ends! (I won’t lie, my friends and I were DYING to be the ones that got called.)

All in all, Lady Gaga not on puts on a great show, but uses the opportunity to send out a great message. Did she say F*** a lot? Yes. Were her dance moves and costumes extremely sexual? Yes. Did that make for some awkward for us and the 10-year-olds sitting in front of us? Yes.

Did she apologize for being herself? No. Would I change any little bit of it? NO!

For these reasons and more I am officially one of Lady Gaga’s little monsters.

Milonga with an old man

Devon Alter — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:29:12 +0000

Ok so I have had NO time to update! If I have been home, I have been asleep or attempting to sleep! The past week has been CRAZY!

First of all Buenos Aires Fashion Week (BAFWEEK) was in no fewer words AMAZING!!! I worked with the press, did a little translating when needed and got to sit front row at the majority of the fashion shows! I was also very proud of myself because in one month I managed to learn most of the designers by name, face and/or clothing design. I also realized, once again, that I want to work in that world. I LOVE IT! So if you know someone in the beauty/fashion industry looking to hire, send me their info!

Also, when I had a few free moments between some of the runway shows, I made friends with one of the makeup artists. He let me watch as he made up a few models, chatted with me, taught me a little bit, let me play with some of the makeup and even complimented how I had done my makeup! It was a fun and proud moment!

All in all, I LOOOOVEED BAFWEEK!

Since then I have been exhausted!!! But that has not stopped me! After the last show on Friday my whole team went to dinner together which was a ton of fun. Then a bunch of us headed to the BAF Party where we were VIP! And my friend Aurora got to come with me! It was fun but we left pretty quickly. That night was also my friend Clarissa’s last night so we went to see her for a bit. Then I crashed! And refused to get out of bed until the next afternoon!

The rest of the weekend was full, as usual. But I definitely made time to sleep because I was just dead! Sunday I watched my first full game of the Winter Olympics. It was less than thrilling to watch Canada beat us at hockey, but we were outplayed so I can’t say too much about it.

This week is back to life as usual here in Bs As. Monday I went to a live drum show and Tuesday night I went to a place where locals go and tango! I LOVE IT! I just wanted to go out and join but it is a pretty complicated dance. My friend taught me the basics, and then this little old man who had been tearing up the dance floor grabbed me to dance! I was obviously brand new but I made it through my first Milonga! Very proud! And I have officially tangoed!

Next up is my birthday and I can’t wait! I am just sad I can not celebrate with all of my stateside friends! (and those scattered across the world!)

Good night moon! Besos! Ciao!

“Traffic Laws”

Devon Alter — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:57:27 +0000

Ok so one thing I have learned very quickly around here is that pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. The only right we have is the right to be run over if we don’t get the hell out of the way fast enough! I the past few weeks I have been honked at and glared at more times than is necessary! Sometimes, they even speed up to either scare you or hit you to make an example of you.

And regular traffic laws don’t always apply. There are lanes, but they are mostly just for show. The speed limit is pretty much just for show, too. Sometimes, being in a cab is just as scary as being on the street. They speed, cut in and out of traffic like it’s their job and cause more “almost accidents” than I have ever seen in my life! I once had a cab driver who didnt want to wait in the turn lane which had about 7 cars waiting. So he pulled up in front of them into the middle of the intersection. Just cut in line and sit in the middle of the intersection!

But my favorite “traffic sign” are the arrows on the major streets dicating the flow of traffic. Normally that would be nothing to note, but aside from the basic arrows such as this,

they also have one that looks a little something like this.

No joke. Some streets have traffic that goes in different directions. But I am not sure when it changes. It’s a little crazy!

It all reminds me of this driving video I once saw. I watch it now and have flashes to running across crazy Buenos Aires streets!

Other random stuff I thought I would end the post with:

Yes! The toilet does flush spinning the other way! Most of the toilets don’t actually spin like they do in the states, but when they do, it is a little weird!

The universe is upside down! Right now in Buenos Aires I can see my favorite constellation, Orion, The Hunter. It is my favorite because it is easy to find him and his belt, and because one of his shoulders is a red star called Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice). Also, his foot is blue, but I don’t see that as much as my favorite star, Betelgeuse. Well here, he is UPSIDE DOWN!!! Betelgeuse is his foot here! I thought I was crazy when I saw it to think the sky was upside down, but it is upside down!

Off to Cordoba for the weekend! Look out 10 hour bus ride, here I come!

Besos and Elbow Room

Devon Alter — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:29:33 +0000

Ok so does everyone remember the School House Rock song “Elbow Room“? Ok, I know it is about manifest destiny and all but I always think about it when I think about the American need for personal space. Weird? Anyway, there is no such need for a personal bubble in other parts of the world. For example, in Spain and here in Argentina, everyone greets with cheek kisses. In Spain it’s one on each cheek while here it is just one cheek.

Normally I love it, but sometimes it can get a little awkward! With friends it is great. But I also greet everyone at work hello and goodbye with cheek kisses. Lucky for me there are only 6 people other than me that work there! Otherwise that could take a while. So that was a little weird for me, but nothing I found too strange.

Then when I went and visited the doctor for my stomach, and SHE greeted me with a kiss on the cheek! That was way bizarre! All I could think was that this simple greeting could be the source of lawsuits in America! But everyone here does it. This one is still a little odd to me.

Then the other night at a club, we were directed to follow someone to the pay counter to get in, and HE kissed me on the cheek as well. Did I know him? Nope! Did my friends? Nope! But hey, I went with it and next thing I knew he was handing me and my friends VIP wristbands. Not too shabby for a kiss on the cheek!

Other than that all is well down here in Bs As. I finally figured out how to use the “colectivo” or bus system. But it is very confusing and even the locals use the guide book I had to buy to figure it out!

A friend of mine had her purse stolen last week which was terrible. Luckily it was a quick cafe grab and nothing violent or in the street or anything. But it still sucked! She lost everything, la pobrecita!

Work is going well and is about to get really busy I think. On top of that I have to learn everything about every designer that is going to be showing at Buenos Aires Fashion Week (BAFWEEK). So far there are 26 with more to come and I only know one from before, Puma. I am working on making myself a study guide for all of them!

I did a little more touring this week. The bus tour on Tuesday, went to a museum here that had an Andy Warhol exhibit, and Saturday I went to the cemetery where Evita is buried. This weekend my friends and I are planning on taking a beach trip to Uruguay! So excited!

My brother just moved to Israel for the next 6 months so our only way to see each other is Skype. But luckily my whole family now has web cams and we can all chat! So excited! And so excited for him!

Hope all is well where you are.

Besos!

ps – favorite new translation: sassy = rompe pelotas (ball buster!)

Europe: A whole? Or the sum of its parts?

Devon Alter — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:10:33 +0000

Growing up in Southeast Texas, my education on Europe was minimal. Trends were “European.” There were a few things noted about food and traditions in certain countries, but otherwise that was about it. Coming here for the second time, I have learned how much pride “Europeans” have in their own individual countries.

Some of my friends I have met here include: Jo – Brittish, Lloyd-Welsh and Claire-Scottish. I was speaking with Lloyd and told him I could tell Claire’s accent was different, but that I could not decipher any difference between his and Jo’s. I was then taken aback by the look of hurt in his eyes. He welled up with pride and began to tell me how much he loved his country, how much he wished people knew more about it, that there is a whole Welsh language and how different his accent is from Jo’s.

I was shocked for a moment. I am a Texan, born and raised, and full of Texas pride. And yet, I take pride when I am able to disguise my heavy southern drawl. I am not ashamed but I don’t want to sound like a “hick” and thus be placed into some category by those with predispostions to the accent.

How does this make you feel? Would you be as hurt if someone told you they had never heard of your state/coutry? And finally, is Europe a whole? Or the sum of its parts?

-your fairly typical Southern Bell

Fiesta de Paloma

Devon Alter — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 10:10:54 +0000

So I have been thinking up interesting post ideas and losing them by the time I get to my computer. But this I remember, so you are about to get a view into my first Friday night in Madrid.

This week/weekend is La Fiesta de la Virgen de Paloma and it is a HUGE street festival with music and drinks all over one area of town. I started my night meeting some of my friends from IH Madrid (where I take my Spanish class) and went to see a Zaqzuela, which is a show between an Opera and a regular show. To me it was not much because the singing was all pre-recorded and the men and women danced. But they were all in costume and very passionate so that made it cool. We then met up with some others and went and relaxed on a small area of grass.

Then was the best part! I went with 3 of my friends to meet the host mom of 2 of them, named Pilar. We went to a plaza and there was live music that was a LOT of fun. We danced with some fun Spanish women in costume and they taught us the dances to the songs. All of the sudden, the band starts playing the Spanish version of AchyBreaky Heart (Mi Pobre Corazon)!! I LOVED it, and yes, I got it on video!

When we went and found Pilar, we started dancing with her and her “slightly” inebriated friends! At one point she started dancing Sevillanas, which I learned while I was in Seville a year and a half ago. So we danced a paso together! We also learned some dances with them. Then one of my friends who is from Madrid and I started to dance a Paso Doble! I won’t lie, I was not bad! Then we went to a bar with them and heard some of their stories and talked with them a bit. Some of the stories were STRAIGHT from a movie. I could not BELIEVE that they were real life stories. I also got some suggestions for some books!

We left and found some other friends. And while trying to get all the groups together, my phone stopped working! I could not get a hold of anyone I was trying to find! Luckily I was with my roommates. They wanted to leave so we left early. At 3:30 AM. It was a great night and I can’t wait for more!