A quick little story about Edgar Alan Po-ey

So with being sick, busy, birthday madness having come and gone, and finally settling into a bit of a groove over here, and of course the ever necessary siesta, I haven't had much time to write again in this. The days pass by much more quickly than when we first arrived. At times it's hard to believe it's already been over a month that I've been here -- other times it's hard to believe it's ONLY been a month.

Work is fine. The kids think I'm totally awesome which is just way too much fun. I need to wear my sunglasses and cowboy hat to school more often so I can feel like a foreigner. A couple other tricks that work include wearing flip flops and long woolen scarfs. Then people just stare at you like you're nuts, it's fantastic.

Take, for example, this past weekend. In the small, sleepy town of Fernan Nuñez up on a hill just outside Córdoba there was a reading of various Edgar Alan Poe stories (or as they call him, Edgar Alan Po-ey). Briana informed that this would be a monumental event for Fernan Nuñez, as they've never had TWO foreigners in their city before.

This was pretty much obvious. Walking down the street women and children watched us with an amused curiosity. They know we're not from around here, and we know they know we're not from around here, and so whenever we had to ask for directions they responded with kind, slightly embarrassed smiles and very helpful instructions.

Ah, to get away from the big city!

So we make our way to La Casa de la Cultura where the readings are to be held (having stopped on the way for some coffee. Upon entering the coffee shop all conversation suddenly came to a halt and everyone's heads swiveled around to look at us. You could hear crickets chirping in the background) where we joined a meager crowd of 20 or 30 people who found themselves with nothing to do or like us, hopefully, had a genuine interest in Po-ey.

They begin with The Tell-Tale Heart (read beautiful, with an intense passion that made my heart want to swan dive out of my chest to hide in my pocket) and followed it up with several poems and the Fall of the House of Usher (at least I think it was Usher -- I think a cat was involved, along with some guy's wife). Afterwards when they had finished we asked to take pictures with the three readers and, lemme tell ya, we made their day.

Oh where are you from?

The United States!

Oh hey they're American!

And a lengthy conversation about Poe ensued. I hope that the next morning during coffee with their friends they were able to brag about how two foreigners came to their show to hear their readings. Lord knows I would.

And it was free! Can't top that.