Yes, "The English Group" spans all ages. And much more. Here’s a sampling of people I’ve met there. I’ve only been there about 10 times in 5 years as a visitor. If I lived there, I might go twice a month.
A student from London on a gap year in BA studying Spanish. Locals who went to last night’s long-awaited rock concert and talk about it. The member who works 2 jobs to support her never missing an important band. She’s the one who knows which ones will be coming to town next month.
Someone showing you how some toffs in Argentina can still over-pronounce the "shhh" in "Yo" so that you know you're dealing with someone ‘better’ than you. Or a psychologist who introduces her baby who burned his tiny fingers yesterday. An interpreter living in Belgrano who likes it so much that he’s not been anywhere else in the 3 months since he arrived. An older, earthy, gentle and 'seen it all' porteno who runs some kind of boat service and waits until he’s invited to speak. Someone whose English has improved so much in 2 years that you ask him to tell you once more about that military museum because last time you comprehended little of what he'd said. Someone who’s looking to lose weight because his new job with more responsibility keeps him at his desk for long hours. Someone whom no one in the group recognizes at first because she’s lost so much weight. (When they do, there goes 20 minutes spent on hugs, compliments and diet talk.) Someone young who may write a book about her grandmother’s interesting life and shares with the group her outline not yet written and wants feedback. Someone baffled by how to dial a number on his mobile, this being the one culture shock that he can’t get his head around.
A foreign couple whose employer posted one of them to BA for 2 years, who sorely miss their dog at home, make no qualms about not learning any Spanish and who, 2 years after they eventually return home, invite a young portena in the group (who taught you a principle that applies to all institutional decision-making in Argentina and who’s now battling an illness) to come and stay with them for a month in their country, one she has always wanted to visit. They pay her airfare.
Or it could be someone who’s just travelled Asia for months and tells us how he met in Tokyo someone who'd also been to the English Group OF BUENOS AIRES which astounds everyone because this grooup isn't well known. Or someone off a cruise and finding his bearings on his first trip to South America. Or someone from the Netherlands whose job here is to address some prevalent Argentine social problem but sees in her first week here that it doesn't really line up with the theories and approaches that she's brought.
A middle class portena who has several attendees simultaneously in stitches and empathizing when she relates how she was hassled this day by a security guard at Farmacity over sunscreen she'd bought there 5 days ago. She had committed the sin of not keeping the receipt for it in her bag with the bottle until she actually finishes and discards the bottle! So she has no proof of purchase and was accused of stealing it for such a stupid reason since anyone could see that the bottle had been opened and partially used.
Or someone stuck with an apartment rental gone bad and who's in shock or embarrassed. And someone whose entry for that "live in New Zealand in heaven with a job for 6 months " worldwide contest of 3 years ago has made it to the finals. Retired people in the middle of a new life. The shy. The extroverted.
Those who’ve come to see “Fame” as a bit of a home base in BA as well as being the name of an old film. Once in a while I’ve hit a night that’s low key with only 3-5 people turning up but usually there are about 10-12 or more.
