Crossroads

In response to:Letter to Dad

2009-10-31T16:57:14+01:00

Hi YYang

I happened to chance upon your blog. Hope tat u're well ... have not heard from you for a long long time. Your letter to your dad is very touching. Do drop me a private email to my email account so tat we can keep in contact.

God bless.

In response to:Sand Castles

2009-10-21T14:31:19+02:00

Wise words, thewise.

True true... let's hope that the boy becomes a man one day. For the right reasons, I suspect he will. :)

And don't forget every man was once a boy who honed his skill building castles in the sand so that one day when he has to build a real one it would be most perfect and beautiful.

In response to:Sand Castles

2009-10-21T06:46:41+02:00

ah that's what separates a boy from a man.

The boy just enjoys building sand castles on the beach, building dreams that have no feet. Yet crying rivers of tears that flow into the sea and thus creating higher waves.

The man chooses where to build his castle, not made of sand of course, but on fertile grounds that will bear fruits of love.

In response to:Sand Castles

2009-10-21T04:34:16+02:00

We’re told the characteristics of the cute little boy at the beginning of the poem: innocent, optimistic, determined, anxious, and almost ecstatic. Then we understand how much he devours knowledge, and the tendency to be a womanizer(?). He also shows the keenness to belong to the world, and the aspiration to be an omnipotent.

Though during my reading I reminded of the image of Joey lying on the beach in season 4 more than once, what I thought more seriously are the castle building and the wave.

For me here comes another Sisypus with Camus' absurd. The boy makes the castle, and it’s the way he lives. The despair of a fearless dream maker can be seen, while we also see the passion returns even though the wave will surely come again.

And the more we live, the more we find out that everything goes like a circle. The wave, the things that happened, and the sadness. It doesn’t mean to suffer again and again, nor are we still at the same place without change. Yes the beach goes plain like before, but actually it has been washed.

(Then maybe, out of the destiny, we doubt a bit if the sand castle means that much, or what we ought to do is just meander at the beach? Well I only think so when I feel lost…)

Continually we can see a underlying paradox under the context of the poem (it’s important!): The nature and the love. If it’s impossible to deny the circle of the wave, then what the author wants to say about the everlasting love? It seems like a riddle folded in the poem then, and the answer …is rather clear…:(

(Or could the wave be the boy himself? Then it’s a question of philosophy lah)

Anyway this poem is full of touches of the existentialism, and don’t know why I can imagine the gleaming sea, quite good.

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-10-20T21:37:13+02:00

Hi Lonewolf,
I love your comments and passion for Tango. I am living in Ireland and would love to take classes with Javier. Do you have any details of his European tour for 2010? I would be very appreciative of any information that you have regarding his schedule. I have been finding it very difficult to locate any details on the web.
Thanks a million,
Lucia

In response to:The Last Things

2009-10-09T20:53:03+02:00

Such prolific writer you are Isaac! So melancholic....

Cross junctions in life are never easy. Take it as a challenge to move on.

Glad tango is serving you well and now your studies too.

Take care and hope to see you some time.

Besos,
norhayah

In response to:Geraldine Rojas

2009-09-21T19:18:41+02:00

I just came up with this blog... : )

I joined Geraldine y Ezequiel's workshop in HK 2009. They were surprisingly inspiring. The 'one step' they taught is quite an essense of what they wanted us to learn. Ezequiel apologizes to my partner that he can't teach him as I took too long to even trying... and yes, what they taught was quite an opposite following technique from what I used to... : )

Very impressive classes... and felt like eye-opened. Still, a lot of doubts and hope to see them soon in Asia... or in BsAs...

In response to:Letter to Dad

2009-09-18T19:27:21+02:00

Peace, bro.

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-09-08T08:43:55+02:00

nice article captain sandbag !!! hahaha

In response to:L'appuntamento by Ornella Vanoni

2009-09-07T13:21:41+02:00

hihi,
Haven't been in touch for a while. I just wanted to say hi, take care of yourself, and see you at home! If I don't make it to visit you.

In response to:The Last Things

2009-09-02T18:26:42+02:00

Your article has awaken some feeling of sadness inside me... I remembered when I had to say goodbye, but the truth was that I didn't want to do that... and it should have been like that, but sometimes, life can very cruel...
______________________________
Tampa Roofing

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-07-29T20:46:36+02:00

Dear Isaac,

I have always respected and admired a lot Javier Rodriguez as a dancer. After reading about your experience, I really would like to have the opportunity to enjoy a private class with him. How did you manage to get one with him? I would be very greatful if you could give me some information about it.

Kind regards,

C.

In response to:Geraldine Rojas

2009-07-29T20:46:28+02:00

I recently joined a class/workshop taught by Gereldine Rojas and her husband, Ezequiel in Beijing - June 29th, 2009. Yes, they went to Beijing, China to teach! I was so excited since I live in US, and was only in Beijing for a short vacation. I thought the timing was just perfect. However, as much as I heard so much good things about Geraldine and Javier's prior teachings, and greatly enjoyed her dancing by watching on video/YouTube, I was so astonished and dissapointed by this in-person experience. Gereadine and Ezequiel seemed treating this class very causual, did not seem prepared. Ezequiel's teaching was terrible, he made fun of students, and laughed at them uncontrollbly with Gereldine. Other than demonstrating the steps, neither of them helped students to practice. When asked how to move better on a step they just taught, Ezequiel and Geraldine were quick to criticize with an arrogant, cold attitude, without answering the question as how to move better. I found it's kind of being ripped off that they didn't follow the class curriculum, instead, taught only "one step" during the entire 90 minutes class. Yes, they very much enjoyed dancing with each other, but from a teaching/learning point of view, this time around, I feel it's a total waste of time with them!

In response to:L'appuntamento by Ornella Vanoni

2009-07-29T00:08:36+02:00

Dearest Tina,

I miss you so much!!! When are you coming back? No one dances Donato and Fresedo with me like you do.

Bella donna mia, come back soon!

baci,
Isaac

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-07-29T00:04:28+02:00

Hi Hongkonger,

Regretfully that you did not have a good experience with Javier's class.

I read through your comments. The point that he arrived late, I cannot comment on that. But very often in an overseas teaching situation, it is the organizers' job to orientate the teacher and bring them to class on time. This is afterall busy and hectic Hong Kong and Javier is a foreigner.

The other actions you have commented I have personally experienced them and seen Javier with the following actions during the class but every actions have their profound and very reasonable explanations.

Do remember you are judging Javiers' words and actions from the point of view of a 'Hongkonger'. While I am not generalizing the point of view of a Hong Kong person. But the best way to understand Javier is to judge him from his argentine cultural context.

You need to understand as an Argentinean, as an artist and most importantly as a teacher with many years of experience. These cultural and occupational background factors combined with his own personality and teaching philosophy; produces a kind of teaching method that carries the effect that I call the 'shock' effect.

Javier doesn't mince his words, he is not 'politically correct' as the same case as most argentineans are, he believes in telling the truth and adding some colours of his own so that the students will get the maximum impact.

Hence the points about 'insulting' dancers, to you they are insults. But to him, he is telling the truth and his motivation is for his students to learn and never forget what they heard and saw from him. And adding his own humourous twist. Argentineans derive a lot of their humour from sacarsm which non-argentines may find crass. So do not misunderstand nor judge his teaching value due to this cultural difference.

One of the most important and valued teaching philosophy of Javier is this. Tango is a cultural dance; which is to say, without the cultural background and knowledge, it would be just a beautiful but meaningless series of movement. In view of this, he spends equal amount of time explaining telling stories that relate to the tango culture; as much as teaching techniques and movements. In fact he is one of the few tango teachers in the world that does this and not bow to general demands and pressures of foreigners who don't know tango and just want steps after steps after steps. For this, his courage is admirable.

Lastly, just a little comment on skirts for women. I have assisted in many of his tango classes. He needs to see the knees and the legs of the women so that he can better judge and correct their technique. This is in fact a very basic dance knowledge. Unless the women comes in ballet leotards, the best thing they can wear for a tango class is a short skirt.

So as you can see, all these things that in one class, you had dismissed as bad teaching and time wasting actions; are deep considerations from one of the 'most celebrated tango teacher'.

kind regards,
Isaac

In response to:L'appuntamento by Ornella Vanoni

2009-06-23T17:07:27+02:00

Hola Isaac! Are you craving for love? Beso y abrazo

In response to:L'appuntamento by Ornella Vanoni

2009-06-21T00:33:53+02:00

Ma che bello.

By the way, I sure miss dancing with you in Cachirulo! We had some good Fresedo tandas that I will always remember.

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-05-27T21:06:01+02:00

hola...javier mi amigo conose aqui el singapore....ahora mi busca un javier donde esta ahora...yuda umingo busca javier bailo tango....messages yo aqui email rayvinabad@yahoo.com.ph

In response to:Porteño y Bailarin

2009-05-25T15:19:10+02:00

Hey, it's me once again - great post.

Cheers,
traveller from Singapore in BsAs.

In response to:Journey to the Beach - Chile

2009-05-25T15:11:51+02:00

Hey, stumbled onto your blog after I typed "Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore Buenos Aires" Was entertaining reading, though your journey took place a while ago.

Cheers,
a traveller in BsAs from Singapore

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-05-17T11:19:04+02:00

Javier is a good dancer but is not a good teacher. I have experiend his workshop in Hong Kong recently and found him to be arrogant. He arrived late, turned his back on his pupils while they were dancing, left them along without feedback, spent much time fiddling with his ipod/music, insulted Taiwanese dancers, insulted and mimicked beginners in the workshop even though it was for beginners, said he couldn't cope with mixed levels, wasted time telling tales which were slowly translated and lost their meaning. He refused to have the aircons on on a very hot day, told women they should wear skirts and not trousers, that they could not sit on the floor while waiting for him, mobile phones to be turned off and no photos to be taken all being translated very slowly. All a great waste of time. There was little understanding of the needs of his pupils and very little knowledge passed to his pupils. He was described to be the most celebrated tango teacher. Let's hope there are better ones in Argentina.

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-05-15T14:00:31+02:00

Hi Isaac
thank you very much for your beautiful posting about Javier!!!
Where can I find the schedule 2009 of Javier y Stella?

Thank you very much in advance
kind regards

Giovanni Pietro

In response to:Javier Rodriguez: The Talented Mr Rodriguez

2009-05-08T17:47:34+02:00

Hi Lonewolf,

Thank you so much for the piece on Javier. He's my favorite leader to watch! And, I agree with you completely that, Javier and Geraldine were the most beautiful tango couple to date.

I live in Chicago, and almost went to HK for Javier&Stella's workshop next week.. Unfortunately I had to cancel the trip as I'm having a very bad cold. I would love to take Javier&Andrea's class in BA in the fall. Could you please be kind enough to give me Andrea's email address?

Thank you so so much in advance.

Wei

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-23T10:11:14+01:00

Yo YY!

Looks like there will be a few more parts coming up. Anyway, nice post. Looking forward to the continuation.

By the way, hope you are doing fine. And hope to see you soon.

Cheers!

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-16T17:38:54+01:00

Hi Edmund,

Thank you for your kind words, might I know how you came to know this blog?

I have a young cousin about your age and his name is Edmund too! :)

cheers,
Isaac

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-16T17:32:37+01:00

Hi Xavier,

I am not sure about now. But back in those days, the SAF recruitment drive starts during BMT. You can apply for the Local Study Award (LSA) or any awards/ scholarships as long as you fulfil their application criteria.

The application criterion for these awards/ scholarships were often: 1. Academic placement in a recognized university. 2.Pes status B and above, which means you must be medically fit.

Now fulfilling their application criterion did not mean getting the LSA or scholarship. It just meant you were eligible to apply, and they would take your application into consideration.

To actually get the award/ scholarship, i.e. to become a SAF award holder or scholar. You would have to fulfil other conditions. Which is mainly, get into OCS and pass out as an officer, on your own merit and military performance.

Recruitment talks from the three forces; Army, Navy and Air Force would be held during a chosen day during your BMT days.

During the talks, (often presented by an officer accompanied by a cute looking girl as a fellow recruitment officer), various schemes and scholarships would be presented.

For an A'levels student going to university such as myself. Scholarships or study awards would be presented.

Now my school results were not so good. I could get into NUS but I wasn't a straight 'A' student. As such I was only eligible for the most basic award, Local Study Award (LSA). There were other awards and scholarships like SAF Merit Scholarship (SMS), etc... for better students.

Even though you signed for the award, but your performance as a recruit was poor and you did not get into OCS, the award/ scholarship would not be materialized.

Or even if you got into OCS, and for some reason or another you did not pass out as an officer, the award/ scholarship would not be effective neither.

Lastly, even if you became an officer, if you somehow fail during your university days and did not get your degree, the award/ scholarship would be cancelled and you would have to pay back damages; which was what happened to me.

Hope it answers your questions!
Isaac

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-12T15:33:56+01:00

Hey!

Wah eh after reading this and all your earlier posts on army life, I damn motivated.

Sadly I still have to clear my A levels first before going to Army.

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-12T09:31:02+01:00

hi, how is it that you were able to apply for the local study grant even before you entered OCS? you mean they will ask you if you are interested in the course when u are under going the BMT?

thank you!:D

In response to:It's not personal, It's strictly business.

2009-03-09T20:10:06+01:00

felicitacion isaac! :)
besos,
norhayah

In response to:Reflections and Lessons From My Time In The Army: The Early Years Part One

2009-03-09T03:57:58+01:00

He's good. With yours truly here, nothing is ever boring!

*wink*