NASCAR Buenos Aires

So we got our car! Yeah!! I can hardly describe how liberating it is to have a car. Honestly though, I don't go out that much. First, there are not a lot of places to go by car. Second, but definitely not least, the drivers here are just a little bit maniacal.

Today I had to drive into the heart of the city by myself for an orthodontist appointment for the girls, and I had to give myself a pep talk before we left. Why? As my remis driver once said, "We Argentines like to drive like Mario Andretti."

In my short 4 1/2 months here, I've already seen three pedestrians down.

I know this isn't the best picture, but it's with a phone, and in the car. This area is near what I would call the Central Park area of Buenos Aires.

Going into the city, there are between 2-5 lanes, depending on your location, but most commonly three. The collectivos (buses) dominate the two right lanes. They don't signal, they don't look, they just floor it and go. This forces cars to weave in and out of the right two lanes, while pushing into the left lane. Thus, lanes are merely suggestions. More frequently than not, cars ride half in one lane half in the other, so they can push into whichever lane does not have a road block.

Today on my way into the city, a piece of junk car did the non-committal lane thing, and as a car from the far left lane swerved into his half-lane, he swerved into mine, and I slammed on my breaks throwing all my children up against the back of the seats in front of them, and fortunately avoided the accident. I may or may not have cursed. After which he looked at me and gave me a thumbs-up, as if to say, "Good job not hitting me!"

Once we got to the Orthodontist, I had to park. Parking here is like parking in NYC, good luck! I ended up at McDonalds. Nothing like an ice cream sundae parking fee right before having someone look at your teeth!

The appointment took long enough that on the way home it was rush hour... in one of the largest cities in the world. I felt like Danica Patrick, except my car is twice as big as everyone else's. I usually drive in the far left lane to avoid the buses and the swerving. The problem is, the left lane has cars turning, and there is no turning lane, so there is always more swerving.

On the way home I experienced the motorcycle drivers. There is a place where there are five lanes of traffic. With a solid wall of cars. The motorcycle drivers would cross over the double-yellow line into oncoming traffic, so I had to deal with swervers, as well as head-on motorcyclists.

There may or may not have been a couple of times that I swerved just a little bit with my big fat SUV to scare them.

As soon as I got home, I went straight to my chocolate stash.

The positive thing that came out of my day, is the orthodontist's son told me, "Next time you can park right out on the street because you have diplomatic plates." I may or may not have felt just a little bit cooler than him after that.

Oh, and one more thing, about one out of every ten cars has these red ribbons tied to the back of their car. We asked a police officer what they are for. Apparently they are supposed to stop your car from  blowing up if there is a sudden electric shock. That is some awesome red ribbon!

Until next time, Adios!

Mosquitos, Cockroaches, and Sewage, Oh My!

I know it's been a while. The reason for that is multiplefold (I know that's not really a word). First, we got our household shipment (No, we still have not gotten our car), so I've been unpacking our stuff and trying to find a place for everything, especially in my kitchen. I probably have about one-fourth as many cupboards as I did in San Diego, so I've had to get creative! Second, honestly I've been depressed - and I didn't want to write about that. To give you a brief overview, there is a culture shock curve. It lasts about six months. In the beginning it is the honeymoon phase, next is the; This place must be Hades phase (which is where I was at), next is the climb out phase (which is where I am now), and at about six months you are thoroughly enjoying your new home (which I am anxiously awaiting). Third, I have been busy with some of the things you will learn about later in this post (which contributed to the Hades phase).

So, to go on to our post for today, I thought it was totally appropriate because tomorrow is Halloween, and things right now in Argentina are a little Halloweeny. Not in the fun, candy, party, way, because they don't celebrate Halloween here, but in the creepy, crawly, nasty way.

First, I am posting a picture of my house. It is just the outside, because it is just the outside that goes with this post. Why? You might ask. Because we live in what looks like a Haunted House!

The black gates with pointed tips, the black pitched roof, and the black bars on the windows all make it a perfect Haunted House. You can get a better view of the sharp angles from the back of the house here:

To compliment the atmosphere, we've had a few issues, as mentioned in the title of this post. First, we'll talk about these:

Cockroaches! Of all the places I've lived, I've never dealt with these before. So when I first unpacked my kitchen, I made sure all of the cupboards and drawers were clean. After a few days, I noticed what looked like little poppyseeds in some of the cupboards, and I wasn't sure why. Then one night when Taelor went down to get a drink of water, we heard a scream!! We ran down, and with tears in her eyes, she screamed, "A cockroach! Aaaaaah!"

After googling cockroaches, we learned that if you see one, there are more. I also learned those little poppyseed things, were actually cockroach poop. Super awesome! So after a little jaunt to the store to buy some roach hotels, we now see poison drunk cockroaches walking out of the cupboards on their way to die! That really is super awesome! I don't even mind the crunch when I step on their nasty bodies because I want them to die!

On to the next issue, I don't have a picture for this one because it's not really about the picture, it's about the smell. A week or two after we had been in the house, we had an issue. The sewer backed up into our garage. Again, super awesome! We quickly bleach-mopped the garage as we moved the shelves, dryer, refrigerator, etc. Lucky for us, it happened two more times! Let me just tell you, the smell alone may have been the thing that made the cockroaches drunk!

And last, but not least, the mosquitos are nasty. We are in springtime right now, so I am absolutely and completely terrified for what happens when all the eggs hatch and the mosquitos come in full force. I do have a picture for this one. Lance got bit right next to his eye, and this is the result:

Lance seems to have a much bigger reaction than the rest of us to the mosquitos here, including swelling, and sometimes blisters and puss. I wish I could say we were safe in our house, but the mosquitos wait at the door and come in when you do. The other morning, Mike killed about 20 of them in our kitchen.

For now, I think I've scared you all enough! Say your prayers that tomorrow on Halloween, you won't wake up into my nightmare!!!


Disclaimer: I make it sound all awful, but it's not really. But I can only talk about the scary stuff on my Halloween post!

Until next time, Adios!

God Bless America

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I've been pretty busy. We got our air shipment, and we moved into our permanent house. But today, that's not what I want to post about. I'll post pictures of the new house and all the details later.

*Picture of the Washington Monument we took when we lived in Washington DC

For now I just want to share what a blessing freedom is. I realize a lot of my freedom in America comes from living in the places I've lived, and what I mean by that is middle-class America. I've always lived in safe communities where I've felt the freedom to go out and do, and experience what I wanted to.

Living here, in a home with bars on all the windows (pictures to come later), a guard on the corner who may or may not be extorting us, and a plethora of stories about being a victim, leaves me feeling trapped. (Okay, maybe not speaking the language contributes to that a little bit ... okay maybe a lot ... I can't tell you how many times I've called a taxi company only to have them hang up on me because they couldn't understand me).

If you aren't familiar with the Harry Potter books, you may not understand this next analogy, but in the last book there is a constant gray dread hanging over England. It is a constant presence. In fact it is such a strong aspect of the story, it almost becomes a character in and of itself because it is always there, affecting the mood.

That is to me how it feels here right now. The bars, the gates, the bolts, etc. are constant reminders of what is out there. They are inanimate objects that are pushing me into my house and keeping me here.

I miss my freedom! I miss the LUXURY of getting in my car and feeling safe enough to go and explore, and do what I want to. I miss the LUXURY of pulling my iphone out in public to answer a call or look up some information.

As I mentioned before, I realize there are places in the States where I might feel the same. I know there were places like that in Los Angeles, and probably places like that in every State.

The thing is, here in Buenos Aires right now, there isn't anywhere that feels like safe middle-class America.

About two weeks ago, shortly after we moved in to our house, a man came up to our gate and offered his services as our gardner. He also told us he is the head of all the security in our neighborhood. They have a little guard shack that looks like a telephone booth on every block or two, and someone sits in there 24-7.

After he offered his services as a gardner, he asked for the $950 pesos ($200 dollars) for the month for the security detail. Mike told him we'd get back to him as the Embassy already has a security company driving by our house and other Embassy houses in the neighborhood 24-7.

As we noticed these corner guards watching our every move and talked to friends who have a guard shack two feet in front of their house who were robbed while they were out of town, we realized the guards are probably watching us more than protecting us.

Yesterday our neighbor was talking with Mike and told him the same gardner/security director who had approached us was his gardner until last week when his wife saw him take a rare plant from their yard and have his son put it in their landscaping car.

That of course makes us feel super-safe having them watch every time we leave our house. And they make sure we know they are watching. They walk out of the shack, just to let us know they are watching.

At first we weren't sure if they were just trying to sell their services to us, trying to convince us they were worth their $200 a month, or extorting us. After yesterday, it looks like it might be the latter. The question is, do you pay for their non-security to keep them from robbing us themselves?

I won't let all of this keep me from enjoying Argentina, because there is plenty to enjoy. Just yesterday I walked to a little store a few blocks away that makes fresh pasta, which was divine. And right next door to that was a little bakery which is equally as good. I will focus on those benefits, and once in a while I'll get frustrated by the lack of freedom I feel, and be absolutely, and completely grateful that in three years I get to go back to the best country in the world!

Dora

I saw this today and laughed out loud because it's as if someone pinned it just for me!

Yes, I now watch Dora the Explorer in Spanish while my children are at school. And yes, I couldn't answer any of her questions because I didn't understand them.

You think I'm kidding, I wish I was. When Dora talks, it's at lightning speed, and the same goes for Boots. I never thought I'd see the day when I was wishing I could speak as well as a toddler and her pet monkey.

Until next time, Adios!

Life is like a Rollercoaster .....

So first first things first, for some reason the pictures from my last post weren't working, so I fixed those.

Second, this post is like a jump off post from my last post. Yesterday on my way to Joonbo again, (actually I guess it was on the way home), I was sitting in the front seat on the bus, which faces towards the back, so I could see everyone else on the bus. I was looking out the window and kind of zoning out after my shopping ordeal. After a stop, a few people shuffled onto the bus, then suddenly a man started talking in a loud voice. Of course, I had no idea what he was saying.

I looked up and saw a man in black standing right in front of me, but he was facing everyone else, so I couldn't see his face. Immediately my stomach dropped and I pictured this:



I felt like I was sitting at the top of a rollercoaster and it was about to speed down the hill and through two upside-down loops. I froze as I tried to understand what the heck he was saying. I even saw a women start to open her purse.

Mike had warned me of guys coming onto buses and into stores and robbing everyone.

A second later I looked at the faces of the other passengers, and they didn't look terrified. I looked closer at the man in black, and saw a basket at his feet. He lifted it up and it was full of home-made goodies. Apparently he was trying to make some extra money the right way.

While it was only a three-second ride, I felt like I had just been on the world's craziest rollercoaster and we just pulled back into the loading zone. After a few deep breaths, I chuckled, and I might have cursed my husband just a little bit for his "preparation."

Until next time, Adios!

Shop Talk

So let's talk about shopping today. After four weeks, I finally feel like I am a decent hunter. I say hunt because what I'm doing is not as easy as gathering, it's hunting ... I'm talking about food.

Today I went to a store called Jumbo (pronounced Joonbo - the bus driver won't know how much to charge you if you say Jumbo, and he'll keep saying Que? Que? with a few laughs in between). Fortunately the bus I pick up to go to Joonbo is only a couple of blocks from my current house, so I hop on the bus and get off fifteen minutes later right in front of Joonbo.

Joonbo is a large supermarket full of products I don't recognize, and can't pronouce, or read about. An interesting fact about Argentina is they don't like imports. It's not that they just tax them heavily, they don't allow them. For example, BMW wants to sell cars here, and they don't have a plant here. But Argentina has declared you must manufacture the same value in products here in Agrentina that you are going to sell in Argentina. So in order to sell here, they have a plant that makes mayonaise (I think it's mayonaise - or something like it). I guess they feel the Argentines can manufacture good mayonaise, but not the best cars.

So because of all the import restrictions, 99% of what they carry is Argentine products. My first week here, I walked up and down isles of different grocery stores looking for anything I recognized, and wondered what I was going to feed my family. The hunt was on.

The hunt is still on. While I have figured out what some things are (mostly due to the kindness of others - I had a couple of women take me shopping and show me what they buy), I feel like I am cooking with one hand tied behind my back for a few reasons:

First, I don't have any of my stuff yet. Our air shipment that was supposed to take ten days still is not here. I just got an email that while it was supposed to arrive today, it didn't. It was in the port at Miami a few days ago, so I just pray that Tropical Storm/Hurricane Isaac didn't soak everything.

Why does that matter? Because I have a skeleton kitchen with a meager selection of pans and utensils. I have a mini-skillet to feed a family of 6. Oh, but they did provide two pie pans, because with all the stuff I have I'll be making pies?

The other reason I would like my stuff is I need my spices. All the spices (I say all with a little laugh, because it's really only a few) come in these little bags. Kind of like this little tiny bag of baking soda:

I put the spoons next to it for two reasons: first to show how small the largest packet is, and second to show you my measusring spoons. When I need to add a teaspoon of baking soda, I pick up the small one and eyeball it, and hope for the best.

The second obstacle I have is figuring out how they do things. For example, milk comes like this:

So at first, we bought a glass pitcher so we could pour the milk from the bag into the pitcher. The problem was, we spilled it every time. All over the pitcher, the counter, the table. Until we saw these:

I wish I had sound effects and it would make that heavenly choir sound. With this little piece of plastic, my life got a lot easier. Before this little concoction, I was constantly spilling, wiping, then washing pitchers. Now, I just plop the bag in, cut off the corner of the bag, and pour. :)

Okay one more thing about the milk, it tastes like powdered milk. The way we solved that:

Heavenly choirs again. So I know I said they don't import things. Nesquick makes the chocolate powder down here too, because the milk needs it!!! For those of you who don't know my feelings about processed foods and such, let me fill you in. I'm not a fan. I like to keep it simple and as close to real food as possible. So for me to be singing heavenly choirs about Nesquick, you know the milk tastes pretty weird.

Are you ready for the third obstacle? My oven/stove. It's terrible. All four burners go from really high to pretty dang high. I burn a lot of food. Especially with the mini junk skillet. I wish it stopped there, I really do, but the oven is just as bad as the stovetop. First, this is a picture of the temperature gage on the oven:

As you can see, there is not a single temperature marking. You light it and take a guess where along that curved line 350 degrees might be. After burning a few things, I ordered this from Amazon:

Last night I made banana bread (I borrowed a 9x13 pan from a friend), so I turned on the oven, stuck the thermometer in and checked it. It was at 400 degrees, so I opened the door, cranked the knob counter-clockwise a little and waited until it was 325 degrees. I stuck the pan in, but set the timer for 10 minutes. When I checked at ten minutes, it was down to 300 degrees, so I cranked he knob clockwise just a bit. Five minutes later, 375 degrees. Open oven, crank counter-clockwise just a bit. Close oven. Five minutes later, 315 degrees. Crank clockwise. Suddenly, husband comes in pleading: "Just take it out. I don't want it to burn. It doesn't matter if the middle is gooey." I guess too much anticipation for American food, followed by burnt disappointments leaves one's family desperate!

So after all this burnt-food frustration, you'd think I'd be a super-svelte soccer mom, right? Well, the problem is they have this stuff here called, Dulce de Leche. They have a whole isle of it at the grocery store. It makes everything taste better. You actually don't even need to put it on anything. You can just eat it right out of the jar. And they make ice cream out of it ... technically I think it's gelato. And there's a place right around the corner ... it's just so easy to go get some dulce de leche ice cream for dinner to soothe our burnt tongues!

This post is already way too long, so until next time, Adios!

Order of the Phoenix

So as I mentioned in my last post, Mike talked me into getting this:

His name is Phoenix. The reason his name is Phoenix is because of the follwing:

1. In three weeks time, we already know three families who have had their homes burglarized.

2. I was reading an expat Buenos Aires post and it did a survery about crime. Half of the people who replied had been a victim of a crime. Not the best odds.

3. Mike will have to travel from time to time.

So as much as I pleaded and maybe even cried a little, he convinced me we needed to get a big dog. He's not big yet, because we needed to familiarize him with our current dog, Cali, before he gets too big. But within a year, he will be about 150-200 lbs. He is a great dane, so he will be huge!

So the reason I named him Phoenix is because he will be the Eckel family's "Order of the Phoenix." For those of you who have no clue what that means ... shame on you! No, but seriously, it is from the Harry Potter books. The Order of the Phoenix is the group of Aurors who protect Harry Potter when things get really bad.

So our hope is first that things won't get really bad, and a distant second, that if they do, Phoenix will be our protector.

How is the training of a new puppy going, day after day in the rain? It has made me cry a little more, and reconsider re-naming him, Dang Dog!

As for if Phoenix and Cali are getting along, I'll let you be the judge:

I really don't want this to be about politics....

First off, a wise old woman once said, "Never move in the middle of winter!"



"Especially if you don't have a car!"

(For those of you who may not be aware of it, in the Southern Hemisphere we are in the middle of winter right now)

"And never, under any circumstances get a puppy while living in temporary quarters, and while adjusting to a new country, language, and culture!"  ...More about this in my next post.


So now for today's topic. I really don't want this to be about politics, but this has to do with what life is like here in Argentina, so just for today.

I feel like we are making a choice as to the future of America with this Presidential election. I realize that is the case with every election, but I believe with this election we are truly at a crossroads. Romney and Obama have very different ideas about what kind of country we should be.

The reason I feel this way is I believe President Obama is a Socialist at heart, and if re-elected, our country will further "Bolt" (that guy can run!) that direction. I say further, because if you look at Obamacare, and the advertising and promotion that has gone into the SNAP program, you'll see that another four years, and we won't be able to turn back. Once you start a program that is bigger than the government itself, it's almost impossible to do away with it.

The reason Socialism is on my mind is because Argentina is a Socialist country. I've only been here for three weeks, and I've noticed the effects of it.

In an effort to bolster the Argentine peso (their form of currency), the government recently passed a law stating that Argentine citizens traveling to the U.S. can only exchange pesos for dollars in the amount of $75 a day. Can you even get a hotel for that? And who is the government to tell you how much and where you can spend your money?

This is all in an effort to stop people from going to the States and converting their savings of pesos to the more-secure dollar. They had already stopped them from doing it here in Argentina, now they are reaching out and stopping them from doing it in America as well.

This manuever is a sort of shadow. About ten years ago, also in an effort to bolster the Argentine peso, the government reset the peso to a 1:1 ratio with the dollar. They just declared it. So all of the Argentines who had any dollars in the bank were forced to convert them to pesos at a 1:1 ratio.

Right now the exchange rate is about 5:1, so two dollars is equal to ten pesos. As an Argentine, if you had $1000 in your bank account, it's as if the government came in and said, "Your money is now worth $200."

In my opinion, that is way too much government control.

From what I can see, the result is a society made up of mostly lower class, and a small wealthy upper class, with not much in between. Essentially it kills the middle class.

Not only does it kill the middle class, but it kills the desire to do and be more.

For example, let's look at toilet paper. I had heard before coming that I needed to bring extra toilet paper. Now I know why. Basically everything you buy is like the commercial crepe paper toilet paper you find at public restrooms. Not only is it a terrible product, it is very expensive! About 3-4 times more expensive than Charmin in the States.

Why hasn't someone stepped up and made better toilet paper!?!

Because of limited ACCESS to resources, and limited power in the hands of the people. Government regulations have killed resourcefulness here!! It's ten times harder to get anything done here, because instead of a government that supports business growth, it stifles it with regulations.

Okay, I hope I didn't bore you to death! And lest you think I am just a greedy Capitalism freak, I do see the Utopian side of a Socialist government. I really do, I just think that for it to work, you need a HIGHLY virtuous, self-motivated, altruistic society.

Until next time ... Adios!

It's Electric

Let's talk about electricity. I'm a simple-minded girl, you grab the plug of your appliance, you plug it in, and it works! Electricity is electricity, right? Nope.

Okay, so we knew the voltage was going to be different here before we left. I left a lot of appliances in storage because of it. I just didn't know exactly what that would mean.

So before I tell you about our electricity I have to tell you about Ooma. We bought this little Ooma box at Costco before we left. You connect it to your internet, and you can buy your home phone number for a small fee, and then for about $3.50 a month you can have a phone hookup. We did this before we left, so we could keep our San Diego home phone number.

So the people who are down here from the States all either use Vonage (sp?) or Skype to call each other. The Argentine landline will usually drop the call within about 10-20 seconds, so to talk to someone minutes away, we are connecting from across the world with our U.S. phone numbers - crazy!

Okay, back to electricity, so we brought our home phone along with Ooma in our suitcases, so we could have a phone as soon as we got here. The first day we were here, we went to the hardward store and bought adapters that look like this:


Because the plugs here look like this:


We researched our phone system and the research suggested our phones would work with multiple voltages. So we came home from the hardware store, plugged in the phone base and, #*#*##*#**#***. It burned out the entire phone system.

The next day we went to lunch at our sponsors home, and we told them about our experience, and as luck would have it, they had an extra phone they had purchased from Amazon and never used, and they let us buy it off of them!

When we got home, we plugged the phone into a transformer,



then plugged the transformer into the outlet, and it worked! Yeah!

Lesson learned, right?

The next day, I took a shower, then pulled out my handy, dandy travel hair dryer made to work from 110-250 Volts (it says it on the hair dryer itself). I plugged it in, it ran for two seconds, got as hot as Hades, then stopped completely.

I had never before thought about how much more electricity 240 Volts is than our American 110 Volts. Twice as much is A LOT more!

The sad part of the story is I couldn't blow dry my hair. For some of you, that may not be very sad, but if you saw me with  no blow dryer, no flat iron, and no curling iron for my hair, you'd cry for me!

So for the next few days, including my first day to church, I had sad, sad, hair!

Eventually I made it to the store and way overpaid for a hair dryer that would work here - I say overpaid because everything is so expensive here!! I'll tell you about that in a future post - I'll tantalize you by telling you that inflation here is 25%. Can you believe that? Prices have gone up 25% in the last year!

If I'd have blown my hair dryer out (pun intended :) ) last year, I would have saved myself a boatload of money!

Until next time, Adios!

Home Sweet Home ... Temporarily

Today I'm posting some pictures of our temporary home. It is a charming little house. It is older, but I love a lot of the little details. The word is we should get into our permanent home in 4-6 weeks. The great thing about that is I get to move again! I've lived in 5 different houses in the last 5 years, so what's one more!?!

Before I post pictures of the house, I'll tell you Lance's train story. It was a week ago today, and our sponsor invited us to go to La Boca. It is a famous neighborhood in Buenos Aires with brightly painted buildings, tango dancers on the streets, and shopping.

Solo, my sponsor, told me I should leave my house ten minutes after she called me from hers, and walk to the train station and wait up by the front platform, and she would be on the first car, and would poke her head out, so if I saw her I would jump on with her and her two kids. I wrote down exactly what I needed to tell the clerk to buy my tickets, "Cinco bolettas a Retiro, y vuelta."

I got to the clerk, and a note said something about regreso. Apparently she was on a break. So I went to the other side of the train tracks and bought our tickets there - fortunately for me the first clerk I had gone to was on the wrong side of the tracks, so it saved me getting on the wrong way.

So the kids and I stepped out onto the platform to wait. We waited about five minutes before we saw the train. As soon as the train doors opened, we saw Solo, so we stepped up next to the train along with a few other people.

As we stepped onto the train, I didn't notice there was a gap of about twelve inches between the platform and the train. So when I stepped onto the train, Lance stepped into the gap, and his body fell in between the train and the cement platform.

Fortunately, I'm on heightened alert, so I was holding his hand. As my arm dropped, so did my stomach! Although he was dangling below, I had a firm grip on his arm. Taelor immediately saw what had happened, and the two of us pulled him up together just in time for the train doors to close.

As I stepped onto the train, I felt like I couldn't breathe, and my heart was pounding in my chest. The first car of the train has a large empty area where people were standing, some with their bikes. I moved to the center and tried to stabilize myself in between all of the people, so the kids could hold onto me as the train swayed on the tracks. Lance wrapped both of his arms around me, and I could feel him go limp. I looked down and his face was completely white. It looked like he was about to pass out. I said in English, "Is there a seat anywhere?", and a nice Argentine woman understood me and gave up her spot on the bar (it is a bar you can sit on) and motioned for me to sit. I went and sat/leaned on the bar and Lance climbed onto my lap.

Lance doesn't scare easily, but this scared him enough that he couldn't stand. After about ten minutes Lance's color started to come back, and I spent the rest of the afternoon yelling, "Lance get back here"!  I was hoping the experience would have made him want to stay next to me at La Boca, but he was already over it. In fact, yesterday at the school he said, "Look Mom, there's a ramp here that I can ride down and fly off of and go over that gate!" (It goes down about two stories) I just rolled my eyes and sighed, knowing I won't be bringing his bike over to the school!

So here are the pictures of our temp house:

This is the front of the house.

This is the staircase leading upstairs.

The living room.

The Parilla (I think that is what they call it),  patio with a barbecue station.

The maid's quarters. Unfortunately it doesn't come with the maid, so at this point I have to go outside of the house and up those stairs to do my laundry. The house is on the right, just on the other side of the trees.

The master bath.

The gate/wall that surrounds the property. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but there is barbed wire on top of the wall.

This house we are at is right across the street from the President's Compound. It takes up about four city blocks. A couple of times a day, we feel the house shake, and hear the helicoptor flying in or out of the compound, and we pray that she (President Christina) has good helicpotor pilots!

Adios!

Soaking Wet

Super awesome day! I guess today I'll post about getting groceries. As I mentioned before, we have no car ... so actually, this is a transportation post with a little groceries sprinkled in. Because I (I say I instead of we because Mike has a car come and pick him up and drop him off everyday) so because I have no car, I basically have four choices for getting around - walk, take the bus, take the train, or take a private taxi called a remis.

This morning the girls all had placement tests at the school, and it is too far to walk, so my wonderful sponsor, Solo, called the remis company near her house and asked them to pick us up and take us to school. Because I don't speak the language, I could not guarantee getting us to the Lincoln school in Martinez, instead of the Lincoln school in NYC, so Solo graciously offered to do it for me. The only problem I encountered here was when he came it was in a small sedan with only room for quatro passengers. I begged him if he would let all five of us go this un tiempo. Fortunately he agreed, so Lance and I double-buckled.

The tests were quick, so when we finished I went up to the guards in front of the school and asked them if they could call a remis with room for five. Oh no, there are no remises with room for five. Okay, so I had to get them to call two remises. Sally and Taelor rode in one, and Lance, Xani, and I rode in another. No problema. We arrived home safe and sound.

After lunch (food will be another post), I told the kids I needed to go and get some groceries. There is a little tienda (store) a few blocks away, so I decided to walk there, and only get as much as I could carry home. I grabbed a hand-held basket at the door, so I would know when it got too heavy.

After circling the store, trying to figure out what the heck to buy, I paid for it using pesos. Pesos seem like fake money - when you don't really understand the value of it, it's easier to hand it over.

I had about 8 bags in hand, some heavy, so it was hard to walk. The good thing about that is two minutes after I left the store, it started to pour. Remember, it is the middle of winter here, so it was  not a fun little spring shower. It was a cold, cold, shower.

The other super fun part is that I have a key to let myself in the gate, and I've been told if I'm alone and I see a man close by, don't just open the gate. So of course by the time I got to our gate, there was a man approaching me, so I had to walk a block past our gate, and then circle back, quickly drop my bags, get the keys out and throw myself and the bags into our yard as quickly as possible.

As the picture clearly shows, by the time I go home I looked like a drowned rat!

When Taelor saw her poor mother soaking wet on the surveillance camerea, she ran down and opened the door forgetting the alarm was on, so a minute later Post One called to make sure everything was okay. I debated whether or not to tell them that everything was not okay and that I'd really like a car, but instead I said cheerily, "False alarm. Everything's great!"

I know I said I would tell you about what happened to Lance, but this post on transportation is already way too long - so my next post will be about Lance and the train.

Adios!

In Country

So I know I was going to post the next day, obviously that didn't happen. I'm way too tired at night! We walk everywhere in the freezing cold, because we have no car. I'm told if we are "lucky" we'll get our car in two months, but that I should expect it to be through all of the red tape in about four months. Awesome!?! We'll talk more about transportation in another post, including what happened to Lance yesterday. I don't know how many times I said a prayer of thanks that he was okay!

Back to our arrival. I've heard and read that the people here go on strike frequently. Lucky for us, we experienced it before we left the Argentine airport. We deplaned, and made it through customs (which makes it sound really easy haha!), we went to pick up our bags and Cali was sitting in her travel crate by the baggage claim carousel. We ran over and looked inside her crate and jumped for joy that she was still alive!

We were told that not all dogs survive, so it was a huge relief that she made it!

Once we gathered our 28 bags, we went to the animal control area to begin our three hour process of getting Cali into the country.

Surprise! They were on strike. This time it worked in our favor! Because they were all on strike, there was nobody there to go over our paperwork, so we were able to bypass it and walk straight out of the airport with our dog. What a blessing! I was looking forward to the three-hour ordeal after our 11-hour plane ride like I look forward to getting a pap smear.

That's all I am going to post today, so as not to bog everyone down in all the details at once!Tomorrow ... probably ... I will post about either grocery shopping or our house, it will be a surprise!

Argentina

We are here in Argentina!! It is our second day, and I'm definitely feeling better! Our first day was what I would describe as a typical first day in a new country - OVERWHELMING!

It took us a couple of days to get here. We left Salt Lake City on July 25 at 5:00 a.m, (after being Up All Night). We flew to New York City with a total of 28 bags, and a dog. You could say it was a bit of an ordeal checking in all of the bags. But once we finally got on the plane, I sighed a little sigh of relief - knowing we were on our way, but also knowing we had to do it again in just a few hours.

Arriving in New York, we got off the plane and collected all of our checked bags and took a shuttle to Manhattan, only seeing two car accidents on the way into the city!

As soon as we checked in to our hotel in Times Square, we dropped our bags and jumped onto the subway to Patsy's Pizzaria - one of our favorite places to eat in NYC. Now before you judge us - just know we like sweets, and some of our favorite foods in NYC, happen to be dessert. Knowing we only had one day in NYC, we wanted to make sure we hit them all. So after dinner we went to a little place nearby that sells French macaroons. French macaroons are Taelor's favorite food in the world, so it was a must. Unfortunately, it had closed twenty minutes prior, so we knew we had to go back the next day.

Plan B, instead of French macaroons, we went and got concretes (frozen custard) at Shake Shack. Our favorite is The Great White Way - vanilla custard, marshmallow cream, and rice krispie balls - so yummy!

After our treat we hit the sack - ready for sleep!

So the next morning we woke up and went straight for Murray's bagels, immediately after which we went to Doughnut Plant - this is the part where you don't judge - and got some of our favorite donuts - we all especially loved the Tres Leches!

Again, don't judge - after donuts, we went straight to the French macaroon store. Unfortunately we were too full to eat them, so we boxed them up for future enjoyment.

After donuts, we did a little shopping in NYC - the kids each got one thing for the cold weather just a day away.

After shopping, we checked out of our hotel, and left our 28 bags with the concierge before heading to Rockefeller Plaza in an effort to find a little patch of grass where Cali - our dog - could relieve herself after holding it for about 18 hours.

We were were ecstactic when she peed in a little patch of ivy, and a little less ecstatic when she pooped on the sidewalk, twice.

On the way back to the hotel we grabbed lunch at Shake Shack and got another batch of concretes, as well as burgers and fries. (Yes, by now we had already eaten the French macaroons.) I do realize we each probably ate a pound of sugar in a 24 hour period.

After feeling fat and happy, we got another shuttle back to the airport. When we first got there and they saw we had a dog, they wanted our paperwork. We knew she had to have a vet check-up within 10 days of leaving the country - which we had, but didn't know she had to have a rabies certificate 30 days prior to leaving - her certificate was only 6 days old.

They called in the manager - after some tense moments, the manager read in the fine print you didn't have to have the 30 day certificate if you come from a country that is CIE rabies certified? He figured the US probably was, so he said we could bring the dog. PHEW!

Oh wait, one more thing, the dog can't fly if it is 85 degrees or hotter outside! They had already told a few people that day that their dogs couldn't fly. Back to the nailbiting! Fortunately for us, a thunderstorm was moving in, we could see the lightning. The attendant checked the temperature and it had dropped to 82 degrees!

So we got all of our bags checked in and headed out to the dog relief area, complete with a fire hydrant. Once Cali relieved herself, we headed back in to hand her over to the airline.

After sitting in anticipation- due to the thunderstorms, we finally boarded the plane at 11:00 p.m.

The flight wasn't terrible. We were all so exhausted we were able to sleep until our necks kinked or our legs ached, etc. Sleep, shift, sleep, shift, sleep, shift. I slept about an hour at a time, because I would wake up and nudge Sally and say, "Get up and walk."

Sally would say, "No."

I would say, "Please Sally, I can't sleep until you do. Because of your surgery you are at a much higher risk for blood clots, so I won't be able to sleep until I see you walk."

Sally would sigh and say, "Fine."

Once morning arrived and we knew we were getting close, Xani started saying, "I don't want to land, that means it's going to start."

Lance said, "I'm excited ... wait ... put me in a present and send me back to San Diego."

Together they described what we were all feeling, very anxious, but also excited to see where we would be living for the next three years. All of the anticipation would no longer be anticipation, we were about to land in Argentina.


Tomorrow's post .... Argentina!