Vamos Pincharratas!

I really have been slacking in my blogging, but last week was so crazy I'm amazed I made it through with my sanity in place. We spent two afternoons in Buenos Aires attempting to complete paperwork needed to obtain our work visas here in Argentina. Not to go into a whole long story, but we had to get a notarized letter from the US Embassy here in Argentina stating that we are who we say we are and then another letter from the Argentina government saying we haven't broken any laws while here in Argentina (that they KNOW of anyway :-)

But the most exciting & slightly exhausting thing that happened this week was that our local futbol team Estudiantes La Plata WON THE COPA DE LIBERTADORES which is the South American equivalent of the Super Bowl. There are tons of reasons why this is a huge deal, home town team, beat their Brazilian rivals, it's been 29 years since the team won the Copa. But most compelling to me is mid-fielder Juan Sebastian Veron their team captain. Veron's father was the captain of Estudiantes 29 years ago when the won 3 consecutive Copa's, the younger Veron had opportunities to play in Europe & the US for millions of dollars, but 3 years ago La Brujita (his nickname "the witch" is an homage to his Dad's nickname of La Bruja)chose to return home to La Plata and fulfill his childhood dream of returning Estudiantes back to the pinacle of South American soccer and winning the Copa. As you can see - he is not too hard on the eyes either.

Needless to say - after the win on Wed night the city erupted in celebration with 10's of thousands gathered at the traditional celebration place at the intersection of Calle 50 & 7. Drew & I live at Calle 38 & 13 but we had to join in the fun - a party 29 years in the making shouldn't be missed. So off we headed at midnight to the street - joining all the other Pinchas (what Estudiantes fans are called) towards all the singing, cheering, screaming, laughing & crying that was the celebration.

I don't think we will ever forget that night. So much fun! Viva la Pincha Mistica!

Making it work Mondays- THE SUNDAY FERIA

Today is my first official Making It Work Monday entry and as such I'll make note of one of our favorite things about La Plata - the weekly feria that is held 2 blocks from our house every Sunday morning. It is a fantastic outdoor market with fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, meats, cheese, grains and flowers. I usually make out my shopping list on Saturday night and plan the weekly meals based on what I purchase at the market on Sundays. Drew is shopping at the feria here.

The best part, besides the convenience and tasty nature of our weekly bounty, is the cost. We usually spend about 60 pesos per week (right now the USD conversion is $15.75).

Here is a photo from our market trip a few weeks ago. We got 8 large bell peppers (red, orange & yellow), fresh corn on the cob, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, oranges (for fresh juice), eggs (2 dz), chorizo cerdo (pork sausage), chicken breasts (3 large pieces, skinless & boneless), fresh basil and 2 dz fresh flowers for the house. All for under $16 USD. It is amazing and the urge to cook constantly is high with such wonderful and inexpensive items to make all the time.

Besides the great shopping, it's also the perfect place for us to unlease our broken & rudimentary Spanish on our neighborhood. Kids are about, dogs (Binks & Bea included) are running around and everyone is in a great mood while shopping. After the feria we will usually make our way over to our favorite bakery, La Piedad for some fresh bread and pastries with a final stop at our butcher (yes we have a butcher) for some meat to cook on the parilla later on in the day. Here is Drew cooking on our massive roof top grill. Once American football season starts (we have DirecTV and will have the Sunday ticket), Sundays will be truly perfect!

Flashback Friday - Ohiopyle Falls

This photo was taken on our first trip to Western Pennsylvania's Ohiopyle Falls. We decided on making the trip to the area because we were longing to see a bunch of friends that live in Michigan and this was a good place in between them and where we were living in Philadelphia. So we planned a 4-day 4th of July camping weekend with Todd, Rachel, Ellie, Drew & Myself.

The area is great in the summer when camping is great and the river is flowing full blast from full melted snow and spring showers. We have been back several times since then, usually for either Memorial Day or 4th of July weekend with a various smattering of friends from Michigan. Drinks, great food, late night campfires and amazing country meals in town were had every year. We really missed the trip this year!

What I Miss Wednesdays

Well people - I'm BACK at home in La Plata. We had a wonderful time in Europe, Spain was glorious and Macedonia was a beautiful gem of a country. Ohrid was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen & I had a thrilling birthday exploring the countryside with my taxi driver/tour guide Zoran. We eventually ended up at his home where his lovely wife made a 5-course traditional Macedonian meal for me. That said, we were aching for Argentina towards the end of the trip, we missed our house, the dogs, the food, our friends. It was nice to see how connected we have become to our new home in such a short amount of time.

But since this is Wednesday, I am supposed to talk about the things I miss about the U.S. not Argentina. One of the things I miss most is No Kidding! For those of you who don't know No Kidding! is an international social club for adult couples and singles who have never had children. (www.nokidding.net).

We joined the Philadelphia/South Jersey chapter about 3 years ago and have had the best time meeting, getting to know and hanging out with our fellow chapter members. They really became our family in Philadelphia and we spent a ton of time with all of them both at official No Kidding events and then outside the constraints of the group in less formal settings. It's been hard seeing on facebook all the events that are going on with out us there - the annual wine & cheese party, spa days, dinners, brunches and scavenger hunts. And that's just the "official" events!

There is not a No Kidding chapter here in Argentina and I doubt one could survive. This is a very family and thus children minded country. Everyone I know here who is married has a kid, the different statuses seem to be, single or married with children. Married w/out children just doesn't exist. I fear it's something in the water and soon Drew will come home talking about wanting to further his family line or something...

Flashback Friday - 1984 - Chris & I

This is a photo of me with my oldest nephew Christopher! I am around 8 years old here. He is only 7 years younger than me & I remember the day he was brought home from the hospital like it was yesterday. I was so excited, being the "baby" of the family up until then, I had never been around a baby before he came along. He was so cute and small and I loved him instantly. The moment my sister brought him over to me, I said "gimme him". My sister Denise (his mom) likes to tell stories about always catching me kissing him and being "in his face" all the time.

We went to Jamaica to visit my Grandmother together during summers. I remember playing peek-a-boo with him and the day he stopped crying when I took too long to "boo". I remember putting Elmer's glue on my hand, letting it dry & then peeling it off from my hand scaring him into thinking I was peeling off my skin (mean Aunt Leslie!) and I also remember him peeing on me while changing his diaper right before I was heading out to a party! (Sorry Chris, I had to add that one!)

I have been an Aunt 12 times over (literally) since that day 25 years ago - but Chris will always be the first and holds a special place in my heart! Of course, now he's a grown man of 25 years old (a recent photo of us is here), but I still remember my little Chrissy - so cute, so small & always happy to see me.

Traveling makes Blogging difficult

I really intended to blog during our trip... but best laid plans just never seem to work out. We really packed a TON of stuff into our Madrid trip and I was left at the end of the day in an exhausted heap snoring before my head even hit the pillow.

It was a fantastic trip, Madrid is one of my favorite cities in the whole world. This is my 3rd trip to the city and it was fun to share some things I loved in the past with Drew (this was his first trip) and also discover new things together. Madrid has become such a modern city - it reminds me so much of NYC. But unlike NYC it is steeped in thousands of years of history and we often felt like we were walking inside of a postcard.

We also had the pleasure of visiting the Holy Trinity of Art Museums in Madrid - the incomparable Museo Del Prado, the modern Reina Sofia and the remarkable Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Of course we loved them all and each had their strengths; at the Prado the amazing number of true classic masterpieces contained within it's walls is staggering, we had to stop by a 2nd time on our last day just to revisit a few of them one last time. The Reina Sofia is a modern art paradise and they had a fascinating exhibity by sculpture Juan Munoz that was a feast the senses. The Thyssen-Bornemisza is a fascinating place, both because of the art of all ages (from 12th century religious art all the way to Warhol and Lichtenstein) but also because the entire collection was previously the 2nd largest private art collection (2nd only to the British Royal Family)

One of the most fun things we did was a 3-hour Segway Tour of Madrid. It was so much fun - we were able to cover so many areas because of the speed of the Segways and also had a lot of fun zooming around on them as well.

We took a trip to Toledo for the day and explored the historic city, beautiful in a way only a European country can be with ties and evidences of the various cultures that lived and ruled this land. The walls that line the city are originally from the Roman era and were later reinforced by the Moors reign in Spain. It was a fun day.
We have now made it to Ohrid Macedonia, it was a long journey even from Madrid and we are VERY glad we were able to split the trip up because the thought of traveling all the way from Buenos Aires to Ohrid makes me want to pass out. Macedonia is a beautiful country, lush and green this time of year with breathtaking mountains and in Ohrid the oldest and deepest lake in all of Europe. We have what can only be described as a true "Room with a View" - I'll sign off with a photo of that view - and yes I took this photo this morning just after waking up.

What I Miss Wednesdays

This will be a short note as we head to Spain later on today & I still have a ton to do. I really miss online shopping. I was an avid online shopper and bought both "normal" things (books, clothes and shoes) & some slightly less normal things (cases of dog food, my favorite beverage - Izze Sparkling Juice! - and laundry detergent) online. It was nice to order something and have it turn up on your doorstep just a few days later. Like Christmas all year round. Online shopping always seemed like a small, albeit convenient service, now that it is gone, I realize what a luxury it was.

Here in Argentina the mail system is not very reliable, so there is no real form of online ordering with the exception of photos, for which there is a decent snapfish-esc website. I have a sneaking suspicion that I will order lots of things online to be delivered every time I go back to the US and of course whenever anyone comes down to visit us.

On the bright side, the lack of "push button spending" has helped us: 1) spend less money and 2) keep the clutter to a minimum at the house in La Plata. We were shocked at the amount of items we sold at our pre-move garage sale that were both purchased online and never used. I think there is a lesson there, I'll leave it to you to figure it out for yourself.

Making it Work Mondays

I was planning to make this post the first of my "Making it Work Mondays" highlighting some of the things we are getting used to here in Argentina. But as it goes most of the time, life interfered and compelled me to go in a whole other direction.

Today has been a day of highs and lows for the ProZ.com family and for Drew & I. We have been welcomed into the life of all our Argentina compañeros. They have become our family here and made us feel so at home helping us do everything we need help with (which is A LOT).

Our great friends, Gaston & Sophie Borrazas welcomed their new son Andrés Mateo into the world today at 130PM! He is a beautiful boy and both Gas & Sophie are thrilled, happy & healthy. Around the time that Sophie was starting her contractions, our best friends here Haydee & Enrique were going through a scary episode requiring a trip to the emergency room and Enrique having an ulcer removed this morning. He is doing great now and we were able to see both baby Andres & Enrique in one full swoop as they are in rooms just down the hall from one another.

To see evidence of how fragile life is in two completely opposite ways was at the same time both invigorating and unsettling. I am so glad that Enrique is going to be 100% in a very short time. But the fact that it was such a serious illness that came out of nowhere and caused him to lose almost 1/3 of his total blood in the span of a few hours, causes me to pause and be thankful for all that I have in my life. To visit with new parents just 4 hours after their son came into the world can only make me feel hopeful for the future and excited for the adventure they are embarking upon.

So I am slightly numb, but overall in good spirits because everything worked out well for everyone and promise to write about some interesting Argentina topics tomorrow.

Flashback Friday - Nov 13th 1999

I am totally stealing this from my friend Jamie's blog (shout out to Jamie Heyl!) but on Friday's I'll post a (semi) old photo of us and hopefully the photo will spurn a good blog topic. This photo was taken just after we got engaged.

I literally mean JUST - Drew had gotten down on one knee, I said yes & this photo was snapped. We got engaged on the anniversary of our first date - Nov 13th. We also got married on the same date 2 years later. We had been talking about getting married for a while and were living together at the time. We wanted to have a celebration and invite my family out to Chicago and figured what the heck! Everyone's coming in town, let's go ahead & get engaged too.

So many great people were there and just about every person there is still in our life today. I'll give special mention to my BFF Ellie who has been my BFF since I was 13 years old, my college roommate Tia & our ever present Michigan crew - Josh, Todd, Tyler & Chad. Ellie, Todd & Tia were all in our wedding and made the trip down to Jamaica for the festivities.

It was not a surprise to me that Drew was going to pop the question. We're just not that kind of couple - or maybe I'm just not that kind of woman? Some people thought it was weird that Drew didn't surprise me or whatever, but honestly if you're REALLY surprised by a proposal, perhaps that dude shouldn't be proposing!

I find it hard to believe this was 10 years ago, time has really flown. Since that night we have:

• Lived in 4 cities (Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia & now La Plata)
  
• Had 11 jobs (no one - especially me wants me to site all of them)
  
• Been to Jamaica 9 times (next visit coming our way in May 2010)
  
• Added 6 nieces (all nieces!) to our family (Ciarah, Faith, Brianna, Zoe, Ashley & baby Rachel)
• Gained two awesome dogs

I'm excited to see what the next 10 years holds for us. Hell, I'm excited to see what the next 10 MONTHS holds for us - but I pretty sure it will be fun.

What I Miss Wednesdays

I thought I would write every Wednesday about something(s) I miss about the USA. My first thoughts (as usual) turn to food. The food here in Argentina is great and I'm not for want of tasty treats and meals. But... somethings either just aren't the same here OR don't exist.

On the top of my list of things that just are not the same are hamburgers. I'm not quite sure why because their ground beef is spectacular, I think it may be a case of the seasoning (or lack there of - Argentine's are notorious for not wanting to "ruin" the flavor of beef with any seasoning besides salt) isn't quite right. Drew thinks the cooking technique is different than in the US and we both agree that the hamburger bun is sorely lacking here in South America. Also, the differences between US bacon & Argentine bacon could be the topic of a whole other blog.

I've been testing various restaurants and recommendations here in La Plata and found one place that has a good tasting version, but it is still a "take" on the burger. It's like eating a copy of a copy of a burger. I plan on getting some recommendations for options in Buenos Aires and have hope that the capital city with it's large community of US ex-pats will yield a better result.

Second on my list of things that just don't quite cut it here: fried chicken. As the beef capital of the world, you can imagine that the chicken is not a very exalted meal option in most Argentine restaurants and kitchens. They do have something wonderful called "Milanesa" - which is a pounded piece of meat (beef most often, but you can get it with chicken) with a breadcrumb crust that is pan friend. But this is not the same as American friend chicken. Lately I've been craving a fresh Chick-fil-A sandwich with an order of waffle fries!

On the other end of the spectrum is something that you just cannot find here in Argentina at all - pancakes. Not only are pancakes not available in Argentina, but neither is maple syrup. We have a close friend here named Jared, who is originally from Utah. He has lived in Argentina for almost 12 years and still speaks about missing pancakes with maple syrup. We plan on bringing some pancake mix & maple syrup back with us on our next trip back to the States and will have Jared and his wife Gaby over for a pancake dinner! I will be sure to post some photos of that evening for all to see.

Spanish Class this morning

We have been taking Spanish classes twice a week. 8AM-9AM Mondays & Wednesdays. Our teacher Sandra is wonderful and we are learning a lot.

Today's class covered how to talk about the foods you like & don't like and also how to talk about eating the various meals of the day. In Spanish each meal (Breakfast, Lunch etc) has it's own verb. So for instance to say "I have eggs for breakfast" you would say: "Yo desayuno juevos"

It was a good class!

Quick Update on what's up with us

Drew & I are US expats currently living in La Plata, Argentina, a small city southeast of Buenos Aires. We arrived here with out 2 dogs Binks and Beatrice on April 1st 2009 and are getting used to life here in Argentina.

My plan for the blog is to post photos of our time here and also some stories about the unique things about Argentina.

Here is a photo of the MACPAC - Drew & I with our friends Robin & John Paclik from Philadelphia.

We are hanging out at Idle Hours Villas in Runaway Bay Jamaica. Where we were lucky enough to spend a week vacation this past May.

It was a perfect week and this shot is taken at the private beach at the villa.

First Entry - What's is all about?

This blog will document the MacFadyens time living abroad in Argentina and our various travels around the world.