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.