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.