It's Doctor Zhivago at my house...

So my musings the other day about how there wasn't THAT much snow and Washington just needed more plows? Mostly true. But then we got even MORE snow. And what Washingtonians

 need is a lesson on how to clear walkways. Above is the walkway leaving my apartment. This poor girl is trying to manuever a stroller through the 4 inch semi-packed snow that was never shoveled from our walkay. She ended up just picking it up and carrying it (no baby was on board).

What I'm trying to decide is which is worse? The next building over has their walkway mostly shoveled...but all to the end of the walkway, in a nice pile. It's like winter hurdles. Who can jump over that thing in heels?
I have no winter jacket and no snow shoes/boots. Seeing me walk down the street/sidewalk in my trainers is quite the site. I'm slip sliding away with each step. And if I move to the unshoveled sidewalk, I sink with every step. So the choices are either fall on my bum or get snow up my pants. It's great to have choices in all things.

Above you will see my shower curtain liner. It's a map of the world. And had been very handy the past few years. While showering I have been able to brush up on all the geography that changed since I was in school. Soviet Block countries and what not. It was in the shower one day that I learned that Burkina Faso is actually a country in Africa, not just a made up country on Alias.

Every few months I toss the liner in the washing machine with some bleach. This week, it turns out, South America was not too pleased to be cleaned (but let me tell you, it needs it! All that graffiti and random dog poop just needs to go away.). Argentina was sliced right in half and the Peruvian/Bolivian border has a huge hole in it. Sad...sad...sad...I was having such a love affair with South America, and this is what it does to me? Looks like a new shower liner is now on Ranee's Christmas list.

It's snowing and I'm peeling...

...and I don't ski. Argentina stays with me. (Until I stop peeling, that is.)

A few days ago it started snowing...little balls of snow. It looked like fake snow. There wasn't a lot of it, but certainly more than the people here are used to. Almost the entire office called in Snow Day. As I was driving to work I was completely astonished by just how bad the drivers were. Going so slow up a hill that there is no way they were ever going to make it. So they gave up, stopped the car, got out and walked away. Just left the car. Who does that?

The Seattle area doesn't get a lot of snow, so people aren't used to driving in it. And even with the threat of snow, people stay home. This road is usually back to back traffic and the shopping center is usually full of cars. The nice thing is that with people not travelling on the roads, the roads stay wintery and white. 

The unfortunate thing about the wintery roads and inexperienced winter drivers are accidents. A co-worker and I were walking down to the shopping center below and saw this big, gaping hole in the brick wall. You could see right into the restaurant's kitchen down below. If you look closely you can see a yellow/orange speck about 3 bricks above the hole. We decided a large white truck slid on the snow, jumped the curb and the sidewalk and ran into the wall and gave the Square Lotus (the restaurant) some instant ventilation. 

I've spent the weekend watching Holiday movies. I love the Fa La La La Lifetime and Hallmark movies. There's just a few basic premises to these movies, and there is little variance and no surprises. Completely predictible. But I love them. Some of them end up being very well done and bring tears to my eyes. Hooray for cheesy Holiday movies.

There's a storm expected tonight. The powers that know these things are warning of no electricity for the following week due to the gusts of wind. As long as the airport has electricity and can get me out of here and home on Wednesday, I'm happy.

Home again home again

On Sunday New Guy and I left Iguazu (after I took the fastest shower I've ever taken at the pool of the hotel we'd already checked out of, with my suitcase at my side), arrived at the domestic airport, caught a cab to the hotel in Buenos Aires where we met up with the rest of our group that had spent the weekend in Buenoes Aires and where New Guy took a hurried shower while I arranged our travel to the international airport. Once we arrived at the airport we decided "When in Rome" and most of us got our luggage wrapped. Turned out to be a life saver for me, cause the wonderful baggage handlers in Buenos Aires crushed my brand new luggage and broke it. Without the saran wrap, my precious Argentine candy would have been everywhere but in my luggage.

The flight home wasn't as painful as the flight there. Isn't it always the case? The trip home is always faster and less aggrivating. Probably because you know that soon you'll be home.

And this is what my home looked like within minutes of my arriving home. (And still does to some extent.) First order of business was to wash Argentina out of my clothes. Debbie said Rosario smelled like a butcher shop. I'm not sure about that, but it definitely didn't smell good. And all of my clothes smelled of Rosario. And for some reason were all moist. Though when I packed they were perfectly dry. Whatever. I'm just glad that washers AND dryers are standard household appliances in the Unites. If I ever move out of the Unites, I'll need to make sure I've got both wherever I decide to live.

That being said, I spent a few hours on Tuesday morning looking for info on working and living in Buenos Aires. Seriously loved the place. Turns out I'd need a Unites company to pay me Unites salary to live and work in Buenos Aires. I'm working on T-Mobile doing that for me. Fingers crossed.

Peaceful Sunburn

After we saw Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) we took a peaceful raft ride back toward the hotel along another section of the Iguazu river with our guide Juan (see bel0w). The river is so calm it's difficult to think that just a few hundred feet down the river are amazing falls. This part of the river empties into the first fotos of the falls I posted.

Juan was pretty amazing himself. If he saw any bit of wildlife he would flip that raft around so fast and row towards it so we could see it. For a skinny little guy, he's sure pretty strong. And butterflies like him. There were some Spanish speakers at the front of the raft and myself with New Guy, a French girl that spoke some English, a French girl that didn't speak at all and a guy from SFO. The guide would tell the people at the front of the raft some thing about the river or the flora and fauna and I translated the interesting bits for New Guy. By the end of the raft ride the French/SFO group looked to me to translate everything. I felt like I should have gotten a tip. 

We saw a few crocodiles, ants nests, different kinds of birds and learned a lot about bamboo. The river was pretty shallow...a few centimeters lower and they won't be able to run the river raft tour. This crocodile was either getting some sun or taking a nap...

The raft ride, like the whole trip to Iguazu, was an impromptu thing. All of my sunscreen having been washed off by our boat trip underneath the falls, I got quite the sunburn on my face and arms. Totally worth it though. The raft ride was a nice way to end our trip.

We saw quite a bit of the falls in our short 24 hours there. We didn't make it to the island and we didn't make it to the Brazil side either. It is quite possibly the most amazing thing I've seen in my life. It's also inspired me to travel more. There's so much of the world to see.

In which I get completely soaked

Before we even got to Iguazu, New Guy and I decided we were definitely going to do the boat tour. It's 20 minutes on the river along the ...and who knew...a complete soaking under the falls.

It was better than Disneyland! We went entirely under the falls twice. I was soaked. Best thing ever.

From Iguazu

We rode a little train to the half mile walkway over to La Garganta del Diablo...a three sided incredible falls experience. It's an elevated walkway over the Iguazu River...it's quite peaceful.

From Iguazu

As we were walking back I got a text message...T-Mobile's got coverage even in the middle of nowhere.

Poor Niagra

It's rumored that Eleanor Roosevelt said, upon first seeing Iguazu Falls: Poor Niagra. Now, I've never seen Niagra Falls, but Iguazu Falls is certainly incredible! New Guy and I caught a plane to Iguazu (where Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil meet in the Northern part of Argentina) this afternoon. We decided that we couldn't be this close to an amazing sight and not see it. We'll be here for about 24 hours before we return to Buenos Aires just in time to catch our plane back to the States.

It is absolutely immense and impressive. And I've taken tons of fotos so far. We took a few hours to walk around the park before it closed today.

We're going to take a boat tour tomorrow morning then will go off hiking to see more of the Falls. Seriously...it's amazing.  You know more fotos will follow.  

I will not be posting again until after I return to the Unites, and if you're in my immediate family (whether related by blood or not) I'll give you a call or send you a text to let you know I've arrived back safely to the Unites, and then I'll be sleeping for a long, long time.  

Hello Buenos Aires!

Made it to Buenos Aires.  Our bus left at midnight and we got here around 4 am.  Upon arrival I was told that all of the rooms I'd booked in my name were given free upgrades to the Luxury Tower.  Let me tell you, it certainly pays to take 5 minutes before you book a hotel room and sign up for their Frequent Stayer program.  It is luxurious.  After 3 weeks of being in a not luxury hotel, I almost want to stay here tomorrow instead of go where I'm going tomorrow.  Stay tuned for details.  

Here's the hotel we're at.  And the bellman just brought up my luggage...and rang my doorbell.  There's a doorbell to my room.  I don't even have a doorbell to my apartment.  Crazy!

I noticed this wonderful feature in the bathroom this morning.  An ashtray next to the TP dispenser.  They thought of EVERYTHING.

Mayonesa

Argentines are fond of their mayonnaise. This is just part of a shelf at the grocery store that is full of mayo. FULL. It was all in little foil pouches. No glass or plastic jars. What I really thought was awesome is that they sell Salsa Golf (pre-mixed mayo-ketchup/fry sauce). We need to get some of that.

We head to Buenos Aires tomorrow. I'm really going to miss the people here. They are wonderful. And I really wish Hunter would invent that transporter already...I'm not looking forward to the long flight home.

No air

There are many things I love about Argentina...one of them is that I am one of the top 3 cities as far as population goes and it is almost 2009 but air conditioning seems to be something new for them. Restaurants advertise that their restaruant features air conditioning (see above). Cabs also advertise that they have air conditioning. It's like what I imagine advertising was like when color TV was invented and available to the purchasing public. And it's not like there are restaurants that don't have air conditioning. All that I've been to do...so why now, in 2009-ish, is it still necessary to advertise the fact that you have air conditioning? Maybe the trend is to advertise the obvious...and next year there will be signs popping up outside restaurants that say: We have chairs!

It's beginning to look...

Went to a mall today...it used to be an abandoned train station that they've renovated and repurposed. It's an amazing edifice. And it's got all these great silver holiday decorations all over it. I wanted to bring all of them home with me...but with all the other stuff I want to bring home, I just don't think they'll fit.

Besos!

Neutral

See how close this car is to the car in front of it? They're completely touching. How'd this happen? Well I'd love to tell you. A co-worker and I were waiting outside a restaurant the other day when we saw a guy pull up a few cars away and double park. Double parking is no big whoop here. People do it all the time. But the driver gets out of his van and walks down to just past where we are standing and pushes the car in front of us (the one on the right in the foto) a few feet forward until it just touches the bumper of the car in front of it. Just pushed it. Casually. As if it were something he does all the time. He then walked down to the next car (the car on the left) and pushed it until it touched the bumper of the previous car. He then did the same for the next car down. So three cars this guy has been able to just push along the curb. Then he gets to the fourth car, a taxi. He pushes it backward about 2 feet gets in his van and parks his van in the open space he has now created by pushing cars up and down the curb.

Turns out that out of courtesy, the drivers here park their cars in neutral just in case someone needs to push it to create a parking spot. Isn't that awful nice of them? I've decided that it would be awful nice of me to find a car parked alongside a curb with no other cars in front of it for a few blocks and just relocate a car. The thought of it just cracks me up. A total Dude, where's my car? kind of thing. Of course I'd never do it, but it makes me giggle to think about it.

Ciao!

Church

Went to Church today. Ran into an Elder (Holden) who lives about 3 blocks from me in the Seattle area. How crazy is that?! It was Primary program day, which, of course, I loved. I think when I went to Church in Vegas it was Primary program day and again when I was home last at Lynda's ward. My favorite Primary program was at Tyson and Kendra's ward where that little 5 year old was singing at the top of his lungs, but not singing the actual lyrics to the songs. Just whatever words he happened to like, I guess. It was hilarious.

The program today made me cry cause it made me think of my mission and missions in general. And the kids were super cute. Then the Bishop got up to speak after the program and really made me think of all of the kids in my family. The Bishop was sharing a story from his mission...when he was teaching a man the man was so moved by what was being discussed that the man told the Bishop/Elder that he knew that if the Savior could teach him, he would. But since the Savior couldn't teach him, He sent this Bishop/Elder to teach him in the Savior's place. The Bishop then said that each of the children in our families were sent to us with the express commandment that we teach them and care for them as our Heavenly Father would. We must treat them as our Heavenly Father would treat them and love them as our Heavenly Father would love them. This, of course, can be a no brainer. Love and care for your kids. We all know that.

[emotional homily]
Then I started thinking about the kids that are having trouble. That are either in trouble or looking for it. Your parents are only taking their jobs seriously. They are treating you as your Heavenly Father would want them to treat you. They are holding you responsible for your choices so that you can be a responsible adult when that time comes. I know you think you know better than your Mom. But cut her some slack. She's doing the best she can with the responsibility she's been given and with a child that's fighting her every other step of the way. You may have never asked her to do what she's doing, but your Heavenly Father did and eventually she'll have to answer to Him about her stewardship over you. He'll ask did she fight for you at every opportunity. And she will say that she did...not because she knew she'd have to answer to Him, but because she loves you more than anything in the world. Anything. 

[/emotional homily]

Here's the chapel...in the middle of a really busy street. Built in 1974. 2 wards meet there. It's like a miniature regular chapel.  Everything is exactly the same, just on a smaller scale.

Went on a bit of a walk after Church to get some fotos and see a bit more of the city. I love trees. And I love the squares throughout the city. It's a nice way to break up all the concrete jungle.

It feels as if I've been here for quite some time. And it's only been 2 weeks. This time next week I'll be back in Newcastle in my own apartment with my own bed. I'm beginning to get nostalgic for Argentina already. Not only will I miss the delicious food, but I will miss the people I've been helping out. They are so kind and genuine and a joy to help.

Speaking of...Juan totally hooked me up with a music suggestion.  Jorge Drexler is from Uraguay and his music is right up my alley.  Here's a duet he did with the guy that sings La Flaca. (video is totally a U2 homage)

And here's another song that makes my mouth just drop open in awe of how beautiful his voice is.  Seriously...I could listen to this guy all day, every day. 

Asado

Just an FYI...Argentina is known for its beef and particularly for its version of BBQ - Asado. One of the locals told me the best place to get Asado here is at El Establo. So Debbie and I headed there on her last night here. And I think it has ruined beef for me. I had a steak sandwich for lunch today and didn't even want to finish eating it. Because I knew that better meat existed just a few miles away, so why waste my efforts with the inferior steak? When just a few days ago the steak sandwich was a pretty darn good sandwich. Be warned: eat at El Establo and all other beef will pale in comparison.

The super fun thing about our dinner was our waiter. When I placed our order, he suggested a change (to the heavenly beef, so I'm grateful for that). I needed a glass for my water and he just grabbed an unused glass from the table next to ours. The table on the other side of us needed some ice so he took our unused ice and gave it to them. When he passed by our table he organized our glasses, drink bottles (water and soda came in a glass bottle) and everything else on the table that wasn't our actual plates. He didn't say anything while he did it...he just did it. And when he brought us our salad (along with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt for dressing) he stood beside the table as I picked up the olive oil to pour it on the salad. "That's olive oil," he said. "Yeah, thanks," I replied and continued to turn the olive oil toward the salad bowl. "That's olive oil, that's balsamic vinegar and that's salt," our waiter said again. "Gracias," I again replied and kept moving the oil towards the salad. "That's olive oil," he repeated. I decided to put the olive oil down and look at him expectantly. "First the salt, then the balsamic then the oil," he told me. "Oh yeah?" was all I could muster. "Si...first the salt, then the balsamic, then the oil...it mixes better that way...just put all of it on as you would at home." "I don't do this at home," I replied with my hand now moved from the olive oil to the salt. He was very surprised and didn't know what to say. After we finally got the salad prepared the proper Argentine way Debbie dished up some salad and put it on her plate. I shared the interesting fact with her that in Argentina (as in Spain) they don't put salad on their own plate but instead everyone eats from the same bowl. Debbie said, "Well if our bossy waiter says anything, just tell him this is how I do it and my house. So there." She's funny.

Water and sodas come out in cans or bottles (mostly bottles) at restaurants. Every restaruant I've been to serves a bucket of ice at the table (see above). And if you stop by a corner store to get a can of grapefruit soda (gaseosa de pomello) they will give you a straw to go with the can. The can clearly states not to drink directly out of the can. I wonder why. Kind of reminds me how some things in the Unites are listed as causing birth defects, but only in California.

Thanksgiving fotos...

The hotel did an amazing job with our Thanksgiving Dinner. It was absolutely delicious. They made 3 turkeys...moist and yummy. And 3 different kinds of potatoes (see below). Mashed, roasted regular potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes. Finally...enough potatoes! And the gravy was the absolute best gravy I've ever had in my life. In lieu of cranberry sauce there was a divine plum sauce. Homemade applesauce, carrots, caramelized onions, several different types of gravy and sauces. They just kept bringing the food out from the kitchen. It was a very nice thing for the hotel to do for us.

After dinner Debbie, New Guy and I headed up north of the city to an area that's listed as "Complejo Turistico" (Tourist Complex). I thought for sure there'd be some sort of something to see. Turns out...not so much. Though we were able to get photos of the brown Parana river and this HUGE bridge that links the city to a little town on the other side of the river. I only saw commercial trucks cross the bridge, I'm not sure that regular people ever cross the bridge. We inquired about heading over to the small town to see what there is to see but could only get there if we paid a cab to take us and wait for us while we walked around the town until we were ready to return. For a little over $100 US. Wasn't worth it to us. New Guy and I decided we'd see a bit more of Argentina in a different way. More on that later.

We then walked down the coast to a private beach...which means it's not really private, you just have to pay a little over $1 US to go on it. So what would that be? A pay for use beach? I was hot and hot and...oh yeah, hot. It was over 95 degrees. I just wanted to get out of the sun.

Debbie bought a gift for Ben from this homeless guy living out of his car with who I can only guess were his wife and child. She wanted me to barter with the man on the price. And when I did, I got a 10 minute lecture on the economy of Argentina and how he worked for 30 years only to lose his job and how much he spends on food every week for his family and lots of other things. (The great thing about my Spanish being rusty is that I can just turn the Spanish off in my head...so after about 5 minutes I just pretended to be listening.) So Ben...I hope you like your gift, cause it cost me some patience.

We were going to go get some ice cream. Got lost on the way to find it...ended up back at the chapel during the day. They walked around while I listened to the ward member that was there waiting for the power to turn back on so he could make a napolitana for the Stake Young Men/Young Women's dinner that night. You know...now that I think about it...speaking the language is sometimes a hinderance as I'm stuck responding to people when everyone else is off exploring and ignoring the conversation cause they don't understand it anyway. Oh well...being polite is a small price to pay.

Thanksgiving

Turns out that our hotel chef's version of Thanksgiving is actually pretty darn good.  The only thing lacking was stuffing and my family.  

Fotos later.  Happy Day!

I promise this entry wasn't going to be about food...

It seems that most of the entries I've had lately have been about food. So today the entry was going to have architectural fotos and be about our adventure to the Central Post Office. Debbie and I need some stamps to send the nifty postcards we found in Buenos Aires (haven't seen any postcards here). I figured we could get some stamps anywhere, but why not see if there's a central post office in a really old, large building filled with history and culture? That way Debbie could get some great photos and we'd see a bit more of the city.

So...they have a Central Post Office just as I had hoped. But...turns out the electricity was out, so no stamps for us. And when Debbie took her camera out of her bag to take a foto she was approached by a security guard/police man who simply said, "No."

Here's the one photo I was able to take. Behold! The three windows of the side of the Central Post Office.

That was a bust.

Lucky for us we found this awesome sweetbread and coffee shop. Brownie, it's called. And Debbie said the brownies are de-lish. I haven't tried mine yet, in fact, I forgot I got one until just now...I know what Ranee's having for breakfast tomorrow.

Argentine/Spanish lesson for the day: our equivalent of danishes/sweet breads is "facturas" and what we would call treats/petit fours (ok, so that's a French word, but you know what I mean) are called "masas." Masas are what are found below. I've yet to see a proper "to go" box here. They wrap everything in paper with a nice Christmas ribbon. So not only do you get the joy of eating the treats you bought, but it's like a little gift to yourself (or to your hips as the case may be).

Here's a foto of the "masas." Yes...I did eat a lot of these. I bought them to "share" with my co-workers, but they were slow to try them, so I ate quite a few. The white pointy one was yummy...I've always been a fan of meringue. And the cream inside the puffs is sweet, delicious and...mmm....creamy.

We were actually going to go to a satellite post office after the Central Post Office bust, cause we still needed the stamps. So we walk the 7 blocks down and one block over to where they postal worker told us the satellite office would be. Yeah, couldn't find it. Ended up asking a lady and her daughter on the street who 1. had no idea what I was asking for (estampillas or sellos) and 2. then directed me to a travel agency. Useless. When it turns out, the satellite office was right across the street. Too bad they didn't think to put a large sign outside the office to let clueless American's and clueless Argentines know where it was.

Yeah, like that one.  :)

To add to our clueless American reputation, tonight Debbie and I caught a cab (no, not the Cash Cab) to go find the local ward building at about 9:30 pm. (Apparently there are 4 or 5 of them here in the area.) The address from lds.org is wrong. The cabbie kept telling me that if he took me to that address he'd be dropping us off in the middle of a park. So he called dispatch and asked where the Mormon Church was on that street. Dispatch gave him the cross streets and off we went...to an Evangelical church. I had to explain to the taxi driver that though I'd never actually been to the specific Mormon chapel I was seeking, it was definitely NOT the Evangelical church. The differences may not be noticible to him, but the huge, colorful posters hanging from the Evangelical church buildings outside walls were a big give-a-way. We found it and no one was there. (We thought Mutual might still be going on, cause it's Wednesday night after all.) So we asked him to take us to a good ice cream place.

 And what do we happen upon on our way to the ice cream place? A proper Mormon chapel that looks like a smaller version of any Mormon chapel in the US surrounded by huge buildings. I'll post fotos on Sunday.

Here's some marscapone ice cream. It's ever so delightful. And was a fitting reward for being a clueless American all evening.

We got the following invitation slipped under our hotel room door this afternoon on hotel stationery: "In honor of Thanksgiving Day, we will serve a traditional American meal in Our Restuarant tomorrow, Thursday at 12:30 p.m. We hope you join us" and signed with the name of the restaurant. It looks like tomorrow's post will feature food as well...and a description of our Argentine chef's idea of what Thanksgiving dinner should be. Bated breath...I know you'll all be waiting with bated breath.