Make-out Monument

Tonight Debbie, Marina and I went to the National Flag Memorial. I'd read about it online before I got here and thought I'd stop by to see it, but didn't give it a lot of importance. Then the other day we drove by it in a taxi. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw it. It's enormous. Much larger than I had imagined it would be. (Point!) Seriously though, it's massive. It's like a Washington D.C. style monument. Very impressive. If you look towards the bottom of the above photo you may be able to see the people standing in the courtyard between the Lincoln Memorial-type square part of the monument (behind the photographer - me) and the Washington Monument-like tower. If you can see the small little people standing there in the dark, it may give you some sense of the scale of the thing. Very impressive. Turns out they just added the blue lights last year and I think we can all agree it was a very good idea.   Apparently the monument is very convenient for make out sessions - in case you were wondering.  Not that I made out with anyone, mind you, but there were plenty of couples having quite the good time tonight.  

We went to dinner at a nice Italian-type restaurant tonight. Marina and Debbie and I were laughing and laughing and laughing during dinner (New Guy/Bob joined us later). Then when it came time to order dessert, I was opening the menu to translate some of the desserts for Marina when I totally knocked over my water glass and spilled it all over Marina and her place setting. She quickly stood up once she realized she was wet and Debbie threw her a napkin. The waiter and I, however, couldn't stop laughing. The waiter couldn't even help her clean up the water...he just walked toward the kitchen laughing. Probably went back to tell the cook about the crazy American's at table 6. Marina didn't eat a lot of her pasta but kept sneaking the tomatoes out of New Guy's salad. When the waiter came to take the salad and the remains of Bob's steak away, Marina quickly took the salad from in front of Bob and put it in front of her, just as the waiter was reaching for it. It was hilarious...the look on the waiter's face was as if he were thinking...Wow! Does he not feed her? Then when it was time to leave the restaurant Marina had some Braxton Hicks and didn't stand up right away, but was instead rubbing her pregnant belly. The waiter looked at Marina and said: That's what happens when you eat so much. Hi-LARIOUS. He was a fantastic waiter. I love it when waiters in formal restaurants relax a little around the edges and laugh with their customers.

Question of the week: What exactly is Servicio de Mesa? I understand that it means Table Service, but does that take the place of the tip?

Tip of the day: Don't say "coger" in Argentina. Coger, in Spain, means "to get."  Think about how many times you say "I got robbed at the club last weekend." or "Let's go get some Pomello soda (super yummy, fyi) from the corner store." or "I'm going to get diseases from this water." in a day. I used it a lot during the past week. Then a few days ago someone looked at me funny when I said I was going to get my sister (at the airport). Turns out that in Argentina "coger" is the F-bomb. And means "to F-bomb." So you can imagine why I got the funny look! So instead of "coger" we are to say: "buscar (to find-ish)" or "agarrar (to grab-ish)"...I'm looking out for you.  

Enjoy more of the enormous monument below. Besos!