Winter is Coming!

Separated at birth?

This past Tuesday, March 31, there was a big transportation strike in Buenos Aires.  In a city that depends on public transportation, the lack of buses, subways, trains, ships and airplanes caused a lot of problems for a lot of people.  Coincidentally, March 31 was also the scheduled premiere of the first episode of season 5 of the HBO hit series "Game of Thrones."  For those of you not familiar with "GoT," it's kind of hard to explain.  But if you decide that you are going to start watching it, let me give you this piece of advice: don't get too attached to any characters.

Anyway, as a result of the transport strike falling on the same day as the premiere, there were many invitees who were unable to attend.  As a result, the premiere needed attendees to - basically - take up space.  You know who is good at taking up space?  Mark.  And that is how he got invited to the premiere.

The event had the feel of a real Hollywood event, thanks to the efforts of HBO and the American embassy.  Guests, including the movers and shakers of the Argentine entertainment industry, arrived to the Bosch Palace and were greeted by a red carpet with photographers (professional and local press).  Actors in costume surrounded a replica of the throne from the series, which guests were invited to sit and get their photos taken in.

The beautiful people starting trickling in

Once inside, guests were escorted through the foyer to the second floor.  There, a 5 piece string ensemble was playing the show's theme song as the guests socialized before before taken to the main dining room.  There, they were met with a feast that could have been taken from a scene in the show (unfortunately, it probably would have been a wedding scene - and as fans of the show know, the weddings usually end badly - ask Rob or Joffrey - oh, wait, you can't!).

After a period of socializing and brief comments from HBO and the Ambassador, the show was on.

An Eggstravaganza

Today was the Easter Egg hunt and social gathering.  Anne, Mark and H-Bomb tend to do these types of things in style, so they headed to the Bosch Palace in the Palermo neighborhood.

In the under 2 years, category, there were some initial challenges in the egg hunt.  It was not a great degree of difficulty course, as you can see from the photo above, however there were still some problems which we might categorize as "conceptual" and "motor skill" related.  Basically, the 0-2 crowd sat around and drooled at one another.  Eventually, when they walked around, no one had any reason to pick up one of the eggs.  So, the hunt lasted quite a while.

H-Bomb initially decided that the point was to drop or throw the eggs.  Which was fun for a little while....

And then decided that the point was to hoard as many eggs as possible.  Unfortunately for H-Bomb, he had ditched his Easter basket in the stroller on the way to the egg hunt, so he was stuck trying to hold as many eggs as he could.

After several minutes of egg hunter, the guest of honor arrived.  Most of the kids were honored to see the Easter Bunny.  A few were a little intimidated.  And then there was H-Bomb.

The first time setting him on the Easter Bunny's lap - no problem.  Giggles, smiles, and what not.  Then Mark picked up the H-Bomb so other kids could get a shot with E.B.  Initially, this was ok, but then H-Bomb decided he needed to go back to the Bunny.  After several unsuccessful attempts at distraction, H-Bomb returned for a second round with E.B.  After several more minutes giggling and smiling, Mark again came in for the extraction.  H-Bomb was less than pleased and tried to stay longer with the Bunny.

Eventually, the Bunny had to go home, so H-Bomb relented.

Almost Time for Back to Work...

Belgrano Skyline as seen from across the horse track.

Well, it's Tuesday, so our long weekend is coming to an end.  After today it's back to the grind for 3 days and then another three days next week before another 4 day weekend (I'm not sure what the Argentines are celebrating, but I am glad that they are celebrating something).

Anyway, today was another beautiful day in Buenos Aires, so we explored a little further.  H-Bomb found a tree that was growing horizontally, so sort of climbed it for a while.  Good times.

First Day of Fall

Today marks the official beginning of fall in the southern hemisphere.  The weather had marked the day on the calendar and responded with a 20 degree drop in temperature.  So Anne, Mark and HBomb decided to go for a stroll and then stop for lunch.

I want to run...

I want (you) to run...

They walked from their place in the Belgrano neighborhood toward the ocean.  They eventually made it to a couple of parks near el lago de regatas (the ocean was actually only a little further, but there was a busy highway in the way, so that will have to wait for another day).  Buenos Aires has a ton of parks and none of them lack for people being active within them.  Anne, Mark and H-Bomb saw people jogging, doing tai chi, practicing sword fighting, and one guy who celebrated the end of his jogging workout with a cigarette.

There were also a few reminders of home along the way.  As it is the first day of fall, seeing a football practice would not be a huge surprise.  However since this was in Argentina, seeing anyone playing football at all was kind of shocking.  But we saw them.  And now you have as well.

Watch for the trap...

On the return trip, Anne and Mark noticed that the players had taken off their football gear and were playing soccer.  When in Rome, I guess.  Then a little further along, they saw another familiar looking sight.  The coloring is off, but she sure looks familiar...

Like Christmas Morning... Kind of

So after a few weeks in BA, a big day came last week.  The first shipment of Anne’s, Mark’s and H-Bomb’s stuff arrived.  It kind of felt like Christmas morning, but not exactly.  For example, instead of Santa Claus and 8 reindeer landing on the roof and dropping down the chimney, a truck from Argenmove rolled up to our street.

And instead of brightly colored wrappings and gift bags, we had huge boxes that are all industrial brown.

And, finally, instead of being surprised because someone else had wrapped a gift and you didn’t know what it was, this time we were surprised because we ourselves had packed this stuff and totally forgot about half of it.  It appears that H-Bomb remembers about half of his toys and thinks about half are new - these are the ones he is playing with most.

Getting Our Bearings In B.A.

Upon arrival, Anne, Mark and H-Bomb spent a couple of days in a hotel before moving to their permanent (for 2 years) residence.  They will be living in the Belgrano neighborhood, which is pretty cool.  The Belgrano University is within walking distance (Go Wildcats!) as are are a lot of embassies including the Australian, Thai and Cuban posts.  

The Belgrano neighborhood is named after the guy who designed the Argentine flag, so it’s kind of like living in the Betsy Ross neighborhood, if there were such a thing.  The neighborhood has a lot of cafes and shops and is probably way too cool a place for Mark to be living.  Hay muchos hipsters.

So after spending a week or so going a block or two in each direction in the neighborhood, Anne and Mark took H-Bomb to the jardin zoologico (or “zoo”).  This place is located in the middle of the city and has been in business since the 1880s, so some of the buildings have some age to them.  Being in the middle of the city and being that old has pros and cons.  On the con side, some of the exhibits are too small for the animals in them, which is no good.  On the pro side, the animals are very, very close to the visitors.  Mark probably has not ever been as close to a rhino, hippo or tiger as he was at the jardin zoologico.

Dad, seriously, the rhino is right behind us!

Among the unique features of this zoo are the Patagonian mara.  Described by Mike Gossman as a “rat-dog-kangaroo mix,” this little guy is native to Argentina and pretty docile.  As a result, they let them run around free range in the zoo.  Go figure

Mara on the left.

Another fairly unique feature is how the zoo gets the patrons to pay to feed the animals.  In a classic case of “If you can’t beat them, get them to pay you for doing what you were going to do anyway, the zoo has eliminated most of the “don’t feed the animals” signs, and instead sells approved food for the animals near selected animal enclosures.  The patrons can then buy little bags of food and feed the animals the food the zoo would have paid for otherwise.  Genius.  

H-Bomb getting scammed

Anne, Mark and H-Bomb fell for this scam at the sea lion exhibit and bought about 20 pesos worth of fish.  As they were preparing to throw the fish parts to the sea lions, H-Bomb got bored and chucked his bottle into the pen instead.  Fortunately, the sea lions recognized that this was not food and cast it aside.  (the zoo worker told us that this happened all the time - kids chucking bottles at sea lions is now the #3 cause of sea lion annoyance in the world - *the more you know...)  Unfortunately, we now had the attention of several pretty annoyed and hungry sea lions.  Mark clumsily cast the 20 pesos worth in the general direction of the sea lions, but failed to satisfy them as those who were not fortunate enough to catch some fish began barking.  To avoid further calamity, Anne, Mark and H-Bomb sulked away and pretended that the kid next to them had been the culprit.  Not their proudest moment, but effective...

....And We're Back!

After a hiatus of a few years, Mark and Anne have decided to fire up the old blog again.  It is not clear whether anyone still reads blogs, but that’s ok.  If it’s a dead media, we’ll bring it back.

Since we last spoke, Anne and Mark have gotten around a bit.  Basically, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, then Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia and now - Buenos Aires, Argentina.  We are set to be here for about 2 years, so we won’t be able to our already impressive list of past addresses for a little while.

Additionally, since our last blog post, we have added to the family.  "H-Bomb" has stepped in and taken over our lives.  His likes include taking whatever is in Mark’s hands or on Mark’s plate (Mark does not like to share food!!!) and dislikes include when Anne uses the iPad.  He’s a complex little fella.