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.

Cool

Caesar Flickerman interviews Peeta before the start of the Hunger Games

As the semester and school year wind to a close, there are several types of awards and award ceremonies at almost every educational institution around the world.  AUBG is no exception.  The first event that kicks off "awards season" is the Honors Convocation which is an opportunity to salute the accomplishments of the students who have earned the highest grades in their departments, overall, etc.

The students at AUBG have another tradition.  Apparently feeling that "Honors" convo. was not enough, the students started their own award ceremony 15 years ago.  Since "Honors" was already taken, the student ceremony was christened "More Honors" (or "Moroners," depending on your perspective).

This ceremony is not exactly the same as the honors convocation.  Instead of awards like "Valedictorian" and "Outstanding Student in History," More Honors has a rotating set of categories that include awards for "Public Enemy," "Hipster," and "Facepalm."  To receive an award at More Honors is not necessarily a "win," but it is certainly a fun event.

Which brings us to the 2012 More Honors ceremony.  The More Honors academy, in its infinite wisdom, nominated Mark for an award.  After a vote by the students, Mark was named the winner.... so Congratulations?

Where do they get these pictures?

The category was "Coolest Non-Student," as the promotional poster pictured above portrays.  The history of this award is long and prestigious.  Previous winners include a goat (technically, a "non-student").  This year the competition was particularly strong as the other candidates included a former Minnesota resident (Prof. Gilbert), the lunch ladies from the canteen (portrayed as "Chef" in the poster) and two question marks.   It is still not clear whether this award is sincere (doubtful as Mark is uncool at a level that only a Dungeons & Dragons player could comprehend) or sarcastic, but either way - He'll take it!!!

So what is the prize for winning this .... honor?  Well, it's not an Oscar or an Emmy, those were already taken.  The only prize statue that was left was the..... well, the Dickie.

Dickie (*editor's note: AUBG logo added for your protection)

This will, of course, hold a place of honor wherever it is displayed.

Omar sneaks up to investigate the suspicious invader.

After the winner's name was announced, Mark was brought before the assembled masses (the More Honors ceremony is one of the most well attended events of the year with more than 1000 people in attendance) to banter with the event's hosts. 

Note to More Honors academy planning committee: You know what someone with a head the size of Mark's head does NOT need?  A giant screen with a close up of the huge head directly behind him... oh wait, we have that?  Well, that probably won't look too silly....

"My head is abnormally large..."

Oh, great.

Mark works on his "Facepalm" for next year's award.