Learning to say Helado (as well as Boca, Manos Y Pie Enfermedad)

Well it has been a wild first nine days. As I write that I am having a hard time believing we have been here for nine days. The last nine days have been filled with fun, great time with old friends, meeting new friends and a little bit of worry as well. There really is nothing liking jumping in with both feet. So where to start on our story so far? I guess I will start with some of the fun things we have been doing and work my way to some of the things that have been challenging:

Helado: Mia has found a new favorite place the Ferruccio Soppelsa Heladaria – a great ice cream shop she refers to as the “blue” place. I am not sure why she calls it that since the shop is white, but when she asks I know what she wants: Milk Shake en Chocolate. I think in our first nine days she has been there 7 times. Probably a little indulgent, but she has really needed the protein and calories – more on that in a minute.

Asado: We got to experience our first asado and it was great fun. And, it gave us another opportunity to celebrate Janalee’s birthday (interestingly she has been 29 almost as long as we have been together). The asado was hosted by Pablo a new friend and a business partner of Michael. Mia spent a good part of the day playing with all kinds of new friends – you can see the pictures in our photo album. After a few hours of swimming we moved onto eating carne and chorizo that had been cooking for two or three hours (and drinking wine of course) – not a bad way to spend the day.

Casa: We have made some progress on a house, or at least we think we have. It is an amazing place with four bedrooms, a pool, a recently updated kitchen and a tree growing in the living room. Probably much larger than we need, but we are planning on having a bunch of visitors and we thought – “why not”.

Boca, Manos Y Pie Enfermedad: Amelia has contracted Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease which is not terribly serious, but has had us worried nonetheless. We think she probably got it our last week in the states and it is now in full blossom. Her situation has been somewhat complicated by the an attack from about 6 million mosquitoes on her legs. Between the disease and the mosquitoes her body has been covered with red welts and her nose has been running for a week. We did get our first experience with the Argentine medical system – which went really well. I think the thing that surprised us the most is that the doctor kissed Mia on the head several times – reminded me of going to the doctor when I was a child. Thank goodness our new friend Jime (pronounced HE MAY) was there to help – we probably would have come home thinking Mia had hoof and mouth disease.

This marks two times that our posts have been a bit too long. The next post will have to be much shorter. We hope you are all well – with special thoughts going out to Silas Newsome who broke his jaw last week. Maybe his parents should bring him down to each Milk Shakes with Amelia ;).

Take care – and we will talk to you all soon.