This morning we woke up, and since Bill had to work, Liam and I went off to get some breakfast and walk around. There is something oddly freeing about roaming around an unfamiliar city with no real destination in sight. Since my cell phone can only pick up wi-fi at the moment, I had to pay close attention to the streets and which direction I was going in. Anyone that knows me knows that sitting down to eat alone (or in this case with an almost 10 month old) isn't really my cup of tea, so sitting down at a restaurant for some OJ (which I don't drink), a cafe, and a couple of medialunas wasn't really appealing to me. I ended up wandering into a kiosk (a bodega) to buy some Coca Cola Light to wake me up. But to my surprise and joy, they had a Nescafe machine where I could get a vanilla cappuccino! It may still be piping hot, but at least it is a bit sweeter. So armed with my cafe and a couple of bottles of water, Liam and I ventured on. We walked for about an hour and a half, stopping to pick up some pastries for Bill and some fruit and veggies from a store called Tweety. And yes, tweety bird's silhouette was on the store front.
After relaxing at home for a bit, we decided to head to the bus stop to take the bus to look at the apartment. Not as easy as it sounds. They apparently do not believe in bus maps here, so we had to look up the location online. It wasn't far from the apartment, but we quickly learned that buses do not stop at every stop unless you are standing out and waving your arm around. Bill and I didn't realize this and our bus blew on past. We ended up taking a taxi.
The house is great. Two floors, 3 bedrooms, and a lot of space. There is a park across the street and there is a street filled with restaurants and shops about 3/4 of a mile away. The only weird thing was it doesn't come with a fridge. Regardless, I think we are going to take the house. After meeting with the realtor (I need to remember they do not do hand shakes here and instead do hugs and a kiss on the cheek) Bill and I ventured to the main street to explore and find the bus home. 1.5 hrs later and we still hadn't found the bus stop. We asked a bus driver who had just gotten off the bus and turned out we could have taken any of the buses we'd seen go by during that time. Again, with no actual bus map, we had to pay attention to our surroundings and got off where we were walking around yesterday to shop. On the walk back, we found the information spot we'd spent all day yesterday looking for. It was literally in an area we had walked around 5 times. Oh well, now we know. Bill also found the stand that sold the bus passes.
So now we are resting our feet after eating some epanadas, pizza, and milanesa completa con papas fritas while drinking some delicious Cabernet from Mendoza. It was about 16 pesos....i.e. less than 2 bucks.
I hope that last line is enough to tempt our friends and family to come visit!!
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The first couple of days
I'm sitting here with a tummy full of Ser Pomelo Rosado sin azucar y calorias, Coca-Cola light, and medialunas. My legs are sore from all the walking and I'm ready to take a siesta. So far, I love it here.
We woke up yesterday and realized we needed to venture out and pick up some close toed shoes for me, and a sweatshirt for Bill. On Bill's adventure around the area the day before, he came across a mall nearby so we headed there. First stop, desayuno (breakfast). The flights were starting to catch up with us and while Liam was babbling away in his stroller, Bill and I were slugging along. We wound up at Burger King in the food court because there was a short line, they had pictures, and we knew for sure they were serving breakfast. Dos cafes and 4 medialunas sounded like a great breakfast to us!
So the coffee here is STRONG. Bill loves it. I added two packs of sugar and had to wait for it to cool down before I could drink it. As someone who used to live on large iced flavored Dunkin Donut coffees, these hot and small but powerful cafes are going to take some getting used to. Medialunas are like croissants, but much sweeter. I can tolerate about 1. Although, this morning I bought Bill one that had dulce de leche on top with powdered sugar. I could probably have about 10 of those!
Hyped on caffeine and pastries, we ventured around the mall in search of clothes. The malls tend to have more upscale stores and didn't really fit our needs. We stopped in at Nike to look at sweatshirts and realized they are more expensive than in the US! We left the mall in search of bus passes and started walking around all the small streets in the city. There are boutiques everywhere and I found some Tom like shoes and then we found a discount mall where Bill got a sweatshirt and Tshirt. No bus passes though.
We walked around for almost 3 hours trying to find bus passes. They don't use the term billetes for tickets, or autobus for bus. There goes my limited Spanish. One place told us a name for them, but still no luck. We finally called it a day after we had walked up and down Avenue San Martin about 10 times looking for various places we had been told sold them.
Turns out, we need a tarjeta (card) for the RedBus. The woman whose apt we are staying in bought us some and helped us figure out how to get to the house we are going to look at today.
Bill looked at the house last night and really liked it. We are looking at it tonight and hopefully will get it.
We ordered delivery last night. The restaurants don't open until about 9 oclock so it is a weird adjustment to eating on that schedule. Very delicious Italian food here.
Since this posting is getting quite long, I'll save today's adventures for another one.
We woke up yesterday and realized we needed to venture out and pick up some close toed shoes for me, and a sweatshirt for Bill. On Bill's adventure around the area the day before, he came across a mall nearby so we headed there. First stop, desayuno (breakfast). The flights were starting to catch up with us and while Liam was babbling away in his stroller, Bill and I were slugging along. We wound up at Burger King in the food court because there was a short line, they had pictures, and we knew for sure they were serving breakfast. Dos cafes and 4 medialunas sounded like a great breakfast to us!
So the coffee here is STRONG. Bill loves it. I added two packs of sugar and had to wait for it to cool down before I could drink it. As someone who used to live on large iced flavored Dunkin Donut coffees, these hot and small but powerful cafes are going to take some getting used to. Medialunas are like croissants, but much sweeter. I can tolerate about 1. Although, this morning I bought Bill one that had dulce de leche on top with powdered sugar. I could probably have about 10 of those!
Hyped on caffeine and pastries, we ventured around the mall in search of clothes. The malls tend to have more upscale stores and didn't really fit our needs. We stopped in at Nike to look at sweatshirts and realized they are more expensive than in the US! We left the mall in search of bus passes and started walking around all the small streets in the city. There are boutiques everywhere and I found some Tom like shoes and then we found a discount mall where Bill got a sweatshirt and Tshirt. No bus passes though.
We walked around for almost 3 hours trying to find bus passes. They don't use the term billetes for tickets, or autobus for bus. There goes my limited Spanish. One place told us a name for them, but still no luck. We finally called it a day after we had walked up and down Avenue San Martin about 10 times looking for various places we had been told sold them.
Turns out, we need a tarjeta (card) for the RedBus. The woman whose apt we are staying in bought us some and helped us figure out how to get to the house we are going to look at today.
Bill looked at the house last night and really liked it. We are looking at it tonight and hopefully will get it.
We ordered delivery last night. The restaurants don't open until about 9 oclock so it is a weird adjustment to eating on that schedule. Very delicious Italian food here.
Since this posting is getting quite long, I'll save today's adventures for another one.
Monday, September 16, 2013
We have arrived
After about 30 hours of travel, we are happily settled into our temporary apartment. It is in Nueva Cordoba and seems to have a lot around. It should be an exciting week wandering around and looking for our own place.
Liam was a champ during the journey here. He slept during take off and most of the flight from Boston to Miami, had fun there during our extended layover (thanks thunder and lightening with heavy rains) and then slept pretty much the entire overnight flight from Miami to Santiago. We had a fairly long layover in Santiago and he cruised around the terminal entertaining people. Quick flight from Santiago to Cordoba and he only started to get annoyed during the descent because he wanted OUT of his car seat.
We were the only flight landing in that terminal, so we flew through the passport check...and then our luck turned for the worst. While in Boston, we found out our flight to Miami was delayed significantly. Since we were at the airport so early, we were easily able to change our flight and were assured that our EIGHT pieces of luggage, including Bill's desktop, would be transferred to our new flight. So, we wait at the baggage claim and notice our entire flight has already picked up their bags and has moved to Customs. The conveyor belt is empty except for a lonely blue suitcase going around and around and around. Turns out, our bags were never moved to the new flight. Actually, we aren't really sure what happened to our bags since the area we were didn't have access to a computer. I'm hoping/assuming that they will be here tomorrow or the next day. Thankfully the head jefe at the customs area agreed to bring our bags directly to us, vs us having to go back to the airport.
So now Liam is sleeping in his car seat since his pack and play was checked at Logan. At least he is used to it by now. Bill is out getting some empanadas and wine. Tomorrow, we shall explore and look like out of place tourists in sandals and short sleeves because to them, 50 degrees means scarves and hats :) At least Liam will be nice and warm thanks to Bill's wonderful friend and husband who met us at the terminal, and when they realized our luggage had not arrived they went home, picked up some of their daughter's old clothes, and brought them to our place.
Liam was a champ during the journey here. He slept during take off and most of the flight from Boston to Miami, had fun there during our extended layover (thanks thunder and lightening with heavy rains) and then slept pretty much the entire overnight flight from Miami to Santiago. We had a fairly long layover in Santiago and he cruised around the terminal entertaining people. Quick flight from Santiago to Cordoba and he only started to get annoyed during the descent because he wanted OUT of his car seat.
We were the only flight landing in that terminal, so we flew through the passport check...and then our luck turned for the worst. While in Boston, we found out our flight to Miami was delayed significantly. Since we were at the airport so early, we were easily able to change our flight and were assured that our EIGHT pieces of luggage, including Bill's desktop, would be transferred to our new flight. So, we wait at the baggage claim and notice our entire flight has already picked up their bags and has moved to Customs. The conveyor belt is empty except for a lonely blue suitcase going around and around and around. Turns out, our bags were never moved to the new flight. Actually, we aren't really sure what happened to our bags since the area we were didn't have access to a computer. I'm hoping/assuming that they will be here tomorrow or the next day. Thankfully the head jefe at the customs area agreed to bring our bags directly to us, vs us having to go back to the airport.
So now Liam is sleeping in his car seat since his pack and play was checked at Logan. At least he is used to it by now. Bill is out getting some empanadas and wine. Tomorrow, we shall explore and look like out of place tourists in sandals and short sleeves because to them, 50 degrees means scarves and hats :) At least Liam will be nice and warm thanks to Bill's wonderful friend and husband who met us at the terminal, and when they realized our luggage had not arrived they went home, picked up some of their daughter's old clothes, and brought them to our place.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
In one week...
...we will be hanging out in the airport at Miami, hopefully with a sleeping baby, awaiting the long flight to Santiago.
It's crazy to think that just 6 months ago, Bill and I were looking at houses trying to figure out where we wanted to buy and start to raise our family. Narrowing it down to a nice starter house, I was beginning to wrap my head around the idea of being proper homeowners, with a back yard, driveway, and *eek* being responsible for home repairs and yard work. And then, in the course of a 5 minute conversation, that all changed. I'm pretty sure most people thought (and still think) Bill and I are crazy for moving down to Cordoba for a year so Bill can set up a new office for his company. Not only am I in the middle of getting my RN, but we also have an adorable little baby, who was born in November. And yet, here we are, a week out from out flight. I start class tomorrow (thankfully my program has some online courses for GE classes) and our apartment is half packed.
In the past couple of weeks, I've realized how fortunate Bill and I are. Our friends have been encouraging all along the way and have been incredibly helpful and supportive. Bill and I have amazing families who have helped us out tremendously by watching Liam and helping us pack, organize, and get our affairs in order. To say that I'm sad to leave everyone behind is an understatement. While I know the 2.5 months that we'll be gone before we come back for Christmas will go by quickly, it is still bitter sweet and a bit scary to leave everyone behind. Luckily, Bill and I have found ourselves a very welcoming ex-pat group in Cordoba that is active on Facebook. If people are anything like they are online, I think we will be very happy down there.
So in one week, our lives are going to be completely different. But I am looking forward to this amazing opportunity I have, not only for my own personal growth, but also for the new adventure I'll be embarking on with my new family. La vida es buena.
It's crazy to think that just 6 months ago, Bill and I were looking at houses trying to figure out where we wanted to buy and start to raise our family. Narrowing it down to a nice starter house, I was beginning to wrap my head around the idea of being proper homeowners, with a back yard, driveway, and *eek* being responsible for home repairs and yard work. And then, in the course of a 5 minute conversation, that all changed. I'm pretty sure most people thought (and still think) Bill and I are crazy for moving down to Cordoba for a year so Bill can set up a new office for his company. Not only am I in the middle of getting my RN, but we also have an adorable little baby, who was born in November. And yet, here we are, a week out from out flight. I start class tomorrow (thankfully my program has some online courses for GE classes) and our apartment is half packed.
In the past couple of weeks, I've realized how fortunate Bill and I are. Our friends have been encouraging all along the way and have been incredibly helpful and supportive. Bill and I have amazing families who have helped us out tremendously by watching Liam and helping us pack, organize, and get our affairs in order. To say that I'm sad to leave everyone behind is an understatement. While I know the 2.5 months that we'll be gone before we come back for Christmas will go by quickly, it is still bitter sweet and a bit scary to leave everyone behind. Luckily, Bill and I have found ourselves a very welcoming ex-pat group in Cordoba that is active on Facebook. If people are anything like they are online, I think we will be very happy down there.
So in one week, our lives are going to be completely different. But I am looking forward to this amazing opportunity I have, not only for my own personal growth, but also for the new adventure I'll be embarking on with my new family. La vida es buena.
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