Our house

Finally updating with pictures of the house. 

So, it is a 3 bedroom, 2full bath, and 2 half bath house.   I'll take outside pictures later and post them another time because right now, there are people in the park across the street.  

I'll start with the back yard.  It is a decent size backyard with a pool, grass, and some plants/trees.   We moved here just as winter was ending, so we've been watering the grass and slowly it is getting greener.  They are having a big drought problem here, so it is going to take awhile.  We have palm trees with some sort of fruit on them that the possums like to eat at night.  It is getting pretty hot, so I'm excited that we will be able to use the pool soon.   The garage has an awning that opens up to provide shade to the patio area and the doors completely open, so we can entertain in that space as well. 

Next, there is the living room.  This is Liam's terror zone as daily it is covered in cracker crumbs, paper towels, and toys.  The suitcase at the end contains most of his toys for now.  He likes to climb in and out of it, so I suppose it is a toy in and of itself. It is a pretty big living room, and it looks pretty funny since we only have a leather loveseat in there right now.  More to come in time.  The entertainment system is built into the wall. 

We have a half bath at the bottom of the stairs

The next room is the dining room, which as you can see, we haven't used at all!  In the next couple of weeks we will be buying a dining table and chairs. 

The kitchen is a good size with a lot of storage.  Everything here is gas, so that has taken a little bit to get used to.  There have been quite a few overcooked dinners in the first couple of weeks! 

The garage is more of an extra living room than an actual garage.  It is part of the house and has another half bath plus additional storage. There are doors from both the kitchen and dining room that enter into the garage.  The rectangular thing at the end of the garage that is built into the wall is the grill (parilla).  Bill is going to try to fire it up sometime in the next week or so! 

Then we go upstairs (2 small flights that Liam loves to climb up when we let him).   The first full bathroom is Liam's and he LOVES his bathtub and bidet (but we don't let him play in that!).    

Then there is his room, which is full of toys and a sleeping monkey.  We found him a crib and are buying it this week.  Wasn't easy to track one down!

Then it is Bill's office and Bill in his natural element. 

Our room is quite big and has a small balcony overlooking the backyard.  Will be nice on warm spring/summer nights to sit out there with a glass of wine and Bill.   We have a TON of closet space, which I can always make use of.  Sink is outside the second full bathroom, which is pretty convenient. 

That is all for now!  More pictures and posts to follow soon.

Starting to feel like home

Once my phone is charged, I'll post another entry with some pictures and details of the house (and if you video call me on google hangout, I can give you the official tour!)  ;)

We are still loving Cordoba, and it keeps getting better as we get more settled in.  Our new house is about 1 km away from the main street, which is pretty similar to any of the squares in  Somerville or Cambridge.    It's great.  We have a very large supermarket, a produce place, a couple of butcher shops, some bakeries, cafes, restaurants, shops...pretty much everything we need right within walking distance.  Now Andy, pay special attention to this.  Cars do not stop for pedestrians.  Even at cross walks.  If you want to cross, you need to make sure you have a CLEAR path to do so.  Even if a car is approaching, they won't stop to let you go.   Bill and I are more chicken than the Argentinians and we end up waiting at crosswalks long after others have crossed.


On Saturday we went to the zoo in Nueva Cordoba.  Quite a hike, especially since mom and dad were sick!!   Liam really enjoyed it though!  They had several species that we hadn't seen before, as they were mostly unique to Argentina, The Amazon, and a couple of other places in South America.  Liam loved looking at all the different fish at the aquarium!

Today Liam really started to stand up on his own for longer periods of time.  I guess he'll be walking pretty soon!    Will update more later but time to take advantage of Liam's nap time and get some studying done! 

We made it through a week!

We've been here an entire week, and my love for this keeps growing.   Liam and I got "lost" for about an hour and a half the other day and it was pretty fun to roam around the city trying to figure out where we were going.  The area reminds me a lot of Europe with the way the streets are set up with shops, kiosks, markets, and the general structure of the buildings.  It's really pretty and I can't wait for the flowers and trees to start blooming.  To the side is a picture of Tweety, the place where I have been buying fruits and vegetables.  Everything here is locally grown, and the taste and the quality of the produce reflects that.   They don't use nearly as many chemicals or pesticides as they do in the US, so produce doesn't last as long here.  That is taking some getting used to and  I have to make sure not to overbuy.  (I promise I won't turn into a crunchy granola person).  Unfortunately, they are in a pretty severe drought here, so the selection is pretty small.

The other day, we learned that everything sold in Argentina must have some component made here.  Which has made food shopping interesting as Doritos are pretty much the old brand that I recognize from the States.  Trial and error...especially for pasta sauce since a certain picky eater doesn't like chunky tomatoes!

While I can't really complain about the government here, since back home it seems to have shut down, they do practice some interesting things here.  For instance, they subsidize the Big Mac because of the Big Mac index, and they want their costs appear relatively low as compared to the rest of the world.  It would then appear that the peso here is doing well, instead of terribly (the unofficial exchange rate right now is 9.5:1)   Which works in our favor at least.   We could get a full time housekeeper/nanny for $400 pesos a week, which is about $42 a week.   I tried to convince my friend to move down and be Liam's nanny, but I don't think the $42 was that enticing.  The government also owns the broadcasting stations, so during a big soccer match, there were little government propaganda pop ups showing up. Weird.

Bill's lunch is getting cold so I'm heading back to the house.  Hopefully internet has been installed by now and I can update tonight with pictures of the house and other happenings.  So much to tell!   Chao!