The Bathroom Has No Storage

We finally signed the rental agreement today but won't get a copy of it until after the realtor has had a chance to have it "authorized" at the bank [yet another way to add to the expense of renting a house here]. So still haven't been able to get the gas and electric turned on but the keys are in our possession.

And first thing on the agenda was getting locks re-keyed for security. That meant the hubby had to stay at the house all afternoon since that left everything wide open. But the locksmith was true to his word and had them finished by 6:30 p.m. and within a short time the hubby and our co-worker had all the locks re-installed. House secured.

My Spanish lesson was rescheduled for the afternoon to accommodate the signing in the morning, so I rushed back here for that. Today we worked on family relationships. Prior to class I created a family tree. Then I (attempted to) explain in Spanish how each one was related to the others.

After class I made some hot tea and watched CNN. Either the weather has been the same for weeks (hurricane after hurricane) or my weather-related vocabulary is increasing because it was surprising how much I understood.

And speaking of weather, it was COLD today. The coldest it's been since we arrived. Down in the low 50s and several people told us it was snowing in the Sierras. Brrrr!

My co-worker and I stayed at the house while our hubbies went to pick up the locks. We walked through the house and talked about things that will need to be done. I knew the bathroom didn't have any storage but I couldn't remember if there was anywhere to put any. There isn't. If they hadn't stuck a bidet in there (very European in that sense; almost every house I've been in here has a toilet and a bidet) we'd have space for a tall skinny cabinet. But as it is, THERE IS NOWHERE TO PUT STORAGE EXCEPT HIGH ABOVE MY HEAD. The ceiling in the bath is quite high and it's only tiled to about the 6' level. So we could put some shelves or a cabinet above the tile. But how am I supposed to reach it?

The hubby said all his time at the house left mixed emotions. Primary feeling? "There is SO MUCH to be done!"

Yep, he's got that right.

But tonight I'm too tired to even think about it. So let's not.

Instead let's just say again how wonderful it is to be so connected. In the past 24 hours I've been able to talk to both my kids via the internet. Whoever invented Skype should be awarded a Nobel Prize. Or something. Because it is truly a WONDERFUL invention! The hubby snapped a photo of me talking to my daughter while I looked at her beautiful face. *sigh* God has been gracious and missing my kids has not been unbearable. One morning I did wake up pretty homesick for them, tears beginning to sting my eyes, but then I remembered how truly terrible the tissues are, maybe one step up from fine-grade sandpaper, and I didn't cry.

All bets are off once the Puffs arrive though.

I Heart Youtube

Because living overseas makes it hard to get the news in English, I can -- and do -- hop online daily to check cnn.com and foxnews.com. But there's little in the way of video available.

These days I'm like most people, curious about Sarah Palin, and interested in hearing her in her own words. Not some Spanish voice over.

And then today I realized youtube.com probably has plenty of footage, so I jumped over there. I listened to the speech she gave in Dayton last Friday after McCain introduced her as his running mate. The internet here is a little slow (REALLY slow in the evenings for some reason) so it was a little choppy but not too bad.

So far I like what I see. Tomorrow I'll go to youtube again to hear what she had to say at the Republican Convention tonight.

No reporter is completely unbiased. They bring their worldviews and experiences to any story. So I'm always a little cynical of what I read, whether from a "liberal" or "conservative". That's why I like going to the "original source". In this case, Sarah Palin herself. I'll be watching and listening to what SHE has to say about the things that are important to me.

And not paying undue attention to what the talking heads are saying about what she is saying. Or trying to extrapolate what they think she's saying.

The Electric Bill, It Is Arisin'

It's fun to check out the newspaper from Cordoba whenever we pop into the YPF for coffee. I try to decipher as many headlines as possible with my limited vocabulary. One today caught my eye because I was pretty sure it was telling me our electric bill was going up.

I turned the paper so hubby could see and asked, "What does this say?" He began to read and muttered, "I don't know."

And I said, "No say 'no se'!"

I made a bilingual funny!

"No se" (pronounced exactly the same as "no say") means "I don't know" and I refused to believe my fluent hubby didn't know what it was saying. But turns out he really wasn't sure. He left Argentina when he was 20 and wasn't in the habit of reading (or even being interested) in anything of an adult nature. What 20-year-old cares what the utility companies are doing? And there is definitely a subset of vocabulary unique to each area of life.

But he tried to figure it out, translating for me as he went along. Sure enough, I was right, our electric bill is going up; 37% on average. Apparently the more you use, the higher the rate.

It would seem the electric bill has, up to now, been artificially 'frozen' at an unrealistically low rate. Concerning the higher rates, the reporter wrote: "If it is so, we are quite sure 2008 will remain on the calendar of the decade as the year of the thawing of rates, without anesthesia, a product of the political decision to go back to making the rates actual."

More bad news for the average citizen. This on top of news that property taxes are rising (by as much as 100%), pensions are being cut, and inflation continues to...well, inflate.

I'm also watching CNN in Spanish. It helps to be able to see what they're talking about but I'm still only catching about a quarter of it. It will be nice when my hearing speed catches up to their speaking speed.

La cabeza hurts by the end of the day.

Tonight we cooked dinner in stages, using the one pot, skillet, two-burner camp stove and toaster oven at our disposal. It was quite tasty if we do say so ourselves :-) Empanadas (meat pies) and a beet and carrot vinaigrette salad. Isn't that just the purtiest salad? I love the bright orange and purple combination.

I've never made empanadas before because I cannot make edible dough. It's weird because I do fine with biscuits but any kind of pie-like dough is beyond my ability. But here? You can buy empanada wraps at the supermarket! MY JOY KNOWS NO BOUNDS. The hubby is pretty happy, too. I conscripted him into service, to put the empanadas together. For your viewing pleasure and empanada education, here's how it's done:

New Shoes On The First Day Of School

In honor of my first day of Spanish with Marcela, I broke out the new pair of Reeboks!

Growing up we always started school in the fall with a few new outfits, and definitely new shoes because our feet had grown over the summer and our "school shoes" no longer fit. I loved that feeling of having a whole new outfit on the first day of school, from underwear to new headband (hey, I'm a child of the 60s, what can I say?).

Other occasions for new outfits: Christmas, Easter, and sometimes Fourth of July. At Easter we also had new hats and gloves, white patent leather shoes to go with the new white patent leather purse, and when we were very young the underwear was the frilly kind. Remember the rows and rows of lace? Had to be uncomfortable sitting on all that bulky lace but what we women won't endure for the sake of fashion!

Christmas meant a new dress in red and/or green, new socks and maybe a hair bow. Fourth of July was usually a cute little peddle-pusher outfit and my favorite had a matching floppy hat and string purse. I was a totally stylin' 9-year-old!

Spanish with Marcela is going to be WONDERFUL. I love having the one-on-one sessions because sitting across the table, she can immediately tell by the blank look on my face when I'm confused. I can't believe how fast the time flew this morning! We'll be meeting first thing Mondays through Wednesdays, later in the morning on Thursdays and Friday evenings.

She said I could ask about learning specific vocabulary, and I've requested that we cover some hair phrases tomorrow since I really, really need a haircut and it would be nice to be able to communicate somewhat with the stylist later this week. The hubby will be with me and can help, but it would be better if I am able to describe what I want and not depend on him. Otherwise I might end up with a bowl cut. I can just hear him saying, "Hey, short is short!" And then trying to comfort me later, "But honey, it'll grow out!"

Well.

My hair grows VERY, VERY SLOWLY so that would not be much comfort at all. I once tried to grow my hair out. After almost four years it was finally down to my shoulders.

So, yes, hair phrases are very important in this language acquisition process.

Just as it was important to wear my new shoes today. How do you mark significant days?