temaiken bioparque

Temaiken a gorgeous zoo in Belen de Escobar. Since the schools here in Buenos Aires have not let out for Spring Break yet, we found that we had the zoo almost completely to ourselves. I wasn’t sure what the difference between a biopark and zoo was, but I did find out that bioparks are more sensitive to the needs of the animals, keep them in a habitat congruent to their species and this one also recues endangered animals. Many of the animals are not caged at all, but the park has been developed so that you can safely observe the animals, sometimes at extremely close range.

The park is absolutely gorgeous, but in a very natural way.

Here we have Carter conquering his fear of the bird with the long and curved bill, making the biggest noises, just daring him to try and get past on the stairs. He and Tricia were the only ones who dared attempt the feat.

We learned lots of fun and interesting facts about birds. In the exhibit of the penguin, we were able to feel the temperature necessary to keep the birdie inside the egg alive. It was quite warm!

There is a lovely bamboo forest where we saw all kinds of wildlife and probably missed all kinds of wildlife as well. My personal favorites were the cobalt blue vultures.

 

 

 

Izzy climbed up on this rock to get a great view of the Wallabys that were hopping nearby.

 

 

 

We loved watching the hippos above and below the water. Those animals are huge! One of them came right up to us at the window.

There were several huge aviaries at the park. This one housed the bats. It was HOT and STINKY in there and kind of scary too!

argentine gymnastics

This morning, most of us walked to the train and took it one stop to San Isidro. There we walked a couple of blocks and purchased medialunas and bread at the Hausbrot Bakery. All of their products are made with whole wheat and are completely natural and taste amazing! Then we walked back to the fruit and vegetable market called El Campo and bought various fresh fruits. After our short train ride home, we enjoyed eating our purchases.

The kids worked on their homework for a little while after breakfast.

 

 

 

 

We called the gymnastics coach that I had arranged a meeting with the other day and wrote about here. Apparently, my contact forgot to mention to him that he had this private lesson today. Nevertheless, he told us to come along.

One of the surprises about River Stadium is the fact that it houses a school. The rooms underneath the stadium are the classrooms and there are quite a few physical education rooms, as well.

 

 

It turns out that the coach, Jorge, has been coaching elite gymnastics for girls and has worked with the Argentine Olympians for the past 16 years.

 

 

 

 

Carter got quite the practice session with him today.

 

 

Afterwards, he told us that the facility where the elite gymnasts train is much nicer and invited Carter to train there on Thursday. Jorge couldn’t have been nicer or more helpful.

We had Izzy with us, but Jonah and Courtney had gone with Papa to the mission offices. I was worried that they might be dying of boredom. That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. There were quite a few missionaries in for interviews and they loved chatting with the kids while they were waiting their turn.

By now, we had to have two remises to take us all back to the house since Papa wasn’t ready to leave. We went the back way along the autopista Buen Ayre. It is not very densely populated along that route and so there are lots of trees and grass fields. It was a beautiful drive as dusk fell.

Later that night, we had ice cream delivered—a kilo of chocolate and a half kilo of lemon, but, of course, with 9 ice cream lovers in the house there was nothing leftover.

martinez shopping

This morning we got up and went to Delicity for breakfast. We sat outside and ate our facturas with hot chocolate. Delicioso!

Then we went on the train to Martinez to do some shopping. I wanted to purchase an Argentine looking ring to wear since I am not wearing my wedding ring here. I found a cool one with the Argentine flower and a Greek key design. Courtney, Izzy and I also picked up some cute, fun jewelry.

Then we stopped at Arnaldo's for ice cream. It is the dessert of choice for Argentines and most places even deliver.

We came back home on the train and met Carter and Papa (who had been home playing chess) for lunch at Carlito's. This restaurant is Dan's worst nightmare. There are 700 items on the menu! The panqueques, hambuerguesas, and fries are awesome.

At home we took siesta and then Dan, my mom and dad and I went out to dinner at one of my favorite places from last trip--La Parolaccia. Dan enjoyed reaquainting himself with a true Argentine Milanese.

fast sunday in vicente lopez

This morning we went to church in Vicente Lopez. Ten years ago,Doug was the branch president of an ex-pat ward that met in the same building, but that unit has since disbanded. Today the ward is mixed Argentine and ex-pats. It makes for an interesting testimony meeting with both Spanish and English being spoken.

We’ve never seen Dan quite like he was today. He cried right through sacrament meeting.He also took the opportunity to bear his testimony in Spanish as did Doug and Brianna. Carter also gave his, but in English, ofkj course.

The kids enjoyed Primary, which was in both Spanish and English. We had to teach the kids how to air kiss so they could get through church greeting everyone according to local custom. We introduced the family to the mission president and his wife of the BA North Mission. They recently had a waiter for their mission in their ward and he actually ate dinner at their house just days before his visa came through.

After siesta, Dan and Doug went to a Stake Priesthood meeting in the Marcos Paz Stake. Dan seems on fire just being here and we love watching him explore this city with new eyes.

oh happy day

First thing this morning we went to the airport to find the Seguines!

It is quite useful that we make frequent trips to the airport and the assistants met us there to help out with the luggage. They dropped it off and the house, but we headed for the city.

We wanted to take the kids for a short drive and quickly saw that we were following a racecourse through the city. It turns out that they were having an exhibition of Italian Racecars. Unbeknownst to us, we ended up eating breakfast in the midst of all the owners gathering for a photo shoot of their cars.

One of Doug’s former employees (from ten years ago) noticed us. He is now affiliated with one of the car owners. You can imagine that it wasn’t that common to see four children with their parents and grandparents having breakfast on the sidewalk café right next to this event! However, for us it was a very fun and exciting breakfast.

We came home and opened up all of the suitcases. Amongst their things, they pulled our requests from the States. In some ways it seemed more like Christmas, than Christmas.

The kids all wanted to go swimming, and the rest of us walked to a nearby restaurant and ordered empanadas to take out for lunch.

Gotta love siesta…at least, we were all loving it today. When we woke up it was close to sunset.

We live next to one of the largest racetracks in the Americas. They race thoroughbreds on a grass surface that allows for a 1000 meter race without turns. Almost daily, we love watching them tend to the horses as we drive to our missionary duties early in the mornings, so today we decided to go and watch the horses race.

It was a very family-friendly event and although the hippodrome can accommodate 100,000 people, it was quite sparsely populated for this event. I have to say that it was thrilling to watch the horses come down the track.

Afterwards, we went to one of our favorite places to eat--Lo de Nacho, translate, House of Nachos. We enjoyed the beautiful evening and ate outside under the colored lanterns. On the way home, the kids remarked that this was just the 1st of 15 days we were going to spend together. It was a very good day!

pobre presidente

It turns out that el presidente has some skin cancer caused by sun exposure on his head. When we went to see the surgeon, he asked us if we could come in on Monday (today) at 6:30. We told him that we could, and he carried on with the various things that needed to be done before then.

As we were leaving, he handed us a paper with all the information. At the top, the appointment time was listed--18:30, just like he said, 6:30. Of course, at the time, both of us were thinking that he meant 6:30 am, and he AcTualLy meant 6:30 pm.

Here is a “before” picture sitting in the waiting room.

We went upstairs, when called, and presidente changed into the things that were provided. The nurse asked him for something, to which he responded by reaching into his pocket and giving me his telephone. “Dear,” I said, “she asked you for your EKG test and blood work results.”

“Oh :/” he said.

Then she looked at me and asked me if HE speaks Spanish. I wish I could put one of those bouncing laughing heads right here on the blog.

After he had changed, he looked at me as if to ask what I was waiting for. I told him that the nurse told him to put his things in the locker and take the key.

“oh :/”  he replied.

Eventually,  the nurse came back in and told me that I had to go downstairs and wait. I asked Doug if he thought he would be okay if I wasn’t there to translate for him. It is a good thing that the surgery went well, because the last thing he said to me was, “Get out of here!” Thankfully he was laughing!!!

I should say that the surgery went pretty well. At the very end, after they had sewn him up and the nurse was cleaning his hair. She discovered another lesion. He hates the idea of having to do it all again, but, of course, there is no option there.

Not sure why he need a surgical hat when they were operating on his head. They had to have taken it off immediately.

He has an adorable frankenstein style  scar and 10 stitches. One of our girls told him to look at the bright side…he got 1/2 of a facelift as a bonus. Too bad the other lesion is on the same side of his head…

In other good news…his ability to speak Spanish has returned.

after efy

Brianna has been so happy having a new set of LDS friends to hang out with……along with her friends from the ward.

There have been dances to attend…

Shopping trips to make…

Hangout days and nights to enjoy…

Her Argentine friends all go back to school this week, so at least she won’t be the only one trying to get her studies done between everything else!

Gonzalez Catan, Mercedes, La Patrona

This morning we were off to Gonzalez Catan with Papa.  It is not the safest part of the mission, and it is also the heart of the mission.  As we drove further away from Buenos Aires, we saw the landscape change, and the way people live changed more.  Long, long lines for buses.  Buses filled with so many people we couldn't imagine it could pick even one single person in those lines up.  When we got to the chapel, we saw the missionaries waiting eagerly for those they were baptizing.

Elliot helped play prelude music and was fascinated by the self playing piano.

 The picture taking commenced.
 We were able to watch ten people be baptized today.

My dad spoke at the end of the baptism service about the importance of baptism and how we remember that day our whole lives.  We don't remember the day before it, or the day after it, but we remember that day...and those ten new members would always remember that their special day was just three days before Christmas, and what a special memory that will be for them.

Afterwards, I really enjoyed being able to talk with one of the families whose son was baptized.  The parents had been baptized previously, but had not been actively going to church.  The missionaries stopped and talked to them one day and the parents knew that this moment was an opportunity to turn things around.  They started coming to church, and now their son was ready to be baptized.  They were so kind and so happy.  As we left the building, I noticed we were the only car to have ever arrived, despite the fact that there were more than 70 people in attendance.

Before we drove back to the mission home, we stopped at the Temple and MTC (Missionary Training Center) so the boys could see it up close!

Then we dropped off the boys for a fun night with Brianna.  Elliot noted in his journal, "We went to Brianna's bedroom and since her bed is super bouncy, we burned up the music and jumped on her bed!"  The boys were thrilled with their fun night with Brianna.

Meanwhile, we were driving out to the country, this time to Mercedes.  I really liked this town and its German influence.  When we arrived at the chapel to see four baptisms, the missionaries were waiting for us, and everyone was in their seats ready to go!  This is very unusual for Argentines and we started the baptism early. :)  I don't think I can adequately describe how sweet it was to be at this baptism.  This was more intimate than the service we had attended in the morning and the Spirit was really strong.  The members were there to support them and it was wonderful.  I particularly enjoyed watching the Grandpa of the family who was in his 80's be baptized.  As he entered the waters of baptism, the missionary asked him if he was ready, and he responded resolutely something to the effect... "Of course I'm ready!"

After the baptism, the ward was having their Christmas Party, so we had the opportunity to chat with some of the members.  We were particularly fond of this 80 something year old woman who was the first member in the town about 70 years ago.  She's the Youth Sunday School and Ward Historian.  She's also a painter, speaks English very well and was so fun to talk with and get to know.

All of the members were enjoying chatting, and no one was stressed, or in a hurry, or wondering when the Christmas Party/ Program would start.  I felt like I was learning a lot as I sat and watched.  I learned more about simplicity and betterment in those few minutes than I probably have in years.

Driving through Mercedes.

After we left Mercedes, we drove to Lujan.  We were really excited about this very Argentine restaurant called La Patrona.  We thoroughly enjoyed eating parrillada, a combination of grilled meats, poultry and vegetables.  Mostly, it was just awesome to have this experience with my parents.  To be with them, and have this glimpse into their life, and where they like to eat, and how late they stay up in Argentina. :) Our dinner reservations were at 8:45, and we were the first to arrive at the restaurant, but by the time we left, it was filled!