I'm sorry, so sorry...

Whew! What a whirl of wind we ride! Please forgive me for not communicating on a more regular basis! I have been so extremely busy since my return from the states, that I have guiltily placed the updating on the back burner!
So here it goes, finally a free minute while my two men are fast siesta-ing.

I have opened the doors to my very own school! A dream come true. For the past 4 years strong we have been sub-letting rooms in hostels around town to give Spanish classes to travelers, and finally, after 4 years strong we have decided it was due time to have our own space.

Upon returning to Rosario after my last trip I put to my nose to the job and began looking for a suitable space. It needed to have at least 3 spaces suitable for classrooms and at least one bathroom...well I looked and looked and really hated everything I saw. None of them "spoke" to me. All of them were over priced due to location, most of them needed work, and none of them had what I was looking for; the whole kit and caboodle.

Then, Claudio, ingeniously called on a place that had been for rent for close to 3 years. This is a place I have passed nearly twice a day, tattered FOR RENT sign hanging by a thread, big bay like stained glass windows with balconies overlooking the avenue, and not once had I called on it. Why you might ask? I simply assumed it would be a fortune...
Well I was wrong.

When I went to see it, I fell in love, my eyes filled up with tears and I saw it as my own. I knew it had been waiting for me. In less than a month we have put together the money necessary to sign the 3 year lease and I opened my doors after 3 12 hour days of hard cleaning.

Now, 3 weeks later, classrooms are full, students are rolling in for high season and I am busy busy busy dedicating time and energy to making, each day, a little bit more mine.

And that is not the only new change, we, as a family, have decided to make a big shift in lifestyle. Claudio will be quitting his job at the end of the year and will begin working at my side. He is going to start managing all of the administration for the school and will be able to spend more time with Juani and I and we have decided that he should go back to school to finish his accounting degree. All of these changes mean downsizing in things like having a car, but up-size our quality of life in things like family time. So we are happy with the decision and are sure it is the correct one to take.

Also, Juani is going to start school on December 5th! I found a great little pre-school that is right down the road from the Spanish school where he will go 3 hours a day. I chose it based on the selling point: "He will learn to make friends, to share, and to do everyday things like, wash his hands." I don't want him to be pressured to learn things too fast or in too stimulus an environment, so this will be perfect. It will give me a bit of time without him attached to my hip and it will give him time to make friends and begin socializing with other kids.

Now, I know that, while you love reading about all of these new changes, what you really are waiting for are the photos, so I will detain you no further. Enjoy!

Juani at 20 months

Juani at almost 21 months
We fall a bit more in love each day...
Stairs of encouragement; opening doors both literally and figuratively
One of our 4 classrooms
Me in my favorite room with one of my favorite students

Ok, so now that you know what I have been up to, do you think you will find it in you to forgive me for disappearing on you all for so long?

US Vacation 2011

Its been real, it's been fun, it's been real fun, and sadly, we are now back home, back to reality and back to the routine.
It feels good to be home, though, as always, I am torn.
Torn between two cultures, two families, two hemispheres, two homes...

While we slowly adapt to this other life, I wanted to recap our most amazing adventures and send Thanks to each and every one of you! This trip could not have been so amazing had it not been for you all!

So here is goes...
We started out in Vegas. Plane late, bodies tired, nerves on edge, we arrived around 1am Vegas time. I am not sure I have ever been sleepier in my life.
We spent most of the first day just recuperating, napping off and on until later afternoon when my aunt came to pick us up for a very important meeting; Liam and Juani, cousins in some way or another, had a play date.
Here is what it looked like:

At first Liam was not at all happy about Juan's wanting to cover him in kisses, and Amy and I laughed about how Juan didn't want her to touch Liam, as if he were HIS toy, not HERS. Then, as Liam warmed up to his older cousin, he was all smiles and giggles as Juan held him close.

Juan also took to town on the piano, where he, unlike most kids his age, did not bang away at the keys, but merely touched them lightly to bring about a sound. He is a natural!


From Vegas we jogged on over to Yucca Valley for a short week and spent time with the grandparents and my dad, as well as some of my life long friends.
It was lovely and relaxing. We just hung around, played in water, ate good food and enjoyed the company.
Then, back to Vegas for a few more days of nonstop fun, shark exhibits ("emo" aka Nemo, was nowhere to be found)

He had no fear at the pool! Sort of scary, in fact, the way he would just walk right off the edge and come splashing into the water! Then, we boarded, yet another plane, and began our voyage to Portland! We had such a good time with Amber! Saw her cute little house, spent days wandering the city, which looks like some sort of hippie fairy tale wonderland, had our very own waterfront condo near the Pearl District, saw some friends, ate lots of great food, went to the zoo...But I think all will agree that our berry picking day was the highlight of the week!
While we were looking for the zoo, we decided to detour to explore the Pittock Mansion, and while we didn't go inside, I can only imagine how incredible it must be, because the outside alone speaks marvels.

Juan cried when we had to leave the elephants, it was like he connected with her! Amazing!

By the time we left the orchard, Juan was stripped down to just is diaper and tennis shoes and looked like a blood thirsty vampire! Upon checking out, there was no way to avoid paying for, at the very least, 1/2 of eaten berries and prepare ourselves for the diarrhea to follow, and oh did it follow...hehe
After we left the farm, we meandered on over to a part of the island that faces the river, lined by sandy beaches and friendly families playing in it's cooling waters, Amber, received her wings as "official aunt" when Juan had a little accident, hehe caused largely by berries.
Another amazing thing about Portland is their food carts, if you don't know, you should! I could delve into an entire economic theory about why and how they are so amazing, but this is neither the time nor the place, so we will save that grace. However, there is one food cart, in particular, that deserves mention, and that is the Grilled Cheese Grill, an old double decker bus that serves grilled cheese sandwiches in all sorts of fanciful ways.
On our final night in Portland we dinned at a beautiful and delicious restaurant where a close friend of mine works. The place is called, Navarre (I think that is how you spell it) and it was sooooooo yummy!!! The flavors were exotic and creative and booming with savory goodness.
to be continued...

Best Black and White

Oh man, what a slacker! Well, really, more than slacking, it is by pure demand of my son that I lag on posting to the blog. It seems there is a button attached to my typing that immediately sends him to screaming and crying furies and fits stemmed from his need to bang on the keyboard. (hide your computers please!)

Still no excuse!

What have we been up to, you might ask? Well, Juan is hilarious! I have finally arrived to a place where I enjoy being a mother. He makes me laugh all day, and is quite the little character. Which is not to say he doesn't frustrate me daily...hehe, but over all, he is the raddest!

Hopefully this series of photos will make it up to you!

I did say dancing machine...

Here is a video that you can't watch just once...

Running, jumping, climbing, dancing machine!

Oh man oh man! Now that Juan is a running, jumping, climbing, dancing machine, I can barely keep up with him and everything else. I am feeling a bit more stable emotionally thanks to my 10 day escape to the North.
Claudio has now worked for the marble company for 19 years and he decided it was high time he meet clients he had only talked to over the phone. Never being able to put a face to the voice, we packed our bags and hit the road.
We did 1550 miles in 10 days, stopping in rinky dink towns along the way and enjoying home cooked meals in the homes of many a happy client.
I am amazing at how exploited the land in Argentina is. For as far as the eye can see and your wheels can take you, there are fields and fields of cotton, sunflowers, soy, cows grazing, eucalyptus trees for making paper, corn, wheat, sugar....
I have never driven through the mid-western states of the US but I imagine it is somewhat similar, though on a spread out scale.
And probably (or hopefully) a bit more technologically advanced as most fields of cotton are still harvested by hand! Yes, by hand!
And the people, while taking part in what my opinion holds true to the words, "slave labor," are proud. Poor yes, but proud.
What surprised me the most is type of poverty that exists in the North. It is not the kind of poverty we are used to seeing here in Rosario in the villas (shantytowns). It is the kind of slave/slave driver poverty. It seems that those who do not belong to one category, belong to the other, and there are few that belong to neither.
In other words, it is life as our ancestors knew it 100 years ago. Many are without water, most are without natural gas, several still cook over wood burning stoves...
Needless to say it was an amazing adventure!
Juani behaved like a superstar. Different town, different hotel, every day, can't be easy on a little tyke, but he truly shows his mommy's adventuresome spirit.
He would enter each new hotel room with wide eyes and "I want to jump on the bed now" sort of enthusiasm all giggly contented with something new.
He slept most of the drive time, which was great, as it seemed like decades since Claudio and I have had time to chat without interruptions.
Here are a few photos, of our trip...

Sleepy head in the car

El empedrado, small fisherman's town along the river
Juan's first encounter with a merry-go-round

Yes ladies and gents, that is cotton!