Clever Title

So here I am at 9:32 pm on Sunday night thanking my lucky stars that I keep a file on the desktop called "Notes for the Blog." I get to read back over what has happened this week to see what kind of week it really was... and this was a tough week. Last week was tough (downright measerable, if you remember) for a different reason. This was a working week, resulting in 12 total hours in bed from Monday to Thursday (three nights), and while four hours of sleep might be doable for a few days, don't forget we've got four small kids that don't exactly stay in bed all night. So it was a rough week for me, Candace, and the kids. While we are trying to nail down a regular working schedule that allows me to be at work as much as I need to be while being at home as much as I need to be. Every couple at one time or another likely has a similar discussion.

Both spouses work. Dad works out of the house, and mom works in the house. This Dad loves to come home and see the wife and kids, while at the same time wanting to just unwind for a few minutes. Moms are so glad for Dad to come home so the kids can follow Dad around for a little while after having done it all day. What's tougher is when Dad is not home by dinner time, and mom is left cooking, cleaning up, bathing the kids, and putting them to bed on her own. Universal talking point... as I realize this doesn't just affect Los Mouritsen. But I believe we have solved the puzzle. I present to you: The Contract.

Candace and I have entered into an agreement that starts tomorrow. A point system. But before I go any further, let it be known that I do not like to work late. Here's how it works: Every day that I'm home for dinner at 6pm, I get a point. Every day that I'm not home for dinner at 6pm (with a 5 min grace period), Candace gets a point. We race to 10 points. Winner gets to choose the date night activity, and then both points reset. So not only are we still having our date nights, there are incentives on both sides. If Candace wins, she can take us to all the sappy movies she wants, and while I know she'd rather have me home, the prospect of getting something in return lessens the blow. I, in turn, am motivated to get home by 6 to avoid said sappy movies and bring some sporting events into the mix. I am exempted when I am travelling (thank goodness). If we would have started this last week, Candace would be up 5-0.

Something else started last week was the countdown to receive our household goods, which we have confirmed are in Buenos Aires, just not in the same part of Buenos Aires that our house is in. It has now been 7 weeks in country and it seems like a lot longer until we realize we still don't have our own towels, dishes, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, and so forth. Another countdown was how long our internet provider will be able to provide the service to us. If you want an interesting read on current Argentine Politics, do some searches on FIBERTEL (our internet provider) whose affiliation with a large media group ran by an opposition party has drawn the ire of the current president, and with an election year coming (2011), the gauntlet has been thrown. The Government gave Fibertel 9o days to cut service leaving the approximately 1.3 million Buenos Aires Fibertel subscribers that amount of time to find another provider.

The highlight of the week would be about the only time we did spend together, which was a Wednesday night dinner and Tango show. Dinner served about 9:30... show started about 10:30 and ended just after midnight. We're still trying to get used to the late schedule as it messes us up quite a bit the next day (and I was already on fumes). The show was fantastic. A real experience. Highly recommended for all of you who may or may not be thinking of a trip down to South America.

Finally, on my "Notes for the Blog" page, I wrote down some funny things the kids said or did so I would remember... So the below are mostly for me, but hopefully remind all of you how much we all love our kids. I know I sure love mine.

1) After being gone so much early in the week, I took an extra minute one day telling Lily how much I loved her... and I was trying hard to make it a special daddy-daughter moment. She responding by squirming out of my grasp and saying, "I know you love me, so you don't have to tell me." I'm glad she knows, but I'm still going to tell her.

2) We went on a walk the other day with our newer double stroller and the kids just love picking up all the different kinds of leaves they find (or beefs as Sam calls 'em). But with two girls, neighbors' flowers sometimes make it into the discussion. As Lily and Claire were asking about some flowers, a policeman was driving by and Candace told the girls it was the flower-picking police coming to make sure they didn't take anyone's flowers they weren't supposed to. They didn't pick any more flowers.

3) While on that same walk, the two year old Sam loves to walk all over. When he spots something dark on the sidewalk, using his honed tracking skills, he says, "doddie poop," and walks carefully around it. There is plenty of doddie poop around here.

4) My birthday is coming up in the next few days and the girls are doing their best to keep the fact they have a present for me secret. They're always asking if I believe that they do or do not have a gift, and they tease about the day's activities to throw me off the scent. Well, today, Claire said they were going to hit me for my birthday. If that's true, I think Candace will get the point for that day... Even if it means seeing Eclipse again. (Full disclosure: I have enjoyed the movies and have read all four books, but I am (and will always be) on Team Dave.)

5) When discussing the priesthood tonight, Lily said that Sam was lucky that he would get it when he grew up. Candace said that girls were lucky because they got to be mommies. Lily smiled and said, "That means we get to be in charge." What a sweetheart.

The time passes and we are becoming more and more involved in Argentina.

Measerable (the Shoutout Post)

This has been one tough week on Los Mouritsen. It all started last weekend when Lily was pretty lethargic. She was super tired on Saturday, all day Sunday and Monday. We went on a few walks and she just curled up in one of our strollers and rested. This is totally abnormal for her as she is a 100-mph girl from 6 am when she wakes up until she goes to bed. If she had her way, she would climb, play chase, play tag, and run everywhere, so we were appropriately concerned last weekend when she didn't feel like doing anything. Due to a local holiday, there was no school on Monday. On Tuesday morning she posted a fever of 103 (Hot Blooded for sure -- Shout out to Foreigner) and we kept her home from school. On Wednesday, she said she felt better, made it to school and spent the last hour in the nurse's office. Thursday at home. Friday she went to school.

Most sicknesses don't usually remain in one Host (shout out to Stephenie Meyers' non-Twilight book) when there are 3 other rugrats (shoutout to Nickelodeon cartoons) around. Until yesterday, Claire was doing fine but now she is getting the cough. Sam and Caroline have been progressively getting worse since Wednesday. And now the cause for concern: On Thursday we got a medical alert from the American International School that Lily attends that there were two confirmed cases (from the same School family) of the Measles (shoutout to paramyxoviruses everywhere). Hmmm. What do you do with that kind of news? The embassy has a medical officer who consults with Ministry of Health Officials and they determined that they needed to take pre-emptive action to avoid an epidemic in the area. According to the Ministry of Health (shoutout to the doctors in the house), these were the first two confirmed cases of Measles in Buenos Aires in at least 10 years. Lucky us. So the school was providing free vaccinations and boosters to students and all family members Saturday and Sunday. So guess what we did yesterday. Dave, Candace, Lily, Claire and Sam all got shots.

Our kids do not like shots. We don't like telling our kids they have to get shots, but the two days of anticipation were horrible compared to the 1/2-second of actual pain. In Claire's case, we talked her through being brave and that I would hold her tight and that she needed the shot so she could avoid a really bad sickness, but we said she could choose. Through her tears yesterday, she said, "Daddy, it's really hard to decide between the sickness and getting the shot." Well, that was a time where we thought it best to decide for her (shoutout to the old TV show 'Father Knows Best'). When the time came, she was a champ. When it comes to bad sicknesses, our kids love the story of Naaman from the Old Testament who had, in their words, 'the leprosies'... that sickness that makes your nose fall off. Aren't kids great?!??

So needless to say, it's been a tiresome weeks at the Los Mouritsen household. As a final example of the toll it has taken, on Friday night, Sam starting begging to go to bed at 5:30 pm. And he went to bed right after dinner about 6:30. Near the end of dinner, Lily said she was done and went upstairs (like she always does). When we all finished, we found Lily in her pajamas fast asleep in her bed (at 6:35). It was all Claire could do to stay up until about 7:15. At 7:16, Candace and I looked at each other as if to say, "Now what do we do?"

Despite Lily's lethargy on Monday (the local holiday), she got out of the stroller to do this climbing wall. Those who know Lily know that she is not shy about anything, she has tons of energy, and loves to climb. Those are pretty normal characteristics for 5-year olds, but we were introduced to a new level on Monday. There is a little activity place about 1 mile from our house called Peru Beach (shoutout to Lima). There is a roller hockey rink, sailboat rentals, and a climbing wall. We knew that Claire would be scared to death (shoutout to the Grim Reaper) once she passed 2 feet up the wall. But Lily we thought would make it up a little bit. Well, you can see Lily that surpassed what we thought (she wanted to get down when she finally saw how high she was). What a brave soul, that 5 year old girl of ours. You can also see that Claire did what we expected (she trembled every time Candace took her hands off her).

Right next to the climbing wall was a ladder they could climb to the top of and then swing from. Lily was so proud to have made it to the top and so happy to swing. No fear. Claire didn't try, but yelled, "Go, Lily, Go," the whole time. It was really fun.

On the way back from the climbing wall, we stopped at a little cafe that Candace had tried the week before and knew they had an excellent homemade dessert. So we had a wonderful casual lunch and were all excited to have the dessert and.... well, they didn't have it. A group had been in earlier and eaten it all. The message was delivered with such clarity that we were left with open mouths, only wondering (shoutout to internal dialogue) why they wouldn't be making more. Oh well.

We have been doing our best keeping Amazon, Target, and other retailers in the black as we have two different ways to have things shipped to us. We have ordered brown sugar (unavailable here), grains, syrup (unavailable), chocolate chips (which countries don't sell chocolate chips? Argentina), and other assorted goodies. We got our Vonage set up (shoutout to Alexander Graham Bell) and have survived another week.

We're keeping busy and are feeling more and more comfortable here as we learn the ins and outs (shoutout to In-N-Out) of living in another country. There is lots to learn. And check out this picture of Caroline. This is when she is on her worst behavior.

Maid for Each Other

Six months ago: Candace: "I don't really want a maid."

Six hours ago: Candace (on the phone): "Mom, I love having a maid."

We have gone back and forth the last several months on the prospect of having a maid. We knew ahead of time that many of the embassy families had maids and there were varying degrees of maid-dom. Some families had full-time live-in maids (weird), some families had full-time live-out maids that doubled as nannies, some had full-time live-out maids that just cleaned leaving the mom all the time with the kids, and there are some that had part-time maids. We were mostly interested in a part-time maid that would be able to come in and clean the house a few times a week. But how do you find a good person that will spend significant amounts of time in your house and with your children? We lucked out. We interviewed a handful of individuals that either wanted too much money, wanted to work full-time even though they told us they wanted part-time, or just didn't appear to actually like to talk to people.

Another family had a situation to where they went from no maid to full-time maid out of necessity and were looking to cut back. Enter Los Mouritsen. The other family is also LDS and have been great in welcoming us to Buenos Aires. They have 3 kids and one of them and Claire have become great friends. So we made an arrangement to share the maid. She works at their house Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and works at our house Tuesday, Friday. It would be ridiculous to actually post how much we pay her, so I will just say the amount is ridiculous by American standards. After having her a week, Candace feels such a huge burden lifted off her shoulders, and by only coming two days a week, we plan to teach the kids that they still have some responsibility in the house. We found a good balance.

For the next event that took place later in the week, I have to set the stage. I was trying to think of a good word to decribe how we felt when we got the news. I remember going to the BYU/UTAH football game last year in Provo... it went to OT. When Max Hall found Andrew George over the middle and two Ute defenders missed the tackle, I was out of my seat screaming at the top of my lungs along with 65,000 other non-BCS fans. The adrenaline, the passion, the emotion of that moment was, uh... um... All right, that game was a bad example, but it was fun to re-live for a minute wasn't it? Needless to say, we were so happy that our air shipment finally arrived. We knew it arrived in Argentina on August 4th and it was finally delivered on August 13th. Each day we made snail-like progress in finding out IF it were going to be delivered. Then the call came Friday morning... ('George is on the 15, the 10, the 5....) Candace called and said, 'Our stuff is here.' (TOUCHDOWN!!!)

8 large boxes totally nearly 1,000 lbs of stuff finally arrived. The shipment that you put in the things you need first that is supposed to arrive within 7-10 days (or 31 in our case). So we happily unloaded more clothes (6 weeks living in suitcases), more toys (didn't see the kids for hours), some peanut butter (mmmm....), a stroller, the baby swing, our pillows, our towels... and the list could go on and one.... And then Christmas decorations?!?!?! Easter decorations!!?!?? How did those get in there? Well, in Colorado, we had separated what we knew would be air freight and set it aside. Apparently with room left in those air freight boxes, the movers took liberty about what to grab to fill in the space. So instead of us having more of our own dishes, utensils, winter clothes, games, or something useful, we've got random fluffy Santa Clauses, or dare I say Papa Noels. Needless to say, we have learned a lot from this move overseas and will be much better prepared for our next overseas move.

So our house is just a little bit better off at the end of this week. It was funny, though, on Friday when Candace called to tell me the stuff arrived. It was part of a conversation that also included, "There's no water." The public works office decided to do some water main maintenance from 10-4 on Friday and shut off all the water. The notice went out Friday AFTER the water was off... and I only knew about it from an internal note sent around the embassy. Candace thought the house was broken. Then later in the day, like magic, we had water again. Living in a different country definitely takes some getting used to. Another interesting public works tidbit is that we were curious as to when the garbage man came. For those who have spent time in Argentina, they have little metal baskets on poles in front of the houses where they put their garbage for the garbage men. I'll give you a quiz:

When does the garbage man come?

a) no set schedule

b) every other tuesday

c) 5 days a week

d) what's a garbage man

That's one tough quiz. I would have hoped D wasn't a reality. Luckily it wasn't. Before coming down, I would have guessed A, and with the global economic situation what it is, I wouldn't have been surprised if it were B. But no, C it is. It comes ALL the time. It's great. Around 9 pm, we hear the rumbling trucks. Now if they could just get some folks to pick up dog poop 5 days a week, we'd be making some real progress. Oh yeah, and carpet too.

Another interesting phenomenon we were introduced to is called "dia del nino". It was last Sunday, and apparently you celebrate by giving your kids as much candy as they can possibly eat all day as some sort of special way of saying they're important. Well, that wouldn't really be a good idea now would it? Um....

So we didn't know of this terrible holiday before church, but we sure knew about it after church. Lily came running up to me saying, "Dad, I had 3 cupcakes..." Then all I heard was "blah, blah, blah". Thinking that the only way she could get 3 cupcakes is if the teacher accidently left them right in front of Lily and left the room. Then I saw Claire who looked like she ate 3 cupcakes, and both of them had little brown lunch bags 1/2 full of little candies as well. But Sam... well, I went to pick up Sam from the nursery and he had gunk ALL over his clothes. The teacher said, "He just ate and ate and ate and ate and ate. We finally had to take away the candy because he was eating so much." Uh, thanks? In my world, there's no mystery about what happens when you give a two-year old unfettered access to candy.... they eat and eat and eat and eat and eat. Luckily, and I mean LUCKily with a capital LUCK (you saw it) all that candy stayed inside the little bodies. I expected a long afternoon with maybe a few large bowls strategically positioned throughout the house. Be advised however, that for next year's Dia del Nino, Los Mouritsen may just be home sick and may miss church, ironically we'll just say we have sick stomachs.

Tomorrow we will celebrate 5 weeks in country. We actually get to celebrate as it is a local holiday, the death of San Martin the Liberator. San Martin liberated much of Argentina as well as other parts of South America from those World Cup-winning Spaniards who deserved to lose their conquered lands due to the overuse of the letter 'X' in their players' first names (who names their kids Xavi anyway?). As we are carless, we will find somewhere to celebrate within walking distance.... and will endure more Argentine looks at our unruly crew that always seem to say, "Pobres."

A Week of Firsts

So as I noted in the initial entry, I committed to Candace that I would make an entry weekly. Just to show how committed I am to the blog, I had a papercut on my right index finger last weekend and STILL followed through with my commitment. I am so awesome. The above picture is on an old dilapidated pier overlooking the Rio de la Plata, about six blocks from our house. Absent the garbage, dead fish (low tide), and crappy sidewalks, it was very picturesque. When I said, "Hey, let's take a picture," Candace replied, "C'mon, kids, let's sit on this broken bench." It worked for us. On a more clear day, we can see along the coastline all the way down to downtown BA.

This has been an exciting week in the Los Mouritsen household. As you all know, our children all grow so quickly and our move did nothing to slow that down. In preparation for the big move, we spent a lot of time investigating the school situation as Lily is 5 and was set to begin kindergarten whether it was going to be in Colorado or Argentina. Then we were wondering what to do with Claire for pre-school. We felt comfortable about the American/International School that is located in the suburb that we live in, Martinez, from the beginning. It is accredited in the United States and has 90 minutes of daily Spanish instruction for the kindergarten. We knew of a few families who sent their kids there and were very happy. Well, on Tuesday we went for the orientation and Lily started school there on Wednesday. So far, it is a fantastic school that is used to both a transient and international population. I believe there are over 60 countries represented at the school. Lily is happy as a clam with her teacher, Miss Sonia, and comes home each day with a smile and can't wait to tell us about her new friends (whether she can pronounce the names or not).

For Claire, we decided we had a few less options. As our educational expenses are covered from K-12, Claire would be attending a 4-year old pre-school program on our own dime. The cost of said program at the American school was too hefty, and we thought she could really benefit from a local experience. So Claire was enrolled in a local Argentine pre-school called Florence Nightingale. We knew of one other American kid that went there from the local ward, and were ecstatic that Claire and the other girl became instant (and I mean, INSTANT) BFFs. The absolutely adore each other and are so excited to see and play with each other six days a week (including church). We get along great with the whole family and they are wonderful people who have provided many vital services for us as we continue to wait for our things (like rides, a few meals, activity ideas, and letting our kids play with their toys).

The 1st day that both girls were gone, Sam wandered around the house following Candace all day wondering what the heck was going on. School has also increased the number of our nightly tasks, to include school lunches. The American school is great, but the meals are gourmet, with a matching price. So PBJs it will be.

Another first this week (that we actually did twice) was that we got a babysitter and went out. One of the wonderful families that welcomed us to town was heading out and invited us to their farewell/birthday dinner at a great Uruguayan restaurant. What, you might ask, is the difference between an Argentine and Uruguayan restaurant? Location, location, location. The beef was excellent, the empanadas were superb, and we had a great time. We took Caroline with us, but left the rest with a babysitter. The funniest part of the night was when it came time for dessert, the birthday boy saw a dessert called "dulce de leche con banana". You would think that it would be a designer combination with a beautiful presentation. Well, it wasn't. It was a plate with a few spoonfuls of dulce de leche next to a recently peeled banana. There was certainly no trickeration in that menu item. We laughed and laughed about that one.

Then on Saturday, we got a babysitter and left all four kids (Caroline is 3 months old, after all) and went to a highly recommended restaurant in Martinez. It was very very good. Made better by the fact that Candace's eating habits have certainly evolved since we got married. In 2000, she was a chicken-loving, red-meat avoiding carnivore. Over the years, however, she has moved from the occasional hamburger to eschewing chicken for steaks. She ordered steak both times out this week. I am so proud. AND she loved both of them. This is going to be a great 3 years.

On a side note, Sam has even gotten into the spirit. We had some thinly cut steaks for dinner tonight and all we heard from him was, "mo' steak, mo' steak."

After the restaurant, we went to see Eclipse. I think it came out right when we were departing Colorado and there was no way we could fit it in. Here is your lesson in Argentine culture. Fact #1: If you try to go to dinner at 7pm, very very few restaurants will be open as they all open at 8. Fact #2: If you go to dinner at 8pm, you'll be the only ones in the restaurant and it will be rocking by the time you leave at 9:30.

We caught a 10:35pm showing of Eclipse and had heard about the late night shenanigans at the mall and finally saw it first hand. Upon arrival, there were about 100 people in line waiting to buy tickets and the food court at the mall was absolutely jam-packed. The mall closed at 10, mind you, but it was still the place to be. After our movie, there was another showing that started about 1:30 am. When we left the movie, this is what we saw (at 12:45 am):

Crazy. It wasn't just the local riff raff, rather it was families with small kids, teens, and older folks. It was just the place to be. All the places in the food court had lines and we just couldn't believe it. We compared it to the late night movies we saw while living in Orem, Utah and departing at about 12pm. Orem would be a ghost town. That is not the case here. In fact, the family that recommended the 21-year old babysitter we used said that the babysitter didn't mind when the families stayed out until 1 or 2, because she would just go home to go out with her friends anyway. On another positive note, even with our babysitter's newly raised rates, we paid 20 pesos/hour. I'm no good at math, but with a 3.9 peso to dollar exchange rate, I think we did all right.

On the home front, I know I touched on the carpet thing a week or two ago, but it is so funny everybody forms habits that are very difficult to break. As a missionary in Buenos Aires, I never walked around the 'pench' in bare feet. We all had the cheap-o sandals you can buy for $2 at Target. Well, I had some of those sandals and brought them with me. Guess who the only one in the family who never walks around with nothing on his feet? Yep. I can't get over that. They are kept right next to the bed. Candace teases me for it, but it's just the way I learned to walk in BA.

We had another breakthrough in getting our house all set up. DirecTV Puerto Rico has a deal for folks serving overseas allowing them to provide service with English channels. We got our receiver last week and I finally had a chance to get it installed. After blowing up a borrowed TV (stinking 220 V outlets... I'll get it figured out soon enough, hopefully before I blow up anything of mine), we got it hooked up and can now enjoy many (but not all) of our best English channels. A little slice of home.

We will hit a month in country on Thursday of the coming week. I am personally so pleased at how well we have done as a whole family. Our kids are adjusting exceptionally well and don't seem affected by the move in the least. Candace is getting into a groove (even without the Kitchen Aid) about how to keep the house functioning, and she has said more than once how comfortable she is here. Music to my ears. Things will only improve with the maid starting at our house this week and our first shipment scheduled to arrive (TOYS! and CLOTHES!) in the coming days. We will get up and running and will look forward to welcoming any and all who wish to stop in for a visit.

If You Offer, They Will Come

This week's title could be taken from any conversation about us here in Argentina: Offer us a ride, we'll take it; offer us dinner, we'll take it; offer us toys, we'll take 'em; offer us sympathy, we'll take it. As one of a handful of families coming in to the neighborhood, we've have been very social and have made sure to let others help us when they offer. We have hosted as well and see the genuine giving nature of others in the last few weeks. We have also seen the need for us to pay forward the generosity to new families. It has certainly given us a new perspective. For example, our local sponsors stocked our shelves and refrigerator, have had us over for dinner multiple times, have provided much needed rides as we don't have a car and have truly been there for us. Another family arrived after us and were lucky to get a ride home from the airport. They arrived to a cold empty home and walked 8 blocks or so to McDonalds for dinner. We know which example we will follow.

Another week has passed and we have just as much stuff as we did last week. We were told last week that our air shipment was scheduled to be on a flight August 1st, so we've had all of our fingers crossed (which has made it difficult to type tonight) that we get a call tomorrow saying our things have cleared customs and are ready to be delivered. That would mean we would actually have our own towels, some sheets, our desktop, a printer, and lots more clothes. For those keeping score, we packed out of Denver 24-25 June, and have been lugging around our lives in suitcases ever since. We lugged them from Denver to Kearney, Nebraska to West Des Moines, Iowa to Oak Brook, Illinois to Poland, Ohio to Fairfax, Virginia (all the stops on our cross country drive) and now to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Needless to say, Candace would be happy to see a little change in the ol' wardrobe.

But more importantly, the kids have continued to excel during this time of great change. Not that they are saintly by any means (as you'll read below), but under the circumstances, we have been very much impressed by their ability to adapt and overcome. Should they receive such a compliment to their faces, they would even say 'gracias' now. Candace would say 'gracias' too, and she deserves the gaucho's share of the praise to date as the loving wife who has stayed home with 2 extremely bored girls, a 2-year old boy with no toys packed for him (they're in the air freight), and a newborn that seems to always want to eat. She has done so with patience and understanding... so she'll get extra steak at our next meal.

To illustrate the boredom, let me provide three examples. First, as I'm sure any curious 2-year old boy would do, Sam (the likely culprit but it cannot be confirmed due to lack of evidence, it just has his naughty fingerprints all over it) probably spent one morning looking for something to do. [Probable Sam thought process] "Alas, a small stick about 3 inches long... SCORE! What should I do with this stick? I could throw it in the garbage and mommy would call me a big boy. I could leave it on the floor and forget about it .3 seconds from now. I could use it as a log to impede Thomas the train. I know, there has to be somewhere I can put it. Look over there... Dad's laptop. There is a funny door on the side that opens that looks like you could put a card of some short in there, like memory or storage or graphics. I bet Dad wants me to store my stick there." Well, Dad did not want the stick there, but I did find a three inch stick inside the card area. The stick almost fit as I barely saw it from the side. Guess he was bored.

Example two and three came from the same blonde-headed rascal. As is typical down here, our house has an alarm system that is regularly monitored. Upon arrival, we received a briefing on its operation and were provided a keychain with a "panic" button should we ever need it while at home. One day we got a call saying our panic button was going off. It had happened the night before as well so we were ready to submit a work order to fix the alarm when Candace realized she didn't know where her keys were. "Claire, do you know where my keys are?" "Yes." Mystery solved. The alarm functioned as advertised. Thanks for the confirmation, Claire. We love you. Claire's second offense can only be attributed to boredom. As Candace must have ancestral roots from some part of the world where it never rained, she drinks tons of water and always has a water bottle within arm's reach. Well, Claire came across a full water bottle on mommy's nightstand and must have wondered what would happen if she played a trick on mommy and hid the water, but not the bottle. Confused? Well, dumping the water bottle into mommy's nightstand drawer (and all over the top... phone, magazine, etc) was not a funny trick mommy appreciated. One towel later and lots of tears, the phone mostly works.

We feel bad for the boredom and that will be alleviated this week as Claire starts her Argentine pre-school tomorrow, and Lily starts kindergarten on Wednesday. We made an excursion to the school uniform store that has a really clever indigenous name: School Uniform Store. (I'm not making that up: http://www.schooluniformstore.com.ar). We got what we needed. We have been walking around the neighborhood as we await the shipment of our car. I, however, have had the unique opportunity of driving an embassy car home and it was an experience. Having never really had video games growing up (missile command and asteroids don't really count), I never had the chance to hone my aggressive driving skills to the level they need to be here. A friend up the street had an Atari and we played Pole Position AMAP (as much as possible), but it didn't provide the training I needed. If the streets of DC and the streets of Chicago were organized chaos, take away designated lanes, stop signs, traffic cops, common sense, right of way, and courtesy, and you have arrived to the roads of Buenos Aires. I hope our van gets here soon so I can triple the insurance on it.

On another positive note, I was able to successfully jailbreak and unlock my iPhone, install a SIM card from a local phone service and it works like a charm. Even when apple products are spoiled, they perform beautifully. The jailbreak and unlocking even happened to be completed (due to my own technical incompetence) AFTER the legal ruling saying it was no longer illegal to do it. Besides, we're in Argentina... it's like throwing a rock at a bald eagle in Canada... NOT against the rules in another country!! Like anyone would ever, um, do that.

Candace has been very pleased at what is available to us. Amazon has a great food section, and we have discovered netgrocer.com that will ship us peanut butter, syrup, and brown sugar. Staples of any diet. She made a visit to the local Walmart (there are a few scattered in the capital), renewed our membership with Netflix, and I even took a stroll through 'MacStation', the Apple store equivalent at the local mall. While not an Apple store, it's an authorized re-seller and when you walk it, it's as futuristic and clean as any Apple store I've been it, if not a little odd with reduced inventory and prices that look even more outrageous when shown in pesos.

On a sad note, we're unlucky in one sense. I had told Candace that upon arrival we'd drive right by the BA temple as it sits right along the freeway on the drive from the airport to the city. I told the kids to keep an eye out for it. When we got to the site, we saw cranes and construction equipment and an empty shell of a temple. As it turns out, the temple was closed in Nov '09 for extensive renovations and expansion. Originally scheduled to close for 18 months (to open in May '11), we've heard it's way behind schedule as they have added new projects and we're not sure when it will open again. The announced Cordoba temple hasn't broken ground yet and the next closest temple is in Montevideo, Uruguay. However, it's not as easy for me to take off after dinner so we can take turns going. We'll have to work through that one a little bit.

Other than that, we know we made the right choice in coming. While it's been hard (mostly on Candace), things are going to start looking up as the girls will be busy with school and our things have got to start arriving. We've made arrangements with some friends to share a maid, we've got Direct TV Puerto Rico shipping us a DVR box, and our American next door neighbors just returned from vacation. Next project is to clean up the parrilla in the back yard.