My little Bruja

Gabriela was a witch for Halloween. Since they don't celebrate here we did not have much to choose from. Gabriela loved her costume and now says "Bruja." She is talking a lot. Yesterday I asked her these question and here were her answers.

What is your name: Gabi

What is your favorite song: Happy

What is your favorite color: Purple

Who is your best friend: Mama-short for Madison

Who is your favorite basketball player: Dada and Julio..one of Nichy's teamates. Later that day Julios wife asked her in Spanish and she said the same thing. We all thought it was so funny!

South American Tournament

We are playing in the South American Tournament. The top two teams from each country play in this tournament. This week we played three games and won all of them!! We qualified for the next round. Hopefully we will win that round and play for the championship! It would be a huge deal to win the South American Tournament!

Last night a fight broke out at the game. I have been to enough Fiba basketball games to know the officials have no control of these situations. Gabriela was with me and I left immediately. On my walk home I kept hearing screaming and really loud cheering. I was really nervous and praying my husband was okay! Everything turned out fine and the fight was minor!

Nichy is leaving this week. I hired a nanny name Jessica. She comes a few days a week and watches Gabriela. The real reason I hired her was to practice conversational Spanish! However, my plan is not working out because she is very shy! Gabriela likes her and she is very good with her! I am hoping she will get comfortable with me and start talking more!!

Asados

We have been going to a lot of Asados. Argentinians have Asados for any type of celebration. We celebrated Quimsa winning the pre-season tournament! The picture above is a Folklore group. This is Folk music and everyone was singing and clapping! It was great. This past week I went to a Folklore dance class. If I was trying not to stick out as an American girl with no rhythm I went to the wrong place!!



This is not a great picture. If you look behind the guy standing holding the pole you can see the pit whey they cook the food. This is the parrilla which is a huge grill. Different meats are presented at Asados usually by the cook. Each Asado typically serves three or four different cuts of meat and chorizo. Everyone enjoys good food and lots of wine!

We went to this Asado with my friend Sylvio and his family. They were celebrating a birthday. Most of the guys were huge basketball fans and very excited to have Nichy there! They couldn't believe how much he ate. They loved it and kept serving him more meat!

New Pics and Friends!

We were walking by the gym and saw this picture of Nichy on the wall! Gabriela was in the stroller and started saying "dada." I looked up and it was a picture of her daddy!

Quimsa won the pre-season tournament. Everyone was so excited. It was bitter-sweet, because Nichy got hurt and did not get to play in the championship game. However, it was just a pre-season tournament! He pulled a muscle and will be out for a few weeks.






This is a picture of Roberto and Gabriela. Roberto is our new friend who works at the Kiosko a few blocks from us. Everyday after siesta Gabriela and I walk to his store. We sit on his patio and talk with all the regular customers. Roberto and my friend, Sylvio, help me with my Spanish. It is good practice for me to talk with them on a daily basis. They are also big basketball fans and love to talk basketball! Gabriela loves going because she gets all the attention!!


This picture sums up how Gabriela gets treated in Argentina!! Everyone loves children here and they love to feed them! On a daily basis Gabriela is given a banana from the verduleria, balloons from the toy store, and candy from the grocery store. She is not too happy when I take the candy from her!! I don't have the heart to tell the ladies that I don't let her eat candy! She was allowed to eat cake at Sol's birthday party. As you can see from the picture she was in heaven!

Winning!

Nichy is playing in the pre-season tournament. They have been doing great and winning! Next weekend they will play in the championship round. Gabriela has been doing great at the games. However, I do take a lot of snacks! The culture with children here is so different. Strangers will want to hold your child, play with them, and try to feed them! I am starting to get to know people here. We have met some really nice people!

All of the wives and girlfriends are great. I am the only American wife. Which means my Spanish is getting better! When the guys go out of town we usually get together and watch the games. Today Nichy is off, and I think we are going shopping! Everytime he has a day off I drag him all over town!

Santiago Del Estero

We are back in Argentina and getting settled. Nichy came a month before us and got the apartment all set up. We have a nice apartment and a big kitchen! The kitchen is going to be great since I cook a lot. Gabriela did great on the flights over. We traveled almost twenty four hours before we got to Santiago Del Estero. She got sick on the flight from Atlanta to Buenas Aires. There was no warning just vomit everywhere! It was aweful. I felt so sorry for her. For a few minutes I was the mom with the baby screaming her head off. Oh, did I mention it was 2:00 in the morning!

Nichy's team has been winning! This team is a lot better than the team he played on last year! Winning is so much more fun than loosing! I have met all the wives and girlfriends. We have gotten together and few times. Gabriela loves to play with one of the wives daughter name April. She has made her first friend in Argentina!

Catching up!

This summer Nichy obtained his work visa and is working toward his USA permanent residency. We didn’t get to travel much and plan on going to Panama for Christmas. My mom, Nichy, Gabriela, and I drove to LaCrosse, Wisconsin, to see Zac, Addie, and Jude. We had a blast and the car ride was great! I didn’t realize how relaxing driving can be when you are not in a hurry. We fly so much and deal with overweight luggage, delayed flights, and other problems that are not in our control! Wisconsin was beautiful. Zac and Addie live just a couple of blocks from the Mississippi River. We went on a dinner cruise on the Mississippi, enjoyed walking along the River Walk, and drove to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to shop at The Mall of America. Gabriel and Jude rode rides at the mall, which was fun for both of them.

Gabriela is changing so much. She is trying to talk and repeats words she hears a lot. When we ask her a question, she answers with “yeah,” which is usually her reply to everything we ask her. She has two baby dolls, Anna and Bella. Grammy just bought her a new doll that cries. The dolls are walked in a stroller, rocked, and given many kisses by Gabriela…it is too cute! Grandpa took Gabriela to the petting zoo last week and she got to ride on the back of a sheep, which just made her day. This summer she and Grandpa had a lot of fun eating bananas, eating ice cream, playing “Gabriel is in a trap,” and ringing the bell.