Looking Back

Looking Back on the years we lived in Buenos Aires, the one thing that stands out is how Happy we were.
I was cranky the first couple of weeks because ..
1- the water/food did not agree and I was losing weight like crazy and my clothes were getting bigger on me by the day.
2- The red tape and police visits all conducted in Spanish were very stressful for me.
I worry ..
I worry when things are good and in English, imagine how I dealt with it in Castellano.
Thank goodness for my husband who was never stressed and just so happy to be there that he would just smile and do whatever it was we had to do.

I look back on those days and think that having Pup with us was one of the best things that happened.
He was my stress relief.
He was like having a living teddy bear, soft and sweet and loving and happy .. that dog was always happy.

He was our Ambassador of Goodwill.
There are no Standard Poodles in Buenos Aires .. or there were none when we arrived and lived there.
So it was , as my husband said, like walking down the street with a gorilla .. a unicorn .. everyone wanted to touch it, pet it and take a photo of it.

There are tourists today- in Japan, in France, Germany, with photos of my dog.
Some of those photos have me or both my husband and I and the dog in them.
It wasn't possible sometimes to avoid being photographed with the Celebrity Dog.
The Caniche.
I learned that word the first week we were there.
Caniche Grande.

He loved it. He thought Buenos Aires was the best thing since dog biscuits.
Everyone wanted to touch him, pet him, ladies kissed him .. on the lips ...ewww.. and he could run all over the park and not get yelled at and he got to go for walks all the time every day.
What more could a dog ask for ?

He had his favorite cafes, he was allowed to have drinks in the Evita Cafe .. the lady down the street always gave him a biscuit when she saw him .. the porters all loved him and gave him a good scratch on the back .. behind the ear .. the vet kissed him and gave him cookies ..
Buenos Aires was the best thing that ever happened to that dog.

My husband was pretty much like the dog  ...
He was so happy to be there.
He walked around just soaking it in, smiling , charming people even in another language .. he was gifted that way.
He made lists and we did everything on the list and we got everything accomplished.
We , finally after 3 years, got our Permanent Resident IDs and relaxed and enjoyed just being there ..
We made friends with Argentine people , we avoided the ex-pat life .. we didn't want to move somewhere totally different and sit around with people from our old neighborhood and speak English.

Although speaking Castellano was difficult and we were not fluent by any means , we managed to do everything one has to do in daily life .. in another language.

I enjoyed the days when we were house hunting and finally found our apartment. The excitement, the closing ! that was an experience to remember !
Then the shopping .. furniture, lighting, kitchen and bath .. we remodeled the kitchen and bath, but left everything else as it was , with a new paint job.
The apartment had previously been a private home, 2 apartments to a floor.
Front to back .. high high ceilings, the building was done in the French Style .
So we went straight to San Telmo and shopped for Chandeliers.
There were also shops for coffee tables and desks and such..
My desk which I am using now, here in NY , was hand made , an Argentine country style wood desk with a charming look to it and lots of memories in it.
Most of the lights are put away, this house doesn't have the high ceilings needed for the chandeliers we bought, those are wrapped and in boxes, waiting for a new home with high ceilings.
Someday ..

Our sofa .. the biggest and heaviest sofa made this century .. bought in Recoleta, now living in New York .. with the antique coffee table bought on Vicente Lopez in Recoleta where they sell antique rugs and a piece or two of furniture .. lucky for us, the coffee table was there that day.
It is very old and Chinese .. and has so many stories to tell.

We sat in cafes every day .. we tried different foods, we shopped, we loved the fact that we were 3 blocks from a huge Museum of Art .. that we were 3 blocks away from miles of park and walks and beauty.
We were also quite close to a few malls.
What more could a girl ask for ?

The music .. we were always buying music .. my husband was totally in love with anything Argentine, we have so much good Tango music now.
I was totally in love with the low cost of shoes and I have so many pairs now ... what ? I like Tango music too ! but you still need shoes... and handbags .. beautiful soft leather handbags.

We took lessons in Castellano and failed.
Well, to be honest ... I failed. My husband did pretty good. I quit. So he quit. We did fine anyway.


more later .....