Martes en la gran ciudad, Hubo lluvia

Tuesday Steve got up early to head to a group class via the subway. Paco and I got a bit of a later start and headed to Patio Bullrich for the great handbag hunt. Judy had given me a task of finding her the perfect Argentine handbag. Handbags here are great, the leather is very fine quality and the selection is amazing. I had an idea of what she wanted, but still spending someone else's money is always a task. Paco sweetly helped me go through all the stores. He identified whether or not it had the pocket on the outside that she liked, we talked about color and shape. But my favorite store, Skin, had left this particular mall. We shared Freddo none the less and then went in search of a park. Unfortunately by now it hard started to rain and I, of course, had declined to bring out jackets in the 80 plus heat! Suddenly the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and we were freezing. The park was wet, but it was just a great park that I let Paco play there for a while until it got too cold.

From there we went in search of a sweatshirt (since I did not want to drag him the 30 minutes back to the apartment) and also did a bit of shopping for Christmas books in Spanish. For $10.00 USD I secured him a new blue sweatshirt with a hood which he wore all day. I also found a nice, simple, wooden nacimiento (nativity scene) that may break on the way back, but was inexpensive and understated (as is the manner in our house when it comes to Catholic things, save for the big giant photo of Steve and I with John Paul II on the wall, but that is another blog all together). We then met Steve at 1PM for lunch at a café near the school . I had some delicious crepes stuffed with spinach, Steve had a tortilla española that he liked very much, and shockingly, Paco had an omelet with ham and cheese. We had a delicious espresso before I hurried off to my lesson. (I still cannot remember the name of the teacher, it is so embarrassing, she was really very good!). For 3 hours I worked on pronunciation the use of the subjunctive in the past. By the end of it my brain was absolute mush. Any word with a “u” or more than one “t” she made me repeat over and over again.

(Steve writing) After leaving Erin at class, Paco was begging to see if the nice park that he and Erin had found earlier was dry enough to play on. It was about 9 blocks away so we started our walk. Since there was actually a light mist in the air, I had put the sun cover up over Paco so I couldn’t see that he fell asleep in the stroller before we got to the park (this kid can sleep anywhere!). I was torn at the park, because he needed a nap but I was hoping it would be later in the day so he wouldn’t be as tired at dinner. I bent over him and said in his ear “we’re at the park, want to play?” He awoke immediately from a deep sleep, his eyes popped open and he jumped out of the stroller at the same time. This was the nicest park we had found in B.A. so far. It appeared to be relatively new, made of wood and metal, and safe in the manner of playgrounds in the U.S. He was having a ball going up and down the slides when another boy who was probably about 5 or 6 came into the playground with his mom. I’m not sure how it happened, but Paco and this boy started playing like long-lost friends… chasing each other around the park, going down the slides, etc. Paco was screaming in Spanish and seemed to communicate just fine! What a joy to watch.

From there, we walked caught a cab back to the apartment where Paco had a quick snack of milk and yogurt and fell asleep in his bed almost immediately.

(Back to Erin)

After class, I crammed in the subway to head back to Palermo. I looked for a cake to take to the delGiovaninos that night and bought a cake, 4 sandwiches de miga, and 3 different kinds of cookies (about 20 in total). I went home, met the boys and we called a cab to go to Belgrano, where the delGiovaninos live. As usual we had a lovely time, chatting half in English and half in Spanish throughout the evening. The first time we went there, we had empanadas and Beatriz had them this time as well. I took it as a gift specifically for me. Beatriz’s little nieta is so sweet, at 5 months Malena (I think that is how it is spelled) is an angel. She fell asleep on me and had nothing but smiles and giggles for all. Sofia and Paco played for a while sweetly, but really, Paco was hyper and Sofia tired, so the peace did not last long. We said good night after keeping everyone up late again. I called Beatriz mi suegra in Argentina. I hope she took it as a compliment...

Earlier, we had receive an email from Perla (the mother of Carolina and Julieta our good Argentine friends in San José, and the mother of a very pregnant Virginia, who lives here in the province) that Virginia was in labor but we could still come over tomorrow (Wed afternoon). I am thinking “seriously” and sent an email back saying, no, I don’t think that is necessary. I had to check with Beatriz and her daughter-in-law Gabriella that there was not some Argentine custom of visiting the house the day the baby arrived!

Thanks to Julieta’s wedding here in June, it is nice to be able to say to the delGiovaninos that we will see them in several months.