argentina – Page 4 – 1 year in Argentina

Today the boys started 1st and 4th grade at Escuela Primaria Juan Zorilla de San Martin in the Cerro de Las Rosas neighborhood in Cordoba! Big success considering no one tried to escape and Elliott was apparently mistaken for Justin Bieber. The school day wrapped up with a promised heladoria stop (I had dulce de leche con brownie) and I had to jump in the pool on a 50 degree evening to make good on my promise to the boys if all went well. Yo tengo frio. Yesterday when it was 80 the idea seemed better.

The process to enroll the boys at Zorilla has been remarkably smooth, thanks to a great friend Gaby!! She made introductions for us to the principal when we visited in April and elaborated on Erica’s PTO expertise to pave the way. Getting all the right paperwork in order and supplies for the boys is ongoing, but we feel very fortunate. The people we met in April swung the decision to Cordoba, and it’s the people who continue to reinforce our decision.

We prepped for today by visiting the school the day before to meet the principal and teachers and show the boys the classrooms. The biggest adjustment so far is all the attention they are getting. The teachers and staff all gush about how cute and handsome they are and give them lots of kisses (besos in Argentina in lieu of handshakes). They are suddenly rockstars! All the touching, kissing and attention has them freaked out. Elliott was absolutely mobbed today when we arrived. The girls were asking him to sign autographs thinking he was Justin Bieber. The other kids are so curious and excited to meet both of them. Elliott quickly had a few self-appointed buddies clearing space for him like bouncers. Ben said he had to climb under a table at one point to escape the girls. They are overwhelmed by all the attention so far and pretty worried, but after Day 1, the language barrier seems to be the lesser issue. Everyone is so nice and accepting so far.

There are two sessions per day in primary school, morning and afternoon. Gaby was great in helping to get the boys in the same session and Elliott is in the same class with Gaby’s daughter Malena, who is completely bilingual. The boys start at 1:30pm and are done at 5:30pm. We take a public bus from our hotel in Villa Belgano to Cerro for school. They have 3 recesses and there is a kiosko (read candy shop) on site for the kids! Selling points for the boys to be sure. We’re blackmailing the boys with 2 pesos per day earning potential with good behavior to be readily spent at the kiosko.

More on house hunting and day-to-day challenges and observations soon!

Elliott surrounded before class

We arrived in Cordoba just the other morning, but some times it feels like we’ve already been here for at least a week. After a whirl wind couple of days filled with incredible asados with friends and house hunting, we tried some sight seeing downtown today, but that was kind-of a bust because it’s a holiday. It’s a national holiday to honor the death of Jose de San Martin who was a leader Argentina’s successful struggle for independence from Spain. We thought that maybe there would be some fun stuff happening downtown, but I guess it’s more of a holiday where you hang out with friends and family. Which has gotten me thinking about all this “family” time we’ve had over the past month.

Frankly, I’m exhausted. The constant stream of questions from Ben, our middle child, is almost more than I can handle. I know that he’s a kid who needs to know the plan; he needs to know what we’re doing next IN DETAIL, but often (honestly, most of the time), I don’t have that answer. I don’t know exactly where we’re going, but I gave the taxi driver an address, and here’s hoping he’s going to get us there. I don’t know exactly what time everyone will be at the asado, but we’re going to get there around 12:30, or 8, or whenever, and when everyone else shows up, they show up. I don’t know what the taxi driver’s name is, or why he’s talking on the phone while driving, or what that sign says. I’m just trying to take it all in, too. I do know, however, that this is just Ben’s way of making sure that everything is ok, and that his parents are in control, at least, sort-of. All this makes for a pretty short fuse.

Put that together with the fact that we’re staying in a guest house/bed and breakfast, where the people are wonderfully kind, but our quarters are close, and unfortunately, my best parenting techniques are out the window. Rob and I are trying to be very conscious (and at the same time help the kids grasp the concept) of the other guests, so we spend a lot of time telling the kids to “be quiet!” and “stop running!” and “don’t slam the doors!” I have lost count of how many times I’ve said to the boys, “And what about your behavior did you think was acceptable on ANY LEVEL?!?!?!?!” With this phrase, I hope to accomplish two things: make the kids shut up, and use confusing enough language so the non-English speakers here will have no idea of what I’m saying to my kids.

In all of this crazy, there are amazing glimmers, though. Incredible moments that I grab and hold onto tightly:

*Molly dancing in her seat on the plane as she listened to music with her headphones.

*Ben and Elliott watching some cartoon in Spanish, then chatting about it IN SPANISH, I’m sure, without even realizing that they were speaking Spanish.

*Molly telling our friends that her Spanish is “fantastic.”

*Ben chatting with just about anyone who works at the hotels where we’ve stayed like they’re old friends from way back.

*Rob getting us downtown on the bus from our hotel without a hitch.

On Wednesday we’re going to the boys’ school to meet their teachers and have a look around, then they’ll start school on Thursday. I’m hoping I’ll be able to keep myself together when we drop them off on Thursday, but I’m not betting on it. This is a BIG DEAL, and I would give almost anything to be a fly on the wall and listen in on their conversations. I promise I would listen quietly; they wouldn’t even know I was there.