Here is the first picture of our new house! Flor is showing off her belly behind the "practicuna" that Flor's parents gave us for Valentina's room. The practicuna starts out as a crib and is later transformed into a child's bed by taking out the drawers. Can you see the Winnie the Pooh border on the wall? Well we've got about four weeks before Vale makes her entrance, and it's been fun to get to know the other couples in our "pre parto" classes. The first half is hard to make it through without falling asleep to the relaxation music. If giving birth is that calm and easy, than why do all the movies show screaming women? I guess we'll figure that one out for ourselves :)
It has been so much fun to re-connect with the students and friends we haven't seen for so long. We had a party on Friday night and about fifteen of them were able to make it. Alex, our teammate, fired up the "parrilla" or grill for the first time to make some hamburgers. You might be asking, why didn't you do it, Chris, since you love grilling out? Good question, I'd say. It all started when I travelled to Buenos Aires in the morning to process my DNI (similar to our Social Security Number). When I got to the national proccessing center, I found out that the translator I used for all of my documents for the Argentine Consulate in Houston were no longer valid. I would have to use one of the translators registered with the Argentine government. To my surprise, I was able to get it translated AND notorized in less than three hours. As I took the subway back to the processing center, I couldn't keep from smiling, until I arrived and found out that the line had shut down for me to set up an appointment. I would have to come back that evening. Frustrated, I decided to walk around Buenos Aires for about six hours until the line opened back up. After a good coffee and reading a few chapters of "The Case for Faith", I made my way back to the processing center. When I walked in, nobody was there - except for a handful of workers drinking mate. They informed me that the computer systems were down and that I would have to come back the following week. By this time I could only laugh as I made my way back to the train station. After the train delays, I made it back home late enough to find my faithful teammate with the fire already going.
