What a memory!

So, I must confess; and I can't wait to make a real confession to have this off of me-I haven't been going to church as I usually do. There are many reasons but to keep from sounding like excuses I won't bother you with them. However, it was really bothering me body and soul that I might not make it to Ash Wednesday services. So, that morning I woke up and took a chance; I got ready and started my walk. I counted on the way back 17 blocks one way! I had stumbled upon this Basillica my second week here and it is within a 1/2 hour walk from our hotel. I prayed the entire way there on Wednesday and thought if nothing else I had spent some good quality time with God and made an effort:) But as I approached my heart literally soared at the sight of the doors open and people gathering! I had made it just in time for mass! To my surprise it was quite crowded for a midday-11:30-Mass. I didn't understand anything that was being said but I still felt it in my heart. It was by far the most amazing and moving Ash Wednesday services I have ever attended. It proves that love has no language; that God speaks to us all the same. And, when I was finally able to receive communion after a few weeks of not I felt so peaceful. I am so glad that I took that journey that morning...even if my feet did take a beating for it. These are some pictures of the church...if you don't have facebook:

Basillica de Nuestro Senora del Rosario....Basillica of Our Lady of The Rosary

Things I miss...

Hope I didn't lead you to think I was getting all mushy in this post! But, Brad asked me over dinner last night (which included a very odd desire for the mashed potatoes...which I indulged; not fabulous but alright) what I look forward to eating the most once we get back home. Oh boy, did he open it up with that one! I can't seem to stop thinking of it so I thought I would share my list with you so as to illustrate even more differences I am living with right now. As soon as we are on U.S. soil I can't wait to get my hands on:

more of my junk food favorites...particularly popcorn and pretzels. I haven't been able to fine either one here!

Some good chocolate chip pancakes...my favorite way to eat them. We have a breakfast here at the hotel but that has gotten old very fast. How much fruit,cereal, eggs and sausage can you eat before you need to switch?!!

Taco Bell! (It's my fast food pleasure) or Mexican food in general. Contrary to what you may think, Mexican food is virtually non existent here. At least we haven't found any yet.
*side note to this we also can't wait to get spice back. All of the guys Brad works with complain that NOTHING is hot enough here. In fact the hottest hot sauce you can buy is MILD! Crazy. I don't mind; I think the food tastes great in terms of flavor and spice but sometimes is does indeed lack! I did have this one GREAT pasta dish the other day though that had a kick to it...even though I am the only one who thought so:(**

Seafood Restaurants! I love me some good underwater life and while I have had some ok calimari I want the good stuff from back home. I have some fish filets in the freezer at home that I can't wait to bake up...good thing Lent is upon us :) The restaurants do usually have three or four 'seafood' options but they focus more on the meat instead.

Chinese food especially our rice and stir fry's that we love so much...although one thing I am sure I will miss is the very yummy vegetables I have had here :(

You see when you don't have things all the time you do start to miss them. I would give anything for a good cheeseburger at home right now or even some Brocolli loaf. Just cooking for myself in general I look forward to. I guess I have the first two weeks of dinner planned for us when we get home ! I still can't stop thinking about food! I am sure I will be making LOTS of food so don't hesitate to invite yourself to dinner!

*yes, I don't have the healthiest food desires...I know this...I know this is the reason for the way I look....judging isn't nice:) have I made you hungry too???

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful :)

Well, all we've heard about the last few days is the snow threatening everyone back home. We hate to say it but that is the farthest thing from our minds. But, it's true what they say about wanting what you had when you don't have it anymore. I am getting near sick of SWEAT! For a better part of this week the temps were pushing 90! Even laying out by the pool is too hot some times...we have to stay in the water or jump in and out every few minutes just to stay cool. Needless to say I am starting to show some pretty prominent tan lines. I am sure that some of you only dream of this weather right now so I will try my best to send some home :) We, the engineer wives, have to walk most everywhere and would rather not get in a taxi regardless (we actually value our lives and want to live long ones!) and just walking down the block and back works up a sweat these days. With all the walking and sweating I only hope that some pounds shed off me too! I feel sorriest for Brad though. He has worked 13 hours everyday this week and the plant has no air conditioning. He comes back to the hotel so shiny and sticky and I can't help but kiss him. Poor guy...and, they have to be in jeans and all so that makes it worse. But, relief may be in sight today....maybe. I walked to the supermarket...about 4 blocks....dressed as cool as I could get since it was heating up already before 11 in the morning. When I came out an hour later the humidity was closing in on us and I watched the clouds as I picked up the pace. Yes, we are in for some serious STORMS here today. The wind was blowing all over the place and the sky had gotten so dark by the time I returned. It hasn't fallen yet but I am sure it will put on quite a show once it does. We'll see how this big baby who is still afraid of thunder and lightening will do. Hope you all survive whatever conditions Mother Nature is throwing your way as well! Again, I'll try to send some sunshine your way!

Don't be jealous :)

I know....my life must seem like a luxury. Why, you ask? Well I can think of two reasons....first, this is where I spent my Valentine's day. (albeit alone with Barb, the other engineer wife)

That's the pool if you can't tell :) I actually took this from the window in our room. The weather was HOT but beautiful and we sat poolside for a good chunk of the afternoon and worked on our tans. Very refreshing and relaxing...and I have a healthy looking glow right now:)

Well, I did say TWO reasons why my life might be luxurious. The second is out of this world to me. We were leaving for dinner yesterday (we walk everywhere) and upon our exit we see that the sidewalks and part of the walkway to our hotel are being blocked off by movable metal fencing and armed guards!! The guards immediately ask us to move through as around the corner comes this huge bus. This is when we notice the crowds all over the streets; people all of a sudden gathered in front of our hotel! The bus happened to carry a soccer team! We don't know which one or anything but it just shows how big this sport is here. I mean, people had cameras and autograph books and were screaming at these guys as they came off the bus. Seemed right out of hollywood. In the meantime we are in the middle of all of this and can only laugh. We don't get it :) So, we are staying in the same hotel as some big time famous soccer team. Things should be interesting. When we came back from dinner there were still people camped out in front of the hotel...like 3 deep and the armed guards are at the driveway; we showed our room key so they would let us through! I told Barb that if the people are still there today that we are going to get all fancied up and put on our big oversized sunglasses and go down there to sign autographs and take pictures acting like U.S. celebrities; these people would probably believe us :) Oh, the adventures and memories I will take from this trip!

A different culture

Well, we've made it to day 5 I think it is now. So far so good. I have managed to communicate with a few people back home and the one thing that they really wanted to know was how I was eating. If you know me well enough, you know I am so picky when it comes to this! I made a vow the first time I saw a menu here to at least try everything before ruling it out or changing it around. The food isn't much different than ours back home just made differently sometimes. Everyone told us that Argentina has GREAT beef and they have been right. We've had some pretty decent cuts and dishes of that. We've tried'Empanada's' which are like calzones with minced meat in them but the breading is more flaky like a crescent roll but thicker. Was very good but had too many green olives in it :P One thing that we noticed about the sandwiches is that they put egg on everything! I was thinking like a fried egg or an egg patty like you get on a breakfast sandwich. But, Brad and I ate this HUMONGOUS sandwich the other day and it came with hard boiled egg slices...ah! Ok, it was an awesome sandwich with the egg, beef, a thin slice of ham, melted cheese, some lettuce...oh..my..gosh. To top it all off it was the size of the dinner plate! Of course I didn't even eat one half of it. Another thing that they put on different is Ketchup. I actually had a grilled ham, cheese and ketchup sandwich one day...interesting but still edible. Their vegetables down here are amazing too. We usually go out to dinner with the other engineers. This is the only way I leave the hotel restaurant! The hotel has a menu that is printed in Spanish but translated as well and their staff can speak decent English. We leave the hotel and all that is gone and we are lost without the engineers who speak Spanish. So, we ate along the river last night and had wonderful food. The spanish speaking engineer ordered this 'spread' with our bread basket. It looked weird but he told us it was mushrooms and cheese...I wish I could make it myself!!! We had these bread pieces to put it on and I had to stop myself before I filled up on that. When my dinner came I am glad I wasn't full. I ordered the grilled vegetables and they came in their own mini cast iron wok...I had pepper strips and mushrooms (SOOOOO good down here) squash and broccoli but also a WHOLE onion, tomato and potato! The onion was so good but the potato was a little hard for me. I was unsure about the onion but cut it up and savored it! Things are so different here and so delicious too. I am enjoying trying everything. Good thing I have to walk everywhere! But with the way I eat I don't think it will make a difference! Plus it doesn't help that I love my bread and the hotel serves a kicking bread basket. If my hips get any wider you can blame it on the little garlic toasts and seasoned butter they put on my table at every meal. I love them! In terms of food this country so far gets an A! But, my stomach also is being true to home...we bought some snacks at the local 'supermercado'...even though they're in Spanish...this junk food addict is very happy!

Buenos Dias!

Well, we are here safe and sound...and still feeling jet lag! It's almost 1:00 pm here so if you're in Michigan it's only about 10 and Wisconsin that means you are at about 9:00. How confusing! We started off on Thursday morning and by 6:00 our time here Friday we were at our hotel. All in all it was over 30 hours since we left our house. What a long day; I really can't wait to come home again but it makes me sick to think about it too because I have to do all that travelling all over again! We flew TEN hours from Houston; Brad slept on the plane but I had a harder time and arrived in Buenos Aires only to get on a bus to drive another five hours back in the direction we came in (don't even get me started on that!) and finally reached Rosario. It's an interesting city...we are slowly learning lots of interesting things about our current country. One of the most surprising is that NOBODY speaks English. It's so frustrating for us; I don't know why I was naive enough to think more people would speak it but they don't. So far we haven't run into any major problems because most people here are SO NICE about it!! Once they realize we don't understand they try so hard to help us and we have been able to figure everything out so far. I have a high school level of Spanish and it isn't that great but it still helps. I really wish I would have taken it more serioulsy back then :) The second thing we have to get used to is how people eat around here. We met up with one of Brad's co workers for dinner last night and didn't leave the hotel until 9:00...and the restaurant was only getting busy when we left at midnight! The co worker explained to us that things really don't get underway until about 2 am!! So, we sleep a lot during the day since our clocks are on haywire right now! We have ventured the neighborhood on our own a bit...not much to write home about but it's still interesting and new. We found a supermarket and were able to buy some snacks for the room and some other things. Know that we are doing well, getting homesick but overall happy and loving being together. Hope all is well with you...will try to write often about our current status and any news. Continue to keep us in prayer as we do you...Hasta Luego!