25 October 2010

adventures in babysitting

She take my money when I'm in need
Yeah she's a triflin' friend indeed
Oh, she's a gold digger
Way over town
That digs on me
-Kanye West, Gold Digger

Did you know that there's actually a channel on Argentine television that shows nothing but cattle running? I kid you not. Every time I've turned it on, my eyes have been met with a bovine stampede. I do the rounds, check out a little Law and Order or the Office, and then by the time I make it back to the Cow Channel, the cattle are running the other way. It's intense.

I'm waiting to complete my second interview with the nanny agency, but that's moving ahead at least. I also just got an e-mail from the American family asking me if I could increase my hours! How great is that?

I got to spend some quality time with the 18 month old yesterday, because his sister was sick. We took a leisurely stroll down to the park, stopping at any store windows he pointed at. He loves trucks and buses and things like that, but he also pointed quite enthusiastically at the window of a lingerie shop. I guess he's well on his way to becoming a typical, red-blooded, American male.

When we got to the park, he beelined for the swings, and I discovered that he's learned a new word: "Push!" The other day, he said "Higher!" for the first time too. I think he's mimicking his sister, but it's still so exciting that his vocabulary is expanding so fast. (His parents told me that my name was probably his tenth word- how cool is that?!)

The little guy's favorite pasttimes, besides the swing set, include throwing sand, tackling me so
that I become covered in sand, dropping things in the sand, and building things out of sand. But at least he doesn't usually bury things in the sand, like the surprised-looking blond kid who frequently shows up at the park and asks about everything, "Que es eso?" ("What is that?") Before you can answer, this little McCaulay Caulkin-lookalike has already pointed at something else and repeated the question. It's great that he's curious about the world and all, but I really don't think he listens to the answers, because I've explained to him about a dozen times what my camera is, and he still reached into my purse yesterday to play with it. Then he grabbed my coloring pens and buried them in the sand while his mother watched, and I watched his mother, waiting for her to step in. (Took her long enough.)

Um, what else. . . I realized last night that I miss baseball (and softball, naturally) a lot. And I miss baseball players a lot. Like a lot. I guess that's one thing I'm definitely not going to find here. Along with Target, Ruffles, Forever 21, grits, H&M, all the clothes I've accumulated over the years which are currently in Kansas, and my family. Boo.

Went to an outdoor concert sort of thing on Saturday night. Klezmer. It's like Jewish fusion music. There was some North African and Spanish influence I think. . . anyway, it was intense. And then Dave and I saw like 500 people dancing Thriller and joined in.

Yesterday we hit up the Recoleta cemetery, where Evita is interred. They're all about tombs and mausoleums up in here. It's very mysterious and somber. Many of the tombs have fallen into disrepair and you can see the coffins inside of them. I've heard you can also see bones in some parts of the cemetery, but I didn't, and I think I'm glad I didn't. Because that would have been yucky.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

All very interesting information! You do realize that your 18 mth old will be in the "What's that?"
phase before you know it? :-) Really enjoyed the photos with this posting and hope you can share more soon! Maybe you should figure out how to start a baseball/softball craze there? (build it and they will come?) Good luck with your next interviews! I know you will do great. I'm glad they are so picky since that will come in handy when screening out the weirdos!