BBQ Winner!

How do you make a name for yourself when you first arrive at Post? WIN THE BBQ COMPETITION at (and bring a teeny tiny baby to) the Hail/Farewell. This weekend we had a big party/pot luck/BBQ competition. I submitted a BBQ brisket and grilled mushrooms, and won both the Beef and Side categories. I'd be very proud of myself... except... I was the only competitor in the Beef category... and since the weather had been cold and rainy all week, I was the only person to use a smoker or grill. Either way, we had a good time and there was plenty of great food. Kudos to the CLO for a fun party.

PS: I totally forgot to get pictures before the food was all eaten... so here's a picture of my winnings!

DPO vs Pouch

Everybody loves mail! Living overseas is like going to summer camp. There's no better feeling than finding out you have mail to pick up. It sounds silly, but it's really true. Besides that, having (US) mail is one of the most enviable benefits of living overseas on government orders. The other expats I've met are immediately jealous, as their options for buying American products are mostly limited to... well... having someone bring it to them.

That being said, when it comes to mail there are two types of Posts. In Chennai, all of our mail came through the Diplomatic Pouch. The benefit to this is that shippers 'think' they're shipping to the US. The down side is that we were generally looking at 7 days minimum shipping time AFTER it's delivered to the pouch facility. Having a Diplomatic Post Office (the State Department version of an Army Post Office or APO), as we do in Buenos Aires, has its own positives and negatives. On the positive side, our mail can arrive in as few as 3 days after arriving at the DPO facility. However, some retailers, e.g. Amazon, know that APO/DPOs aren't in the US, so their standard shipping timing is thrown out the window. It took one item we ordered 25 days to SHIP from Amazon, not to mention travel time to the DPO.

Of course, in Chennai we received our mail once per week, so you really looked forward to mail day. Here mail arrives almost daily, so perhaps some of the morale-boosting rush of receiving mail will wear off. Oh well, I'll just have to order some tissues to wipe away my tears of woe. :-D

Buenos Aires Holidays: Día de la Revolución de Mayo

New country, new set of host nation holidays to celebrate! Today's day off is courtesy of the Dia de la Revolucion de Mayo. This holiday is always on May 25th, regardless of the day of the week, and is the anniversary of the First Independent Government in Buenos Aires (1810).

Though they use the term "revolution," in reality it was just a sequence of socio-political events that led to the first government not designated by the Spanish Crown. There wasn't any violence attached to the change, but Argentine tradition calls it a revolution due to the definitive change in leadership from subservient to Spain, to independent. It did have the side effect of the Viceroy of Rio de la Plata (the area containing present-day Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay) being ousted from office.

It's winter here, so I don't think we'll be celebrating like the 4th of July in the US... but I appreciate the day off work none-the-less. It's conveniently on a Wednesday before the 3 day weekend of Memorial day. That means for two days of leave, I could have had a 6 day weekend! Maybe next year.

Consular Report of Birth Abroad

It's a boy! (ok ok, we've known that for months). We knew we'd be having the baby here and in fact we moved to Argentina the day before my wife's no-fly date. However, the baby was due in late June approximately a full month from now, but he decided to come (very) early. This was quite the surprise to us, as we'd packed all of our infant supplies in our UAB... which hasn't arrived yet (but should be here long before late June!) Fortunately, we got some loaners from another family who had a baby recently. Even more of a surprise was that my wife spent the last week hospitalized on bed rest. So... needless to say, we've had an interesting transition to living in Buenos Aires. This also partially explains my blog-silence. On the plus side, she did meet an OB that she liked several days before being hospitalized and the hospital is less than 2 blocks from our house.

Anyway, onward to the next big adventure in our lives. Buenos Aires didn't have a long run in terms of being our "current big adventure." We sure are glad to be living downtown though, where we can walk everywhere!

PS: Fun fact, when she leaves the hospital, my wife will have spent more than 50% of her time in this country... in that hospital room.

PPS: She does not have internet.

PPPS: Everyone speaks Spanish.

PPPPS: She does not speak Spanish.

PPPPPS: Everyone is healthy and happy!

PPPPPPS: Now comes the fun part of obtaining all the appropriate official documentation for our newest little American diplomat.

We're Off! JUST KIDDING.

Welp, nothing beats packing everything up: 6 suitcases, 3 carry on, stroller, car seat, cat, and the family, driving for two hours, checking in for your flight, and then being told by the counter representative that your flight is delayed and you can't make your connection. Fortunately, we have family in the area and a rental car (van) was only $40. Guess we're spending the night and trying again tomorrow! At least this "last day" in the US will be less full of frantic packing and attempting to cram stuff into carry on bags. Our cat is still pissed though.