Things seemed to progressing along nicely. The kids went to a birthday party at a friends on Friday night and we we were looking forward to fun weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weather was beautiful so I took Kate to the 3 Febrero Park for some roller skating. In the U.S. this would have entailed getting helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist pads and insurance waivers. In Argentina, it involved handing our shoes and $8 to a lady with a pile of roller skates.

I admit that I had a few moments of anxiety, mostly over how mad Michele would be if Kate crashed and broke her arm, but it was a beautiful day and off we went.  The park is gorgeous and there was all sorts of great people watching including a rock band, two comedians, a big group of people doing aerobics and skaters of all levels of skill.  Despite all my concerns, we emerged totally unscathed!

A few hours later, in the safety of our own home, we heard a loud crash followed closely by Kate screaming.  After a painful evening, we took her to the doctors and sure enough, she had broker her wrist doing gymnastics in her room.

Medical care here is different from the states because the doctors spend much more time with the patients. They do the examinations themselves and even put Kate’s cast on.  As usual, Kate was undaunted by her injury and valiantly returned to school with her arm in a sling, which is a good thing because two days later was HER 10th Birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michele was an absolute champion, decorating the apartment and baking not one, but two birthday cakes for Kate (one for us and one to bring to school).  The big surprise for Kate was that we got her earrings and got her ears pierced, which is nice here because they actually came to apartment to do it.

The kids weren’t the only ones having adventures.  I went to visit the Boca Juniors to talk about their technology strategy, which was fascinating.  I got a nice tour of the stadium and the practice field.  Interestingly, they have so many championship trophies that they are literally scattered about the office.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also went to Correa a place where they still custom make shoes.  Incredible level of craftmanship.  I left with a nice  brown leather pair, but will have to wait a month until my size 12.5 blue dress pair is ready.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kate also had her first friend over for a sleep over.  They had a great time chatting the night away after we went out for some ice cream. Seemed like everything was going great.  The only bummer was the Jake was running a bit of a fever, but it was just a cold right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wrong.  Monday morning after 4 days of a high fever, we finally brought Jake to the doctors and it turned out that he had Scarlet Fever.  Isn’t that what Helen Keller had?!  Well actually it is, but thankfully with penicillin, it’s not a big deal along if treated properly.

With one kid with a broken wrist and another with Scarlett Fever, we were starting to feel a bit beleaguered I will admit, there were a couple of rough days in there when we felt pretty isolated and frustrated.   What I’ve noticed, however, is that every time we have a bump in the road, we come out of it stronger and more focused on making the most of our time here.  And when you think about it, isn’t this just a metaphor for our entire lives?