A Messy But Beautiful World

Things just got even more real in Argentina.

We are on lockdown until March 31, 2020.  Waiting for official news to see the implications but not a good situation. 

Just watched an Indigo Girls concert that attracted 60,000 fans via facebook.  The world is messy but there is still so much beauty.

Ordered 12 bottles of wine today and made a cardboard bus out of the boxes for my toddler.

This is the time to let your creativity flow and relinquish control.

#SOL20 #day19 #wow

Oopsie. Rascalish Moments from Pablo

As we were eating pizza and watching Pup Academy, a Friday night activity that has somehow made it to the middle of the week, we were giggling and Pablo grasped on to a new dog, called Oopsie. 
He asked "What's oopsie?" And kept repeating it frequently like it was being repeated in the episode. 
I said "It's kind of like uh-oh."

And then, Pablo said, oh "like shit."

And I said, "Yes" but "Oopsie is what you say, not shit." 

To which he jokingly replied "Oopsie. Oopsie.  Oopsie."

And to which I grinned, sheepishly.

#SOL20 #day18 #Oopsie 

When It's Over

When It's Over, I want to go on a trip to a beach and drink margaritas and build sandcastles while splashing around in crystal clear water.

When It's Over, I want to go to a discoteque and dance, hard, up and down, joyfully jumping, laughing, screaming and raging like I am 22.

When It's Over, I want to take my son to 4 different parks in one day and let him jump in the ball pit, and eat popcorn and live.

When It's Over, I will have upskilled my online learning skills but will probably want to use tech as little as possible in my life.

When It's Over, I hope we can preserve how we stopped and examined our lives carefully for seconds because we had time.  Time is a gift and is important.

#SOL20 #day17 #tired

80s Moment Magic: A Comedic Flashback

Once upon a time, many years ago, on a frigid October evening in Upstate New York, my friends Hannah and Isabel and I were sitting around in their dormitory, finishing up our dinner and debating what lay ahead for the evening.  Do we bear the cold and go out to a party?  Do we hunker down and drink wine and watch a trending comedy?   A few silly drinking games later, Hannah and Isabel convinced me to go to a sorority's 80s party.  We did a bit of a dressing room parade before we secured our outfits and there I was, ready to go, with liquid courage and little enthusiasm except for quality time with those too.  Adorned in neon green ruffles with a top ponytail, we climbed aboard the school's shuttle and headed towards the 80s party located in the ever so classy, Bundy Dining Hall. 

As we walked through the doors, it was as if 80s paraphernalia had exploded everywhere: crimped hair, jean jackets, rainbow and neon colored tutus all to the lulling calm of Tiffany and Debby Gibson.  I looked at Hannah and Isabel horrified and tried to bolt for the door.   They grabbed me and said "Let's get a beer."  We went to the bar which was luckily slow and ran into some other friends and chatted to them. 

When all of the sudden, a girl with too much blue eyeshadow, combined with too much Budweiser, cruised up to me, and goes "Are you Heather?" And I said, yes, curiously.  And the boppity, beer drinking random girl, continues while pouring a beer on my top ponytail.  "This is for making out with my sister's boyfriend." And then ran away hysterically, while I stood, stunned, slightly soaked in my hideous green dress.  My friend, Molly responded with more speed then me, running over and starting to kick the culprit.  I felt like I had been doused in clarity and walked calmly over to the accuser and her sister. and said "I'm sorry but I didn't know you were still dating, and let's look at this situation, he made out with me, while he was dating you.  Who is the bad guy here?"   The girl whose boyfriend I had apparently made out with, was clearly shocked that I had continued this whole very 80s movie exchange but acknowledged my point.  She didn't say sorry but nodded and that was enough.  Enough for me to have peace with the moment,  enough with me to have my miserable and ridiculous 80s movie moment and enough for me to end my evening of drinking and proceed to my dorm's charming shower stalls.  

#SOL20. #Day16 #comicreliefincorona 

When... #newnormals

When all is unwell, we draw rainbows and red cars and bushy trees on our wall outside and listen to the Greatest Showman soundtrack, dancing in shorts that resemble jams from the 90s but cut off mid thigh.

When all is unknown, we make Easter bunnies from our cotton normally reserved for removing nail polish.

When we can't go to the park, we build forts, big ones, with 2 sofas pushed together and 5 blankets as rooftops, and 3 different rooms: one for Pablo, one for mama and one for Mona, the stuffed monkey.

When there's not much new to do, we invent things, like cleaning the windows or cleaning Papa's room he'll be quarantined in when he moves from his airbnb to home in a few days.

When we are disconnected, we end up talking to loved ones more often, and appreciating them and loving them much more then we often do but as we should.

When we go to the grocery store and the pastas, beans, rice are all but gone, we decide, maybe it's time to actually stock up our freezer instead of living our typical European day to day, shop for what you'll cook/ need lifestyle.

When you are tired at the end of long day #can't count anymore and you still need to blog, this is what you get.

#SOL20 #day15 #newnormals

Uber Power: Adventures in Coronavirus

Today, was another day full of uncertainty and wildness.  My husband arrived safely back from Spain but is now staying at an airbnb in quarantine for 5-14 days, depending on whether or not school closes.  If school closes, we'll get him home and hunker down together.  If school doesn't close, we might have to extend our airbnb situation.  Nothing is easy right now.   So before he got there, I had to drop off some stuff for him, and ordered him a lot of food and supplies for the next week.   I had to pick up the key from a dodgy patch of grass/ shrubbery, as the owner of the airbnb didn't want to be in contact with the new arrival from the airport either.  Fortunately, I left my child with some dear friends, and uber-ed around in the pouring rain.  When it rains, it definitely pours.  Nevertheless, I took him some clean clothes, and stuff he needed so he could still work. 

Still, throughout this day, I took 4 Ubers.  We don't have a car in Argentina and if there were not torrential fall rains, I would have probably walked or run to let out stress but that wasn't possible at this particular moment.  So bless the Uber drivers, because they are out there, doing a job, for us paranoid people who don't want to take public transport or don't have access to cars.   These Uber drivers are champions because they are risking their lives to move people around safely and that's something admirable in a time when things are so volatile.

So cheers to the Uber Drivers. 
#SOL20 #Day14

13 Things I am Grateful for on Friday, March 13, 2020

1)  My gorgeous son, Pablo, and his joy and emotions, and enthusiasm for life.
2)  My nanny, Vero, who has helped tenfold since Andres has been traveling and is a good role model and example to Pablo.
3)  Argentine ice cream, literally makes everything better for everyone.
4)  Argentine wine, cheap, cheerful and plentiful, makes everything better for mamas.
5)  Resilience: seeing my community work hard, be dedicated to learning how and keeping their game faces on as much as possible.
6) SOL community: it's been great to support one another around the world through these coronavirus ups and downs.
7) Friends to laugh and cry with whether in person or over facebook, whatsapp, etc.
8) The Temporary Closure for Educators Facebook page
9) My grade 2 book clubs who are in a groove and have done some really successful work around life lesson, character inferences, story elements recently.
10) Netflix and the series of both educational and cheesy series and films I can watch to let go.
11) Amazon, kindles and the availability of beautiful books at our fingertips
12) Drinkable water without bottles, filters, etc.
13) Positive stories like this one that show the world working together hand in hand to get us back to living our lives fully.