spanish class

Hi, it's Daniel, posting for the first time. Our spanish class that Izzy and i got in Bs As was taught by a person named Laura. It was dificult, but we learned lots, i filling at least 10 pages of my large notebook, Izzy filling about 20 in her small one. We learned lots of Argentinian games such as Ta Te Ti which is a lot like Tic Tac To. The hardest part about learning spanish is the way that you pronounce the words. Not rolling the rs in a lot of words is very difficult, ending in you trying to say the word multiple times until finally getting it right. The funnest parts of the classes are the tongue twisters that Laura gives us, because we don't feel bad when we goof up, knowing that even people that speak perfect spanish have trouble with them.
posted by Daniel.

Storms! (Izzy)

Hey there!
Well, we are evidently in the rainy season. The storms that go through here are amazing, complete with sheets of lightning and rolling thunder. Plus the occasional flood. We fall asleep to pounding rain and wake up to clear skies and clean air. It doesn't help the dog poop on the streets, however; it simply softens it. Yes, eww. The tile paving the sidewalks gets slippery and dangerous, and the streets become raging rivers. It is quite exciting. And it is very beautiful if slightly scary. Miss everyone and their cold weather (okay, maybe not the cold weather.)
-Izzy

With Regards To The MALL

The largest mall in S.A. also has an amusement park! It is quite the teen and preteen's delight. While there, we saw Enchanted IN SPANISH!

The challenge of this week is to buy a car....

The largest mall in South America! (izzy)

Hello friends!
We just went to the LARGEST MALL IN SOUTH AMERICA. Awesome, yeah? It had a full-sized 14-movie movie theater, and it was three gigantic stories high. So cool.

It has been a while!( Izzy)

Hey people!
I am so sorry that I have not been blogging! We were in Uruguay for the last few days and it was beautiful! We went to this awesome Four-Seasons resort because our friends were staying there, and it was amazingly luxurious. We stayed in a two-story apartment-like room that had a separate room for the shower! It was also right on the river (second largest in the WORLD) so you could go to the perfectly white sandy beach. The river looks like it has sludge on it for the first few yards, but it is actually rock that you can walk on. Very cool.
We also went to a cute little riverside town called Colonia. It Was also on the beach. It is so perfect and small and quiet and cute! I loved it so much. It looks like it's on the Atlantic beach but the river is just really big. We went to the beach and you can walk out amazingly far and just be up to your thighs. A guy was so far out that you could hardly see him and he was still walking. A-mazing!!! We collected sea glass and put it in a blue-green water bottle with the label torn off and it looks wonderfully pretty.
We are learning Spanish fast and I am starting to figure out what the heck everyone is saying. Miss the lot of you,
Izzy

Vamos a Uruguay

A simple matter of transportation...get up at the crack of dawn, walk until you find a taxi, take taxi to train, take train an hour to boat, take boat 2.5 hours across the Rio De La Plata to the Uruguayan border town of Carmelo. Negotiate with next taxi driver and then arrive after a few more kilometers at the 4 Seasons Resort Carmelo. All the travel grit instantly vanishes as we are greated at the massive front entrance...hello Feldhausfamily.

It was a Modesto Summit in Uruguay honoring the birthday of Ted Rosen. Even though it was a vacation around Ted's birthday we felt totally spoiled and lucky to be there. Joining Ted and Teri were also Jeff and Lorie Hogan and Don and Julie Storer. The white wine was chilled and brought pool side and it was great kicking back with good company in some serious luxury. The dinner at a local restaurant/ winery call La Narbona was incredible.

Needless to say Isabella and Daniel adjusted instantly to the gorgeous room with TV, the huge pool, the beach along the river and room service.

Tigre...

We left the city today for Tigre;Buenos Aire's version of the Delta. Hundreds of Islands and homes on stilts. The Parana river feeds into here...a great place for swimming if you don't mind little carnivorous fish. A very pretty city with some touristy arts and crafts and some smooth talking river tour guides...only 24o dollar American to see this beautiful place that only I can take you to. We opted for the guided tour on the wooden boat with the Argentines. The only problem was the woman with the bullhorn 2 feet from our ears shouting information in Spanish. Daniel promptly fell asleep and the rest of us watched the river flow by and checked other family members to see if their ears were bleeding.

We all recovered together on the mainland eating some of the best ice cream we have ever had and then returned on the train to our home for now... Buenos Aires.

Misc....photos

Now for some oddball photos...



Parrots are pretty common in the parks here...

This is the most expensive address in the country...Recoleta Cemetery. An average crypt in the most exclusive address for the deceased costs more than a very expensive house. The vaults go 2 stories underground and sometimes house many coffins. The cemetery has resting spots from the 1700's on up to current time.








The Obelisk...or the Washington monument no one can be sure. This one is located on 9 de Juli0 the widest Blvd. in the Western Hemisphere.

Lots of new things! (Izzy)

Hello! I have some videos here for you and I have news of the life in Argentina. We moved to a new apartment (yay!) and it is very cool. Like my mom said in an earlier post, I have my own sitting area and a queen-sized bed. It also opens up to a outside patio through a big glass door. Daniel as a loft above the kitchen that is open (no walls, just a railing,) and that opens up into another, higher patio with a cooler view. Mom and Dad have a big room that has a cool T.V. (the same as the one in Sara's parent's room!) Very, very nice.
In other news, I cut my hair! I cut off five inches in the front and three in the back. It is fun to play with because it is so much shorter. I can't do a side braid anymore, but oh well. Here is a video:

Wednesday

Here we are, now occupying our new apartment in the neighborhood of Palermo, Hollywood. Our square footage tripled and we couldn't be happier because we have to admit - we are americans when it comes to needing space....Daniel sleeps in a loft that has a terrace/patio right outside, Isabella has a queen size bed and a sitting room with a different patio, also outside, and Randy and I have a spacious master with a locking door :) Life just gets better and better....We are now branching out into the dark beers offered here, if only to keep things interesting, and have discovered our new neighborhood is the most international in South America with regards to restaurants....even Vietnamese. We are meeting a Spanish teacher tomorrow and hope to start the kids on Spanish lessons right away.

We continue to walk everywhere we can and Randy ran his longest distance with me today, so we have not let ourselves go. Yet.

Missing our Friends! Abrazos y Besos, K

Skype (Izzy)

Hello, people! My family and I have an awesome thing called Skype. It is free to download, and if someone else has it too, you can call them on their computer for free. We have it and so you can call us! Another thing you can do is call from your computer to someone's phone for 2 cents a minute. Very, very awesome. I love surprising people when we call them on their phones. E-mail me if you get it!
-Izzy
P.s. We are six hours ahead, so remember that if you decide to call.

Yet another great day in Buenos Aires....

After packing everything up (harder than it sounds) we are ready to head to our next apartment tomorrow where we will be in the neighborhood of Palermo Hollywood. New friends in San Francisco are renting us their newly remodeled place that they purchased on a vacation here last year. The kids are soon to be starting language tutoring for a few hours each day which sounds a little scary to them but also exciting....

Looking into a trip up to Uruguay in the next few days to visit with friends, and do a little wine tasting.....

Today, met the parents of Hernan y Susana and spent a couple of hours getting great advice on places to visit and to live...Buena Gente!

Everyday is a challenge and a new experience but we love the ease of the subway, the blisters are healing from all of the walking, and the wine continues to impress! Beso, beso! Ciao!

We have been here a week tomorrow. The steaks are amazing, vegetarian fare is limited in restaurants but is plentiful at the local store. We have been exploring much of this town on foot and with the help of the subway. No need for a car here, the drivers are all nuts, especially the taxi drivers. The art museums have been awesome. The kids are doing great, next week Spanish lessons begin!

An amazing place to be....

All of us are enjoying new experiences everyday and finding out why Buenos Aires has the reputation it does. This city leaves you wanting for nothing but more comfortable shoes. The kids are quickly understanding the advantages of being here - one being the 11:00 p.m. bedtime - and we can't help but hope that many of our friends and family will want to experience this city as well. As we sat outside at our one of our many local restaurants, drinking an amazing bottle of local wine at 1:30 am, we realized that we can definitely make a go of this. Visit the blog as often as you like for the kids are excellent bloggers and dedicated to keeping it interesting.....Besos grandes y pequenos, K

Another video!!!

Sorry, but I love that we can upload videos, so here is another, slightly longer one of us. It shows the view from our balcony.

Video! (Izzy & Daniel)

Here is a quick video of us two waving at all of you! We miss you all!

Hi! (Izzy)

Hello! We found some very cool things when we went out for a stroll in the wildlife preserve. One was a big lizard (top left), one was a wild guinea pig (middle left), and one was an awesome building (lower left). The lines in the space between the two parts are sky-bridges and they are made almost entirely of glass. Just wanted to share it with my friends!
-Izzy
P.s. We are moving to the new apartment the day after tomorrow!

New blog!!! (Izzy)

Hey, people! I am sorry if this is confusing, with the two blogs and all, but I am going to stick with this one! It is cooler. We are having a great time down here, and miss all of you.
There was one thing that really shocked and surprised us yesterday. We were sitting on a bench and had just gotten up to leave. We walked a small distance away and suddenly, a big branch fell down right where we had just been. It was scary! We laughed about it but I couldn't stop jumping at small noises. Maybe I am weird but that seemed very odd to me!
We are going to be moving out of the apartment we are in now and moving into one that we will be staying in for three weeks. Its nice and I will send pictures when we get there.
We went to a very cool cemetery that was filled with mausoleums the other day, and we saw one that had a broken down, old, wooden door. we looked inside, and the top was off the casket! I thought that I could see a skull, and Mom thought that she could see a hand. Very creepily-cool.
Well, I'll be posting the latest things. I miss you all!
-Izzy

Buenos Aires We Are Here

We have arrived and we are loving it. A long flight, some missing luggage, 9 hours in the Washington D.C. airport and an 11 hour red-eye made our first day a little...long. When we arrived and our "hotel" was less than stellar the family's patience wore thin. It was convenient that our room had the toilet located in the shower but we decided to move to a better location. Next stop was a 2 bedroom apartment located in the Las Canitas section of Palermo. Big improvement... happier family.

Buenos Aires is awesome! Great food, tons of interesting buildings, the most beautiful people in the world and the best bottle of wine 10 dollars can buy!