Nina's first day at school!

Today was Nina's first day at Jardin de Infantes - school! Dressed up in her little uniform, she was waiting at the door with her little backpack; all ready for her new adventure. We were welcomed at the school entrance and Nina went to meet with her new teacher, Naty. Then it was playtime outside so time for mama to leave. Nina had a great morning with her class and couldn't wait to go back again tomorrow. She even picked up some new words in Castellano :)

Our stuff

Finally the container with all our things was delivered to our new house last Friday. The container had been waiting in the port for almost a month. Reason for such a long wait? Intensive custom inspection, lots of paperwork, insurances, bonds, a strike! Most important thing is that it's all there and now we have a house full of boxes to unpack, furniture to arrange and assemble and picture to hang. It will take a little while before everything has its place again but it's going to look great!

INXS

Last week Tuesday Staszek found out that INXS was playing in Luna Park the next day (an old indoor boxing stadium around the corner of Staszek's office). Tickets were still available on Wednesday afternoon and a few hours later we were jumping in the midst of an Argentine crowd. The atmosphere and music were great and we had a fun evening out.

(As we were not sure if cameras were allowed, we did not bring our own so we borrowed a few concert pictures we found on the web).

New car

Nina helped to park daddy's new car in the garage. When the task was done, Stasiu boarded the new automobile to decide what would be the best spot for his car seat; guess he found it :)

Sunday stroll through the park

A Sunday afternoon/evening stroll through Parque tres de febrero. Lots of people, lots of activity and things to watch and do. There was theatre, sports, music and Nina and Stasiu even made their first tight rope walking attempt!

Buenos Aires by night.

View from the rooftop terrace of our temporary apartment.

The little park you see in the the middle of the first picture is Plaza Armenia.

The bundle of lights in the last picture is the commercial port of Buenos Aires.

Where's Nina?

In the walk-in closet with Stasiu.....

Cucaracha's

Cockroaches are common here. People say that when you live in Buenos Aires you need to deal with them, which means extermination once a month. We thought it would be good idea to have our house cleaned and cleared of these 'little' creatures before moving in.

We found them a bit bigger than what we expected.

They seem to be rich in protein; maybe we can grill them.....

Asado

A typical way to spend a Sunday afternoon in Argentina is to have an Asado (BBQ) and eat a lot of grilled meat. The cuts of meat people eat here are sometimes different than what we are used to, but Nina does not seem to mind....

Buenos Aires Rosedal

This weekend we went to check out another park a bit further to the north of us. 'Parque tres de Febrero' is the biggest park in Buenos Aires and was inspired by 'Bois de Boulogne in Paris'. The roads crossing it are closed for traffic in the weekends, making it a great place to bike, skeeler or just walk. One of the attractions in this park is the Rosedal (rose garden). Stasiu and Nina smelled almost every single flower in the park. The next time we visit, we will rent one of the rowing boats or waterbikes.

Playground Palermo

The park on Plaza Armenia has become an almost daily destination for Nina & Stasiu. There are two big sandpits with slides, swings, things to climb on and of course lots of sand and other kids to play with. Then there are the pigeons who know that there are people with food, but now also Stasiu who does not have food but loves to chase them. Another big attraction in the park is the merry-go-around (calesita), which is of course another favorite and usually a great end of the play session before heading home for dinner.

Dakar 2011

Some years ago the famous Dakar rally moved it's venue from Africa to South America. Also this year the rally started and finished in Buenos Aires. We found out that that the line up of participating vehicles was practically around the corner of our house. Everywhere in the city we saw rally cars and trucks driving around. The next day we went microcentro (downtown) to see the start of the race. Stasiu really liked it but Nina was a bit afraid of all the noise. It was very hot that day and after waving and cheering for two hours to all the bikes, the kids were done and we had to call it a day. A few weeks later, just after the finish, we noticed a Polish team Orlen truck parked in the street next to us.

Buenos Aires Zoo

A few weeks ago we decided to visit the Buenos Aires Zoo. It is located only a 10-15 minute walk from our house so we could leave the car in the garage. We were a little bit afraid to find sick animals in bad shape living in way too small cages, but luckily this was not the case and although a bit old and worn out, the zoo seems like a little gem in the city.

At the entrance we purchased a little bucket with animal feed that could be fed later to selected animals. Great fun for the kids!

When we asked Nina at the end of the visit what she liked the most, she answered.....the playground.