Today I bring you the latest installment of our annual attempt to catch a leprechaun on St Patrick's Day. Despite trying for 4 years in a row, we have yet to capture one of these sneaky fellows. If you have any suggestions for us on how we can improve our trap for next year, please let us know! We are getting desperate!
This year Milan was quite interested in the details of what we would do with the pot of gold we would receive after we caught the leprechaun. This included multiple discussions about exchange rates because we would have to decide in which currency to receive our treasure ("United States money" or "Argentina money"?) and he wanted me to start researching Leprechaun Pot of Gold prices and nearby locations where we could sell our treasure.
But let me tell you how NOT to catch a leprechaun. Since our traps failed for three years in a row, this year we decided to make a Leprechaun Alarm, a simple contraption that would wake us up when the leprechaun is in the house so we could run down and catch him ourselves. Here is the design we settled on:
The leprechaun sees the huge gold nugget (A) sitting in front of the enticing rainbow. This is the bait. It is just a rock painted with multiple coats of gold paint and sparkles. But when the leprechaun tries to lift it up it releases the spring/rubber band (B) that pulls down the bell (C) that is sitting just on the edge of a step above the table. The bells rings loudly, we wake up, and since the leprechaun will be weighed down by trying to carry that heavy rock, we will have plenty of time to run down and catch him with a net (as Milan demonstrates below).
But you wouldn't believe it - he cut the string that was supposed to pull down the bell and we didn't wake up. He tried to leave with the gold rock but apparently he couldn't carry it out the door. He did leave behind a rainbow of Skittles, and of course green water in the toilets and green soy milk in the fridge.
Oh dear neglected blog, I will try to ignore the fact that I haven't posted for three months...
I am taking a class through one of the local municipality community centers, "Casas de Cultura", kind of like "Parks and Rec" classes in the States. I signed up to force myself into more Spanish-only situations because I recognize that my weakness right now is speaking. Or, more accurately, speaking on the fly without 10 minutes of preparation, my dictionary and notes. I become tongue-tied so easily. So I found a class that I thought would inspire the maximum amount of chit-chat for two hours, once a week: weaving on a loom.
The class is led by a friendly and eccentric lady who specializes in weaving and other fiber arts, and attended by 5 or 6 ladies who talk and laugh and discuss everything from their favorite brand of alfajores to new movies and political protests while setting up their looms and working on scarfs, ponchos, and shawls. There is always coffee or tea and snacks. I found out after my first couple of classes that I have more to learn than just practicing my conversation skills in Spanish. I have to kick myself to remember to kiss-greet every single person in the room when arriving AND when saying goodbye, and to try to slow down my productivity so I don't look like the overambitious yanqui perfectionist.
I am proud to report that after a month I have successfully completed my first bufanda, just in time for the warm Spring weather.
This crazy kid jumped into the picture - I don't know where he came from
My second scarf is almost completed, this time with a pata de gallo pattern using TWO colors:
Warning: this means I have joined the cult of yarn, a whole subsection of fiber arts and enticing yarn stores that I have intentionally avoided for years because I know I will become easily addicted. I am now addicted.
I know this blog has been neglected and I have no excuse other than the tired mantra of "we've been busy". But, really, we have been busy! Here is a brief roundup of the news from the past couple of months.
Area Moms Prove Their Insanity By Throwing Double 5-Year Old Birthday Party On Last Day of School
Today two local moms held a joint birthday party for their sons who are both turning five this month. The last day of school seemed like the best day, but as the weeks became more and more busy and the South American winter cold and flu season set in, the party seemed doomed! Both boys had ear infections in the week preceding the party and the weather turned cold, grey, and rainy. Luckily the moms were able to hold it all together and pulled off a super fun Olympic Games themed party. Great fun was had by all and everyone won a gold medal, including the moms.
Science Teacher once again convinces students that spending hours in the classroom after exams is fun
In an amazing feat of deception, a local science teacher convinced his students that hanging out in the classroom after the completion of the AP/IB exams is more fun than a barrel of monkeys. By challenging them to create a Rube Goldberg machine that can turn on a computer with a candle, the students and two science teachers spent hours in the classroom playing with ramps, catapults, toys, and dominoes. The cheering at the end of the video speaks for itself.
Preschooler relived that "we are coming back to this house" and we are going to "live here forever"
With all of the talk of a trip to the US Milan started feeling very anxious in the past month and was ready to pack up everything that is not nailed down in the house. When I finally convinced him that we do not need to bring everything with us because we are coming back to this house, to this school, to this same bedroom, he was so relieved. He keeps trying to make me promise that we will live here forever, but if we don't, I have promised to bring all of his drawings, toys, old out-grown clothes and pocket lint with us where ever we move. Fair enough.
Area boy unable to eat a bite of food before taking a picture
Milan has been practicing photography for awhile now, but his photographic tendencies have recently taken an obsessive turn. He wants to preserve everything by taking a picture. The castle that he built out of blocks, the lego creation, no matter how small, and the interesting shapes and forms of his half-eaten food. He took a picture of every birthday present that he received at his party today - both before and after opening them. Thank goodness for digital. We have decided to let him take the pictures that he needs to feel secure and try to move on, because arguing with him about it has led nowhere. So I present to you a small sample of his collection of food photographs.
Sarah shaves one minute off her half marathon time
I ran the BA Half at the end of May and finished one minute faster than the last time - woohoo!
There has been much more going on here lately but I will have to leave you with that for now. We fly out tomorrow to the US for four weeks and then we are coming back to this same house where there is stew and chicken soup in the freezer waiting for us (that is what I am excited about - it is good to not be moving this year). I leave you with one last question: what is wrong with this picture?
The seasons are still confusing me. Thankful that we'll be back to summer tomorrow!
I have been meaning to post these pictures since January, so tonight I finally have time (Tim is out playing ultimate Frisbee, perfect blogging opportunity).
In October a large wall on our walk to the fruit and veggie store suddenly displayed this message:
So we waited....and waited...and waited to see what this mural would become. Every time we walked past Milan would ask me what it said and what it meant. We spent a lot of time talking about this wall.
Then in the last week of December the artists got busy:
We were so excited to be able to watch them paint and watch the progress of the mural over the course of the next week.
As you can see, this is in broad daylight. There is no fear of being arrested or caught with the spray cans and their car was parked across the street with the doors open and radio playing. The mural is painted on a large cement wall of private property on a road that borders the train tracks. I stopped and talked to them briefly and wish I had asked about the legality of the mural. Did the homeowners commission the work or give permission for the artists to work there? I don't know. But next time I see street artists in the act I intend to find out!
Milan contemplating the meaning of all these BIG aliens
If you can't see the whole image click on the picture to see the larger version
The work was completed in the first few days of the New Year. As you can imagine, there have been many walks and discussions about what it all means.
What I can't figure out is what is up with all the jellyfish!
Big scary alien cone head warrior protecting our neighborhood. Don't mess with Martínez!
I am going to post some more street art photos here.
For the past two years we have tried and tried to catch a Leprechaun on St Patrick's Day. We thought we had a fool-proof trap this year, but once again the Leprechaun got away!
This year we tired a design that would send a basket over the Leprechaun when he least expects it, trapping him until we wake up in the morning. Tim and Milan came up with the basket-trap idea, using string looped around the highest staircase railing, triggered by a Lego-release mechanism. With the mechanical design in place, Milan and I spent every afternoon last week preparing the rainbow decorations and painting the gold rocks to lure the Leprechaun into the trap.
The final trap set-up
When the Leprechaun grabs the gold Lego, surrounded by our painted rocks, it triggers the basket to fall
Unfortunately, the Leprechaun outsmarted us again. He knew all about Lego and rearranged them to prop up the basket. He even used Milan's scissors to cut the string, and left little green footprints all around the trap. He took our gold rocks but left a pile of green Skittles and gum drops.
Milan is happy with green candy instead of a pot of gold
Next year - no Lego! (Please note the use of the word "Lego" when referring to the plural. I am learning the Lego Lingo...)
Yes, I am writing a whole post about grilled cheese. Because this is not your college-dorm-room melted-with-the-iron grilled cheese. Not your regular buttered-side-down sliced bread with orange American cheese. This is "grilled cheese" Argentine style. This is Provoleta.
You start with one of these:
miniature cast iron skillet
And you buy one or two of these at the store:
They call this Provolone here but it is not quite like the provolone from the deli counter at Safeway that you put on your cold-cut sandwiches. This is a thick disk and I think it is more firm than the kind in the States.The firm texture is key because then you put the disk of cheese in the mini-cast iron skillet and melt it over your fire while you cook your meat, sausage, and other grilled goodies (yes, veggies too).
And then you turn it out onto a plate and cut it up. It is soft and
gooey and melted, but still firm enough that you can cut it into
chunks to put on bread.
Okay, you got all that? Pretty simple, right? So my question is - why is this not happening in the U.S.? We are a country that loves to grill, we love melted cheese, we love bread. Is the Provolone too soft? Are the gas grills too hot or not hot enough? I will make it my quest to find out. If you try this at home, please report!
With the cooler weather this week, it seems that summer is officially over. I will not miss the heat and humidity, but we did enjoy the sunny days over the break. With the pool and many lazy days to splash around, Milan leaned how to swim in the past few months. He is not doing laps by any means, but he can doggy paddle himself to the wall, climb out, and jump in again and again and again. Yay!
As part of the summer-pool fun Tim decided to attempt another balloon
engineering challenge - the balloon boat. You may remember the balloon kites from last year that never quite got off the ground. But the balloon boat had the advantage of one very excited Captain Milan.
The key to riding in a balloon boat is to stay perfectly still and balanced.
The most exciting trick was to ride on the boat for 30 seconds and then capsize head first into the water. Or at least that is what Milan did over and over.
