Never a Dull Moment

Argentina- it has taught me more patience than I could have ever thought possible. The simplest tasks take all day- and I have yet to have even half a week where everything goes smoothly. However, I have learned so much patience that the ridiculousness of my situations no longer phase me. I started school again at the beginning of October, and of course, day one was filled with chaos- just as the last semester beginning was.

I had just finished my shower when the doorbell rang. Greg answered it- and I went about my business. I quickly learned that a pipe had broken and was causing water to pour into the apartment below us. The apartment below is actually an office- and the water was conveniently pouring directly onto a computer. The computer gods had chosen another target, at least!

However, this was a problem. We immediately had to turn off the water in the entire apartment and call our landlord. Well, our landlord- a 29 yr. old California girl whose parents had bought her this apartment- was in Mexico and then headed to the US for a few weeks after. She also forgot to leave someone in charge.... So Greg and I moved into a hotel for 3 days while we tried to sort things out. We had no water, afterall- so no toilet, shower, sink, etc.... By the time the plumber was called- it was now Friday afternoon and the people below had left. The plumber needed to get into the apartment below in order to see what was going on. He looked at things in our apartment and turned on the water for a while. But no more could be done until he could see below. So now we were stuck until Monday.

Monday comes- we come to apartment and meet the plumber. We are greeted by a note (written in English- really terrible English- but the point was made), stating we are being sued by the people below us for not shutting off the water. Apparently, the carpet had gotten wet and the computer had been moved back to right under the hole with water pouring through it. The plumber had turned the water back on to try to assess the situation- but apparently this was still our fault.

The plumber says he needs to rip up the floor- new floors I might add (the apartment was completely gutted and redone before we moved in). This will take a week- in Argentine time that is. Our landlord- still in another country- asks us to move out that day. Great- we have a marathon in just shy of a week, work, school work, and four hours to find an apartment when it usually takes a few weeks. So we search for a place, pack up , and move into a studio apartment that is about the size of my bedroom in the States. We decide to move out of BA completely and go to Bariloche- about 1200 miles south of BA in Patagonia.

So now, here we are. It is beautiful- breathtaking really. And it all worked out. The only catch- we have had winter now for over a year- and we were eagerly awaiting Summer and warmth- and we woke up to several inches of snow. It has not let up all day- and is not supposed to for as long as the weather website shows. I will wear flipflops and shorts again one day.....