Travel (Outside of Canada)

Brazil - July 2012

In 2012, when I was in the middle of planning my future move to Canada my phone suddenly rang. The phone call broke concentration and brought some scary but exciting news. My boss said he needed to speak with me in person. The next day, when I was there in his office, he said to me “go live and work in Buenos Aires, Argentina for 3 months”. After receiving this sudden news I was confused. He gave me the weekend to think about this change and give him my reply. The weekend was long because I kept thinking “how am I going to leave my husband alone for 3 months?” However, after discussing it with my husband, he said: “You go first, after 2 weeks I will be there”. Because of my husband’s support I accepted this proposal thinking “why not?” I thought: this would be a great opportunity to get to know Buenos Aires like a tourist, but I never thought of living there for 3 months. This was all very exciting.

Argentina - July 2012 - October 2012

My goodness, it was the best opportunity to live abroad I have had in my life. The hotel was amazing, but the main point was the people. They are kind, polite, amazing and funny. I was at home. The story I will tell you will be filled with food, memories, and joy.

Two weeks later, my husband arrived and we started to get to know Buenos Aires and their streets, dances, political protests, food and their wonderful people. I discovered that Brazilians and Argentinians only fight over soccer(Thank God!). We have the same good humour and we love to make jokes with each other.

The Places of Buenos Aires

We went to Calle Florida with their leather stores and some couples dancing Tango in the middle of the street. We visited La Casa Rosada and participated in the protests El cacerolazo against the Argentinian government. To express their emotions, the protesters were hitting cookware to make lots of noise. Argentinians are patriotic but they also fight for their rights. During this period of time in 2012, almost every end of the day, we had a lot of people hitting cookware protesting against the government, passionate and proud to be Argentinian.

My husband and I went on a tour bus called El Bus Amarillo. On this 3 hour tour bus it is possible to visit a total of 22 different tourist spots. My husband and I only completed half of the tour, it was a very long journey. We got to know a place called La Bombonera, the stadium of the Boca Juniors Soccer Team. The driver told us that the neighborhood was very poor and violent. He stopped the bus there so we could take some pictures and quickly left.

One of my favourite tours was in San Telmo when we saw the sculpture of “Mafalda sitting on a park bench”. I became her number one fan, she was a protestona (the way they describe people when they do political protest) and a really funny girl.

I cannot write about Argentina without mentioning Eva Peron, in the cemetery La Recoleta, is possible to visit her tomb and know her importance to Argentina. During this period, I read a book called Eva Perón, she was a powerful woman in her age.

She was married to Juan Perón, the president of Argentina, she was able to gain equal rights for women. She has founded the nation's first large-scale female political party, the Women's Peronist Party. She was a great Argentinian icon for all the people and her passion had a lasting impression on me.

Teenage dream

One night I came back to the Hotel (Yes, we lived 3 months in a hotel!) My husband had prepared a big surprise for me, he bought tickets to a New Kids on the Block show! It was my teenage dream becoming true! When I was 12 years old I loved them, this experience made me come back to the past! I sang all of their songs. After this night I was sure my husband really loves me!

Empanadas

Another day, we decided to eat empanadas, now I cannot live without them!

Mainly, I need to tell you about the delicious food and I need to tell the truth, they have the best barbecue I have ever eaten in my life. Dulce de leche is a wonderful sweet treat, it is a national treasure. Malbec is a national red wine from Argentina and with Argentinian barbecue they are perfect for each other.

Future Plans

Finally, my husband and I, for our retirement, want to go back to live there because of the quality of life, no violence and, they have the same passion we have for soccer and we can argue about who was the best soccer player in the world? Maradona or Pelé?