If At First You Don't Succeed . . . Fake It!

Street Art in Buenos Aires

Well, here we are in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of the biggest capitals in the world (13 million) and the second biggest city in South America (after Sao Paulo, Brazil).

We arrived on Monday after two extremely smooth and well-connected flights. I even had time to swing by the duty-free to get my Chanel 19, and our bags were just rolling round the carousel when we hit the baggage claim. Joe's guitar made the trip without a scratch . . . yay! We have been staying in a B&B, walking and taxi-ing to appointments to see apartments. It has been an enlightening experience to see what you can get for your $$$. We haven't decided on anything yet, and have, in fact, opted to take our time and move from our B&B to a temporary apartment (weekly rental) where we'll have a fridge, more space, and a few more amenities while we search for that perfect fit.

Along the grid-like "avenidas" I've noticed very creative and colorful street art which composes the picture for this blog entry - I wish I knew the names of the artists to give proper credit! The people have been super friendly, talkative, helpful, and completely without attitude. It is so refreshing to be in a big city where people, in general, act like they are in a small town. Often people will speak, not necessarity fast, but unfamiliar Spanish. I'll say "Podria repetirlo por favor?" or "Podria hablar mas despacio" or simply "Perdon?" . . . my rule of thumb (actually inspired by my Russian tutor - thanks Izabella!) is to ask for repetition once . . . or possibly twice if I can get away with it. If I still am unclear as to what they are asking or saying . . . I unapologetically FAKE IT! Nodding, saying "si", smiling, saying "gracias", or just answering the question I think they asked me seems to keep the conversation going. Friendliness and politeness go a long way in covering up for not understanding everything. I will have to remember to teach this strategy to my students and teachers!



Another strategy that works well when getting telephone calls from apartment agents . . . "I'm sorry, but I can't catch all the details. Could you send me an email with the information?" Ahh yes, the written word is much easier to analyze! But overall, we are doing well in our communicative endeavors . . . and people LOVE to practice their English. We met a 69-year-old man named Sergio today while having a beer at an outdoor cafe. He talked at length, in English, about how he learned the language from some Welsh friends of his father and how he adores Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington. A sweet man . . . who loves to talk . . . in English.



So, there you are. Our first three days have felt like three weeks . . . not in a bad way, but in a way that is helping us get to know our new environment. Whenever you encounter a new place, new culture, the first few days are like a crash course  . . . it's exhausting, but we love it!

Feets, Don't Fail Me Now!

Our worldly belongings

You might get the impression that we move around a lot... Do ya think?

Every once in a while I try to mentally catalog all of the moves we've made since Jennie and I got hitched in June of 1993. There have been (ahem) a few...Let's take a look:

Albuquerque, New Mexico to Bulgaria
Bulgaria to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Jakarta, Indonesia
Jakarta to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Perth, Australia
Perth to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix to Panama, Panama
Panama to Phoenix
Phoenix to Austin, Texas
Austin to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ljubljana to Managua, Nicaragua
Managua to Tucson, Arizona
Tucson to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Vientiane, Laos
Vientiane to Albuquerque
Albuquerque to Buenos Aires, Argentina (pending)

I'm exhausted just typing that. Everyone knows what moving house entails: liquidating stuff, making decisions, storing belongings, packing boxes and suitcases, taking care of details - utilities, housecleaning, deposits, notifying banks, post offices. These are the things you do when you move across town, much less to Timbuktu. We have gone through this process so many times that I guess it's second nature to us now, but if I think about how many times we've gone through the entire rigmarole - first acquiring and then disposing of all the "necessities" - it's a mind-blower. But that's us: no kids, no pets, no furniture -just passports, itchy feet, and a great curiosity about the world and its people. This Sunday we'll get on a plane for Houston and from there on to Buenos Aires...

Honestly, I can't wait!

Vicuña, Llama, Alpaca?




Jen in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Preliminary Research?

 OK the "camelid's out of the bag" and truth be told we are going to  . . . Argentina! At a recent "going-away" luncheon with some friends I elicited some interesting questions that our visit hopes to answer. Not all at once, ¡Claro que no! but as time goes by, I hope to comment on all of these queries. We could cheat and go directly to Wikipedia . . . but isn't it more fun to wait and get an "on location" view?

1. What is the difference between a vicuña, a llama, and an alpaca?
2. Is the plastic surgery good?
3. What are some cool linguistic Argentine-isms? OK, so it's obvious we are language teachers!
4. What are some cultural taboos? Things to avoid doing?
5. What is the overriding opinion about Eva Peron? Is she more popular overseas?
6. What is the education system like?
7. What is the best wine?
8. Do kids start learning the "Tango" in grade school?
9. Can foreigners own property?
10. How much is a monthly gym membership?
11. Can you wear sweat pants in public?
12. How do people dress in general?
13. What's the deal with steak? How often do people really eat beef?
14. How many people are of Italian descent?
15. What are rules about kissing, touching, personal distance?
16. Where do most of the tourists come from?

Do you have any questions to add? Please click on comments below to add yours! Countdown till take off  . . . 3 weeks.

Hello World!




Jen & Joe in the Sonoran Desert, Arizona

 Hello world!
When last we met, Jen and I were bidding adieu to Laos and all of the wonderful people and places we experienced in that peaceful and beautiful Southeast Asian country. We returned to the US at the end of June, relocating back to our base in lovely New Mexico, and have spent the last six months regrouping for our next international adventure. Well, that new and exciting foray to the literal “ends of the Earth” begins in less than a month, so we figured it was high time to fire up this blog…

Wherearetheherrins is back!



Canadian geese at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico



Looking back, 2010 has been a very eventful year for us, but let it suffice to say we are looking forward to 2011 with tremendous anticipation and excitement. We love our corner of the southwestern United States, and we try to take advantage of its wonders when we are here (see photos of Bosque del Apache on the Rio Grande in central New Mexico and the Sonoran desert outside Tucson, Arizona), but nothing gets our blood pumping like a new challenge and a new adventure in a new corner of the globe. Today, Christmas is in our rearview mirror, the New Year is directly ahead of us, and we are psyched, baby! In my journeys, I have been to every continent except one – and we are moving our traveling roadshow to that very continent in exactly 4 weeks…

Let’s get ready to rumble!!! (Hmmm…how do I say that in Spanish?)


Goodbye, Lao

Our Lao adventure has come to an end.

Tomorrow we’ll get on a plane in Vientiane, fly to Bangkok where we’ll overnite, then fly Saturday morning to Tokyo, Salt Lake City and finally, Albuquerque. A long, long trip.

I really hate goodbyes, but they are inevitable when you have 65 students who are losing their teacher in the middle of the semester. The past couple of days, Jen has gone with me up to the university in Dong Dok to be the official photographer documenting the "final classes". Lots of photo ops, gifts, songs, speeches…

I love my students, but I hate goodbyes.

But it’s goodbye to Lao. Ten months in the calmest, friendliest, hottest country we’ve ever lived in. Goodbye to eating in restaurants twice a day (farewell, sticky rice!), to gliding monks swathed in orange, to packs of howling dogs, to five people on a motorbike, to gorgeous flame-colored trees and graceful palms and rice paddies, to bouncing along in tuk-tuks and songthaews crammed with fifteen people…

Goodbye to the gang of neighborhood tuk-tuk drivers we’ve come to know. Schumann (so-named because he repairs shoes when he’s not driving), Chiclets, Mittens, Bon Jovi…
We gifted Schumann with a ton of good stuff this week (including some pairs of shoes). He must think we’re crazy to be giving him sacks of clothes and kitchen goods.

Goodbye to sweating gallons every day and to worshipping air-conditioners. Goodbye to dust and dirt and fumes and giant ants falling from trees. Finally, goodbye to Beer Lao – I’m really going to miss you!

It’s been a good ten months for us. We experienced Lao culture and Lao people and have been greatly enriched by them. We saw some beautiful sights and ate great food and stayed relatively healthy.

I’m going to try not to freak out when I get back to the States. Laos, even living here in the capital city, is incredibly understimulating in terms of Western-style “excitement”. Outside of an occasional festival, little ever “happens”. There is no shopping mall. There is no movie theater. People drive slowly. There is no road rage. People don’t act out in public. My God, I’m going to miss the complete lack of public aggression and bad behavior. Time to steel myself for the inevitable return to “Western values” and the accompanying stress levels. Sigh.

And so, goodbye, Lao.

Our own backyard

It's "high time" that I produce another entry for this blog! Joe has been doing more trainings at the US Embassy and at the National University. The teachers are always responsive to his style and get a big kick out of practicing the teaching techniques with each other. His last week is coming up in which his students will be giving presentations; they are all looking forward to that.

Joe and I were recently treated with a visit from one of my friends (some of you know her!), Krissy. She is volunteering in Thailand for the summer and took a break to see the sights in Laos. Her first stop was Vientiane where we spent two days seeing as much as we could: Patuxay (a tall cement structure that has stairs to a birds eye view of the capital), Talat Sao (the morning market), and our favorite restaurants Joma and Makphet. We squeezed in some temples too: Wat Sisangvone, Wat Phonxaysetthathirath (really!) , That Luang, and Wat Ha Phra Keo. It was a sweaty endeavor, but we managed to keep hydrated and even shop silk weavings till we found the most beautiful one in town which will be hanging on Krissy's living room wall later this summer :)

Unfortunately, Joe was laid up with a badly banged ankle; he slipped getting out of the tuk-tuk on the way to work, and a tender part of his ankle met metal with force. A lot of greenish blusish swelling came out of it, but we don't think it's broken as it has been improving. That being said, he was off the hook for the aforemtnetioned intense trekking excursion.

It's great to have visitors so that you can see the sights! Although Joe and I have seen many together, sometimes the ones right under your nose go unnoticed because they are so familiar. Everywhere we went, in classic Lao style, the people were very friendly. The monks at the temples practiced their English with us, the kids posed for pictures, the vendors smiled at us even when we didn't buy anything, and the sun occasionally cooperated by going behind a cloud (or was it the clouds that covered the sun?). Thank you Krissy for getting me out and about to see some new things, taste some new fruits, find new ATMs, and for teaching me more about Buddhism all in my own backyard!

Reunited . . .

. . . and it feels so good! Yes, I'm back in Laos again with my 'muzh' (that's husband in Russian). I don't think I ever mentioned how many people I run into in Laos who know Russian . . . most of them studied in the former Soviet Union. Laos had tight connections with the Soviets and the Russians still maintain an active embassy here that has it's own Russian school. Just the other day I was attending one of Joe's workshops; after chatting with the Lao counterpart from the US Embassy, I found that he had studied Russian. I whipped out my language book and he started reading the cyrillic out loud. He admitted that it had been a while since he had used it.

So, I made it back to Laos without a glitch except that the first leg of my flight from Dnipropetrovsk to Vienna was canceled when I got to the airport. Apparently, the "owner of the airport refuses to let Austrian Air land on his airstrip due to political reasons" according to an Austrian Airlines representative. So, after quickly downing a Kwell's (motion sickness pill), I boarded a mini-bus for Zaparozhye, the place I had visited with the students and teachers the weekend before. After quick goodbyes to my new friends Irina and Natalie, the mini-bus kicked into gear to shuttle to the airport where the flight was really taking off from. I had some good conversation with my bus companions, engineers from Washington, DC who were contracting the manufacture of rockets in Dnipropetrovsk (DP). DP had been completely closed until only 15 years ago due to it's nuclear, weapons, and space research and manufacture. Now the US Government contractors are getting much of their design and assembly done here due to the long-standing Ukrainian expertise and low prices. The guys I met were manufacturing rockets to be sent to repair space shuttles (you scientists out there, please correct me if I got that wrong!). Anyhow, it was interesting to hear about something totally foreign to my usual topics of conversation.

Now back in Laos, where Beer Lao is the most successful product manufactured, we are still waiting for the big rains. We are due to go back to the US in less than a month, and as it always happens, the "signs" are starting to pop up that our stay is coming to an end: our favorite restaurant, Vong's, has mysteriously closed a day after raising their prices, someone helped themselves to our bicycles that were sitting on our front porch one Sunday afternoon, my Russian conversation partner has gone back to Uzbekistan for the summer, the fan in our house exploded, and the aircondioner keeps flipping the breaker because it's too hot outside. But the upside is that we got tickets on the same dates on the same flights which is a whole other drawn out story! AND . . . my friend Krissy is coming in a couple of weeks to do some volunteer teaching. I hope to go on a photographic mission with her to get an album of parting shots of Laos.  In the meantime, we are trying to sort, donate, and organize the stuff we're taking back home. It's amazing what you can collect in less than a year!