New York Dolls

Last night we went to see the glam-rock band the New York Dolls. It was a really entertaining, fun show, especially because we were there as part of the Embassy Music Committee. Young guys from a local NGO who are in a tango-music band were with us for the show and to give the Dolls their CD in a meet and greet afterward.


The lead singer, David Johansen, bears a striking resemblance to Mick Jagger.

Backstage after the show.

Moving Day

This was a few weeks ago, but here is the photo documentation.

The movers and our crates arrived in the morning. The open flatbed was a big change from the fully enclosed moving truck we had at pack-out . I'm just glad it didn't rain ...

... especially because on top of the crates was a custom-made box housing an 8-foot-tall portrait of Neil that his friend, Gregg, painted years ago in art school and presented to us as a gift before we moved.

Cracking the seals. You're almost there!

And the fun begins! (Don't worry, that precariously hanging box was empty, just there to fill space.)

Neil, taking a breather among all our STUFF.

Me, taking a breather and a snacker: The stark contrast between his diet and mine (also veggies vs. Pop Tarts). This piece broke off in the shape of a heart!


Bless these men for assembling our Ikea bookshelf.

Neil allowed me to bring it ONLY under the condition that the movers would disassemble it at pack-out and reassemble it at move-in.

They were amazing -- they put it together in 15 min. with no instructions!!

Neil, unpacking and organizing our books. And randomly wearing Uncle CB's hand-me-down shoes. Oh, the treasures you find when unpacking.

That's his 8-foot-tall portrait in the background.



Phew! We ----- ok, THEY ----- did it!

Happy Little Reminders

Sometimes I think about places I miss. I'm disappointed I didn't see the cherry blossoms this year. Ali, I hope you don't mind, I stole these from your blog (click the link for even more gorgeous photos). You are a great photographer and these pictures made me so happy!




This picture of the Air Force Memorial was on my grad school Web site; they'd had a conference in VA a few weeks ago. The Memorial is a couple blocks down the street from our old apt. in Arlington.


Just a few pictures that gave me that sudden jolt of recognition and nostalgia, happy little reminders of life and where I've been.

Lunch today

Today I made steaks for lunch. We have become steak-eaters here. The hype is well deserved: The steaks here are phenomenal and c-h-e-a-p. I've decided we need to purchase proper steak knives, though.

This was my first time making steak (we usually eat it in restaurants and Neil is a raw-foodist on weekdays) and it turned out pretty well. I made it Argentine-style, with a slice of cheese on top and tomatoes on the side. The avocados were my touch. How could it not be good? Add to that I ate it outside, in the beautiful weather, with my beautiful husband. Yum!

Think of Me

Thursday night I went with some girl friends to see "El Fantasma de la Opera." It was amazing! It was the Andrew Lloyd Webber version, translated into Spanish. I was really impressed by the theater, the sets and the music. Everything!


I'd never been to a musical before, but I knew most of the songs by heart from listening to the soundtrack as a child.

Well, let me rephrase, I knew the English version by heart. Which helped me to understand the Spanish version.

There was an amazing live orchestra and the sound was great (I think helped by mics, but that's OK).

During the key chandelier-falling scene, the chandelier actually swung down over the audience; it was pretty cool. I took these pics during intermission when they were raising it back up. (Click the pic to enlarge)


The gold angel decorations you see framing the stage were beautiful. The center one, above the stage, was lowered during the scene when Christine and Raoul are on the rooftop singing "All I Ask of You" (my favorite). It created this romantic scene with those golden angels above it, and was awesome at the end of the scene when you realize the Phantom overheard them and he sings "All I Ask of You: Reprise" because suddenly he stood up from inside the suspended gold angel thing!!!! He was there eavesdropping all along! Crazy but a very cool effect.

Another cool touch was the song "Masquerade," because it was translated to "Carnaval" which was quite regionally appropriate.

La Mosca

The Argentine band "La Mosca" performed at lunchtime on Tuesday in the courtyard at work. It was a lot of fun -- something different for a workday. I'd never heard of them before, but they were really entertaining and obviously very popular with the Argentine employees.




After the show, we all wanted our picture with the trombone player (in the STOP shirt) ... I think you can see why ...

As a bonus, our plan lured the lead singer, in the mosca (fly)-like sunglasses into the photo, too (and a random waiter?).