Ringing in 2025: Our Expat New Year’s Celebration in Argentina

Happy New Year, everyone!

I’m so glad the husband and I survived 2024 so we could say goodbye to this b*tch of a year and welcome 2025 with open arms. This year, we made a ham with pineapple slices and cherries, along with beer rice and plantains. If you’re wondering where the plantains come from in an American family, let me remind you that my husband’s family is Puerto Rican, and plantains are a common food staple in his culture. Also, I’m from Miami—Hialeah, specifically—and I was raised in a community full of Cubans who also love plantains. Naturally, I developed a taste for this Caribbean side dish early in life.

For dessert, the husband and I made a coconut cake, decorating it with marshmallows and cherries to simulate the hours on a clock. We used half of a ladyfinger cookie as the hand of the clock, pointing to midnight. We also made chocolate pudding and wrote our wishes for 2025, like health, money, and friendship, on coconut cookies.

At night, the winds picked up violently. This wasn’t a problem for us; it allowed us to open the back door and windows, letting the winds flush the old 2024 air out of the house and replace it with fresh air.

For those of you who don’t know, we are Wiccan. We recited an incantation to remove negative energy from our home and our lives, replacing it with positive things like new opportunities, money, and health—similar to the affirmations we wrote on the coconut cookies. We always find these incantations helpful for protecting ourselves and our home from negative energy.

When the clock struck midnight in Argentina, we drank champagne. (It was the cheapest sh*t we’d ever bought and will never buy again.) For us, though, the New Year isn’t official until the ball drops in Times Square. Sadly, we can’t watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest from Argentina, but we managed to watch the ball drop via the NYE Live Webcast.

We waited until midnight in New York City, which is 2 a.m. in Argentina. In preparation, we cleaned 24 grapes. This tradition involves eating 12 grapes, one for each wish we have for the new year.

Since the champagne earlier was so nasty, we made a mix of Malibu coconut rum and pineapple soy juice. When the countdown began, the ball started to drop, and 2025 officially arrived. After a long, emotional hug and a kiss, the husband and I drank our coconut rum mix and ate our grapes.

Phew! We did it! We survived another year in this world and living abroad in Argentina. I don’t know what 2025 will bring, but we plan to take things one day at a time.

Until next time…

Creepmas 2024: A Spooky Twist on Christmas in Argentina

In case it wasn't obvious from my previous posts, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas are our favorite holidays. But if I'm being honest, there's nothing better than Halloween. Christmas isn't exactly chopped liver, though! So, this year, we decided to combine the two holidays and turn a regular old Christmas into Creepmas!

Basically, Creepmas is Christmas but with a spooky twist. I was surprised to learn it's a growing trend among horror fans. While some call it Creepmas, others refer to it as Navidark. We were thrilled to discover stores in Argentina selling horror-themed ornaments, making it easier to bring our spooky vision to life.

The most notable stores we found were Ghostly and Kripta in Buenos Aires. Ghostly offered unique spooky Christmas ornaments, like the Krampus bell. But this year, we decided to try Kripta and ordered from them instead.

We placed our order a bit late, and we were worried it wouldn't arrive in time, but luckily, Andreani (a delivery service similar to UPS in the States) came through, delivering everything on the 24th.

Here’s what the ornaments looked like in the box:

And here’s what they looked like on our Creepmas tree:

Creepmas Crafts

We also got creative this year and designed our own Creepmas Snowmen and a Creepmas Village using empty styrofoam ice cream containers. The stabbed snowman was store bought.

Here’s what we used:

• Faces: drawn with markers.
• Noses: cut from old birthday candles.
• Arms: cardboard spoons from McDonald’s frosty desserts.
• Buttons: made from black tape.
• Scarf (for one snowman): fabric from an old red shirt I wasn’t using anymore.

More Creepmas Decorations

Sweet Treats

With the tree and Creepmas Village all set up, our next focus was food. Luckily, my husband loves to cook, especially sweet treats. Here are some of the desserts we made together:

Peanut Butter Cup Ornaments

We made them by melting white chocolate. Then we coated a thin layer of the white chocolate onto each ornament design and froze the entire mold for about 15 minutes.

After taking the mold out of the freezer, we filled the ornaments up with peanut butter and covered them up with white chocolate. Then we placed them in the freezer for another 15 minutes and voila!

Homemade Christmas Cookies

We used cookie cutters to get the shapes we wanted and then placed them in the oven. Once they were done, we used food coloring and M&Ms to decorate the cookies.

Pancake Gingerbread Men

We made these using pancake batter and a gingerbread men mold. After they were done, we used white chocolate chips to decorate the eyes and M&Ms for the buttons on their shirts.

Cinnamon Donuts

We made these cinnamon donuts with the leftover pancake batter we used to make the gingerbread men.

Store-Bought Gingerbread Men

We also had these gingerbread men that we bought from Rapanui during Halloween but forgot about. As you can see, the bakery we got these from gave them a bloody makeover which went great with our Creepmas theme.

Apple Pie

Pies are a holiday staple, especially in the States, so we made this delicious pie with two stars in the middle. And if you look closely, there are two more stars, which have the first letter of our first names - "G" and "Z".

The Muffin Tree

And yes! There's more!

The hubby made a Christmas tree tower with delicious muffins! But we probably need to go on a diet after this or at least check to make sure we haven't developed diabetes.

The Salty Stuff

For salty food, we decided to skip a traditional Christmas dinner because we both came down with a bad case of the flu. Our appetites were limited to desserts and alcohol. We did, however, order chicken wings from an Ecuadorian restaurant in Córdoba City named Diablo Huma. Not only were the wings reasonably priced, but the sauces (especially the hot ones) were amazing!

We also made mashed potatoes, which, admittedly, didn’t pair well with the wings. We probably should’ve saved the mashed potatoes for another day, but as I said, we were sick and not really thinking clearly.

Our snack platter was a definite highlight, though. It consisted of:

• Cheese cubes
• Salami
• Rex Crackers (similar to Ritz)
• Cherries

Lasagna

Lasagna was supposed to be part of our Christmas Eve menu, so we made it on Christmas day instead.

Despite the fact that the layers looked like skin and the sauce looked like blood, we tried not to focus too much on that or we wouldn't have eaten this tasty dish.

Creepmas Movie Marathon

In keeping with tradition, we did a 25-day movie marathon leading up to Christmas. About half of the movies were scary Christmas-themed, perfect for the Creepmas vibe. A few were regular horror films, while others simply took place in winter. For example, we gave P.S. I Love You and While You Were Sleeping a Creepmas description makeover.

Here’s our list of Creepmas movies this year:

• Black Christmas (2006) - Decent
• Violent Night - Decent
• Krampus - Decent
• P2 - Decent
• Silent Night (2012) - Decent
• ATM - Decent
• 30 Days of Night - Decent
• Santa’s Slay - Decent
• Silent Bite - One-timer, but never again
• The Mean One - Decent
• Terrifier 3 - Decent
• It’s a Wonderful Knife - Decent
• Land of the Dead - Not a Christmas movie, but okay for Creepmas
• Cold Road - Lots of snow, Joy Ride vibes
• The Associate - Whoopi turns herself into a man to beat nasty men in the finance world
• P.S. I Love You - Annoying widow stalked by her late husband via letters
• Season’s Greetings From Cherry Lane - Decent
• Hot Frosty - A one-time Christmas rom-com that was okay
• Gremlins - Horrible! Never again!
• Home Alone - A classic!
• While You Were Sleeping - Creepy stalker convinces coma boy's family she's the fiancee.
• Freddy vs. Jason - Not a Christmas movie, but perfect for Creepmas
• Red One - Surprisingly entertaining but forgettable
• Heretic - Not a Christmas movie and possibly the dullest film ever
• Once Upon a Time at Christmas - Decent

Wrapping Up the Year

With Christmas (or should I say Creepmas) in our rearview mirror, we’ve now turned our attention to prepping for New Year’s Eve, which, as of this post, is less than 24 hours away. We’re still fighting off the flu and enduring the Argentine summer heat, but we plan to have as much fun as ever ringing in the new year.

Since this is my last post for 2024, I want to thank everyone who’s taken the time to read my blog. Sending you all lots of love and a big hug from our family to yours.

See you in 2025!

From “Hell No” to Full-Time: My Journey as an Online English Teacher Abroad

If you'd asked me 12 years ago if I wanted to be a teacher, my answer would have been a resounding "hell no!" I hated school as a kid. In fact, I still have nightmares about some of the horrible teachers I had over the years. That’s right, Mrs. Rachel B. Pratt from Tropical Park Elementary, Mrs. Helen Robin from Coral Park Elementary, Mrs. Phyllis Eagen from North Hialeah Elementary, Mrs. Brown from Miami Park Elementary and Mrs. King from Hialeah Middle School—I’m talking to you!

So, what on earth possessed me to become an online English teacher? Honestly, financial necessity. Don’t get me wrong—teaching doesn’t pay much, and working abroad as an online English teacher pays even less. But it’s better than sitting on my ass doing nothing. These hands were not made for construction work or cleaning toilets, so those options were off the table.

For years, I worked as a freelance writer, but the work was boring, the pay wasn’t great, and working under an Argentine boss who constantly insisted she was right—even when she wasn’t—was demeaning. So, I started teaching.

It was slow going at first. I began with just two or three students and, to be honest, had no clue where to start with lessons. Should I teach basic greetings? Slang? Verbs? Nouns? Adjectives? I had no idea. I downloaded a couple of online English books for guidance, but they weren’t much help. Some students could parrot back everything I said and read decently, but they had no idea what they were actually saying.

Three months into teaching, I started feeling like this was a mistake. It didn’t help that my few students were constantly canceling on me and refusing to reschedule. But around the fourth month, I started reviewing all the notes I’d taken over the weeks to pinpoint where my students’ greatest weaknesses were. This helped me design a whole new lesson plan for future students, and let me tell you—it worked. Word started to spread about me, and soon I had students not just in Argentina but beyond—including Argentines living in Australia and others in desperate need of conversational English lessons. I even gained an Italian student splitting his time between Australia and Italy and another based in Colombia.

But these international students presented a payment problem. I no longer had a U.S. bank account—just an Argentine one, and receiving money from abroad here is a nightmare. While I had no trouble receiving transfers from Argentine students, non-Argentine students required me to open a Wise account for dollar payments.

This seemed like a solution until I discovered I couldn’t receive a Wise bank card. Wise only issues cards to certain countries, and Argentina isn’t on the list. I tried using my New York driver’s license and later my U.S. passport, but that didn’t work since I’d been living abroad for over a decade. Wise required proof of a U.S. address, but my W2 tax forms from novel sales weren’t acceptable.

Desperation set in. By then, I’d been teaching non-Argentine students for months and had accumulated a decent amount of money in my Wise account—money I couldn’t withdraw. I was ready to quit when one of my Argentine students, who had lived in Italy and later moved to Australia, came to my rescue. He had a Wise account and agreed to let me transfer funds to his account, after which he’d send me the equivalent in Argentine pesos. The only catch? I couldn’t risk transferring everything at once since Wise is known to flag and freeze accounts over “suspicious activity.” So, I transferred $100 at a time every two months. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Now that I’ve figured out how to get paid, let’s talk about the downsides of online teaching.

The Downsides

1. Constant Cancellations: Some students cancel all the time. At first, I didn’t mind, but it became a recurring issue. Soon, I was stuck recovering classes from previous months, leaving me unable to charge for new ones. My solution? If students want to recover a class, they have to do it within the same month, or they lose it. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

2. Lack of Interest: Some students show zero interest in rescheduling canceled classes. This tells me they’re not serious about learning and are wasting my time.

3. Ignoring Materials: I often email students materials to review before class or send notes with corrections afterward. Yet, many admit they don’t bother reviewing them. Their nonchalant attitude pisses me off. Why am I even taking the time to write notes if they won’t use them?

4. Repeating the Same Mistakes: Many students make the same errors every single class. Common culprits include pronouncing -ED endings in past tense words incorrectly (“walked” as “WO-KED”) and mispronouncing silent letters like the L in “walk” or “could.”

5. Pronunciation Challenges: Argentine students, in particular, struggle with the J and G sounds, often pronouncing “Jenny” as “CHE-ni.” To help them, I suggest thinking of the J sound as similar to a Y. For G sounds, I provide phonetic clues, such as writing “FOR-GUET” for “forget,” which aligns with the Spanish pronunciation rules they are familiar with. For instance, in the Spanish word guerra (meaning “war”), the G is pronounced similarly to the G in “forget” when followed by a U. This approach helps bridge their understanding between English and Spanish pronunciation.

6. No-Shows: Some students don’t bother showing up or even letting me know they’ll miss class. Emergencies happen, sure, but lame excuses like “I forgot” or “I was on vacation” are disrespectful. My policy now? I wait 10 minutes, end the call, and offer no recovery class. Waste my time, lose your money.

7. Yawning: Yawning during class without muting the mic or excusing themselves drives me nuts. While time zones can make classes inconvenient, a little courtesy goes a long way.

The Upsides

Of course, there are plenty of reasons I stick with online teaching.

1. Watching Progress: Seeing students learn and remember something we covered earlier is incredibly rewarding.

2. Building Connections: Teaching allows me to connect with people in ways I never expected. I’ve formed genuine bonds with many of my students, even after they’ve stopped taking classes.

3. Staying Informed: My students often share news or cultural insights, helping me stay connected to Argentine life and beyond.

4. Gaining Perspective: Teaching has shown me the kind, open-minded, and generous side of Argentines that I hadn’t experienced before.

5. Helping People: I’ve always loved helping others. Teaching not only fulfills that but also gives me the chance to share aspects of American culture and sometimes offer advice or emotional support—a bit like being an unofficial therapist.

6. Learning from Students: I’ve learned so much from my students about the different accents and ways of speaking in various Argentine provinces. For instance, while people from Buenos Aires tend to pronounce the letter "s" with intensity, those from Santa Fe often drop it entirely. This difference carries over to both castellano (Argentine Spanish) and English, which fascinates me.

7. Mutual Teaching: When I write in castellano to better explain an English word or phrase, I sometimes make spelling mistakes because I don’t have much experience reading or writing in castellano. Luckily, my students are always happy to help me correct these errors. In effect, while I’m teaching them English, they’re teaching me how to write in castellano—a bonus I hadn’t anticipated!

Advice for Aspiring Teachers

If you’re thinking about teaching, start with the basics: vowel sounds, the alphabet, and simple verb tenses like the past, present, and future. Avoid more complex tenses like the perfect forms until students reach an intermediate level. Also, focus on foundational topics like:

• When to use “a” and “an”

• When to use “to”

• Gerunds

• Verbs, adverbs, and adjectives

Teaching isn’t always easy, but the pros outweigh the cons. And hey, if I can go from saying “hell no” to teaching full-time, maybe it’s worth a shot for you, too.

Argentina’s 2024 Immigration Shift: Free Healthcare and Education No Longer for All Foreigners

It seems like Argentina’s immigration policies are taking a sharp turn, and honestly, it’s nerve-racking for foreigners hoping to make a life here. One of the most unsettling changes is that non-resident foreigners now have to pay for public healthcare and university education. This feels like a big shift from the Argentina I’ve come to know—a country that’s always been so welcoming and generous to immigrants.

When I first heard about this, I was freaked out—not for myself (I’m lucky enough to have dual citizenship), but for my husband. He’s only a permanent resident, and I was terrified this might affect him, too. One of the primary reasons we moved to Argentina was because of the free healthcare. My husband has a family history of cancer-related deaths, and we knew there was no way he could afford treatment back home if he were to develop cancer. Thankfully, these policy changes only apply to non-residents, but it’s still unsettling to see the country moving in a direction that feels less inclusive.

In addition to these policy shifts, Argentina is getting stricter about who can come and stay. The government recently expanded the list of crimes that could lead to denial of entry or deportation, including acts that threaten the democratic system or individuals caught committing crimes. Those expelled under these new rules will also be banned from reentering. 

I get it! No one wants to welcome a foreigner who has less than noble intentions. Still, everyone makes mistakes, and I firmly believe that people deserve a second chance—provided the crime isn’t something serious, like assault or murder. It’s terrifying to think about how these measures might impact people genuinely trying to build a life here.

And then there’s the treatment of pregnant women, which started in 2023. Argentina’s policy of granting citizenship to anyone born here hasn’t changed, but the government is cracking down on “birth tourism,” particularly targeting Russians, who’ve been immigrating in larger numbers. Pregnant women might now have to prove they can financially support themselves and show plans to leave after giving birth. It’s heartbreaking to think of families being put through this kind of stress when all they want is a better future.

These changes seem to focus heavily on specific groups like Venezuelans and Russians—communities that have immigrated in larger numbers recently. While officials claim it’s about preventing “abuse,” it’s hard not to feel like these narratives are feeding into unfair stereotypes—much like they do back in the States. Contrary to popular belief, foreigners in Argentina are involved in a minority of crimes. For instance, while some Venezuelans have been linked to theft, most violent crimes, like homicides, are overwhelmingly committed by Argentines. The bigger issue seems to be the country’s broader economic and social struggles, like the drug-related violence in Rosario, which has little to do with immigration.

At first, I was terrified for my family and couldn’t shake the fear that these changes might disrupt the life we’ve built here. But as I dug deeper, I realized my husband and I are safe—at least for now. Still, these shifts are a stark reminder of how quickly things can change for foreigners living in Argentina.

If you’re thinking about moving here, it’s more important than ever to stay informed and prepared. Immigration here used to feel pretty straightforward, but now it’s filled with twists and turns that can be downright scary. Keep an eye on the latest policies, know your rights, and make sure you have everything in order. For those of you already here—brace yourselves. It feels like the road ahead might get a little bumpier.

Thanksgiving Abroad 2024: Hot, Humid, and Grateful

To those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful one! Ours was… extremely hot. And I don’t mean in a good way—just blistering, sweaty, Argentine-spring hot.

You’d think after 12 years here, we’d be used to the heat during Thanksgiving, but honestly, we wouldn’t mind a freak cold front—or even a snowstorm—for a change. It would’ve made cooking so much easier!

This year has been rough. My mom had pneumonia in late September, then came her wild idea to evict tenants illegally, my dad’s dementia has been progressing, and let’s not even get started on Argentina’s spiraling economy.

Still, Thanksgiving is all about gratitude, and I’m incredibly thankful for my husband. No matter what life throws at us, we always find a way to make the holiday season fun—and delicious.

The Menu: A Hot Kitchen and a Missing Turkey

Speaking of delicious… we stuck with our usual side dishes: mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. But this year? No turkey.

I really wanted one. I scoured the supermarkets for weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. Nada. Here, turkeys (or pavita, as they’re called) are a bit of a luxury, and the only brand I’ve ever seen selling them is Sadia. But this year? Not a turkey in sight.

So, we made do with chicken.

Despite the turkey setback, the food turned out great—but the prep work was a sweaty nightmare. 

Prepping the stuffing

Prepping the Mashed Potatoes

Prepping the Pumpkin Pie

The heat and humidity were brutal, and turning on the electric oven only made it worse. Our big fan broke a couple of months ago, and our ceiling fans weren’t cutting it.

We had ambitious plans for a bigger menu, but the heat zapped our energy. We decided to skip a few things: corn on the cob, gravy (a Thanksgiving staple we just couldn’t muster the energy for), and apple pie.

Still, we managed a few tasty treats that made the meal special, and in the end, it all came out perfect.

Pumpkin Pie

Turkeys Made with White Oreos, chocolate for the eyes and Rocklets (Similar to M&Ms) for the feathers. My husband named the top two Goober and Goblet and I named the bottom two Blowesha and Mark.

Apple Spice Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Holiday Traditions: Parades and Horror

After dinner, we stuck to tradition: sitting in front of the TV and watching last year’s recording of NBC’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Unfortunately, the current parade isn’t available here until a couple of days later. There are livestreams on YouTube, but they’re often boring and skip the performances.

Honestly, though, the parade has felt lackluster in recent years. The hosts, like Hoda Kotb, seem distracted, and there’s way too much talking instead of focusing on floats and performances. (Here’s hoping Hoda wasn’t hosting the 2024 parade. We’ll find out in 2025 when we finally watch it!)

We also kept up another new tradition: re-watching the horror film Thanksgiving. Strangely, it was even better this year. Maybe it’s just one of those movies that grows on you?

Looking Ahead: Creepmas 2024

With Thanksgiving 2024 behind us, it’s time to shift our focus to Christmas—or, in our case, Creepmas. That’s right, we’re leaning into a darker holiday vibe this year. Stay tuned for more about that in a few weeks!