Renovations, Broken Dreams, and a Whole Lot of Frustration (Part 1)

I haven't been posting much lately, and there's a reason for that. A couple of things have happened over the past few months that have really taken a toll on my emotional well-being. One of them revolves around a renovation project we've been doing on one of our vacant properties, which I'll call House Alpha.

After the previous tenants moved out last November, my folks and I spent several weeks discussing what to do with the house. My idea was simple. Sell it and use the money to buy another property as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, my parents originally paid around $80,000 USD for the house back in 2007. In today's Argentine real estate market, we'd probably only get about $40,000 USD for it if we're lucky.

I also had a personal reason for wanting to sell. The fact that it never happened is one of the biggest reasons I've been feeling so angry and depressed.

You see, all of the properties are in my parents' names. Adding my name to the title would be expensive as hell in Argentina. In fact, it would cost so much that we'd practically have to sell one property just to add me to the deed of another. Since we own several properties, that simply wasn't realistic.

However, if we had sold House Alpha, we could have purchased another property and put both my husband's name and mine on the title.

Officially becoming homeowners would have given us a lot more leverage when it came to adopting a child, something I've wanted for many, many years.

Earlier this year, my mom and I had a long conversation about why becoming homeowners meant so much to me. She was genuinely excited about the idea of me becoming a father and her becoming a grandmother someday.

But, as has often been the case with major decisions involving my parents, the sale never happened.

What hurt the most wasn't even the decision itself. It was the fact that they made it without talking to me first. To say I was beyond pissed would be an understatement.

Did I hate them a little?

TRY A LOT!

I honestly don't know if I'll ever completely forgive either of them for this. However, at the end of the day, my relationship with my parents has been more business than family for the last twenty-five years. It wasn't always that way, but it gradually became our reality a few years before they left the United States to retire in Córdoba, Argentina.

Looking back, I know I shouldn't have counted on them to help make our dream of expanding our family a reality.

So, after accepting yet another heartbreaking disappointment since moving to Argentina, I waited to see what they planned to do with the property.

Well, guess what? Instead of selling it, they decided to renovate it.

The house is fairly large for a family of four. Definitely nowhere near Kardashian-sized, but spacious enough. Their plan was to divide it into two separate units. A one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment on one side and a smaller two-bedroom, one-bathroom home on the other.

A lot of money has gone into this renovation.

The company they hired to repair years of humidity and water damage—and to divide the house into two units—would only accept payment in U.S. dollars.

That was an immediate red flag for me.

Most Argentine contractors don't normally operate exclusively in dollars, but I'm pretty sure my father opened his big mouth and mentioned that we were from the United States. Unfortunately, some people hear "American" and immediately assume, "Oh... they must be rich."

I've been checking on the property as the renovations have progressed over the last couple of months, and let me tell you... it's been painfully slow and incredibly expensive.

If I'm being completely honest, the quality of the work doesn't come close to matching the amount of money we've paid the company and its workers.

Removing plants that had begun growing on the roof was a top priority because they were causing cracks, allowing water and moisture to seep inside. 

This, in effect, raised the humidity levels in the house, which resulted in damage to the walls and mold build-up. 

The workers installed several layers of what appear to be metal panels designed to provide additional protection against moisture. You can see them in the first photo I added to this post. I'm not sure if it's going to work, but I guess we'll see as time goes by.

As of July 2026, they've finished most of the work on the main house, but they still have to build an entirely new roof over the apartment. The reason for this is fairly simple. We enclosed what used to be the backyard to create additional living space for the new unit.

It's a motherfucking work in progress, but you get the idea.

We also had to trim back several large tree branches. Part of that was because the municipality insisted on it, but it was also the smart thing to do. The branches had become so large that a strong storm could easily have snapped them, sending them crashing into the house and causing serious damage.

All things considered, it looked like my parents were finally going to get what they wanted.

Then everything went sideways.

Vandalism.

And that's where Part 2 of this ongoing frustration begins.

If you don't see it, it's because I haven't written it yet. Check back soon.

14 Years in Argentina: An Honest Update

 It's been such a hectic couple of months. It's hard to believe that 2026 started off with only a handful of students and virtually nothing to do. Lately, I've been teaching so many ESL students online, and that's actually a good thing. I love teaching people who genuinely want to learn. The money's not bad either. In fact, it helps satisfy our primary vice which is ordering fast food—lots of it—especially now that Cordoba City has a KFC!

But this post is more than just an update about what I've been up to over the past couple of months. It's also a celebration of our 14th year living abroad.

We left the States on June 16th, 2012. It took us two days to get to Cordoba City, Argentina, courtesy of two extremely long layovers. But on June 18th, 2012, we finally arrived in our host city and at our new, fully furnished house. 

From that point on, we've had our ups and downs—emotionally, financially, and with the people who have come into our lives. Sadly, none of them have stuck around, even those who likely owe us their lives.

One of the most radical changes in my life has been my career. About two years after I got here, I started out as a freelance writer and, years later, became an online ESL teacher. I don't know how I went from being a guy who worked in administration and finance back home to this. I guess life's funny that way. But teaching isn't the only thing that's been keeping me busy or driving me a bit insane.

Over the last 14 years, I've taken on more administrative responsibilities when it comes to managing the properties we own. That, in itself, has been a learning experience with more misses than hits. 

I assumed that owning property would be an investment, and yet it often feels like each property is sucking the finances right out of us like a vampire sucks blood. But I'll talk more about that in a future post.

Although huge amounts of stress have plagued me this year, the hubs and I have also taken the time to relax and enjoy doing the things we love, like giving regular holidays such as Valentine's Day and Easter a spookier theme.

Cornbread shaped heart for Valentine's Day

A Homemade Peach Pie with Yoshi Eggs for Easter

Nothing says Easter like a Facehugger ready to hatch!

We've also celebrated two of the three Friday the 13ths in 2026 with movies like Friday the 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan, Sleepaway Camp 2 and Sleepaway Camp 3, as well as some delicious food and treats.

Jason Voorhees Pancakes!

Crystal Lake Jell-O and Crystal Lake Drinks

Homemade Pepperoni Pizza. If you can't see the 13, you might be color blind.

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls in front of our Friday the 13th Tree because... why not?

Then, on March 30th, we celebrated our 14-year wedding anniversary. Now I'm not going to sugar coat it for you. Relationships aren't easy. Marriage isn't easy. But I'm 100% sure that I wouldn't have survived these last 14 years abroad without the hubs by my side to keep me sane and put a smile on my face, even when it was the last thing I wanted to do.

Despite that, there's been a great deal of reflecting over the last couple of weeks. For one thing, there's less and less communication from our friends and family back home. My friends generally reach out to me only on my birthday or if I reach out to them first, which sucks. My husband's family only sends him memes but never comments, hits "like" on what he posts, or even asks how he's doing. But if I'm being honest, a lot of them are homophobic, particularly his pig-fucking c*nt of a stepmom. Then they wonder why we left. But I digress.

There are a couple of things I'm looking forward to in the second half of 2026. We've already celebrated Halfway to Halloween in May and Halfway to Thanksgiving in June, which I'll post about soon. Now we're getting ready to celebrate Halfway to Christmas in July, but not before we celebrate my 49th birthday in just a few short weeks.

We're also looking forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in October, November, and December, as well as the final Friday the 13th of the year in November. Oh, and there's a Friday the 13th spin-off called Camp Crystal Lake premiering in October, which we're really looking forward to. I just hope it doesn't disappoint like some of this year's movies.

Masters of the Universe, Scary Movie 6, Scream 7, and Backrooms, to name a few, were absolutely awful and should never have been made.

But films, TV shows, and holidays aside, I've also decided to finally go to the doctor (hopefully sometime in July) to get a check-up. I've been putting it off for years because the state of the free healthcare system in Argentina has become a joke. But I'm not a kid anymore, and I need to start getting regular check-ups and making sure everything is still working in decent order.

I also know I haven't been posting very often, and that's mainly the result of being busy and, honestly, my state of mind. But I'm going to do my best to write more regularly because this blog has always been a way for me to look back on what we've experienced since moving to Argentina.

Fourteen years ago, we packed up our lives in New York and took a leap into uncharted territories. It hasn't always been easy, and it certainly hasn't always been fun, but it's had some really beautiful moments that I wouldn't change for anything. Here's to whatever the second half of 2026 has in store. Now if You'll excuse me. I need to go buy some hair dye so I don't celebrate my 49th birthday looking like a Q-Tip.

The Loneliness No One Talks About as an Expat

As I mentioned in my previous post, our difficulty in finding the right tenants for our properties has made 2026 a financial and emotional migraine. But that’s not the only reason my husband and I have been having such a rough time this year.

For some reason, we’ve become very aware of how lonely it can be to be expats in Argentina. Many of the Argentine friends we thought would be there for us through thick and thin have turned their backs on us.

One of them wasn’t much of a surprise, really. The truth is, he had been emotionally unstable throughout most of his friendship with my husband. Only recently did I learn that the main reason he was ever friendly with me was because I was married to his “bae,” as he liked to call my husband. He had no interest in me whatsoever. To be honest, it wasn’t exactly a secret given that he was always acting like he was trying to get into his pants, and when that didn’t work out, he seemingly moved on and went radio silent on my husband.

Another friend, someone I had reached out to daily from August of last year through early January, cut ties with me in a diplomatic but still hurtful way. I still don’t know what brought that on. She had asked for daily affirmations that everything was going to be okay, which my husband and I agreed to give her. The hubs got tired of it and stopped, but I knew how important it can be to feel like someone is in your corner, so I kept going.

To make things more interesting, I even created an ongoing story using AI generated images. It turned into a kind of comic book style narrative with a sci fi drama vibe, featuring celebrities like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and Katie Holmes. Sometimes I included her in it too. The AI couldn’t recreate her exact likeness, but I made versions from the side or from behind. You get the idea. It was something I put real time and thought into, and it came from a genuine place of friendship.

Here's a sample page of the makeshift comic. Keep in mind that I would usually just send one or two images per day.

Then, a few days after the new year, she politely asked me to stop, saying it wasn’t necessary to continue. Fair enough. I wasn’t going to keep putting in that kind of effort if it wasn’t wanted. But it was how abruptly it ended that stung. It made us feel like none of it had actually mattered to her.

Since then, she has barely reached out. On the rare occasions she does ask how we’re doing, she never follows up after we respond. In my opinion, that’s just shitty. If you don’t really want to know, then don’t ask.

And she’s not the only one.

One thing I’ve noticed with some of the Argentines we’ve befriended is that they’re happy to come over when we host parties. They’ll eat the food, enjoy the moment, and go home with leftovers. But when it comes to actually showing up for us as real friends, things go quiet.

At the same time, our friends and family back home haven’t exactly stepped up to the plate either. On my side, I’m always the one reaching out, and no one checks in on me first. It feels like I’m constantly putting in more than I’m getting back. My husband has gone through the same thing, especially with his family.

When he sends heartfelt messages, the responses are usually just an emoji or a GIF. That might not seem like a big deal if we were living in the States, but we’ve been in Argentina for 14 years and haven’t been able to go back, mostly because of financial struggles. You would think that distance alone would make people put a little more effort into staying connected. Even something as simple as responding thoughtfully or engaging with what we share online would go a long way.

We don’t want shitty GIFs or random YouTube videos. We want an actual conversation. Something as simple as “How are you?” would mean more than people probably realize.

I guess what this year has really done is strip away a lot of the perceptions we had about the people we loved. It’s shown us who shows up, who doesn’t, and how uneven some of our relationships really are.

And maybe that’s the hardest part to process. Not just the loneliness, but the realization that sometimes the connections we thought were solid were never as deep as we believed.

It’s strange. Moments like these remind me of a scene from Superman with Christopher Reeve, when Lex tells Miss Teschmacher and Otis that his father taught him, “People are no damn good.”

I’m starting to think he might have been right.

Empty Houses, Break-Ins, and Bad Realtors

Holy cow! I can't believe we're already in May. One of the reasons I haven't posted since the New Year is because we've been dealing with a lot of setbacks with the properties we own. Last year wasn't a picnic on this front either, but 2026 has really been kicking us in the butt.

It all started because of a decision we made late last year not to renew a long-time tenant's contract. We thought this was a good idea because he had been renting from us for nearly a decade, and in Argentina, that can sometimes lead to a tenant choosing to stay in the property without paying, while the law tends not to favor homeowners. Now, I'm not saying we had any reason to believe this particular tenant was going to do that, but we simply couldn't take the chance.

A couple of weeks into 2026, we discovered the downside of owning a tenant-free property. One day, I received a call from a nearby neighbor telling me that someone had taken the metal gates from the empty house. This in itself was not surprising, but it was still frustrating. It is Argentina, after all. Worse than that, it's Córdoba City, and crime here is the worst.

My dad filed a report at the local police department, expecting little to nothing to come of it, which is typical with Argentine law enforcement.

Two days later, when my dad went to work on the property to get it ready for the next potential tenant, he discovered that the house had been broken into. Obviously, there was nothing of value inside, and yet that didn't stop these hoodlums from breaking the sinks, toilets, bidets, and windows. On top of that, they had ripped out the electrical cables throughout the property. Essentially, they made the house unrentable until the necessary repairs could be made. There was seemingly no reason for them to do this, though we suspect the police themselves may have been involved.

It's been several months, and we still haven't been able to complete all the necessary repairs. At this point, the house has turned into a money pit.

It certainly doesn't help that two of our other properties are currently unoccupied and not bringing in any income either.

And it's not like we haven't tried. We've spoken with two different realtors but have yet to find a decent tenant with co-signers or a stable job. In fact, the realtors themselves have proven to be less than reliable. The first one we worked with showed interest but, in true Argentine fashion, failed to show up for a scheduled meeting. That alone wasn't enough to disqualify him. What really sealed his fate was that three weeks later, he still hadn't put up "For Rent" signs like he had promised, and there were no listings for our properties on any of his websites. So, we fired him and started looking for someone else.

I wish I could say I have faith in our current realtor, but she hasn't advertised the vacancies on any of her sites either. She also seems to be moving at a turtle's pace. This is not uncommon in Argentina. A lot of professionals work on their own timeline, and getting them to move faster is next to impossible.

Suffice it to say, the financial and emotional impact of the repairs and the lack of rental income has affected both my husband's and my mood, as well as our plans for a more exciting start to 2026.

Despite all of this, we have managed to have some fun along the way, but I'll get into more detail about that in my next post.

 

Headaches, Champagne & Jelly Beans: Our Expat New Year 2026 in Córdoba

 2025 is finally over.

I can’t say I’m convinced 2026 will be better, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Every new year I tell myself this will be the one that breaks the cycle in a good way—yet somehow, each year arrives with a fresh batch of headaches. That’s life, I guess.

We rang in the new year in our usual way, minus one tradition. First came dinner which included homemade beer rice, pepperoni pizza, and cornbread. 

Yes, the menu sounds a little chaotic, but we were going for comfort and simplicity. We weren't trying to please Martha Stewart. The hubs adores rice—especially beer rice—and cornbread. I’m more of a pizza guy myself. So we made things we knew the other would enjoy. This was a good thing because we needed comfort food badly. 

As I mentioned in my Christmas post, both our mental and physical energies have been in the gutter for months. Then came the news that two of my closest friends—one in the U.S., one here in Argentina—are dealing with serious health issues. It’s hit me hard especially given the number of genuine people in my life.

I don’t need hundreds of friends or thousands of followers to feel validated. I can count my circle of friends on one hand, and that’s more than enough. I’d rather have a few loyal people than a crowd of half-hearted connections. At the same time I can't afford to lose anyone.

If I sound bitter, it’s because I’ve been burned—repeatedly—by people I once considered close. Some demand endless care but never return it. And I know I’m not the only one who’s experienced that.

The hubs has had his own wake-up call too. After years of showing up for others who never showed up for him, he’s ready to cut ties with anyone who doesn’t value his heart or his time. The biggest sting for him this year? Only two family members wished him a Happy New Year—and those two almost never interact with him otherwise. No likes, no comments, no check-ins. When they do reach out, it’s just GIFs. No real conversation, no “How are you?” or anything of the sort.

Some seem to think that because we moved abroad in 2012 and never went back—we somehow turned our backs on them. We didn’t. But if that’s the story they need to tell themselves… fine. There's nothing we can do about that.

Anyway—back to New Year’s Eve.

After dinner came dessert which included apple pie with “NYE” baked right into the crust. This was the hub's idea. We also had homemade pudding, fruit salad, candy and brownies. 

When midnight hit here in Argentina, we didn’t leap out of our seats. We were deep into disaster movies. But we did pause long enough to clink glasses and say “Cheers!” before returning to the cinematic destruction.

Speaking of movies, here’s what we watched and recommend:

• Geostorm

• The Day After Tomorrow

• Greenland

• Armageddon

• Skyscraper

Around 2 a.m., it was finally champagne time. I may have accidentally launched the cork directly into the hubs’ back—equal parts hilarious and terrifying. He survived but was stunned for a couple of seconds.

Then came our real New Year’s countdown. If you’ve read my previous New Year posts, you know the deal. We don’t officially celebrate until midnight Eastern Standard Time back in the States, because we’re both Floridians. So we streamed the Times Square ball drop, and that’s when 2026 truly began for us.

As soon as I hugged the hubs, the tears came. Not cute little movie tears. Full emotional waterfall. This has become a thing for me the last few years. Maybe it’s my system finally purging the year. Maybe it’s exhaustion and depression. Maybe it’s grief or hope colliding at the same time. I don’t know. But the breakdown seems to grow each year.

Thank goodness for champagne. Liquid emotional support as I call it.

The one tradition we missed? The grapes. Every year we each eat 12 grapes at midnight, one for each wish or intention for the new year. This year, the grapes at the store were either bad, overly priced, or nonexistent. So we found an alternative.

That's right! Jelly beans to the rescue. And let me tell you: every single bean carried a fully emotionally-charged, Wiccan-blessed intention for 2026. Because sometimes magic is less about ingredients and more about intention.

No resolutions this year either. I never keep them, so why set myself up for failure? But I did promise myself this:

• Get out of the house more

• Stop pouring energy into people who don’t pour any back

And that’s enough.

To anyone reading this—if your 2026 is off to a beautiful start, I’m genuinely thrilled for you. If it isn’t, I hope whatever you’re carrying gets lighter with time.

Until next time…

Creepmas, KFC, and Love: A Very Different Expat Christmas in Córdoba

Like a lot of people, I struggle during the holidays—both financially and emotionally. It feels like every year things are stable until December hits, and then everything goes sideways. This year was rougher than any we’ve had since my husband and I moved to Córdoba City, Argentina in 2012.

Between my parents’ declining health (and their very toxic personalities) and nonstop headaches with tenants and the rental properties we own, I honestly considered canceling the holidays altogether. My husband—aka “the hubs”—has been battling his own physical and emotional slump, too.

But here’s the thing: I love the holidays. The second one ends, I’m already mentally planning the next. There was no way I was skipping Christmas this year. We just had to improvise a little.

We planned to celebrate Navidark—our own tradition blending Christmas cheer with horror aesthetics. Think “deck the halls,” but spooky. Unfortunately, two Argentine stores we usually count on for eerie décor—Ghostly Store and Kripta—didn’t deliver anything worth ordering. Even the local Halloween goldmine, Cotillón Chialvo, came up short in the ornament department when I checked for Christmas. 

They promised ornaments would arrive later in the month, but a second trip just wasn’t in the cards financially.

Still, I managed to snag a few gems:

• Santa and Grinch masks

• Festive eyeglasses

• Holiday plates, napkins and straws

We love masks, goofy accessories, and taking photos together, so this accidental haul became a highlight.

Our Christmas tree is always the star of Navidark. We call it our Creepmas Tree, and while this year’s version was less intense than previous years, it still delivered the vibe we love.

Although not feeling so great, the hubs surprised me by adding a few more decorations to our living room while I was out getting some last minute supplies.

As for dinner? We went rogue—but strategically. I headed to the new KFC location at Nuevocentro Shopping in Córdoba City. Instead of a classic 8-piece bucket like last time, I ordered 11 wings and 11 chicken strips, plus:

• Popcorn chicken

• Bacon & cheddar fries

• Onion rings

• Four drinks

It cost 64,000 Argentine pesos (about $43.99 USD), and none of the online deals applied in-store. But hey—holidays, right?

Since KFC here doesn’t offer the sides we’re used to back home, we made our own American comfort classics:

• Coleslaw (using a mix and pre-made bag from JUMBO supermarket)

• Mashed potatoes with homemade gravy

• Corn

• Garlic bread—arranged into a Christmas tree shape, which actually turned out adorable

Dessert was where we really leaned into the dark side of Navidark:

• A Dirty Santa drink with rum, crushed ice, and grenadine for a splash of Christmas red

• A large brownie cake transformed into a reindeer using:

  • Pretzels for antlers

  • Edible candy eyes

  • A cherry for the red nose

  • Green icing for the mouth

We also made reindeer donuts using pretzels and edible eyes. We tried icing for the noses, but the donuts were too warm and the icing melted. So naturally, we rebranded the runny red dot as… a bullet hole. In our version of the story, the reindeer had a tragic run-in with hunters. Festive? Yes. Horrifying? Also yes.

To complete the theme, we molded homemade peanut butter cups into brains, hearts, and skulls, using melted white chocolate tinted with red food coloring. The color was more pinkish-red than blood-red, but the results were equal parts grotesque and charming.

To cut down on all the sugary stuff, we made a makeshift charcuterie board or rather a charcuterie tree using salami, cheese slices, cucumber and crackers. It wasn't as big or as fancy or as full as we envisioned it but we were running low on items and it was too late to order anything or go to the market. But we'll definitely do better for our halfway to Christmas in July or Christmas 2026.

We had grand plans for:

• A Christmas tree-shaped pudding decorated with Rocklets (Argentina’s budget M&M cousins)

• An apple pie

But the December heat and our emotional exhaustion won this round. We postponed those ideas to New Year’s Eve instead.

To get into the holiday spirit, we kept our favorite December tradition: one Christmas movie a day leading up to the 25th. We mixed classics like Home Alone with holiday horror flicks like Violent Night. I’ll share this year’s full movie list here, and trust me—there were some unexpected surprises.

1. Black Christmas - A classic holiday horror film

2. Silent Night - This was a pretty decent holiday horror film too

3. Better Watch Out - The main kid was annoying. Never again.

4. Jingle Bell Heist - It was a Christmas Rom-Com but watchable.

5. Oh. What. Fun - It wasn't. Michelle Pfeifer needs to go back to the 90s when she was actually good. 

6. The Naughty List of Mr. Scrooge - The characters were dumb as fuck but Scrooge was okay.

7. My Secret Santa - Rom-com - Mrs. Doubtfire Meets the Associate

8. Krampus

9. She's Making a List --- Everything barfy that you would expect from Hallmark plus a shitty ending 

10. Home Alone 2 - Decent but why couldn't Kevin help the homeless lady out?

11. The Running Man - Not a Christmas film but we needed something new.

12. A Mom for Christmas - A 90s TV classic. Sappy but a tear-jerker.

13. ATM - Scary.

14. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas - It was watchable.

15. A Carol Christmas - Shitty faith based studio film. Tori sold out.

16. Dashing Through the Snow - Shitty movie that failed to be everything Violent Night was.

17. Violent Night - This helped wash away the memory of movie 16.

18. Jingle All the Way

19. The Great Flood - Technically not a Christmas movie but both mom and son were the key to restarting humanity so kind of.

20. Tinsel Town - Kiefer Sutherland in a Christmas movie and he was actually funny.

21. Elf

22. It's a Wonderful Knife

23. P2

24. While You Were Sleeping

25. The Associate

So that was our Christmas this year. It wasn’t extravagant. It wasn’t flawless. But it was ours. We made it work together—as partners, as a team, and honestly? Our love carried the magic when everything else felt heavy.

Now we just need to crack the code on New Year’s Eve. I’ll report back… in early January. Let’s just call it a cliffhanger.

Until then, I hope you all had a warm holiday season, and I’m wishing you a wonderful New Year ahead.