Expat Report: Surviving 2014 in Córdoba

2014 was a difficult year for my husband and I. We spent the majority of it separated with the intention of divorcing and never getting back together. And yet, we continued to live under the same roof. Meanwhile, I started my first year at the public university here in Cordoba and ended up dropping out to focus more on work to pay our bills, Zach's medicine, and of course, food.

During the course of the year, I tried dating for the first time in years. But what I assumed was a fellow college student flirting with me turned into an unfortunate misunderstanding. Sadly, it was all cleared up when we were about to go out on what I thought was our first date, and then he clarified over text that he was straight and could only offer me friendship.

On top of that, I had to deal with a roommate turned enemy. And no, I'm not referring to Zach, but to the Argentine woman he befriended, who was a total nightmare to live with. She finally moved out of our house and in with her boyfriend, who lives in Carlos Paz. She described the move as complicated but necessary, as she no longer wanted to live under the same roof as us. Good riddance, I say!

The only sucky thing is that she has become my boss and is giving me online article assignments to write, which she, of course, then takes full credit for. It's just as well, as the articles are utter shit, and only someone as mentally deficient as she is would bother reading them. But I'm going to stop throwing shit her way, as she has given me the closest thing I've found to a stable job here in Argentina, even if the pay is shit.

On another note, our expat friend Brian moved back to the States earlier this year and went MIA. We've received no responses from him despite several attempts to contact him by email or social media. But you know what they say. When one door closes, another one opens. Unfortunately, I learned that some doors should remain closed.

Over the course of the year, I made what I thought was a connection with an expat couple who needed a babysitter for their toddler. Now, I have never in my life taken care of a child, and I was very honest with them about that. They were cool with it and paid good money for me to take care of their kid. I figured that since they were fellow American expats, we had a bond. Well, the connection seemed to be more one-sided. I needed friends, and they just needed a babysitter and some more insight into life in Argentina.

That's okay. I still have a few friends left in Argentina. Well, actually, there's one that I'm not so sure is a friend anymore, but she is a fellow expat.

Her name is Wendy, and she invited me to her home for Thanksgiving, along with my now reconciled husband, Zach. Our fellow expat friend Sarah-Claire was there too. On top of that, there was another American expat couple, one of whom offered to pay me in exchange for writing a three-part story about my journey from the States to Argentina. Spoiler alert! She never paid!

Well, over the course of the evening, Zach and I ended up talking more with Sarah-Claire than anyone else in the house. It was almost like everyone was doing their own thing, which is definitely not how Thanksgiving should be.

Half the food was also semi-recycled from a previous Thanksgiving event that Wendy had gone to earlier that week. But clearly, Sarah-Claire didn't seem to mind. She'll eat anything.

The food was still delicious, even if the dishes were leftovers.

But we hit a bit of a snag when we tried going home.

It turned out that it was raining while we were celebrating indoors. When we tried to leave, we realized the streets were flooded, and we couldn't get a cab to come over. This was not surprising. Getting a cab in Cordoba during a storm is a nightmare.

Finally, Wendy's husband drove us downtown and dropped us off near Patio Olmos. We didn't want to inconvenience him by asking him to drive us any further, though I wish we had, because getting a cab in the downtown area proved just as difficult as getting one from Wendy's house. Eventually, we got one and made it home, though we were extremely drenched.

We were so glad that the night was over, but the aftermath of our visit dragged on.

Remember that horrible roommate I mentioned earlier and in a previous post? Well, it turns out that she had a falling out with Wendy because she was convinced that Wendy had tried to hit on her boyfriend at work. When the roommate from hell, now boss from hell, found out that we went to Wendy's house for Thanksgiving instead of her house party in Carlos Paz, she got really jealous and upset.

Honestly, I don't know how long this working relationship with her will last, given how petty and childish she is, but we'll see. I'm trying to be diplomatic, not just for the job, but because she's still friends with Zach, though that friendship seems to be fading.

And oh shit!

Did I forget to mention Halloween this year? The holiday that comes before Thanksgiving? Well, to be honest, we didn't do much of anything. Though we did go to Walmart and tried on a few masks. Does that count?

The day after Halloween, we celebrated Zach's birthday. The friend turned roommate turned boss from hell was also in attendance, but is not pictured here. But let me tell you, she showed up wearing a blue dress and acting like she was Kim Kardashian. Naturally, the straight guys in the group kept drooling over her.

Although she tried to steal the spotlight, we still managed to have fun with our core group. Unfortunately, they sensed the tension, and the house felt divided for half the night. These two beautiful ladies ended up leaving the party early, much to our dismay.

So now I'll jump to December, when we celebrated Christmas by ourselves without any guests. We did go to my boss from hell's house in Carlos Paz, mainly to make peace. I was so bored that I ended up eating all of her Planter's Nuts. It was only near the end of the night that she subtly told her boyfriend that the nuts were supposed to be shared with some friends at another party she was going to later that night. It was her way of calling me out for eating her stuff. She could have told me in advance. Whatever!

Zach and I had way more fun by ourselves, and we had presents to open on Christmas Day, which included a Lord of the Rings Blu-ray Trilogy collection, an inflatable pool to beat the Argentine summer, and a couple of other miscellaneous items and treats.

I don't know how long it will be before I write another post. I can definitely say that working for the boss from hell and writing those pointless articles drains me both physically and emotionally. So the last thing I want to do is write for my blog. But I will continue to post next year as soon as I get a break.

So I'm going to wish everyone an early Happy New Year and hope that 2015 brings better things than 2014.

Bye for now.