Happy New Year! I hope 2022 is going well for you. Now before you continue reading, let me warn you that I had a really bad start to the new year and we're only in day 7. So, if I sound irate, it's because I am.
Some of the things we've been dealing with are the incessant power outages brought on by the extreme Argentine heat wave. If that weren't bad enough, we're also having issues with our annoying neighbors who insist on blasting their music, congregating in front of our home, and dumping their trash on our front yard. Sadly, there's nothing we can do about any of it, at least not legally. Despite these nuisances, I'm hopeful that this year will... oh, who am I kidding? I'm a realist, not an optimist. I don't know what this year will bring.
I can tell you that the number of Omicron cases remain high throughout Argentina and in Cordoba Province, but if you've been following my blog, you already know that.
- On Sunday, January 2, 2022, there were 20,502 cases in Argentina, 3,601 of which were in Cordoba Province.
- On Thursday, January 6, 2022, there were 109,608 cases in Argentina, 14,650 of which were in Cordoba Province.
Unfortunately, the Argentines only have themselves to blame for the alarming number of infections. They've been extremely negligent in following the health protocols. Most of them refuse to wear masks, and they insist on partying like it's 1999 (old people reference). But you know what? Enough about Omicron.
I want to share how I celebrated New Year's Eve. For starters, it was extremely hot, which is why we opted not to turn the oven on for anything. Well, we sort of broke that rule to bake a peanut butter cake that turned out to be pretty tasty.
We also ordered ourselves some more Canepops from Canerolls. If you haven't read my Christmas post, Canepops are like homemade Pop Tarts, which they don't sell here in Argentina. If you're in Cordoba City and order these delicious treats, I recommend you put them in the fridge right away. Canerolls placed three Canepops in each container this time around. Unfortunately, the heat caused the frosting to melt and turned all three Canepops into one. So, I had to use a knife to separate them and lets just say that the aftermath wasn't pretty. But the Canepops themselves were still delicious.
For our New Year's Eve meal, we ordered chicken wings, onion rings, fries, and chicken tenders from a place called Wing It! The wings were not the best in the world, but they were okay, which is more than we could say about the other items on their menu. The onion rings were so hard I nearly chipped my tooth and the fries were soggy as hell.
Luckily, the hubs and I improvised by making some homemade chicken tacos and a refreshing cucumber platter. We would have ordered from Miami Tacos, but they were closed on the 31st.
Like in previous New Year's Eve celebrations, we made a toast during the "Argentine midnight." Then we spent two hours watching the New Year's Eve celebration held in Times Square through their official site. And when the ball dropped at midnight (2 a.m. Argentine time), we officially welcomed 2022.
The hubs and I disagree constantly on what our next step should be. When we moved to Argentina in 2012, I imagined our lives were going to be different here, and it was, but not for the better. If it were up to me, I'd be back in New York tomorrow. But he wants to stay because he wants to avoid his family drama back home. I get it. Most of his family members are horrible. I've witnessed what they did to him first hand. It was cruel, humiliating, and uncalled for. Then there are the "not so bad" family members, who have simply forgotten about him and rarely (if ever) reach out to him unless they're reporting a death in the family. Seriously, I would have run away too in his place. His family is the primary reason why he convinced me to leave the States, but in my heart I knew that I didn't want this life. I agreed to move because I wanted to make him happy, but the circumstances down here have not made that possible. Despite my unhappiness, I'm not just going to pack my bags and leave without him. I made a promise when I said "I do," and I intend to stick with it.
As of this post, we are only 6 months away from our official 10-year anniversary of living abroad and we still have a lot to talk about. Hopefully, we can work through some of the obstacles we've been facing down here, so we can make peace with our decision to stay here.
In the meantime, if 2020 and 2021 were any indication, we'd better steel ourselves for 2022. It's going to be a rough ride.
