Expat Report – February 2025: A Twisted Valentine’s and More Family Drama

Like most years, I try to see the beginning as a second chance to do things better. Keyword: Try. Things don’t always go as planned—that’s life. But I have to admit, aside from a few hiccups, 2025 has started off pretty well.

For starters, I have a fresh batch of new students, many of whom are more eager to learn than some of their predecessors. And new opportunities just keep falling into my lap.

This year, we celebrated our first Valloween—a combination of Valentine’s Day and Halloween.

We even set up a mini-Valloween tree decorated with red ornaments, some heart-shaped, along with an axe, a gun, and a few creepy pieces from Kripta, an Argentine online store that specializes in horror items.

Our Valloween movie lineup included:

• My Bloody Valentine (2008) (with Jensen Ackles)
• Valentine (2001) (I had no idea Izzie and Arizona from Grey’s Anatomy were in this film!)

Our dear friend Melisa joined in the celebration. She even helped us create a wall of hearts with some, uh… NSFW messages written on them. (Ha! Not going to show you!)

Of course, no Valloween celebration would be complete without food. We had homemade treats like cake and donuts, plus heart-shaped cheese and salami crackers—because what’s Valloween without a little sugar and a touch of decadence?

Meatball subs, chicken wings and fries were on the menu

Bloody Cherry Spritzers

But things haven’t exactly been all rosy.

In mid-January, my mom got pneumonia again. For those who haven’t read my other posts, she was hospitalized late last year when she first got sick—and almost didn’t make it.

This time, she chose to recover at home instead of going to the hospital. But her doctor screwed up and prescribed antibiotics with penicillin, which she’s mildly allergic to. While it wasn’t life-threatening, it certainly didn’t help her already weakened health. Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken to her, and it’s clear she’s come to terms with the fact that she may not have much time left.

Meanwhile, my dad—who has dementia—is struggling with depression over my mom’s declining health. I find it ironic, considering that in 2023, his delusional mind convinced him that his (then) 75-year-old wife was cheating on him, and he actually threatened to kill her over it.

On top of all this, I’ve taken on even more responsibilities when it comes to managing our rental properties. It hasn’t been easy. My parents have no friends here in Argentina, and the few family members they have left are estranged. As for my husband and me, our circle is currently down to one friend, while all our other friends and family are back in the U.S. And before you ask—no, they can’t help. So, we’re on our own out here, which is both overwhelming and terrifying at times.

But we’ve managed to survive in Argentina for nearly 13 years. And while 2025 will no doubt bring big changes and losses, we’ll adjust course as each challenge comes our way—just like we always do.

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…