...and in the beginning

We're here! 

I hope I will find the time down here to post stories, pictures, experiences, etc. about our new found Argentine life.  Follow along if you like, there might be some wild rides. 

I've called the blog "A Las Chapas."  It's (supposedly) a typical Argentine phrase that literally means "to the metals" or more appropriately, to go very fast.  I figured my life might be going pretty fast here, so it seemed appropriate.

The first days:

For some reason or another all jobs require mandatory physicals from a doctor.  John and I haven't figured that one out really, but since he has a job, he had to get a physical.  So the second day we were here we decided to get it taken care of.  This is how it goes:

We get to the Dr. office and it's on the third story of a building.  We go in and John gets some paperwork to fill out and a number, like on a ticket.  He fills out the paperwork and when they are ready to take the paperwork back from him, they call his number.  Of course they wouldn't want to be overloaded with people just willy nilly turning in paperwork or anything...

So he returns to the waiting room and sits down with me and we wait. 

Pretty quickly his name "martin" gets called and he disappears back with a nurse.  Not even 2 minutes later he returns and sits back down in the waiting room; they took a urine sample and told him to go back to wait. 

His name is called again and a different nurse whisks him away-again, returned in maybe 2 minutes.  This time they took x-rays. 

The third time he's called they take his blood.

The fourth time he's called he steps into a very small sound proof room and administer hearing tests.  It was kind of like in kindergarten when you push the button whenever you hear tones or high pitched sounds. 

The fifth time he's called they put electro pads to his chest and clamps to his ankles and wrists...to measure something...

The sixth time they play a round of cards (not really)

He's returned to the waiting room and this time waits for quite some time.  We watch Johnny Bravo participate in a lumberjack competition on TV and wait for the Dr.

After quite some time he goes to see the Dr and when he comes out says "I have a funny story for you."  The story entailed the 28 year old doctor asking a variety of questions (in a perfect American accent) what he was doing here, why he was learning Spanish, had he been robbed...and then asked him to friend him on facebook and that we were invited to a party on Friday.  Ha!

What a funny glimpse into a strange lifestyle here in Argentina. 


That's all for now.  I'll see if i can get some pictures up soon.