THANKSGIVING IN ARGENTINA

Jacarandá Trees in the Spring in Buenos Aires

Although it is clouding up and we can hear thunder in the distance this morning, we are in the middle of spring in Buenos Aires and in many parts of the city there are lots of beautiful jacarandá (hah-kah-rahn-DAH) trees. As we ride buses or taxis or walk in the parks near our apartment, we see these lovely trees. Here is a short video with drone footage of jacarandá trees in Buenos Aires, the first part of which was taken very near our apartment. 

City of Statues

In the video, you can see a number of statues. These are fantastic works of art that are all over the city. Most of them near where we live look very Spanish or Italian. Also, in the video you see a large silver piece of art that looks like a flower. It is called La Floralis Genérica, and it was a gift to Argentina from an Argentine architect. It slowly opens during daylight hours and closes at night. It is about 70 feet tall and about 100 feet across when open. It is located in a park next to the Buenos Aires law school.

Floralis Genérica

Floralis Genérica and Buenos Aires Law School

There are apparently nearly 700 statues throughout the city, according to a blog that supposedly lists and has photos of all of them (warning, some show anatomy that may not be fit for family viewing but are, nevertheless, spectacular). Below are a few that we see rather regularly as we go to and fro here. The Monument to the Magna Carta and the Four Regions of Argentina, known more popularly as El Monumento a los Españoles, or Monument to the Spanish, is located at a busy intersection very near to our apartment. It is a beautiful monument with several statues. It was given to Argentina by the Spanish community in commemoration of the centennial of Argentina’s independence in May of 1810. It was started in 1910 but took over 16 years to complete due to the death of 2 project managers, the sinking of a ship that was bringing material for it, a strike in the marble quarries in Italy, etc. The main monument is marble and represents labor, and the four bronze statues around the outside represent the four regions of Argentina.

Monumento a los Españoles

Allegory of the Andes

Allegory of the Chaco

Allegory of the Pampa

Allegory of the River Plata

Another one we see often is at the Plaza Italia. It was donated by the Italian community (our neighborhood is named Palermo and there are lots of people here with Italian heritage) and is of a famous Italian military and political person, Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Plaza Italia - Guiseppe Garibaldi

At Recoleta, where Sister Love enjoyed her artisan shopping trip and near the Recoleta Cemetery, is the Monument from France to Argentina, presented to Argentina by France in 1910 for Argentina’s centennial. It has scenes from Argentina and France and is very beautiful.

Monumento de Francia a la Argentina

Here are a few more. We see many of these in the parks as we go from our apartment down Avenida Libertador to downtown Buenos Aires.

Thanksgiving

Of course, Thanksgiving is an American holiday so we had to work and we didn’t have a traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. In fact, we went shopping after work and had hamburgers after we got home. However, all but one of the senior couples are American, so we planned a Thanksgiving get-together for Friday, November 25. Sister Wiese, true to her informal role as our social coordinator, organized food assignments and we already knew we would be doing a turkey. This is because when we first arrived, she knew 2 key things: first, until early November, turkeys are relatively inexpensive, so we bought a turkey right away. And second, because we were newly arrived, our freezer would have room for a turkey. So, since our first or second shopping trip, we have had a small turkey in our freezer. Of course, small turkeys, about 10 pounds, are the only size one can buy here. Sure enough, as the weeks went on, we saw that the prices about doubled, so her planning was right on. Because we were doing a turkey, we were advised that were also expected to make gravy from the drippings. Others received assignments for potatoes, jello salads, vegetables, stuffing, etc. Sister Wiese’s brother came for a visit a couple of weeks ago, and, because he was bringing an empty suitcase to take some of the Wiese’s things home for them, Elder Love suggested he fill a part of it with 3 boxes of seasoned stuffing mix, if he would, Elder Love would make the stuffing, which is what happened.

We thawed the turkey for a few days and then prepared it the night before so all we would have to do when we got home from work would be to toss it in the oven. Cooking in our oven is a little bit of an adventure because the temperature is not self-controlling, as with our stove at home. So, we have to attach an oven thermometer and check it rather frequently to be sure we are close to the desired temperature. We didn’t bring an oven thermometer so one of the senior couples who had an extra one took pity on us and gave us their spare. It is in centigrade so we have to do a little conversion each time we need to cook something. Also, for some reason, the glass on the front of it is kind of dark so we have to use a flashlight to check it. But, we make it work. While the turkey was finishing in the oven, we chopped onions and celery and sautéed them and cut up apples for the stuffing. Because we would be using the turkey drippings for gravy, we had boiled up the giblets the night before for turkey stock for the stuffing. Since we don’t have a large Tupperware bowl, we searched for something large enough to mix the stuffing ingredients in and then realized – we have a large wok. We had bought a large covered casserole dish and we stuffed the stuffing into it to bake. As the stuffing cooked, Elder Love carved the turkey and Sister Love made the gravy. About then, we came face to face with a problem—we were going to have to get all these hot dishes from our apartment to the Wieses’ building, about 4 blocks away, on foot and the hot dishes would probably melt the material on our little cart. Also, we faced not having containers that would hold the turkey and the gravy. The answer? A pot with a lid for the turkey and a plastic storage container for the gravy. Then, Elder Wiese called and offered to come and get us in their car, which we were thankful for.

The gathering, which was in a multi-purpose room on the top floor of the Wiese’s building, was cheerfully decorated and there was a lot of traditional American Thanksgiving food.

Our Thanksgiving venue

View from the balcony of the multi-purpose in the Wieses' building

Nine of the couples in our district and Brent Gardner were there, as well as the Talbots, friends of the Nortons, who happened to be away helping with a Trek. The Talbots are just finishing their mission in Chile. Sister Nielsen’s grandson had colored a drawing of a turkey in such a way that it was disguised so it would not be used for Thanksgiving dinner and she thought it would be fun for each person to do the same for our celebration, so she had passed out the turkey drawings at family home evening and challenged everyone to disguise them in their own way. The plan was to use them as decorations on the wall at our dinner. Here are the results:

Elder Love's is "Snow"

Sister Love's is Taysum "Turkey" Hill and Elder Love's is "Volleyball"

We all stuffed ourselves on roast turkey, dressing, potatoes and gravy, fruit salad, sweet potatoes, and ice cream with pies of the lemon, berry, and pumpkin varieties and a cake roll with chocolate almond ice cream. The Talbots gave a presentation on archeological evidence of the Book of Mormon, so we were fed spiritually, as well. After a wonderful evening, we made our way back to our apartment pulling leftover turkey, stuffing and gravy in our little blue cart and looking forward to how we will be able to enjoy them for a couple of days.

Starting to Think About Christmas

 

Well, since we began this posting we have been to the store to shop for Christmas decorations and a few groceries. Not long after we got there, the rain started and was coming down in sheets. Fortunately, it let up a little when it came time to walk home, but it has not stopped. However, it is around 70 degrees and pretty pleasant. We hope it stops so we can go get some ice cream at My Place later today. The Knapps told us about My Place and we finally tried it. Janet was right, the chocolate chip dulce de leche is the best, at least for Elder Love. Sister Love goes for the Raspberry.

Monday is a holiday here so we plan to go explore the city a little on our own. I’m sure there will be adventures to write about. Meanwhile, the work goes well, we know Heavenly Father loves us and each of you and we hope you are all doing well. ‘Til next time