My Miss Belle

I thought I would share something about my baby. While in Argentina, I missed my puppy dog so very much, so I decided it was about time I dedicate a blog to her.

In November of 2007, we were forced to make the very difficult decision of putting down our dear friend, Pongo. Pongo had been part of our family for thirteen years but had lost the use of his hind legs and was no longer able to hold up his own weight. He was a rather large Dalmatian and was clearly beginning to suffer. It was a very tough time for the whole family. There were tears through laughter and tears through silence, but I knew deep down inside that I could not live in our house without a dog.

My husband and I began to review different breeds of dogs to make sure we made the best decision for our lifestyle. I needed the companionship and he wanted to make sure our new dog would be compatible with our boat. We were beginning to spend more and more of each summer out on our boat, so the breed we chose had to be well-suited for that. On Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and the dog show that followed. We had been leaning towards a schipperke dog and were excited to see one in a class of small dogs. As we watched the competition, my husband said, “That dog doesn’t have a tail! I can’t have a dog without a tail!” I assured him that if he didn’t want a tail-less dog that we didn’t have to get one. The schipperke after all was his idea because he had heard they were good water dogs.

Fortunately for us there was an adorable beagle in that class, a dog with a tail! “What do you think about a beagle?” he asked me as we continued to watch the show. A beagle sounded just fine to me. I just wanted a dog, a buddy, someone to spend time with when my husband was at work. During the commercial breaks we talked more and more about the possibilities of a beagle. He seemed to really like the idea. We agreed, however, to wait until Christmas when we both would be home for about ten days straight. It would be much easier then to bring a new puppy into the house.

That Sunday as I was reading the morning paper, I happened to notice in the Want Ads a small ad for beagle puppies. I told my husband about it. The breeder was right in Frederick County. “I thought we were going to wait until Christmas,” he said. Not wanting to get into a “discussion,” I clipped out the ad and slipped it in my wallet. My husband left the next day on a three day trip to Europe. Almost immediately, I retrieved the ad from my purse and called. I made an appointment to just look at the puppies the following day.

Well, you know you can’t just look at puppies. When I got there the woman’s son and daughter went to get the puppies from the pen. The next thing I knew this beautiful little pup with the floppiest ears I had ever seen was running towards me. That was it. I pulled out my checkbook and asked how much! Our boat’s name is La Belle Vie, which essentially means “the good life” in English. I decided her name would be Belle. And we were off. I was taking my baby Belle home with me.

It only remotely dawned on me that I had promised to wait until Christmas and it wasn’t even yet December first. I checked in with my daughter on the phone who was in New York awaiting a flight to Amsterdam. “She’s gorgeous!” I gushed! “What did Dad say?” my dear daughter asked. He was due home that night and had mentioned to her that I had better not have bought a “damned dog.”

When he walked in the door that night, that “damned dog” wiggled right up to him and curled herself around his feet. She knew precisely that she needed to win this one over. And win him over she did. My dog is now his dog. The two of them are inseparable.

Our children might be out of the house, but we are not without a little one. Our baby girl, who has been deemed the favorite by the other two, keeps us busy and lights up our days.

Tribute to a Student

When my children were growing up, I loved being their teacher. I taught reading and writing and coloring and finger painting. I planned each lesson with care, and it gave me such joy to see my children learn. There were field trips and sporting events. My teaching didn’t stop when they reached school age. I became a parent volunteer in their elementary school, and ultimately I was called to teaching as a profession.

Just as certain teachers touched my children’s lives during their schooling, so have some special students in my classes touched my life. One of those students came to my French class as a freshman, eager to learn and quite enthusiastic about it. She grasped the concepts of the French language so quickly that I accelerated her through two levels in one semester. Katie was like a sponge! Often after class, she would share with me about the connections she had made from her French class to her other classes. We’d talk about the derivation of certain words, about French painters and architects, and we shared our thoughts about all sorts of things; especially our favorite, Marie Antoinette.

In the summer after her freshman year, Katie was able to join me on a student trip to France and Italy. One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching Katie; her reactions to various pieces of art in the museums we had visited, her joy at seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, and her pride in being able to communicate in French. I watched as Katie was transformed into a young woman; her confidence in handling being lost in Paris and her pride as she navigated herself and her group back to our meeting place. She was growing up right in front of my eyes.

When we returned to school that fall, I watched as Katie became a campus leader. She took leadership roles in several school activities and she even served as our French Club vice-president. Katie continued her studies of French and developed a special fondness for “The Little Prince.” Both Katie and I were elated when she was able to travel to Europe for a second time with me in the summer of 2009. This time, however, Katie was a teacher. She shared with the other students her experiences and the lessons she had learned. In the museums, she shared her knowledge of art and history. Katie had indeed grown up.

I didn’t see much of Katie during her senior year. She was pursuing other areas of interest and French didn’t fit into the schedule. She did, however, serve as our French Club president. She would stop by my room and we’d discuss various literary works being studied in her Advanced Placement literature course. She shared with me some of her work in photography. Often during these visits we would reminisce about our trips to Europe and she’d tell me about her hopes of studying abroad when she gets to college.

Katie will graduate from Catoctin High school this year. In the fall, she will be off to college to study wonderful and amazing things. You can see it in her eyes when she talks about her future. I feel truly blessed to have been a part of this amazing young woman’s life. Her enthusiasm and her burning desire to learn will take her far. I’m envious of the faculty at Washington College for they get to spend the next four years with her. Antoine de Saint Exupery wrote in his work The Little Prince that “you risk tears if you let yourself be tamed.” That about sums it up when I consider how I have come to feel about my students over the years. Katie would understand.

My last day in Argentina

It seems like the past three and a half weeks have flown by. We have been kept incredibly busy with the program at UCEL. Final exams were yesterday and even though some of us were concerned about the difficulty of the test, I have no doubt that we all passed with flying colors!

The "chicas" or "girls," as we are often called, have grown very close during our Argentine experience. We have traveled together, studied together and shared a life changing three weeks. It will be difficult to say goodbye to everyone, but somehow I think that we will manage to stay in touch.

My Spanish has greatly improved over the past three weeks. I feel much more confident in my abilities to carry on a conversation. I have spoken with people here about politics and government, raising children, teaching and travel. I have learnd a great deal about the Argentine culture and have grown tremendously as a person during my experience.

That being said, I also cannot wait to return home. To be with my husband and my "babies"-my dear pets. I look forward to walking the dog and caring for my horses. I'm not sure I'm looking fowared to cleaning the litter pan! But it will be nice to be in my space once again. Home, sweet home. Hogar, dulce hogar!

La Clase de Tango

Last night, we were treated to a tango lesson at La Casa de Tango. There were about forty people in the class, so the dance floor was cramped! My husband and I have learned to tango in our ballroom dancing classes at home, but this tango was quite different.

We were taught by a couple who has been named the national tango champions in Argentina three times. We started out with the basic step which is counted quite differently than in the States. We were solo dancing for about the first twenty minutes of the class, but then we had to partner up. Since there were eight of us from the UCEL program, we all partnered up with each other. There was definitely a shortage of males in the class!

We partner-danced through the basic step and one additional dance, dancing across the length of the dance floor. Then we made a dancing circle. There was a lot of bumping and crashing, but for the most part, we all managed to maneuver our way around the floor.

The ninety minute class flew by, but when we were finished, we all agreed that it was a great time and well worth the effort! Bravo!

A Tour with Nani

This afternoon, Nani met us for lunch at El Paso Sport restaurant. I had an extra meal ticket, so I "treated" her to lunch. Then she treated me and several other students to a wonderful tour of the downtown area. It was an area of the city that we had not previously visited.

We passed by the only synagogue in Rosario while we were walking down Corrientes Street. It was a beautiful structure, so we all started taking pictures. A few minutes later a man came out of the synagogue and another from the side of the building. They informed us that pictures of the synagogue were prohibited and that we had to delete all of the photos we had just taken. They stood by each one of us and watched us as we deleted them. Nani tried to argue a case for us, but the men were insistent.

As we continued along the street, Nani explained to us that there had been some attacks against the Jews in Rosario in the 1990's and that since then they had implemented protective programs for the synagogue and its surrounding areas. She showed us the barriers that had been placed along the side of the road for the protection of the synagogue. She said that if we came back later and not in a group that we could probably sneak pictures from across the street!

Our next stop was at the chocolate shop that Nani used to own. She sold it when she retired two years ago. We were treated to a tasting and a visit to the back room where the chocolates were being made. Then it was on to San Martin square. Nani pointed out the police headquarters and the offices of the army. Nani told us that during the military regime there were many protests in the San Martin square and that many protesters "disappeared." Nani hesitated to spend a great deal of time in this area because she said she lost many friends during this time and the loss was still too fresh. She said there are concerts and shows in the square, but she is unable to attend them because of the emotional response the square still brings.

Then we were off to visit the birth place of Che Guevara. Rosario's claim to fame with Che is that he was born in the city. Eventually he moved on to the city of Cordoba. We took some photos at the house and then we were all off in our separate directions.

Nani told me on our way back to the apartment that she will miss me on Friday when she has to have dinner alone. She gave me a gift, a small drawing with the name Rosario above it, to put in my house so that I would always remember her and my time in Rosario. It's hard to believe that the three weeks have gone by so quickly.

La Capital

This afternoon we had finished our classes and lunch, the group headed downtown to visit the offices of the newspaper, La Capital. La Capital is the largest newspaper operation in Rosario. It would be like visiting the offices of the Washington Post in D.C.

We were greeted at the entrance by our guide who shared with us some of the history of the newspaper. The first edition ran on November 15, 1867. We were able to view a copy of that edition in the newspaper's museum and we received our own souvenir copies at the end of the tour.

The guide then showed us through the history of the printing presses in Rosario. We saw equipment from the beginning of the newpaper's operation all the way through the press that ran until the end of the 20th century. We then watched a brief film where we were introduced to some of the writers, editors and photographers of the paper.

The last part of the tour was through a gallery of major front pages from the history of the paper. They included the German occupation of France, Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon, and the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001. We then strolled through a hands on activity center based on newspaper production.

It was a really nice visit and our guide was most accommodating.