Bush Sisters Lose It In Buenos Aires

Well, the big news this last week here in Buenos Aires has been the story of the visiting twin daughters of President Bush.  It seems they were sitting at a bar in a restaurant in San Telmo, a popular tourist area, and Barbara’s purse was stolen from under the bar. 

The embarrassing part is that there were half a dozen Secret Service types just a few feet away. 

The First Lady had no comment.  The US Embassy here in Buenos Aires had no comment.  The Argentine/Buenos Aires government had no comment.

I mean, really–what is there to say?  These things can happen whether you have people “watching the crowd” for you or not. 

When it comes down to it, Barbara wasn’t paying attention.  And we shouldn’t get too hoity toity about it because most of us–myself included–have experienced something similar.

The unfortunate part is that it is big news.  It makes San Telmo sound terrible, Buenos Aires sound dangerous, and the Secret Service guys sound incompetent. 

It reminded me of something that happened to my 20-something cousin in Seattle a week or two ago.  He and his girlfriend were planning a months-long trip to Asia.  On the night before they left, they attended a going-away dinner at a friend’s house.  After the party, they went out to the car to find that Mike’s backpack–with his money and passport inside–had been stolen. 

My husband couldn’t resist sending him an email saying something like, “I read in the guidebook that Seattle can be quite dangerous!”

Fortunately, Mike’s situation worked out well and–there ARE travel miracles!!–he showed up at the passport office the next morning, got a new passport and made his flight just in time. 

Of course, Mike isn’t the son of the US President, so nobody made a big deal out of it.  We shouldn’t make a big deal out of Barbara’s missing credit cards/cell phone, either. 

But I have to say I can’t help but calculate how much it must be costing the US taxpayers to fly Secret Service agents to Buenos Aires, feed them, put them in decent hotels etc. for several weeks.  Are there limits to this kind of protection?  I don’t know, and it’s not that I think the Bush twins should be off wandering on the own in foreign countries, but it’s funny that absolutely NOBODY recognized them–despite the guys with dark glasses and earpieces.  They just looked like any other tourists in San Telmo, and as such, they were subject to the same rules–you don’t pay attention, and you might get your purse stolen.

Big deal.

In terms of security for the presidential progeny, it appears that it is quite hit or miss.  To read about how lax it’s been on one hand and how ridiculously theatrical on the other, read this bit from a reporter who easily walked up to Barbara in her hotel lobby:  http://tinyurl.com/ydt472

I guess if I were celebrating my 25th birthday and wanted to do it in a fun, interesting, beautiful place with a lot of hot 20-something culture (clubs, parties, restaurants) far from home, it would be hard to beat Buenos Aires. I’m glad the First Daughters have had a chance to visit this city and do it in a way that is, despite the Secret Service attempts to “protect” them, surprisingly normal–purse-snatching included. 

Post-Thanksgiving Feast sunset on our balcony

We were delighted to host our friends from Oregon, Bob and Gail, for a wonderful Thanksgiving feast prepared entirely by our daughter Teal (third from left in the photo).  Food, family, friends, and fun–ending with a spectacular sunset. 

Sexy Spanish Club blog

Wow, there is just WAY too much going on with the new Sexy Spanish Club I am forming.  I can’t possibly write about everything here–or anywhere else, for that matter, since I am writing a book about it!–but I wanted to have a place where curious people (like you!) could go to learn more about it and at least get some updates.

So, I started a new blog just for the Sexy Spanish Club.  It’s at http://www.SexySpanishClub.blogspot.com

Why am I using blogspot?  After all, I switched from blogspot to wordpress for this blog.

Well, because I have learned a few things, and one of them is that Google loves blogspot blogs.   More than wordpress blogs, it appears.  And though wordpress is great in some ways, it’s not great in others.  Live and learn.

More good news:  I will have PHOTOS on the Sexy Spanish Club blog!  Yep–teacher candidates, and even the Club uniform (wait until you see it!)

Go ahead and check it out at http://www.SexySpanishClub.blogspot.com  Are we having fun yet?  Oh, yeah….

Taeko Update

My oldest daughter Taeko thinks she is the luckiest person in the world–and therefore she is.

At 20, a recent college grad, she headed to NYC three weeks ago.  Found an apartment with two nice pole-dancing girls right across the street from Columbia University Medical School.  Went with one of her roommates to  her last day of her waitressing job at the Red Eye Grill on Times Square, and within ten minutes of meeting Taeko, the manager hired her for the hostess position.  She started work the next day, a Friday night, where she met the other hostess–who turned out to be a classmate from middle school in Beaverton, Oregon.  Of course.

The first night, she sat John Lithgow, the actor.  Oh, and some guy from Wonderama.

The kitchen staff, all Latino, LOVED her (that Spanish connection) and fed her.

The following week, she got three job offers–all in the same day.  sShe gave notice at the Red Eye Grill–and they gave her their blessings.

She picked the job for which she had two interviews.  All other candidates had master’s degrees, but Taeko rocked the interviews with her condom demonstration with a cucumber (it’s a position in which she will RUN a family planning clinic in Spanish Harlem) and wowed them with her colloquial Spanish skills.  She starts November 20th.  Great job, great team, great benefits, doing EXACTLY what she wants to do–working with a low-income Hispanic population to teach sexual reproductive health techniques.

She’s thinking a year or two of that, then take a job at Columbia, where she could get her master’s in public health–tuition-free–while working.

Lucky?  Maybe.  But she totally deserves it.