Happy Birthday Aunty Lisa!

Hi Lisa,

IPad?? What about the running shoes you will need to join the Roberts Running Club - ha ha!!

37 sleeps until we see you

Love Mark, Hay, KJ, Yas and Asia XX

Happy Birthday Chris!

Hi Chris (Smitheram), We send you birthday greetings and our love from BA...Hope you are having fun!

Mark, Hay, KJ, Yas and Asia XX

Montevideo, Uruguay

Hello it`s me Asia Lee! Last week we went to Montevideo in Uruguay and we stayed in a youth hostel called 'Unplugged', and it was sooo much fun. We all slept in bunk beds and played the story game (everyone takes turns to add one word).

The next day we went to the beach and I paddled in the sea, it was funny because the sea was warm not cold like Littlehampton .

Love Asia X

An afternoon in La Boca

Asia's turn to carry the ruck sack... she got just past the front door!

The houses in La Boca were built by Italian immigrants. They painted them with left over paint from the ships.








They also painted the horses!

One Month Of Travelling…..

So we have been away a month, we are now in unchartered territory, none of us have been away from home for longer than 4 weeks! Firstly we are all well and having a great time… most the time, there are moments of boredom and being together brings out the worst and best!  Our apartment is on the 6^th floor in a block just off the main street heading into the down town. When we arrived Asia said she hated it and could we camp instead! It is decorated in a French style, over the top and is in need of some attention (a few jobs for Mum and Dad Roberts if they fancy a visit!) We have wrestled with the internet, had a leak in the bathroom and the fridge freezes anything you put in near the back. Apart from that we love it. It is clean, has hot shower and beds are comfortable and I love the stove.

Week two and three we got into a routine as the girls have to study.  In the mornings we join Buenos Aires in the ‘run around the park’ (a local hotspot of runners). This is followed by a traditional morning snack, ‘medialunas’ (like croissants but much nicer) with lovely Italian coffee and then to study.

The afternoons are spent wandering the city (we are only 15 minutes on the ‘Subte’ from the centre of Buenos Aires and it costs10p for a single journey), reading (Yas can’t put Deathly Hallows down) and doing practical jobs like food shopping, writing journals, using the internet.

Evenings are spent playing games; Uno (I am the reigning champion), scrabble (Asia is trying to beat everyone, she only has KJ to go), banana grams (thanks Steph), Dobble (thanks Helen), cards and brain training on the DS! These moments are also complimented by Ice cream. You can find many flavours of Ice cream on the street corners of the city so we have adopted a once a week ‘ice cream Wednesday’ (we have tried 7 flavours to date) There is also the Argentinean red wine, beer and steak which we have indulged in a few times. So far we had only had a few tastes of ‘dulce de leche’ but I think Mark will not be able to hold off much longer!

We have had some very precious family time (debates, discussions, laughs, craziness and entertaining each other) and I am so grateful for this opportunity.

Most of the people we know here in Buenos Aires are very busy in the middle of projects and final pushes of work till their summer holidays Dec-Jan. We have spent some time with Anibal & Claudia and their kids Valentine (14) and Timote (4). They have looked after us well helping in sort practical things and showing us some good places to visit, eat and enjoy. KJ has particularly enjoyed seeing Valentina and talking Glee, listening to her and her friends talk about Justin Bieber (who is here at the moment) and visiting Starbucks!

After three weeks of Buenos Aires ‘not good air’ we were ready for some time by the sea so off we went to Uruguay……. 

Love Hayley X

Venturing out to the Downtown

Hayley spoke in confident Spanish enabling us to get the tickets for our first ride on the ‘Subte’ (underground train). The train itself was more like an underground tram. The old wooden train, we believe, is one of the last of its kind in the history of this train service. There was one other exciting feature about this train (if the latter didn't get you going), this train departs from the platform with doors open and people trying to clamber aboard!

Since arriving in Buenos Aires Hayley and I have been using a saying (probably as old as the tram) from the Grover ancestry – ‘Savour the moment’ – so we did, this day was our 17th Wedding anniversary. We recounted tales of the wedding day, our honeymoon and no regrets as we toasted the occasion, with our three beautiful girls, in a back street café. So I had the widest grin on my face, I also crossed the widest road in the world (an epic walk) and the next day I would sit at the edge widest river delta in the world.

On the return journey by the ‘underground tram’ we were entertained by a man who had strapped a laptop and speakers all to one arm whilst selling the pirated CD’s of 80’s music with his other – this one armed DJ gave us a 30 sec blast of ‘We will rock you’ tempting us into buying his mega mix. I had admiration for the ingenuity of his scheme, whilst hoping I would not have to resort to selling in this way to earn a living when I got back to the UK! (An extract from Mark’s travel writing.10/09/11)

1 week past...

Friday 9^th September 2011 – Buenos Aires (then time..)

Hola Amigos! Sorry for the delay of info, the telephone and Wi-Fi at our apartment doesn’t work so here’s a major catch up of everything!

Here we are in on our 8^th day in Buenos Aires, safe and sound after a long flight and quite an emotional week of goodbyes. Not gonna lie it was probably one of the hardest but exciting weeks of my life! I manage just about to hold my tears in at the leaving party but at the airport I wasn’t so lucky! I sobbed for probably half an hour after we got through security! But I managed to pull myself together in the end (well until about 3am on the aeroplane when I lost it again!) The flight was fine, Asia was practically bouncing of the walls as we got on the plane (which if you know Asia you’ll understand what she’s like when she’s excited!) It didn’t last long ha ha! The food was pretty bad but that was to be expected.

We landed at about 7:30am on Friday 2^nd September. We got picked up by one of our friends who took us to our apartment! It has 2 bedrooms both with double beds so Yas and I are sharing and Asia is on a mattress on the floor! It’s got a teeny bathroom, kitchen (which has no dishwasher and no bowls so we have to eat are breakfast out of soup mugs ha ha) and a lounge, it’s quite small but it’s got an awesome view to make up for it! Our apartment is also right by a busy street which has 2 Starbucks’s, a McDonalds, Burger King, 2 parks and lots of ice cream, clothes and food shops all in a 5-15 minute walk! The downside to our apartment is that the Wi-Fi doesn’t work and I have been itching to get on to Facebook haha! But apart from that it is perfect for us!

The past week has been pretty relaxed really. We spent the first few days catching up on sleep, reading and journal writing and getting to know the area! We have laughed a lot trying to communicate with our tiny bit of Spanish language – Mum is doing most of the talking (no change there then!). Dad managed to ask for 1Kg of Dulce de Leche ice cream in the ice cream shop. He was very proud of his Spanish but all he can do so far is order ice cream! On Tuesday I got my GCSE books out and made a sort of plan for this year, we are starting to get into a routine of our own even though it feels like we’re on holiday! Study in the mornings, snack lunch, afternoon out exploring, food shopping, home for siesta & ‘merienda’ followed by reading, playing, chilling and eating our dinner around 8pm.

So far we have not been out in the evenings but we are planning to be out a lot this weekend so evening meals will be late! I still don’t believe we’re actually here, it just doesn’t seem real at all even though we’ve been here a week! I have my moments of wanting to go home but I guess I will have that all year! The weather is so nice, it’s nicer than summer in England even though it’s their end of winter beginning of spring!

I have learnt and seen so many things already that have opened my eyes to a whole new perspective on the world and this is only the beginning.

Random Facts about Buenos Aires:

1 The taxi’s are black on the bottom half and yellow on the top

2 The local supermarket is called ‘Discos’

3 Buenos Aires is 4 hours behind the UK (so the jet lag wasn’t too bad)

4 My mum and I went without proper coffee for 4 days!!!! (that has defiantly  been the     most challenging thing of all so far ha ha!)

5 if you go to a park I can guarantee you there will be at least 5 couples sitting on benches or on the floor snogging for long periods time! You get used to it eventually….this is Latin America!

That’s all from me for now! I’m not sure when the next blog will be up but hopefully it  will be soon! I hope everyone’s ok and I miss you all lots and lots!

Much Love

Kaela-J xxx