We expected childcare help from our au pair. We got a new family tradition instead.

When an au pair from Argentina joined my family in 2022, I expected convenient childcare and a cordial friendship.

I did not expect to wake up at 4 in the morning to watch her country play in the World Cup. After all, my family had never even watched an entire soccer game together.

But by the end of the tournament, we were painting our faces blue and white, putting photos of Kylian Mbappe in the freezer, and watching the games on cellphones in the grocery store.

Without warning, we had become Argentina fanatics.

We watched Argentina win the 2022 World Cup

The night before the semifinals, my husband, daughters, and I decided to display our team spirit. We cut triangles from printer paper at the kitchen table. Then we filled each pennant with drawings of sky-blue stripes, golden suns, and attempts at soccer balls and threaded the whole thing onto a length of light blue yarn.

The next morning, we hung the bunting above the television, ensuring it would be one of the first things our au pair, Yulca, would see when she woke up.

A few days later, with Argentina heading for the final, Yulca carefully packed the bunting as we traveled for early family Christmas celebrations. We draped it along my parents’ fireplace mantle, hoping Santa might grant an early wish.

We watched on the edges of our seats through every minute of regular play, every minute of extra time, and every kick of the penalty shootout. When Gonzalo Montiel scored the final penalty, Argentina had won one of the most dramatic matches of all time.

Yulca collapsed into tears. Video calls poured in from relatives celebrating in the streets back home. My dad, who had patiently sat through every minute of the match, was finally free to change the channel.

Amid the chaos, I opened my phone and ordered a last-minute Christmas gift: an official Argentina championship jersey. The $120 price tag was far beyond anything I’d buy for myself, but I knew we’d just experienced a moment worth commemorating with stripes, embroidery, and the all-important third star.

Our au pair taught us about her culture

Over the next nine months, Yulca showed me how to fold empanadas and taught us the many rules of drinking mate. She wore the jersey all the time, a symbol of both her Argentine pride and the close relationship she’d developed with our family.

When Yulca returned to Argentina in 2023, something strange happened: the girl who sobbed when her brother called from the streets of their hometown was homesick for the United States. We exchanged messages and voice notes almost daily, bridging the distance even when we couldn’t visit each other. Unfortunately, air travel to Argentina is wildly expensive.

But in 2025, a flash sale on tickets to Buenos Aires showed up on Instagram one day when I was feeling financially reckless. A dream trip that had always felt too expensive was suddenly within reach. The tickets even included extra luggage, which was perfect for hauling a large suitcase of Yulca’s items across the equator.

Before I knew it, my daughters and I were boarding a plane.

We flew to Argentina to visit our au pair

When we arrived in Yulca’s small hometown in northern Argentina, the first order of business was to unpack the oversize suitcase. Before the trip, I’d searched the nooks and crannies of my house to find everything she wasn’t able to fit in her suitcase when she’d returned home.

I’d packed a special item right on top: the homemade World Cup bunting. The memories of watching the World Cup together flooded back as we hung it over her bedroom window, 5,000 miles away from where we last cheered for Argentina together.

But my daughters and I needed our own reminders of that World Cup. So, we made our way to downtown Posadas to purchase Messi jerseys.

Now, Yulca wears her American-purchased jersey in a small town in Argentina, and I’m wearing my knockoff in North Carolina. After washing mine just a couple of times, the decals are visibly cracked, and the backing of the embroidered logo doesn’t lie flat.

But every time I wear this $12 jersey that cost nearly $7,000 in travel to get, I smile as I say to myself: there’s nothing more Argentine than a fake jersey from Paraguay.

As we get ready to cheer for la Albiceleste from two different hemispheres, the third stars on our jerseys represent a long-awaited victory for Argentina.

For us, the stars are a physical reminder of the monthlong soccer tournament that cemented a friendship strong enough to span 5,000 miles.