This is an account of the first couple days that we were in Argentina. I didn't have internet and then we took off to Rosario so I am posting it a bit late, but I will account for the last couple days soon. :)
God's Blessings
Domingo, December 11, 2011
I feel like I am dreaming. My mind is still having a hard time wrapping around the fact that God has blessed me so much by allowing me to return to Argentina with two of my best friends. This time I am not here to study, and I am no alone. Marie Watkins, who has been a friend of mine since 3rd grade, and Caitlin Geiman, who was my roommate my freshman year of college, both came with me and we are here to see the country and visit my friends and “family” that I made last year.
It amazes me that God would bless me with relationships that were able to withstand the last year and still be strong enough to just jump on a plane and come live with them once again. We are staying with relatives of the Riedel’s (Fred’s cousin’s family to be exact) the majority of the time and they are the sweetest people you will ever meet! It is Monica, who is widowed and now dating Eduardo, Laura, the oldest who is married to Edy with a 2-month-old baby named Julieta, and the twins, Nico and Dani, who are both married to women named Laura. J They make a very welcoming and loving family and I don’t think any of us girls could have asked for anything better. For some part of the trip we will head to Rosario, which is where I was living when I was studying here, and then we will possibly take a few trips to other parts of the country as well.
The Family (Minus Eduardo and Julieta)
Our Backyard
Our Bedroom
After an extremely long day of traveling- beginning at 3:30 am in Portland and ending at 8:00 am in Buenos Aires the next morning- we went through immigrations and customs for about and hour or an hour and a half after that. Then as we walked out of the security section we were looking for someone holding up my name but there were tons of people and I had no idea what I was looking for exactly. Finally I see this guy holding up a sign that says “Kimberly” in pink highlighter outlined in black. I was uncertain if he was actually looking for me so I asked him if he had the last name and all he told me was that he was going to Villa Bosch, which is where I knew we needed to go. Haha I can’t lie and say that it was a completely comfortable trip because none of us knew anything about where we were going, but I had to appear to have complete confidence because I didn’t want to scare Caitlin or Marie. J Regardless, I knew that we had to have faith in God and I just continued to pray.
When we finally arrived at Monica’s house, Dani, Laura and Monica met us with a warm welcome. Later, we went to Dani and Laura’s house to tell our families that we made it here safely and Nico and Laura met us there. It was so great to see them all because it has been so long and I love them all so much, but it is hard to envision not seeing them again for an even longer period of time. To me, they feel like family!
We all took a nap after this, as we were feeling rather jetlagged, and then when we woke up we went to church with the family. Afterwards we had empanadas at Monica’s house with the entire family. Fue buenisimo!
Estamos en las manos de Dios :)
The Heart of the City
Martes, December 13, 2011
Yesterday was a fairly relaxed day. Marie and I slept in extremely late, for me anyway, and then we went to buy bus tickets to go to Rosario for this upcoming weekend. I am a little bummer because we are going to be missing the Christmas party at church, but it will be very nice to see me friends and “family” in Rosario. However, I am a bit nervous because when we are staying with Monica, all of her children speak a little bit of English, but in Sandra’s house, no one does. Then again, I have to remember that I was able to communicate and live with her for three months last year so things can’t be that bad. Also, I am a bit nervous because when I spoke with her on Facebook I had asked her if we could stay with her and she said yes, but then I began to wonder if she really understood what I was asking. I guess we will find out when we get there and then find a hostel or stay with Matias’ family if we need. I’m not really worried about it, but if the other girls knew they might worry a bit. I think since I have been here before everything feels so normal to me, but to them, everything is new and they aren’t accustom to this way of life. After buying our tickets we did a little bit of grocery shopping, played some volleyball and cards and then went out for pizza and ice cream. We had a very fun day!
In all honesty, I feel extremely blessed that I was able to return to Argentina so soon! Especially that too of my best friends were able to accompany me. They have no idea how much they mean to me and how much I enjoy sharing with them all the places that I have been, and also experiencing new places with them by my side. Today we went on quite the adventure! I had only been in Buenos Aires with my school or with the family here in Villa Bosch, but today it was just us three. First we had to walk to Laura’s(Nico) work to get a map and then we went on the train to the end of the line, then we got on the red subway, switched to the blue subway and then took bus 53 to La Boca. I had been to this part of town before but it was fun to see it again and, of course, take more pictures. We saw a lot of Tango here and this is where we stopped to eat lunch. Then we walked to San Telmo, visited a park and a plaza, and then continued on to Puerto Madero. On the way to Puerto Madero we ran into a small summer storm. It first started out with light sprinkles, then turned in to heavy wind where we could barely see in front of us because we were getting small pieces of dirt in our eyes, and then there were HUGE droplets of water that were coming down sideways. Of course we made the most of it and continued on our journey. We walked up the marina of Puerto Madero and then heading back in to downtown to see one last thing before we took the subway back home.
When we went back in to the city it was really busy and we didn’t feel like such foreigners because now there were many people that had lighter hair of blue eyes. It was nice to not stand out like we have become so accustomed to in Villa Bosch, where it appears that no one has ever seen a blonde girl. Ha Our final destination was the Obelisco and 9 de Julio Avenue. From what I have been told, this street is the widest street in the world. It has 8 lanes going each way and at the same time, it plays the role of a round a bout. The Obelisco is the tower in the middle of the street and is very well known. Right underneath this intersection was our subway stop so we got on and headed back to our train station. From there we made it safely home. :)
After resting and hanging out at home for a little bit, we went to Biana’s house (Monica’s niece who is 11) to say Happy Birthday and allow Nico and Laura to give her a gift. Then we returned back home and ate with Monica. Normally it is common to stay up with the rest of the family and talk late, but tonight no one was around but Monica. It kind of surprised me, but we actually stayed up just as late as we normally would talking to her. It was so great to hear her story and learn about her life and the Argentine customs. I also enjoyed being able to speak with her in Spanish and translate whenever Marie or Caitlin needed help. (I love Spanish, if you didn’t know J) I really do hope that I can come back someday or that I will have the possibility to live in a Spanish speaking country for some part of my life.
Today was a very fun day!
Estamos en las manos de Dios :)
