Moving along...
Yesterday I returned home from Spanish class to find my host mom, Silvia, rushing out the door. Not a soul in the apartment. My legs were aching from tromping around the city for the fifth day in a row without rest, and my mind reeling from all the stimulation. I slipped in some classical music, grabbed my journal, slipped off my shoes, and settled in for some moments of recentering. Five minutes later, the telephone rang and I picked up to Silvia requesting me to receive her grandson who would be delivered shortly. Within a half hour, not only did I meet my host brother´s son, Tomas, but the apartment filled with over twelve of the family wishing to see the other grandchild, Francisca, before her departure back to Spain. Kisses all around as I greeted ones I already had met and those I was meeting for the first time.
I had to rush off to a Rotaract meeting in another barrio. My host grandmother and her sister, who are always checking in to make sure I am content and well taken care of, loaded me up with change to take the “colectivo” (bus). Thus is my life as an adopted daughter in the Sanchez Cruces family. I will miss it when I move in a week (more about this later).
Rotaract is Rotary for 20-30 year olds, whose mission is to cultivate leadership skills while serving their communities. A fellow World Peace Scholar invited me to the meeting at a small restaurant in an area called Palermo. We sipped on Argentinean wine as the club listened to the platform of candidates for next meeting´s election of new officers. The lively, searching, intelligent, and respectful discussion inspired me, and gave me a much longed for entry into the service world here. It was quite amusing their talk of an anti-smoking campaign as several puffed at their own sticks, but they were aware of this contradiction and apparently open to change. Smoking is fairly pervasive throughout this culture…
Today I went on a run to my new favorite space in the city, the ecological reserve. As I sat in the park and released some emotion of this intense transition, a concerned policeman came over to chat. Over an hour later after an interesting discussion, he took me on a short walk through a “villa,” or “slum.” We meandered through the narrow paths finding house on top of house on a smaller and more hygienic scale to that which I witnessed in Haiti. I was glad to witness this, and breach the physical gap I was feeling between me and the lower income neighborhoods of Argentina.
Several small yet important steps as I continue to get to know this new home…
I had to rush off to a Rotaract meeting in another barrio. My host grandmother and her sister, who are always checking in to make sure I am content and well taken care of, loaded me up with change to take the “colectivo” (bus). Thus is my life as an adopted daughter in the Sanchez Cruces family. I will miss it when I move in a week (more about this later).
Rotaract is Rotary for 20-30 year olds, whose mission is to cultivate leadership skills while serving their communities. A fellow World Peace Scholar invited me to the meeting at a small restaurant in an area called Palermo. We sipped on Argentinean wine as the club listened to the platform of candidates for next meeting´s election of new officers. The lively, searching, intelligent, and respectful discussion inspired me, and gave me a much longed for entry into the service world here. It was quite amusing their talk of an anti-smoking campaign as several puffed at their own sticks, but they were aware of this contradiction and apparently open to change. Smoking is fairly pervasive throughout this culture…
Today I went on a run to my new favorite space in the city, the ecological reserve. As I sat in the park and released some emotion of this intense transition, a concerned policeman came over to chat. Over an hour later after an interesting discussion, he took me on a short walk through a “villa,” or “slum.” We meandered through the narrow paths finding house on top of house on a smaller and more hygienic scale to that which I witnessed in Haiti. I was glad to witness this, and breach the physical gap I was feeling between me and the lower income neighborhoods of Argentina.
Several small yet important steps as I continue to get to know this new home…
posted by Amanda Joy at 1:10 PM
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