The Parents Arrive! Part Deux

Hello again! Well, picking up where I left off, Thursday we took a ferry across Rio de la Plata to Colonia, Uruguay which has a small but very interesting old district that looks pretty much like it did in colonial times. We spent an incredibly relaxing day taking pictures, wandering the quiet streets, and enjoying the sunshine. For lunch, we headed to a hole-in-the-wall burger joint that served delicious burgers with just about anything on them – including ham, fried eggs, and corn! Then, we rented some janky old bikes and trekked about 20 minutes outside of town to a small beach that none of the tourists go to. (Way to go Mom with your website of random but very useful Colonia info!) I think I counted a total of five people on the beach – it was perfect. Mom and I took a leisurely walk along the beach and snapped about a hundred pictures, then we headed back to catch our ferry home. Oh, did I mention this ferry was like a wannabe cruise ship, complete with a TVs, a restaurant, and a duty-free shop? Guess I wasn’t expecting that.

Friday I had to head downtown to complete part of my visa process, but we made the best of it by buying some souvenirs in the nearby sidewalk markets. It was great to see the look on the vendors’ faces when I interrogated them in Spanish about their products after they heard us speaking in English and had expected us to be clueless tourists! That night we went out to eat with Rogelio and Ana and shared these huge platters of food that included steak, sausage, fried bananas, “pancetta” (pork belly, I think), a delicious warm apple sauce, and super-thin cut fries. While we gorged ourselves on that, we experienced the humorous struggle to communicate that involved Ana and Rogelio speaking a few words in English, Mom speaking a decent amount of Spanish, and me doing a whole lot of my best shot at interpreting. Again, I discovered I’m not too good at interpreting, as I realized when I got so confused that I turned to Mom and spewed off a couple of sentences in Spanish. Oops. It was definitely a fun night, but I was thoroughly confused the whole time as I felt that my two languages, two worlds, even the two different “versions” of me were colliding and felt like I couldn’t remember who or where I was.

The next day I didn’t see much of my parents as I went to the wedding of Flor and Sebi (a couple in the youth group). It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, and I noticed a couple of differences from weddings I have been to before. First, the ceremony probably started at least an hour late. Second, there weren’t enough seats for everyone, so pretty much the whole youth group just stood in the back. Once the ceremony itself was over, instead of a receiving line, the couple just went to the back and people mobbed around them to congratulate them with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. For the reception, instead of having a buffet line or a seated served meal, the caterers simply brought out platter after platter of food – starting with three different kinds of empanadas, then “choripan” (a sandwich with delicious sausage), next “lomito” sandwiches (delicious steak sandwiches), and ice cream. In addition to all that, they had a dessert table with everything from brownies to lemon meringue pie, then a few other things I wouldn’t know how to name. Throughout the reception, the couple was taking a lot of their wedding pictures and invited most of the guests to take pictures with them. Finally, there was the traditional throwing of the bouquet but also a basket with a bunch of ribbons coming out, and all the single women grabbed a ribbon. All but one ribbon was attached to a piece of candy, but the winner was the woman who pulled out a ribbon with a ring attached.

When I got back from the wedding, Mom and Dad proudly told me that they had gone out exploring on their own and even ordered dinner by themselves! I was quite proud of them. From Saturday on, our experience went winding down. Sunday, they visited both the churches I go to and in between we went out to eat to get some delicious pizza. After the evening service, we randomly stopped to get helado since Mom had quickly become addicted to it in her short days here. (Particularly dulce de leche helado. Dad’s drug of choice was the white chocolate helado.) Monday I had to head to my first class of my new semester, but it didn’t start until five so we were able to head downtown to pick up something and, of course, stop for some more helado. Tuesday was there last day here, and we started the last day right by buying facturas for the first time during their stay. Dad finished his last tasty pastry, looked at me and asked, “Why didn’t we do this every morning??” That afternoon I also had class, but I scurried back to ride with them in the taxi to the airport. After an all-too-quick goodbye, they took off and I headed back my house.

Although the time seemed way too short and it made me miss them even more when they left, I am SO glad that my parents were able to come. I loved all the amazing things we saw and experienced, but the best part was honestly the hours of conversations we spent talking about anything and everything. I also feel like they now understand me when I’m talking to them over Skype because for a short while they got a taste of my life here. It was such a blessing!! Besides that, Mom’s a great photographer, so I definitely used her to take a ton of pictures I’d been wanting to take for a while!

The Parent's Arrive! Part I

After finishing my last day of my second summer course, I hurried out of the university because I had places to go and people to see. Well, just one place – a hotel – and two people – my parents!! Mom and Dad came to visit for just under two weeks and it was absolutely amazing to see them. The first night they were here, we went to the “Despedida de Solteros” (~Farewell to singleness) of Flor and Sebi, a couple in the youth group. It was definitely an interesting experience, like a couple’s bridal shower for the whole church. It involved a worship time, some hilarious games, a message about marriage, a slideshow of pics, and pizza. The whole time Flor and Sebi were dressed as toddlers (I’m still not sure why) complete with adult-sized diapers. That first day with the parental made me realize two things: 1) it’s actually really hard to interpret and switch from English to Spanish; 2) I’ve grown quite accustomed to some of the things that were really strange to me when I first came. To my mom, however, these things were still very surprising, as evidenced by the quantity of questions she sent my way: “You travel over an hour to go to church? The actual event still hasn’t started? They’re not going to eat until 11 p.m.? Little kids are still out this late? There are people dining out at 1 a.m.? etc.” I have to hand it to them, though: both Mom and Dad went with the flow and did their best to do everything the Argentine way.

Saturday, the very next day, Mom, Dad, Vic, and I hopped on a train downtown and, after a short picnic in the plaza, boarded an overnight micro and prepared for the 15-16 hour bus ride up to Iguazu Falls. Once we got there, after a false start or two, we gathered enough information to get to the national park that (in my opinion) contains the most beautiful waterfalls in the world! None of them are the size of Niagara Falls, but there are over 250 individual falls of all sizes one after another. We took a little “jungle train” out to the biggest one and when we arrived we could do nothing but stand amazed. I don’t know that I have ever seen a better simultaneous representation of God’s power and His beauty. The roar of the falls and the sheer magnitude or water rushing down from the biggest falls took me aback while at the same moment the tiny trickling stream beside me held me captive with the intricate water patterns that formed around the rocks and plants that impeded its progress. It was simply incredible. We spent the rest of the day traversing the paths of the park seeing waterfall after waterfall, taking hundreds of pictures in a futile attempt to capture its majesty. In addition to the falls, we also saw a decent variety of wildlife – lizards, infinite amounts of vibrant butterflies, even some audacious raccoon-like creatures, one of which straight snatched an apple out of the hand of a surprised tourist.

After a full day of adventure, we checked into our hotel where Bailey (another roommate from Grace) and her family were awaiting us. (They had come to bring Bailey to for her time studying abroad but decided to do some traveling first.) We ate a delicious dinner of Argentine beef and potatoes, helado and fruit, then called it a day and rested our weary and sun burnt bodies. The next day we were going to head back to the park before catching our micro back to Buenos Aires, but Vic, Mom, Dad, and I were tired enough we decided to chill at the hotel – definitely the right decision. The hotel was actually a series of cabins tucked back in the forest/jungle, so my parents and I explored some of the paths which had a swinging bridge, a climbing wall, vines to swing on, and a rope ladder – needless to say I had some fun with that :) Then, we spent a few hours chilling at the sweet pool, reading, doing devos, chatting, and getting new tan lines (okay, burn lines). It was a much-needed day of relaxation before embarking on our second 16-hour bus ride in 3 days. [Side note: on the micro, I helped Bailey’s sister with her Algebra II homework and realized how much I miss math – go ahead, call me a nerd.]

Tuesday afternoon when we got back, I gave parentals a short tour of my university and we hit up a Bavarian restaurant that night (I’m not really sure why Bavarian in Buenos Aires, but the food was good). The next day, Wednesday, I did my best to show them some of the sights and sounds of downtown Buenos Aires, starting with a short stop at the historic Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo.

Next, we headed to La Boca, where we decided to eat at an outdoor restaurant and see a small show of tango and some other folk dances. The steak (smothered in a champignon sauce) that Dad and I ate might very well be one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten in my life!! The show was also very entertaining…that is, until one of the dancers started walking out into the crowd to invite women to come dance with him. I wasn’t going to have anything to do with it, but Mom, by accident, pointed to me and the man came over and made me get up on stage with him! After about 2 ½ minutes of missteps, blunders, and plenty of blushing, the man ended with one final dip and let me escape back to my seat. Of course, my parents were cracking up laughing and my mom assured me she had PLENTY of pictures to prove that most embarrassing experience.

Once we left Boca, we headed to our final stop of the day – La Plaza de San Martin – to let Mom take some pictures of the sweet eucalyptus trees that abound there. While there, we also stumbled across the filming of a TV show or movie, so we decided we sit and watch the action for a bit. Unfortunately, there was no action, just a lot of people standing and waiting for the directions and a couple people fixing the actresses’ costumes. After about 15 minutes of nothing, I thanked God I’m going into education and not the movie business, and we headed back to the hotel and called it a day.

Well folks, I shall end Part 1 here so that you can catch your breath before reading Part II. Hasta luego!