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!