Friends and Family Share in the Experience

On May 23 my parents and my aunt and uncle walked wearily through the airport gates of Buenos Aires after 15 hours of traveling. Being as they were my first visitors, this was my first opportunity to share my experience with someone. Finally all the stories shared over the Internet through emails and phone calls suddenly had texture as my family got to see with their own eyes the city of Buenos Aires. Of course the first lesson learned was watch out for traffic, and subsequently Spanish words like "vamos" (let's go), "rapido" (quickly), and "cuidado" (careful) were learned instantly. The following two weeks would be filled with lots of city walking, sight seeing, and trips to the mountains of Salta and the waterfall filled jungles of Iguazu.

As the days went by checking out sights and trying new foods, my family was learning more and more about where is was that I was living and a newfound appreciation for my Rotary experience grew. We saw many incredible things, shared many stories, and even created new memories, but what I enjoyed sharing the most with them weren't empanadas or the tango, but rather it was introducing them to the friends that I've made. As my very own experience has been molded around the people I've met and the friends I've made, obviously it meant a lot to have both my worlds come together and meet.

Naturally the best way to meet friends is having a good old BBQ or Asado as they call it here. Christina, a rotary scholar from Florida, was celebrating her birthday and an asado was made in her honor. Friends, classmates, rotary scholars, rotary advisors, and both Christina's family and mine were all in attendance. Faces were put to names as my parents were introduced to my friends and good food was shared by all (Thanks to Christina's advisor Hernan who manned the grill making sure no meat was served cold because cold meat is a sin here.). A special thanks to Christina's family for hosting us all and to everyone who helped in making that evening a special one for everyone, and an especially good one for the birthday girl.

After meeting my friends it was time for my family to meet my family here, my Rotary family that is. Coming on the last evening on the trip my parents were introduced to Willie, Liliana and Humberto, another Rotary club member who has been very influential in my life. Thanks to Humberto's English and my Spanish, stories were shared despite language barriers. However, language isn't necessary to express a parent's gratefulness in caring for their child. Willie and Humberto have been coined my argentine fathers for a reason, and on that night my parents had the chance to thank them for all they've done, and for Humberto and Willie to thank them for sharing me with them. Three hours went by filled with smiles, stories, tears, and of course me blushing as all the important people in my life came together over that dinner. For me this was the most memorable part of the trip!!!!!