February 28th - March 6th
This past week the family I am staying with (which takes great care of me) went to Buenos Aires for a week for a family wedding. While away, they hired a friend to stay with me, cook for me and tend to the house and animals. She and I had a great time chatting for the first couple days, but then she disappeared and didn’t come back. Her sister came to visit and brought food a few times, and I kept asking if she was at work or studying, but her sister didn’t say much. I found out when my host family returned that she had gone out of town for the week…
Anyhow, the parents of my host family live next door. I must say they were spectacular this week! They brought me yogurt and fruit, washed my dishes, cooked for me, took care of the animals and cleaned the house. They also were excellent company for me. They don’t speak English to me, so it was good to chat with them and practice my Spanish! I learned a lot from them. I learned more about the bus system locally and I also learned about the basics of how to prepare to climb tall mountains. The week actually turned out to be a fun week. It was a week full of festivals and events, so I wasn’t bored! Here are some highlights:
The first day my family was away I was about to go to bed when I heard some noise in the corner of my room by my bed. I thought it a little out of the ordinary to have noise there, but didn’t think too much of it. I was lying on my bed on my pillow looking at a map (to try to learn more about where everything is in this city). I started to get sleepy, but before turning off the light remembered I needed to retrieve something from my desk. After I got up, I turned back towards my bed, and there lay a giant cockroach on my pillow! Wow, what a surprise! That must have been the noise I had heard earlier! I took the pillow to the other room, dropped of the cockroach near the front door and then turned it inside out so I could sleep on a clean pillow case!
The next couple of days held much adventure as well. I went to the local Italian Festival in the city, which happens once a year. I went on the first day, March 1. The festival was so much fun! There was some great Italian food and some wonderful Italian music! The local police comprised a band that was very talented! I think around 30 or 40 people were in the band! The show commenced with some fun folk Italian music in Spanish, then some authentic Opera followed by some rock music, then a duet of Andre Bocelli’s famous “Time to say Good-Bye”.
I arrived home late and wasn’t sure if my new roommate was there or not, so I locked the gate but didn’t bar it as usual. Around 5:30am, I regretted not barring the gate because I heard a loud crashing sound at the back door (in the room next to mine). The clamor and clanking was very loud, and I was convinced a burglar had just broken down the back door. Not knowing whether or not I was alone in the house, I prepared to defend myself. In the dark I grabbed whatever I found next to me on my night stand. I awoke a little more and realized I was holding a battery to my camera in my hand….what a fierce weapon! lol! I quickly exchanged it for the other item on my nightstand, which was my alarm. (Somehow, it was comforting to know what time it was when I was being robbed.) I arose from my bed as I heard more noises outside on the porch. The wind was whipping around like cake batter in a mixing bowl when an electric mixer is turned on high speed. I didn’t hear any more noises in the house, and thought it was safe to leave my room and investigate the “crime scene”. After opening my door I realized it was the wind that broke the door, because the entire center of the door frame was completely ripped out from the door! Whoa! I thought we had strong winds in Texas!!!
Other adventures this week entailed having dinner on the roof of the 10th floor of a building. The dinner was great, but even more fun was the fact that we chose to walk down the stairs after dinner! I suppose the stairs are not commonly used, because for 3 floors we walked in the dark, then for the next few floors battled dust and a ladder in the way as we turned a sharp corner.
Then, the next night I stayed up all night. I went out to see a parade with friends. There were many cool floats with this year's beauty queens featured. There were melons, apples and crackers thrown from the floats. So, look out if you are standing nearby! I didn't catch any fruit, but did get sprayed with water from one float!
After the parade a few members of my class wanted to go eat and get something to drink. I had just had some ice cream but thought I would go with them for a while, thinking I would just stay out until 1 or 2 (which is early here). But, we were all being adventurous and chatting, and before I knew it we were all still out and it was nearly 4 am. By the time I got home and prepared for bed it was after 5. So, I just stayed up until 6! Thankfully, I slept until around 12 or 1, but then to my surprise 20 girls showed up to have a picnic in my back yard! At first I was a little grumpy because I just wanted to sleep! But, after an hour or two I gained my senses and tact back and enjoyed fun conversations with the girls! They were very sweet girls from a parochial school!
Then, to end the week we went to a festival called “Vendemia”. If you have viewed my facebook photos, you have likely seen a large stage with many dancers. That was the show! It was a spectacular dance show with all types of music including folk, rock, tango, ballet, orchestral music and many other types I don’t know the names for! Thankfully it didn’t rain during the show, because it was in an amphitheater with 20,000 or 40,000 people (not sure which because different people say different numbers). Anyhow, the show was to celebrate the season of gathering the grapes for wine production, which is this province’s primary export. People from many nations come to the show. The show ended with a very important beauty pageant for the region. The finalists walked the parameter of the stage adorned in lovely dresses, eagerly awaiting who would be chosen! At last, after some time the winner was chosen! And, she also happened to be the only blonde. Figures!
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