today

today is the day i've been dreading all week. the day i leave mendoza to travel to buenos aires. it's hard for me not to be so narrow-minded because although i still have 10 days left in this beautiful country, i cannot help but want to selfishly stay in mendoza for longer. i am sure that when i am sitting on a bus, watching the sun set out the panoramic window and drinking wine (yes, they serve malbec on the buses here) my mentality will change to excited; as i will be doing a lot of traveling the next week. however, last night just cemented my feelings for this place that i've stayed in for almost five months.

yesterday was jam-packed. some of the highlights include: heladitos (ice cream) with josé, the ifsa-butler program director of the mendoza program, finally printing the rest of my bus tickets, giving my family their gifts, and cooking a wonderful dinner for them.

i played lacrosse with my two brothers yesterday after leaving their sticks on the kitchen table with a note. i came home yesterday to them playing...in the house! we walked to a plaza a few blocks away to play on the grass, and in a bigger space. they loved it! strangely enough, julian picked it up right away. i didn't teach them how to scoop, catch, or cradle; i only had to tweak how they threw the ball. we played for almost an hour, and then returned home so i could cook dinner. thanks to some great advice from my mom and two and a half hours later, i had black bean burgers, guacamole, tomato, and pasta with crema on the table. with vanilla ice-cream and maple syrup for dessert, dinner for my family was a great success. however, once again argentina reminded me of how it is a developing country; as i had to soak and boil the dry black beans to mimic the ones in the united states that come pre-washed and in a can and make my own breadcrumbs (without a toaster i might add). after dinner, i chatted with my host parents for an hour just about life here. they claimed that i'm a person muy sencilla (very simple) to live with and gave me perhaps the greatest compliment ever: they said that this was the first time they haven't had to change anything in their life (daily or personal) to accommodate a host student. my mom said that my room is a quilombo, a mess, just like the rest of the house; something that is comforting to her because it means that i have already fit in. my dad said that i have had the best connección de corazón with my host brothers, which was another great compliment, and something for me to reflect on. i may not have been able to communicate fully with my family for the first month or two, but my actions and what i did around the house mattered and were appreciated. this, perhaps, was the greatest compliment of all. it made me sad, but they kept reminding me: es una etapa, it's just a stage in life, something that will give you another home on the other side of the world. it's just another opportunity that has opened my eyes.

i still can't believe where the time went, though. last i knew, it was july and we were disembarking the plane in buenos aires to begin our whirlwind of an orientation. it sounds cliche, but time really does fly when you're having fun; and i must have had a lot more fun than i thought if five months have gone by since i've been home. i will try and upload pictures as soon as possible, although it might be hard since i have a crazy 10 days of traveling before heading back to the states!