It wasn't hard to fall back to this early schedule with my family. While at first I marveled at how early we eat I also marveled at how early we rise. 7:30 walks to beat the heat, swim in the pool, breakfast, and I'm already thinking longingly about a siesta. The non-existent siesta. There is too much to do and never enough time, and while I once snuck one in that I could not have lived without I was sad about missing some family by the pool time.
Since then my parents have started vacation and there has been an abundance of family pool time. I believe that my family has never spent so much time with all of us physically in the pool since we moved in. But the humidity, our sweaty walks, and the fact that the pool is 83 degrees has even gotten my mom and my sister in the pool almost every day of the week! To top it all off an angry horse fly even forced my sister underwater in an attempt to escape a nasty bite.
During one of our errands I bought a Frisbee at Target and my dream came true when we had a family Frisbee session in the pool. Even Kenny was there and everyone was showing off there throws! Mom is secretly an amazing thrower and Dad's got some good moves too.
We also hosted a pretty kick ass party last Saturday complete with two 1/6 kegs (Blue Moon which we are still working on and Samuel Adams Summer Ale) and Sangria. Some people got drunk a little too early, and others though they didn't drink enough, but Mom out did herself with Fajitas and it was a big mix of young friends, family friends, Grandparents! and family. There were cousins, aunts and uncles, people I hadn't seen in over a year, and some that I hadn't seen in much longer than that. Since then we've been running errands, avoiding the heat and spending a lot of quality time together.
The only blip in our happy happy time together has come when I clashed with my family over various subject for one reason or another. I underestimated my "culture" shock and my inability to deal with it without sounding judgey. I suppose I have a lot of reflecting to do one of these days but for now I'm going to enjoy this last full day with my family for a long time.
The longer I'm away from Buenos Aires and the longer I am here I compare my situation there to the various situations my friends are in now and I realize that what I have come to think of as normal is actually quite ridiculous. Living with smokers has taken more of a toll on me and my stuff than I care to acknowledge. There is ash everywhere and it gets into my cloths, my computer, my lungs, and my skin. The crazy hours also make me a lot more cranky than I ever was before I moved to BA. Of course there are also so many things that I would sorely miss if I was staying here for longer than two weeks. We'll see how I feel when I get back.
The most surreal part of my time home so far was last night when we went to the ONLY bar in our town, The Tiger's Tale, for bingo night. Everyone was there, and I saw people that I haven't seen in years. It was kinda crazy...but you can't beat $3 bud lights and bingo. Kenny won a t-shirt! However it was so insane to see all these people who never left, returned or were back visiting. Some people seem to have not changed a bit, some have a lot, and some just have more muscles.
OK, enough reflecting for now... time to get back to watching my dad pack up my sisters stuff and then to lunch. I'll try to get some photos on here eventually!
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