First of all, to my entire family, I hope that everyone received thank-you's from me. I tried to respond to every nice e-mail and message I received and I hope I missed nobody, but if I did, I am very sorry! Thank you all for my lovely entire family present as well!
Ok, now, in true Rebecca blogging fashion, I'm going to do a list. However, everyone loves lists (they are easy to read, follow and make sense) so hopefully, nobody will mind.
1. Life is funny and ironic.
And no, I am not talking about funny and ironic in the way that my blog is funny and ironic. So, as you all know (if not, read my last post), I spent the majority of my birthday in the hospital as I began my field work for my ISP. After getting up at 5:45, putting my scrubs on in the dark, eating breakfast alone and taking the bus across the city, my birthday was really off to a great start. At around 8am, as I was doing my interviews, a woman came in. She had been having contractions all night and was going into labor. My interviews proceeded all morning. Around mid-day, one of the doctors announced that the babies were coming! By mid-afternoon, the babies had arrived and not just one baby, but two! 3:37pm. May 23, 2013. The babies were born. As their little cries began and I stood there marveling in the wonder of experiencing this on my birthday, I began to ponder how funny life is sometimes. Here I was on my 21st birthday, thousands of miles away from home, witnessing this. This precious moment. This moment of these babies entering the world.
To the two babies that now share my birthday, welcome to the May 23rd birthday club. If you want my opinion, I'd say it is a pretty lucky day to have a birthday. Welcome to this beautiful and exciting and sometimes strange world. I can only hope that you will be as lucky as I have been in the past 21 years and will have a rich life filled with positive experiences that form you and family and friends to support you along the way.
2. My Spanish has improved so much.
I did it, everyone! I interviewed women and doctors in Spanish and they understood me! I feel that the past three months have been building up to this point. Every single conversation was practice for this point. I never really doubted my ability to do it, but making it through my first day of interviews definitely felt good. It was not to say that there weren't some hurdles along the way, but I walked out of the hospital with recordings and notes of interviews! I'd say it was pretty successful if you ask me. I went back and interviewed more on Friday and there will be more interviews to come at the beginning of next week. Stay tuned for more ISP updates! As of this point, I have almost 20 pages written in Spanish already! Full first draft is due this week!
3. Closed-door restaurants are the best.
Such a genius idea. Closed-door restaurants are basically "underground" restaurants or restaurants in people's houses. They are secret (you only get the address when you make a reservation), constantly trying new recipes and a great way to experience new chefs. These restaurants usually have wait list for months. However, since it was my birthday, they fit us in for a birthday dinner. Here are some pictures. I apologize for them being so dark. It was small and not really a flash kind of place and we kept getting stares when we took pictures. So yummy though!
The ambiance.
First course. Pan fried malaysian bread served with chicken Penang curry dip.
Second course. Thailand's most famous salad, green papaya, cherry tomatoes, peanuts, green bean and spicy-citric dressing with sticky rice.
Third course. Traditional thai rice noodles sauteed with prawns, tamarind, peanuts and egg served with bean sprouts and lemon.
Me and Hannah.
Our dining companions.
4. I know my host family better than I thought I did.
So, since my host mom is older, I don't tend to have many people over to my house as it always so much work for her to have people over and I feel bad. However, for my birthday, my two friends, Alexis and Hannah, came over some cake after we went out to dinner.
As we sat and ate cake, Alexis and Hannah started to ask Estela and Daniel about themselves and their lives. I began to realize not only all I know about my host family, but all the little things I experience on a daily basis. The fact that Daniel always makes fun of his mom's cooking (Julia tends to cook everything). The fact that Estela has certain rules about who and when one get up from the table. The fact that Daniel is closer with his brother than he is with his sister. The fact that part of their family moved to Mexico and the US. A lot, a lot of little facts. Much of my experience of living with a host family has felt like the same conversations and routines day after day. It is hard when one is going through the experience to realize relationships building or the process of beginning to integrate to another family. However, I've been living with them for three months. Obviously, I would have integrated a little bit by now. It just took some outside perspective to see it. Here are some pictures of the cake and the celebrations.
Estela setting up the cake and Daniel pouring the beer.
Alexis hit the black-and-white button so you get a black and white picture of me blowing out my candle and making the Argentine three (!) birthday wishes.
Friends and host family.
Estela cutting the cake.
5. Birthdays are made up of the little moments.
So, no I did not rage on my 21st birthday. However, I'd say that it was still a pretty great birthday made up of lots of little moments. Yes yes it is a cliche phrase, but it is true. I witnessed the birth of twins that share my birthday. I started my ISP with a vengeance. I received love and birthday greetings from all over the world, including video messages and Skype wishes. I had a lovely organic lunch outside and did some window shopping. I shared dinner with two of my favorite people in Buenos Aires and had a cake and beer with my lovely host family. All in all, despite being weird at some parts, definitely a special, Argentine birthday.
Thank you to all that made it special and unique!
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