Reflections

This is a segment of my view. Right now I am looking at the big building that makes up most of the view from my bedroom. I love it. It is a huge imposing wall with peeling paint and little windows, but really my view is a terrific urban forest landscape, complete with wildlife. I can hear the birds chirping, and I saw the big rust colored cat out there with the nun while she was hanging out her laundry. The sun is shining, the sky is slightly cloudy, but it looks like it is going to be a nice day.

I've been here for two weeks already and I thought it would be a good time to reflect on some of my experiences. Needless to say, it has been a rough two weeks. Recovering from the flu feels good. I think illness is a good way for us to learn to appreciate health. Feeling my stomach not feeling as though someone is stabbing me with a hot poker and twisting it around is a good thing, and being able to appreciate that is even better.

Today I am waiting for Popi to call me. Popi is a young woman who lives with my friend Gabriella in San Francisco. She manages the pizza department at Costco. Her family is from Argentina and she has been here all summer visiting her grandmother. She e-mailed me and we were going to meet, but then she said she was going to Uruguay, and I got the flu. I got an e-mail from her yesterday saying she had left me a voicemail and called several times. Turns out there was a voicemail on my cell phone that I did not know about. I had to get out my manual to figure out how to retrieve it because I also needed my PIN, which I did not know. Anyway, while waiting for Popi to call, I thought I'd reflect a little.

Last night I went out for ice cream to Volta. It was good, but very sweet. I am definitely going to limit my ice cream intake. On the way there I was very irritated because people seemed to be set up on the sidewalk like obstacles on an obstacle course. I was constantly moving around people who were standing there in groups talking, or just standing there. I noticed that when people bumped me I got upset, but then I started bumping other people intentionally if they were in my way. I did not feel very good when I got to Volta. This reminded me of Japan, where it seemed that people intentionally crossed over large spaces to bump into me (that was not the case, of course). Being American and being used to a VERY large personal space, it is natural that I get upset when my personal space is invaded, especially with an agressive bump on my very person, BUT, getting upset, and setting out to bump people is not the answer. I need to find a way to accept that this is the way things are here and just chill out.

On the way home I was better (perhaps thanks to the sugar and creme) and I saw that the cartoneros had begun their nightly ritual. I saw a young boy, maybe 13 or 14, knee deep in a pile of cardboard and felt something in my heart weep. I imagined him coming in on the train from the provinces with his family, perhaps even some younger than him, and being here in this big city where people don't have to think about where their next meal will come from. As I was thinking about his life I saw in front of me two boys, one perhaps about the same age as him, residents of Recoleta, looking very cute in the latest hip boy fashions. Two worlds passing in the evening, one barely visible.

I thought it would be a good movie, a young boy cartonero comes into the city to collect garbage every night and sees people with things he can only dream of. But I don't know how the story would end.

The cartoneros kind of make me sad. They are not like the old drunks sleeping on the street who you can somehow blame for their misery, these are families, women, children, searching for scraps of paper so that they can eat.

Popi just called, so I am going to take a shower now and meet her at the Recoleta Fair.