Today was a good day. I woke up, ate my breakfast of champions- yogurt, granola, cheerios- and then got some homework done. Next I went out to the terraza on the top floor of my building to check out the scene. My host mom encouraged me to go. She said I would be able to see the polo fields from up there. Check out the view:
Next I headed out to catch a polo game and then to check out the race track. I picked the winning horse, but then changed my mind right before the race (just betting between my friends and I, no money). Next we decided to go to the grocery store and get some fixings for a picnic in the park for dinner. We hung out in the park eating our salami cheese sandwiches and talking about stuff. It was a fun night and now I'm back in my room.
I also had an interesting conversation with my host mom today. For those who don't know, my host sister (I'll call her HS from now on) has been fighting with her boyfriend. Her boyfriend who lives in the south of argentina came to visit for a while. They have been going out for about 5 years now. A couple days into the visit, they got into a huge fight. I was trying really hard to unerstand what the arguement was about from my room. The whole family was involved in the living room. Ther was something about pictures on the internet and marijuana and some other stuff. I couldn't grasp the actual problem but they were upset. The parents would every so often offer up some wise advice with out getting upset as well. I really respect that about them, that they were there but not taking sides and getting involved.
I was talking to my host mom today about this and everytime we talk about it I find out a little more of the problem. I found out that my HS is having trouble accepting her boyfriend. Something that I've thought about recently is that is important to accept people for who they are, the good and the bad. Because thats life, a mix of good and bad. If you accept the good and yell and fight the bad, you are going to make yourself miserable it seems. I think it's better just to acknowledge that that's how life is and accept it and respect it. So everytime the boyfriend does something thats "wrong" according to her, she fights with him about it. The otehr day they were in the kitchen arguing about the death penalty. There are conversations that are interesting, but you don't have to yell at someone everytime you discuss them. Anways, it's interesting to see this behavior and analyze it. I think I used to act the same way in the past, but now that I've been thinking and stuff I've been trying to be more respectful of both the good and the bad. The other thing my host mom added to the conversation is that if there is something bad, the only thing you have complete control over is how you act or view the bad. You can't go around forcing other people to change in order to make things better for yourself. Thats apparently what my HS is trying to do.
Another interesting side note here is the affect of religion in all this conversation. My host mother is very catholic and I am not religious in the least. Interestingly enough my host mother and I have a lot of deep converstations and we agree about a lot of things. So I'm sort of watching out for what types of differences the religion will bring into things. The other day, one of these such differences came up. She mentioned how she accepts everything because in the end it is for the better. Meaning, things might seem bad but they always work out. She asked me if I had experienced that before, where I thought something was bad but it ended up being good. And I said I had, but I don't agree with her here. I don't think bad things happen and that they are actually good in the end becuase someone is watching out for us. Although sometimes a bad thing turns out good, there are plenty of bad things that can be just bad. So my host mom and I are acting the same way about a phenomen but I think for different reasons. I'm trying to accept what is-the good and the bad in people, situations, life- because I don't see any better way. Why fight all the time when yo ucan just relax and accept that there will be bad things that happen to you and imperfections in relationships and people. (This might sound lazy and I don' mean not fight for what you believe in, but just not expect everything to go your way or be the way you want it). My host mom is accepting all these things becuase she has "faith" and she believes that someone is watching from above planning this out and giving justice. I don't think this further jump has much evidence or seems likely, but anyways... She just lets god do what he will do and doesn't get in a tiff when its not what she expects or wants. Interesting stuff.
Anways, here's some pictures of the polo game:
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