October 11, 2018: Mis padres en Argentina!

Call it "Invasion of the Gringos."

Instead of being productive with the time alone I had in the morning, I spent all of it tracking my parents' various flights and refreshing the pages every 30 seconds. I kept waking up in the middle of the night and checking on the plane too lol. Happy to say they landed safely!

Unfortunately, getting from the airport to my house seemed to be harder than getting from Chicago to Buenos Aires! Not having service + trying to order an Uber = not good. After spending about 2 hours in the airport trying to figure it out, Ma and Pa were finally on their way to mi casa.

I'm going to be completely honest about today and say that it did not go at all how I expected it to. The truth is that I was a horrible host. I was uptight, I was impatient, I was anxious, I was rude, and I was controlling. I am grateful beyond words that my parents visited me. They are not only putting work on pause, but also their lives. I am so excited that they are here and I am so excited to show them all of my favorite places, and I feel deeply sorry that I made this first day for them unenjoyable.

But today is already in the past and all I can do is improve my attitude and make this trip a happy, fun, and enjoyable one for the next 6 days.

After dropping our things off at the Airbnb, we walked to the Youth Olympic Games to watch beach volleyball. We caught the end of the men's game (USA vs. Aruba... USA won!) and then headed to the women's game. The match was super cool because it was USA versus Argentina! USA dominated the first game but the second game was super close. Luckily we won it! They weren't Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh, but they sure were ballers. Here I am touching greatness.

It was very cold out and raining (of course my parents came on one of the coldest / ugliest days within the past month!) so I wanted to go home. I become very impatient and rude and insisted that we leave instead of walking around and enjoying the event.

So I walked to the Airbnb, my parents stopped for groceries, and then we reunited in the Airbnb and made plans for the night. I went back to my home, got ready, and then we went to try out my favorite restaurant here. Well what do ya know they had an inconvenience and now only accept cash! We improvised and went to another place and boi was this a learning experience...

So we went to this pizza place, the waiter explained to me that the pizza we ordered comes without sauce, so we switch it, and guess what?? It still didn't come with sauce! But it did come with onions... about 5 million onions to be exact. Neither of my parents like onions (it's not my veggie of choice, either) so we barely ate the pizza and that was that. I take the blame for not reading the menu more closely... even though the waiter did say it came with sauce... but I guess I just have to try to laugh it off and read more closely next time. Learning lesson for sure.

My parents went to sleep in the Airbnb and when I got home I caught up with Clarisa and essentially bawled my eyes out. I told her that today did not go how I expected at all and that I wish it hadn't gone how it did. She imparted great wisdom upon me. She told me that I need to learn, not my parents. I need to go with the flow, I need to laugh at my dad when he says things incorrectly in Spanish, I need to not be obsessive about how much money I spend... the list goes on.

Sometimes, when somebody - removed from the situation - points things out to you, you see them a lot more clearly. And admittedly I shouldn't need anyone to tell me that the way I acted today is not acceptable. I recognize that on my own. But it does help to have others put things in perspective for you, to point out where you may be wrong, to point out how you can change, to point out a new way of looking at things. Clarisa did this for me.

For the rest of my parents' visit, I am going to work on being more relaxed, more patient, and - most importantly - more kind. Life is short, I want to be happy and make others happy.

More than anything, I need to understand and be okay with the fact that we are going to encounter challenges and inconveniences throughout this trip. In fact, I should expect them! After all, we're 3 English-speaking foreigners in a massive foreign country. My parents have trouble ordering an Uber? Okay, it happens. We can't go to my favorite restaurant for dinner? Okay, another time. We're sure to encounter more problems in the coming days and while I can't control them, I can control my attitude and how I react to them.

So with that I say goodnight, I'm looking forward to a new leaf tomorrow, and always remember that the one thing you can control in your life is... you.

Song Recommendation of the Day: "I Was Never There" by The Weeknd ft. Gesaffelstein