International Birthday Celebration

By: Laurie Holland

There´s so much that has happened in the last few days - I don´t know where to begin. On Thursday night I had the opportunity to visit the English training school that my host family owns and teach teachs at. It is my favorite visit yet. I spoke to young people ages 16 - 22 about myself, what I do for work, as well as what I do in Africa. They were very responsive and interested, and they asked lots of very good questions, especially about Africa. I could see that they have very great futures, as they all have wonderful dreams. One of the boys has already e-mailed me asking more questions about American culture and other things. An hour and a half flew by and then it was time to head off to a dinner show.

Later that night our group went to a great restaurant in the evening where they dance tango. Even though each of us had minimal tango dance training, we all were out there on the dance floor having a great time. Something really funny - I was sitting down at our table when a short gentleman approached me and asked me to dance. I couldn´t turn him down. But when I stood up (and I was wearing heels that night) his head came to my chin. It was a hilarious sight! Every time we stepped in front of the fan, my hair whip-lashed his face. I was trying hard not to laugh. Additionally, in tango the man is supposed to lead the dance.....well.....that wasn´t happenin´. He was trying, but he was just too short. On the way home later that evening, my host family and I rode home in a taxi and were in tears laughing about me and that short guy dancing together. Aaahh....great memories!

On Friday our group went to a hotel downtown Buenos Aires for the beginning of The Penta....a huge Rotary conference. I met 4 other Group Study Exchange groups - 2 from London, 1 from Italy, and 1 from Venezuela. We had an amazing banquet dinner friday night. The President of Rotary International was there (William Boyd). At midnight, a cake was brought to my table and some people sang happy birthday to me. That was very thoughtful!

Yesterday on my birthday was the ¨big day¨ for all of us Group Study Exchange groups because we had to each give a presentation in front of hundreds of people. Our group did really well! I think what stood out most about our group was our service. I was able to share about 2 minutes of my Africa video....music and all. Not very much time, but enough time to get my point across and inform the audience about the orphans in Zambia. I received a great response. The President got up and gave a speech about the many poor children and widows that the Rotary Foundation helps around the world. I had to fight back tears, as he touched upon many of the things I envision myself doing in the near future. I approached him after the conference, shook his hand, and fought back tears (again) as I thanked him for the words he chose to share with the people. He could have talked about many things that day. But he chose to talk about the helpless; he said what matters most is to LOVE people. He shared a few quotes by Mother Teresa. In summary, it was to love the people of the world. Very inspiring!

Later that evening I celebrated my birthday with people all over the world. It was great! Italy, England, Venezuela, and Argentina....couldn´t have asked for a better way to celebrate. We all ate at a great restaurant and then all went out dancing. I left at about 3:30am with a soaked t-shirt and jeans....really worked up a sweat and had a great time dancing.

This morning I was a bit sad to say good-bye to the other GSE groups, as we all had to go our separate ways. I´m going to check out studying Spanish in Venezuela. After meeting people from there and hearing more about their country.....wow, I was impressed. Anyway, I am now with my 3rd host family. The father is a doctor of general medicine and the mother is a gynecologist. The daughter is 21 and studies psychology at the University of Buenos Aires. What an absolutely great family! They live in a very nice part of the city - many things are within walking distance. We went to the famous cemetary here, which is unlike anything I´ve ever seen. People pay big bucks to be buried there...well, basically, it looks like they build a beautiful monument - each person has their own. There are rows and rows of monuments made of gorgeous marble, statues, etc. We also walked through what is something like a flea market. After a nap this afternoon, we all went out for pizza together (excellent pizza!) and then ate the greatest ice cream I´ve had yet. At dinner, I found out that the daughter really likes hip-hop dance and was planning to take a dance class on Friday night. So I am going to try to make time to accompany her. How great would that be! Hip-hop culture is not very prominent here, so it would be a treat to see how it´s taught here. Tomorrow is going to be a very very full day, so I´m heading off to bed now. Hope you all have a wonderful week!