Family, each different from the other, but all the same!

by Marlon Frinhani (Brazil)

Making a local connection Argentina

Being around a place where you have been never before or more specifically your first trip abroad is indeed the scariest thing I’ve already done in my life. Since I decided to take an adventure abroad, I never imagined it could be in Argentina. I was holding a degree of Letters Portuguese and English, and I was going to my last year when I start to look forward it. After a long conversation with a friend of mine about her trip to Bogotá and knowing every step about how to put my dream out of paper, the desire of the unknown inside me started to grow and I knew it could be my chance to make my dream come true. For a moment I asked myself “Are you crazy?”, “Do you think you can do it right now?”, “What about the money?”, those questions were consuming me, actually it was the reason speaking louder than emotion inside my head asking me to put my feet on the ground but I didn’t give up the idea. Being the younger son, I always told my parents that I wanted to do something special that could help the world somehow even if it was the smallest thing I’ve ever done in my life or just make something on my community, and they always supported me. With this purpose in mind, I decided to do a volunteer work related to education and looked into the company which my friend did her exchange program and searched for a project related to education with kids and I found a great one in Argentina. After that, I was beginning a new chapter in my life the one who could change in a big way. I remember it like was yesterday, I was waiting with my mother at the airport for my flight, and I was anxious and nervous because I never traveled by plane before. When the time arrived and I had to leave my mother it was the worst part, we are so close that I never spent a long time away from her and that time I knew that I would stay almost 3 months without hugging her. The plane delayed one hour until take flight and then when it left the ground, I realized that my dream was becoming reality and I burst into tears. In the middle of the connection between Rio de Janeiro and Argentina I met a girl who was going to the same purpose with the same exchange company, we made an instant friendship at the airport. Getting into Argentina was very cold at the first time because the temperature it was very low but then it warmed. My biggest hitch was the local language I didn’t speak Spanish, so I had to learn day by day and it was very hard. First, we were a group of six volunteers who went to Argentina with this same exchange company, and they took us to eat some food and change money. Second, we went to a meeting to know about the project and also the place we were going to stay, lucky me I went to an NGO called “Comunitario Esperanza” when I had an amazing and loved host family who welcomed me as a son. I lived in place where I could work and be part of a family at the same time. My job was teaching children my native language Portuguese and also English during six weeks. My routine was waking up every day at 9 am and work until midday, after that they used to sleep after having lunch until 5 pm, they called it “Dormir la siesta”. Despite my difficulty with the language, my work was done in the best way and with love because the main language was the love and at the end of the project, I was already speaking the Spanish language. I also spent the Christmas and the New Year Eve with my host family, it was such a great moment and I will never forget. Enjoying all that culture and live intensely with them each day made Argentina became my second home and Comunitario Esperanza my second family. “Hasta hoy los extraño”.