Argentina, Day 1: 4:30 PM

Hola from Argentina. We´ve only been here about 6 hours so far but it seems like weeks. Most of us are jet-lagged from flying overnight. A few lucky ones cames in days early and have been exploring the layout out Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, we don´t have that much time here. Tomorrow the bus is picking us up at 10 AM and we have our orientation meeting at the Habitat national office in B.A. Then we have a six-hour bus ride to Sante Fe and start working on Monday bright and early. We don´t yet know what we will be doing or the family we´ll be helping out but we´ll find that all out tomorrow. We´ll be back here on May 22 for one more night before heading home. But on our last day here, May 23, we´ll have a nice guided bus tour of the city. Looking forward to that.

This is my first trip co-leading with my friend Rebecca from the Romania team. We went through so much to get here; all the red tape and unanswered e-mails, the fights where both of us felt the other was overstepping bounds, thinking our friendship might not survive these two weeks and the months leading up to the trip. If I had know what I was getting myself into, I never would have signed up to be a leader. I vowed (not that I ever thought someone would recommend me) to never become a team leader becuase I just want to enjoy these trips. I hope we do a good job. But already there seems to be some tension. I´m afraid to speak up for fear of another fight. But that could be because I´m tired and dirty and stilly hungry from travelling.

Tonight I´m meeting up with Mara Green (not sure of the last name), a friend of my old boss Jane Troy. Rebecca and I are having dinner with her at 5:30, then the team is hitting up a tango show tonight, throwing back a few drinks in the process to relax. We had a team lunch today, so everyone is free for dinner but we all wanted to catch the show. So I´m going to sign off for now.

I miss and love you all. Thanks for keeping up with my globe-trotting adventures!

In the meantime....

I turn 32 tomorrow. And HAPPY MOTHER´s DAY Mom!