5 November rains
November rain
I was a cold Sunday; I walked to the front door just to find out that it was raining. I was late for church so I didn’t go back to find an umbrella.
It was cold, and it was almost raining. The fall was almost over; there were no more yellow leaves in the trees.
I was walking to the train station while admiring the mountains and the dieing trees. It wasn’t pleasant.
I was the only person walking in the street. I was the only person standing in the solitary train station. My nose started to get red and I could see my own breath.
Suddenly, I remembered the first day I put a step in the United States of America.
I remembered really well, and the weird thing is that I never thought about it before.
For some reason I could see it in my mind like it was yesterday.
My last day in Argentina (November 2003)
Before I jumped on the plain in Buenos Aires, I said goodbye to my mom, my dad and my older brother. They were all crying.
I didn’t cry, I didn’t want to make it harder for them. So I didn’t cry at all.
Airport in Buenos Aires
After I enter to the hall that went to the plane I exploded… I cried like never before. But before I boarded the plane I stopped did a last look behind me and then kept walking forward.
The first look of the US from the air was wonderful; I could see all the lights of Florida from the plane.
My first day in the US
Before I walked out of the plane that brought me from Argentina I wanted to look good so I put on me my new blazer my mom bought for me before I left. “Here is hot, but there is cold” she said.
I was scared; it was the first day of my “new” life completely different from what hours ago was my “old” life.
The security people were really nice to me, and I was happy because I understood everything they said.
It took me a while to find the right way to the plane that went to Salt Lake City.
I was amazed and overwhelmed about how huge the Atlanta Airport was. They have a subway over there!!!
New Culture
When I finally found the right place I sat in the waiting area and kept looking to at the other people who were waiting to go to Salt Lake City… Maybe one of them would talk to me. (I thought everyone in Utah was like the missionaries)
Two big women (a daughter and her mom I assumed) were sitting right in front of me. They were two white, blond, big, big women and they were eating fried chicken (which I found very unusual)
They were eating like if they were in a restaurant or even their own house. They were using their hands!!! Their hands were greasy, their face were greasy… it was a mess.
If I see something like that now I wouldn’t find it weird at all, but then I was shocked.
And then I remember telling myself, “This is going to be hell of a ride Hernan”
(Posted in melastome.blogspot.com in November 11, 2007)
Soundtrack of My Life
Prelude
There are times in life when you are doing something memorable, special, or simply you are just ‘doing something’ with a song (from a radio, TV, etc) playing in the background.
Years later the same song is back in your head for some reason and it takes you back to the same place you were before. And the same feelings you were feeling back then are born again.
(Mi papa, Mi hermano H, Mi mama, Mi prima N. en Foz Do Iguazu, Brasil)
Some times thats wonderful because it takes you when… when you got married or when you proposed, or when you realized that you are crazy about her (or whoever you were crazy for), or when you got some good news… but also, it can take you to sad moments like when you and the person you thought was your soul mate broke up , or when you found out that somebody died, or when you missed them so much that a simple song made you cry…
(Casamiento Civil de mi hermano H y L, Buenos Aires)
However those songs became part of your life… and after many years we manage to collect a huge amount of treasured songs that are the music of our own life.
(Casamiento de Vivi y C, Buenos Aires)
It’s better that any movie’s soundtrack, because the main characters in the story are you, your mom, your friends… It’s awesome.
Andy, mi hermano Hu, y mi hermana Vivi en Punta Mogotes, Mar Del Plata)
High Note
Back in April (21th) while in the road, minutes after we left the Salt Lake City area to Las Vegas (To rake a flight to Florida) I found myself staring outside the window.
The sun was hiding slowly on the horizon behind the mountains.
The sky was pink and orange and the road… the road was an endless straight arrow pointing away from us.
Suddenly the road was more than just a road… to me it was a path to freedom.
I was free from reality!!!; I got the chance to go to a place that I dreamed to go since I was 4 years old.
I didn’t care for anything else, I was determinded to enjoy my childhood dream.
I think that , for a while, I forgot about problems and responsabilities.
It was a time to scape from reality… and then… as if it was planed, the beginning of the MGMT song started playing on the radio… and it was perfect.
Later I found out that the name of the song it was called “Time to pretend” (I got goose spot)
MGMT are out with the video to their single ‘Time To Pretend’, from their debut album ‘Oracular Spectacular’, out now on Columbia Records.
Crazy Weather in Buenos Aires
In the middle of a crazy-weather week with unstoppable rain and flooding in various areas of Buenos Aires, two waterspouts (tornado-like shapes over water) formed yesterday over the Rio de la Plata River, 200 meters from the coast. A very rare phenomenon for the area that left locals amazed and wondering.
Even though local press and specialists did not link the event to climate change, it happened after one of the hottest summers in history and it was the second rare incident related to Buenos Aires weather in less than a year. The previous was the first snowfall in almost 90 years, which took place last July.
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Another sighting of the tornado-like shapes in Buenos Aires
The furious rain has caused flooding in Buenos Aires
by Paula Alvarado, Buenos Aires on 03. 3.08
(Pictures: Francisca Steverlynck, Eduardo Abrechtfor La Nacion.)
It Could Happen To You
Every time I read headlines in the news about Argentina is about some disaster going on.
I would never think that something like that would ever affect my own family.
This morning I was checking the Argentine news (like I do every morning) and a huge line in red said: “Braking news! A huge truck crashed on the freeway!”
15 minutes later my sister sent me this e-mail
“On a normal day I drive through an underpass on my way home from work.
Today sheets of metal fell from a semi that was in the overpass of the freeway.
I was very happy going home listening to music when the sheet of metal and the other stuff fell right in front of me, (RIGTH IN FRON OF ME!!!!)
I was going really fast!, It scared the crap out of me!!! It could have fallen on the windshield!!! Do you get it??
I felt like I had a heart attack and I saw the light for a second.
Thanks goodness there was nobody in the left line otherwise I would be walking to the light… hahaha Oh my gosh… I can’t believe how scared I was…
Vivi”








