It's been a long long long long looooong weekend this week!!
First things first. I went to a mom-and-daughter tea party yesterday (Saturday) with my mom at another missionary's house. I have to say, it was pretty amazing! The lady who hosted it is a wonderful person and she always made our family feel welcome in Uruguay. She took extra care in making this tea party happen and I am very grateful towards all the hard work she went through to make it happen! My mom and I went and at first it was awkward with all the other moms and daughters (there were about 20 people). We sat at three different tables and we all got to know one another. It was a good time to meet people and recuperate from school's work because... IT WAS IN ENGLISH!! Whoop whoop! I could communicate with these people and I felt very comfortable around the different ladies and daughters.
After everybody had settled down, my mom and I, and another missionary, had to introduce ourselves because we were the "newbies" in Uruguay. While the other lady spoke, my mom nudged me from my right side.
"You should introduce us," she whispered.
I was a bit uneasy about doing our introduction as my mom pointed out the things I should say about our family. I was filled with anxiety and felt very very nervous. Public speaking was definitely NOT my thing. Finally, it was our turn to tell them about us. I got up (my mom stayed sitting down) and looked around the room and smiled. Somehow, the words flowed out of my mouth as if somebody was speaking for me. I felt at ease as I spoke and I could feel my extrovert side creeping in. I told the other ladies about our family, where we lived, and what our job was, here in Uruguay. After I sat down, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Whew!
I thought over my "little speech" and I realized how much I loved telling others about what I was passionate about. In Costa Rica, when I was very comfortable in crowds and social events, I loved giving presentations and talking to large amounts of people. I was usually the person who "took control" and took the spot as "leader". After moving back to Texas, my extrovert side ran away and my personality changed to a more reserved kind of person. I would keep things to myself and I would feel the energy leave me if I was around people for too long.
Giving that small introduction at the tea party filled me with happiness as I got to experience my past self from Costa Rica. I knew I would enjoy this social event. As time progressed, the moms and daughters got to know each other better and it was amazing to see how close these daughters were to their mothers. I usually saw kids either be embarrassed of their parents or not spend quality time with one another, but I was really glad to see these daughters look at their moms as if they were their best friends.
At activity time, the daughters had to step out and create a list of 10 things of "What I Think My Mom Should Do Differently" or "What My Mom Should Change". The other girls were so sweet and we could only think of 7 (reminder: it took us about 20 minutes or more)! Now, we were all very awkward with one another and there were LOADS of awkward silences haha. As we walked back to the pavilion where are mothers were, the list was in my hands (I somehow ended up as the writer of the group).
"Anybody want to present??" I shouted.
All the girls just giggled and kept walking, and so I ended up being the one to give the speech. Again. I honestly didn't mind though since I was having a rush of adrenaline, and it was nice being able to, again, talk about what I was passionate about. I explained to the moms how it was hard for us to think up the list and that their daughters looked at them as their best friends. It was really nice seeing their facial expressions fill with happiness.
I had an amazing time being able to spend more time with my mom and talk with her about our childhoods. We drank gallons of tea (at least I did, I thought my bladder would burst), and ate tons of cupcakes and pastries.
When it was time to go home, my dad was in a different city (to give sermons to a different church) and he was going to spend the night over there and so my mom and I were on our own getting home. We decided that we would take the city buses! Yippee! We made our way to the bus stop and waited for our bus. We asked a lady if our bus (104) would stop there. She said she was not sure and pointed at another board (like an advertisement board) saying how that might've been the bus stop for us. We started walking to the board that was about... 50 meters(?) away from the bus stop we were at and I saw that our bus (104) was coming!! I started running and waving my arms around, but for some reason, the bus didn't stop.
Turns out, one, the advertisement board wasn't even a bus stop. And two, we just walked away from the right bus stop. The bus drove by without stopping and we had just missed our bus. GREAT! I thought, it was already freezing and windy and the next bus comes 30 minutes later. The lady looked really sorry about telling us the wrong information, but thankfully the next bus came 15 minutes later, which was earlier than we expected.
We got home safely and we were so tired we just watched Korean dramas and slept together on my parents' bed with the electric blanket on. I looked back at the day's events and I had a really good time. I got to practice my public speaking skills (after about... a year??), I got to get to know my mom a little more, I got to meet new people, and I got to have an adventurous day with my mom!
Take advantage of the time you have with the people around you and know that everybody has a story. Tell your family that you love them, keep them close, and know that everything happens for a reason.
Thank you again, for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed in doing so! Please feel free to shoot me a message ANYTIME. Literally. Except maybe 2 AM and actually expect an answer. No. Please, I need my sleep :) Haha if you have any questions, message me through my email, divinest4r@gmail.com, or through Facebook. I would love to hear your feedback!!
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