What can happen in two weeks? I think if any of us look back on our lives we can see that a lot can happen in two weeks. Life can change, relationships start or finish, jobs are replaced, babies are born or adopted... and little decisions are made that change the future. Usually we don't pay to much attention to short amounts of time, but our entire lives are made up of them.
So what happened in Buenos Aires in the two short weeks during our survey trip? Right now I want to focus on the relationships. Part of the reason for going on the survey trip was our desire to see (in a limited view because of time) how people related to each other and with us. Here are some of our experiences:
The Butcher and his wife. The butcher also had a fruit and vegetable stand so we frequented his place on an almost a daily basis. A block from were Vanesa lives, he already knew her, but as we visited his shop, asked him questions and just made conversation those small connections began to be formed. He loaned us his barbecue pit when he found out we didn't have one and we sent him brownies. We would go to buy something and while there chat with him then come back with seasonings, fruits or meat for us to try.
The water man. He found out where Lorie was from and what we were doing in BA (and was excited to hear about our plans to do mission work there) and shared that he was a Christian attending a small home church. All in the time it took me to run into another room and get the money to pay him.
The market check out lady. At a bigger market, I had two chances to speak with the checkout lady and found out that she was from China, had moved to Argentina 13 years befor and was 31. She found out where Lorie and I are from and some things about us. All in the minutes it takes to pay for groceries.
Uber drivers. Juan and Brent talked with the drivers and asked questions about BA or about their lives and they were usually friendly and open and would talk the entire trip.
This is just a small example of meeting people and the conversations we had with them in BA. In two weeks, just by being friendly and staring up casual conversations, we found out that, for the most part, people in BA love to talk- especially when sincere interest is shown. Will it take time to form relationships and true friendships? Yes, but starting a conversation and having people respond isn't hard. That is great news for us as we move there with the intention of getting to know people and forming relationships.