First Time through Europa

They arrived half an hour early. I was waiting with these beautiful pink flowers that I have never seen anywhere but Holland. My mother was really happy to see me, and I was happy to see everyone. It was surreal.

Surreal to show them my home and how I get there by tram. This is my world, and they are part of the another world, so it felt like two things coming together.

After we ate (I made yummy ficoccia sandwiches with mozzarella, pesto, and tomatoes) we walked to the nearest supermarket. They all had fun seeing all the different products and packaging. We bought stuff for tomorrow morning, for sandwiches and for a nice dinner on Thursday.
We even bought fresh bread!

Then they unpacked their things and started to settle in. My mom brought me some of my summer clothes and summer shoes, as I completely forgot these things and it's now getting really hot. She also brought me tons of mac and cheese, which I am really happy about. She brought some Santa Maria seasoning, Tapatio, toritallas, and some Airbone. (all necessary items for this young Mexican woman's life) .

Tomorrow the plan is to relax a bit and possibly see some of Amsterdam. I will be in class and visiting with my thesis advisor. I think she is not to happy to hear that I am turning in my thesis for the August deadline, but alas.

Then at 2pm we are taking off to travel to Oirsbeek, in Limburg, which is where Christiaan's grandparent's live. This will be a nice quiet part of the journey. I am excited because they will get a chance to see the Dutch country side, and a very small town.

We looked online today and we may go see "Alegria" in Paris, which is one of the first Cirque Du Soleil shows that was created. I love the music and am excited to see it. Also, we are looking into seeing a bullfight. Not really my cup of tea, but my aunt (god love her) wants to see it.

On reflection, I am constantly amazed by my aunt. Since the day I found out she was gun ho about coming. She is really old, well, old in the sense that she is legally blind. But she's still really funny and spirited. More importantly, I wonder how she feels about this trip... Is it the last time she'll see Spain? Is this one of the last times she'll fly to Europe? How does she take this trip and what kind of milestone is it for her?

Same for my mom... this is her first time and I often wonder about her sentiments. Does she have a lot of pride for being here and coming so far in her life, from a teenage mother in Mexico? I would.

I shall try to investigate more and tell later. A good plan would be to talk about these ideas over some beers