A Love Letter and a Thank you

To the People of Buenos Aires,
 I want to thank you for being so kind, so good humored and so helpful. 
I want to thank you for not laughing in my face, brushing me off or walking away when I try to ask a question.  For not rolling your eyes and making me feel like a moron when you have to speak to me s l o w l y and probably repeat it 3 times.
I love the way you see humor in everything. 
I love the way you are open to strangers and their dogs. 
I love the way you love children and animals... especially those dogs.
Who would not love a populace of a huge city, who might shake your hand when they meet you but they Always kiss your cheek. Both cheeks ! 
They kiss you Hello and they kiss you Good-by. And some, like the man that sells flowers on the corner in summer, will kiss us every time we cross the street. Prompting my husband to suggest we take a different route when we are out running errands .. he is still adjusting to the guys kissing him. 
I adjusted, oh, I think ... the second day we were here.


I want to thank every single person who has stood there and listened to me trying to speak Spanish and for their little quiet prompts and corrections and Muy bien ! when I get it right ! 
I want to thank the people in my building who accepted the Norte Americanos and their Perro with open arms and kisses and offers of advice and help and invitations to family gatherings... we feel like we live in a huge house with distant relatives. I fear it will make it impossible to ever move ..  how can we leave home, they will miss us ! Better, we will miss them.


I want to thank the Porters who stand outside their apartment buildings , always saying hello, some patting the dog, all giving me a wave . The valet at the hospital who always gives Pup a pat and wishes us a Buen dia .. Pup recognizes him, Pup knows them all !
I never feel like I am walking down to the park alone... I know someone is watching.


I want to thank the "boys" at the produce market who teach us the words in Spanish in exchange for the word in English.
Orange-Naranja, etc.
We speak Spanish, we have many teachers.


I want to thank the welcoming people that I have met and consider friends ... a lot of people don't know how difficult it can be to not only move to another city , but to another country, where you not only know no one, but you can't talk to them.
So it makes everything a little harder, takes a little longer , but with these lovely people here, I have no bad memories, only good ones.


So Thank you, Te quiero ~
Andy Warhol