It was a humid and cloudy morning, so not surprisingly, it started to drizzle. It's a great feeling to be hot and sweaty and have a light shower to cool you down. I was reminded of days running in North Carolina. When it rains in San Francisco, it's usually a cold and chilling rain.At the end of my run, I made a loop around the park and came across a group doing Tai Chi. So, I joined them. I'm not good at stretching and I've always wanted to learn Tai Chi... so what could be better? I followed along as best as I could, making up my own moves at times hoping that the flow was more important that the exact movements. We started doing something similar to sun salutations, or maybe it was more of a sun dance because it just kept raining. Immediately after the session, a darling little lady came up to me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "Oh, you must be new!" We chatted for a while and she introduced me to everyone telling me about her daughter who lives in Seattle and everything else. She kept introducing me to everyone! I left feeling more connected to the neighborhood and with plans to return in 2 weeks.
Then in the afternoon, I went to a store to try on hiking shoes. I'll be heading to Patagonia next week and need something a bit more substantial the my flip flops to hike the Andes. A mother and her 14-ish year old daughter were there and we struck up a conversation. Usually a conversation is half in Spanish (me) and half in English (them, in perfect English as the daughter is in a bilingual school!!!) I'm very good at explaining that I'm here to learn Spanish, I've been her for 6 weeks, am from San Francisco, am a genetic counselor, and what that means. Anything else and it's a combination of basic words and charades. They also are my neighbors. They live a few blocks away and mom is a yoga teacher! What a delightful pair. We exchanged cards and who knows, maybe I'll be taking yoga classes in a few weeks.
And then in the late afternoon, I followed the crowds to the Gay Pride parade at the Casa Rosada (The Pink House.... their equivalent of the White house.) I'm not sure if anything can top San Francisco's Pride week, but this sure was a great crowd with fabulous costumes. I met a Jewish man from Dublin who now lives in New York. While chatting with him, I ran into an Argentine friend I know. There's no better way to feel like home than running into someone you know in the streets of a city of over 3 million. Overall it was a super friendly day!
2 comments:
You're so right! The best way to feel at home somewhere is to run into someone you know on the streets!
Getting to know the people in your neighborhood is rewarding and certainly makes you feel more at home. Since moving to Denver, while I haven't actually "met" many people, I do recognize them running in the park -- the woman who walks and reads at the same time, the man who walks laps and laps every day in a robotic movement, the guy who paces the streets sometimes with no shoes on...maybe one day I'll actually introduce myself...
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