On Friday, I spent another fantastic morning meeting with judges, lawyers, and staff at the San Nicolas courthouse. I can´t begin to describe what a wonderful vocational exchange this has been for me. Every time I have a meeting I learn more, and it allows me to have a more sophisticated conversation the next time, and it keeps growing and growing. At San Nick´s, after meeting with several judges and conversing extensively in Spanish, I had a great meeting with a court lawyer who will be a judge in a few months. She (Maru) is fluent in English, having spent time at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina while her husband was involved in some kind of exchange program about ten years ago. She was in North Carolina for two years, and is very well versed in our legal system. So, it was simply wonderful to have a complicated and technical conversation with Maru, in English, to confirm what I have learned already, ask her opinion on things, and to learn a lot more about the technicalities of the Argentine system of litigation.
The rest of the team got to sleep in on Friday morning, and then we all met up at the Intendente. I was presented with a decree from the Intendente, supporting the GSE program. The decree not only acknowledges the importance of the program, but proudly acknowledges that a citizen of San Nicolas, Veronica, is also a member of the outbound GSE team now in Oregon. The most important thing about this decree to the local Rotarians was that this is apparently the first time the Intendente has ever given such a document to a female Rotarian. I was very honored, and talked about it at the local Rotary club at our evening meeting (one of two that we had in San Nicolas).
Saturday was a much needed relaxing day. Todd and Andy visited a potato and vegie farm, dined out with host families and, from their condition today (Sunday) appeared to have a good time out on the town last night. Eecole and I went with Kelly to a dance studio where she was going to teach belly dancing to some Rotaract kids. As it turned out, a professional belly dancer was there, and taught a fun class to all of us. However, both Kelly and the pro performed for us, and I am happy to report that both Eecole and I liked Kelly´s dance and technique better than the professional!! Kelly was awesome. Maybe we can get her to perform at the district conference in Pendleton!
Today, Liliana and Alfio picked us up in San Nicolas and took us to their home in Baradero. It has been a wonderful, free and relaxing day. After a lunch of fresh pasta, we took walks, caught up on email and called our families on Skype. Days like to today are much needed. Tomorrow, we resume a more hectic schedule, but we will be well rested and ready for it.
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