A bit of Laura

A phew days ago I went back to my home town in Buenos Aires, Argentina and it is kind of ironic because in four days from now I´m going back for holidays.

Many ask me: “do you miss home?” and sometimes I reply “no” while others´ I might say that “I miss a phew things but not all”. I never had real problems with my family; they are all crazy and original in their own way but not more than that.

My friends?  They are phew, I always believed that throughout your life you are not going to have lots of friends just maybe a lot of acquaintances and a phew which after time and experience you may start using the word “friend” to describe the outcome of the evolving relationship with that particular acquaintance. My friends are always there for me and I´m for them but each one moves around in their own ways and plans so even that I consider them to be friends and the other way round we don´t have the need to be in touch constantly. Quote: “each relation makes their construction through their own rules: family, friends, partner and whatever is between”.

Places? I might miss them because “those” places created and made a part of the person that I am today but once again that is it. I might miss my own house, my car or even my shower but they are “things”. Okay yes, “things” might make us happy if they have a spiritual background in which they rest their use but I never was a person that needed to clinch to that feeling, actually I´m a person that may let go things (experiences, people, backgrounds, sometimes goals and even dreams) without feeling regret in doing so. Is that good, letting thing flow just like that? Probably yes and probably no, I still don´t have the accurate answer for that and to be honest I´m not egered to find one. My decision and my choice that made me to be part of this industry was because I always wanted to be part of the world, that unique self motivation that makes me want to wake up in New York and go to sleep in Dubai. The logical and non logical experience of meeting someone in India who doesn´t have enough money to eat and then help that person so he may buy some food for himself and family; the rare opportunity of getting to hear and know the history of what is behind each brick of the Great Chinese Wall; the chance of having dinner in the best restaurant in Milano and a phew days later having lunch on the street corner in an un unpronounceable lane in Vietnam. It´s a life about contrasts and that has been always a part of me.

Picture from above: street cook in Vietnam

One thing is to carry on a life with contrasts and colors, a full scale of experiences tainted by different patterns but another thing is to be a an ambivalent being that one minute says one thing and the other she might change her mind without reason: they are not the same and they are not bad, they are just different. In that difference you may chose whatever suits you better. I choose both. I choose to be the person that listen´s the story of a stranger and then tries with in my own limits to help him; I´m the person that might go out and one minute wants to go clubbing and the next minute wants to go for dinner but then finishes´ having an ice cream sitting alone in the park. I enjoy life and I enjoy being a part of this world, my job and my career (that has many cold shadows) is a unique bridge that allows me to be myself.  

All of those lessons I learned them thanks to all of the places where I created my own history. The public park of “Echeverria”, that is 3 blocks away from my home, where all of this small European style coffee shops lay against the 100 years old trees where I sat down to study for all of my exams (one of the many passions in my life - knowledge); the vivid but melancholic downtown where huge and long belle époque structures meet art deco constructions; the city it´s like a Tetris where all the different pieces old and new seem to connect and coexist, not always in harmony but somehow it manages to stay together.

Picture from above: "Reunión" located in the neighborhood of "Belgrano R" meteres away from "Plaza Echeverria"

The amazing thing about this city is that even with its financial and economical crisis; even if many citizens consider it to be a very unsafe place to live nowadays, it still continues to grow. One of the many “things” that really called my attention in my last visit is the level of hope of many Argentineans. They don´t lose their hope and it was a warm feeling that surprised me.

I was born and raised in Buenos Aires during 22 years and each time that I go back I find something new, that´s the beauty of this job: you go back to a place and you always find something new even if you lost hope in it and that is one of the best breathers that someone may get. 

Picture from above: left side Buenos Aires dowtown on the right side the neighborhood of "Barrio Norte" 10 minutes away from the downtown