Memorable Moments of My Life: A Day with My Grandfather in Argentina - Essay Example

Memorable Moments of My Life We see numerous days in our life that we keep in our memories for a very long span of time. These may be joyful, those giving us moments of happiness, pleasure and some entertainment. While on the other hand they may be the days of sorrow, discomfort and unpleasant feelings. Whether it is a day having positive effects on our life or that having some negatives, our memory recalls it often with the passage of time. A few such days I remember often are those when I was with my grandpa in Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina. First of all I would like to introduce to you myself. My name is Lucas and I am a resident of the said capital city of Argentina, Buenos Aires. I am a student of high school in the same city. I live in a hostel near my school and use to visit my grandpa, Arturo whenever I have some spare time during my school days or in vacations. My grandpa’s residence is at a little distance from my hostel, therefore I visit my grandpa after a few days and, despite I have to stay in hostel, we are still spending sufficient time of our lives with each other. My grandpa shows a lot of love towards me as I am the only grandson of him. Similarly I also love him to the core of my heart because he brought me up very caringly after my parents passed away in an accident when I was a child. Day 1 Now, coming towards the topic under discussion, when I had my vacations after my examinations, I came to spend those days with my grandpa. The first day when I left my hostel passed in the travel from hostel to my grandpa’s home and then in rest as I was very much tired. After few days passed when I woke up a little late in the morning I was unaware of the fact that the coming few days are going to be the most beautiful days of my life. I remember it was a glorious sunny day when I woke up. Soon after getting a fresh bath I saw my grandpa coming towards me in my room and sitting beside me. I saw an unexpected shine in his eyes and hence could not keep from asking him what the matter was for his unlimited happiness. He replied that he was going to make those coming moments memorable ones with pleasure and happiness and enjoying in my company. He told me that he had planned for these days before I came to him for my vacations. I soon realized that these are truly going to be the glorious days in my life because I had never seen such happiness in the eyes of my grandpa ever before. After almost half an hour, both we were together on a table to have breakfast. After the breakfast, grandpa told me about his plan for the first day. It was awesome listening to the plan and it was understood we would have a lot of fun. But one thing he kept as a surprise and this was the most beautiful of all what we enjoyed those days. I will talk about it later on in the essay. Our discussion ended in another 45 minutes and then we started to prepare for our first enjoyment plan. Our first day plan was to visit the famous and beautiful parks of the city. The city contains some amazingly beautiful parks that make you feel close to the nature. Among these is the “Parque Tres de Febrero” also called “Bosques de Palermo” which means “Palermo Woods”. This park is approximately about 989 acres (400 hectares) and is located in between Figueroa Alcorta Avenues and Libertador. It is very famous for its lake gardens, lakes and groves. We were there in about an hour and due to being weekend that day, the park was fully crowded with people including families, school and college colleagues and couples also. We were on the move through the flowers including a wide range of roses and others flowers. This was glorious taking breath in that atmosphere. It was pleasant fragrance everywhere while we were passing through those rose gardens in the park. After being amused by this tremendous natural effect, we carried on to go towards the lakes of the park. These lakes were adding to the beauty of the park with their beautiful designs and glass-like clear water. The other famous site we visited was the “Buenos Aires Japanese Gardens” located on the northeast corner of the “Parque Tres de Febrero”. It is 5 acres (2 hectares) completed by the Japanese Argentine Cultural Foundation in 1967. The gardens of the site and the restaurant and the greenhouse it has provided a lot of fun to us. It was again to have a look to the lakes of this fantastic site. Since it was lunch time, we arranged for our lunch by the side of a beautiful lake and were glad to have our lunch in the presence of heart-touching breeze and thrilling weather. Visiting a zoo is always very exciting as it allows viewers to see their favorite animals very closely and for a long time. We also had such an interesting visit when we went to the Buenos Aires Zoo. There are total of almost 2,500 distinguishable animals in the zoo with the division of species as 49 from reptiles, 89 from mammals and 175 from the class of birds. It has captured an area of 18 hectors (45 acres) at the District Palermo, Buenos Aires. The institution aims at educating the public after conserving species and then producing a research on them. The park’s grassy areas are covered by largely by rodents and native birds. These birds are present in the zoo to have the food thrown by visitors to them and other animals. Rabbits, peacocks and Nutria roam around in the park very freely. We had a view of different sections of the park. These include: The tropical rainforest, which do not have significant number of animals but is a building with two stories which displays tropical plant life with an indoor waterfall. I loved the sight of my favorite bird, penguin, at the aquarium. This section also amuses the users by displaying fresh water fish. They included piranha as well as sea dwellers for instance stripped bream, black sea bass, grouper, sea catfish and many other tropical fish. A seal show for the visitors was also offered by the aquarium; however we had to pay extra for this beautiful facility. The reptile house was meant for the reptiles located in the zoo. La Granja Del Zoo (Farm of the Zoo) as a place allocated for the visitors to pet and feed donkeys, ponies, goats and sheep. This section had also provided a home to cows, pigs, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, horses and roosters. The zoo also had a division for bid cats. These included pumas, white tigers, cheetahs, lions and jaguars. Other animals that we could love to see were camels, red pandas, llamas, bison, giraffes, elephants and hippos. Seeing all this provided a great pleasure and nice feelings thinking of the concern that the authorities have for the pets as well as the wild life. We spent sufficient time in the zoo enjoying the lovely creations of God moving around here and there. It was quite awesome being in the zoo with my grandpa as he continuously entertained me with his good sense of humor. After getting out of the zoo we realized it was time to have some tea so we moved towards a restaurant. Soon we entered a fine restaurant there and had tea with some other refreshments. It was quite late now and we were on the move to our home. We reached home in the evening and felt tired very much. This first day of those memorable moments went very enjoyable. In the evening we went to our rooms to have some rest as we were extremely tired having all the day out of home. It got me two hours to wake up and I then felt very fresh. Grandpa had wakened up earlier than me and was watching television. I also sat beside him on the nearest chair. He was watching a documentary film on our legendary football player, Diego Armando Maradona Franco. Since my grandpa was from the same era when Diego Maradona was in action, therefore we had extensive conversation on this inspirational celebrity and I gained a lot of information and some very interesting stories related to the era of our honorable legend from my grandpa. Grandpa added to his personality and told me about how the people were inspired from his play and the charm he had. This conversation ended when we realized it was time to have some meal as we felt a little hungry. We ordered a large pizza from a renowned source and received it within 20 minutes after we ordered. We arranged for some cold drinks also and had meal in the company of my grandpa’s jokes and other gossips. It was very precious moments for me being there those days. After meal we planned to play chess together. It helped us relax more and keep ourselves fresh. In the late night time watched a comedy movie to get more entertained. We saw Johnny English together and could not help keep laughing all the time. Its lively story, perfect direction and extremely brilliant actors especially the one none of us can forget, Rowan Atkison made the movie very funny. The character of Johnny English was just awesome and, in my opinion, will be remembered forever by the world. The movie continued till late night and after it ended we decided to go to sleep as the next day was also planned to be out of home. We wished each other good night and were back to our rooms. It did not take us much time to sleep and we were in dreams after a short time. Day 2 The other morning, I again woke up a little late as we slept almost in the mid night. I made to be a routine morning by taking a bath to ensure feeling fresh. After taking bath, when I came out of my room into the lawn I felt quite happy as it was a little cloudy weather and sweet breeze was blowing in the atmosphere. This weather was very much favorable as for today again we had a plan to go out for some other renowned places. I went to my grandpa’s room and found that he was still sleeping. I knew his routine a little therefore ordered a nearby restaurant for a breakfast. Before we were delivered the breakfast, grandpa woke up and got fresh. He was well on time on the table for breakfast. I wished him good morning, he replied the same and then we started to have our breakfast. After about half an hour we were done with our breakfast and then we started to plan what to visit. We talked for about an hour in making those decisions carefully as these days were meant to be made remarkable in all respects. When we were finished with our discussions and after deciding for the day’s plan, we moved towards our rooms and took our bags packed with the necessary items. Soon we were in our on the way to the Plaza de mayo. Its name means the May Square in English. Flanked by Balcarce, Hipólito Yrigoyen, Bolívar and Rivadavia streets, the Plaza de mayo is main square of Argentina’s central Buenos Aires. Nowadays, Plaza de mayo is a great site for tourists and visitors who come to Buenos Aires. The Plaza is surrounded by several of the city’s landmarks. These include the colonial era’s city council, the Cabildo; the federal government’s executive branch home, the Casa Rosada; the May Pyramid, the Buenos Aires’s Metropolitan Cathedral, the municipalidad or the current city hall and the Nación Bank’s headquarters. La city (sic) or the microcentro, the financial district of the Buenos Aires also lies besides the Plaza (Alfredo Candal, 2011, p. 29). These all were a great pleasure to watch. After visiting the Plaza, we left for the Abasto shopping mall. This shopping mall ranks among the biggest ones in the city of Buenos Aires. The building of the shopping mall was first serving as the central wholesale vegetable and fruit market of the city. It was known in the local language as “Mercado de Abasto". It served as the said market from 1893 to 1984. The same building is now in service as shopping mall since the year 1999. This shopping center is also famous for the fact that it is located in the area where the famously known singer of tango, Carlos Gardel spent the most of his life. He was well known as “El Morocho del Abasto”. This term means dark-haired guy belonging to Abasto. The surrounded area, today, is referred to, sometimes, as Abasto, though it is the part of Balvanera neighborhood. We had a lot of shopping there. Both me and grandpa bought dresses of many kinds for ourselves. I bought some items that I had to use in school and also some for use in the hostel. The size and capacity of this glorious shopping center allowed us to choose from a large variety of products at very nominal costs. However, I was wondered when I saw a hand bag in the hands of my grandpa. I did not know when he bought the items kept in this bag. Then I thought he may have bought these items when in was shopping for my school. Since I did not know what was there in that bag, I could not help keep from asking grandpa about it. Since I had spent almost all my life with my grandpa, I was just as a little friend to him. Due to the said reason, we were quite frank with each other therefore I asked him a little frankly. I said, “Mr. Arturo!” He replied, “Yes, Mr. Lucas.” I asked, “What is in that bag in your left hand?” He again asked with a smile on his face as he was hiding the fact from me saying, “Which one?” I said, “The one with black color.” He replied, “Nothing special.” Then he looked away as if he was trying to keep away from the discussion this time. I understood the fact so to tease grandpa a little, I asked again for what was in that bag. He then replied, “There is something very special for a person who is himself the special one.” This made me anxious as grandpa never used to hide anything from me. I asked showing as I took a great interest, “And who is this special person whom I don’t know?” He then passed a sweet smile and replied, “My dear son! Leave it this time; u will know it with time soon.” I passed a smile in return and did not say anything after that. Then we stayed for about 20 minutes in the shopping mall and were on the way to our next destination. Our next destination was our home as it was lunch time and that day we wanted to have it in our home in the company of some neighbors of my grandpa and my friends out there beside our home. These people often spend their time with grandpa when I was a child. Grandpa told me that his relations with them are still the same, in fact better than before, with all of them. Since this lunch was planned from the start, everyone was ready to be there on time. We all gathered for lunch and prepared it ourselves. A friend and neighbor of grandpa was a very good cook and was almost a master in preparing pizza. We were amused a lot with the delicious taste of the pizza he prepared. It was just like a well-known restaurant pizza. We had a lot of fun after the meal when I saw all my childhood friends who had come to meet me. I got a warm welcome from them. They showed me deep love and told me that they always miss those days when we were together. I went out to roam with my friends and left grandpa with his friends. Both of us were enjoying those moments a lot. I came home after about half an hour and then me and grandpa were on the move to have a visit to some other places included in the plan. We loaded our car with the necessary items and started to move towards the airports of the Buenos Aires. We visited some very famous and beautiful airports of the city. These were a true joy to watch as they all were beautifully designed and crowded with travelers. Some of those we visited include: The Buenos Aires international airport which is often called “Ezeiza” as its location is the suburb of Ezeiza. The Aeroparque Jorge Newbery airport situated next to the riverbank in the district Palermo. Only domestic flights and traffic to Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay and Chile is served by this airport. We also had a view of a smaller airport, the San Fernando Airport, which serves general aviation only. Back from the airports’ view after about 2 hours we were surprised by a tango show in our way. We stopped to have the pleasure to see how the experts of tango perform. A music style that was in 2/4 or 4/4 time and had the origin among populations of Argentina and Uruguay was named the tango. The performers perform this music by traditionally playing on a guitar duo, a solo guitar or an ensemble called the orquesta típica. An ensemble includes two violins at least, flute, double bass, piano, and two bandoneons at least (Jon Yu, 2013, p. 3). Joining the ensemble sometimes by a clarinet and guitars may also be the case. When we were attending the tango, it was purely instrumental. However, a vocalist may also be an inclusion. Tango is a very popular style of music and the evidence to this comment may be provided in shape of many famous songs in the U.S. to which the melodies have been lent by the tango. The fifties hit Kiss of Fire did borrow the melodies from the earliest published version of tango. The reason for its popularity is not a smaller one. It really touches hearts when played by experts. Since the performers we saw were good, we had fun to have the time listening to the tango. From there, we went straight to our home as we felt tired. We were of the view to have some rest and be fresh for some other fun. We returned in the evening and went to our rooms to have rest. Being much tired, I slept soon and had a very comfortable sleep. After two hours grandpa came to waken me up. Grandpa told me to get fresh and meet him on the snooker table. It sounded good to me as I am fond of playing snooker. I went to bathroom to get fresh and grandpa prepared some hot coffee during that time. We had some chit chat during the coffee time and then came to the snooker table. I lost to grandpa two games to one (2-1) as he is a brilliant snooker player. He mocked at me in fun that I could never win from him. Spending a lot of time on the snooker table allowed us both to talk funny and on some current affairs too. At about 11 pm I went to my room and took out my as grandpa unexpectedly said that he needs further rest. I got online to FACEBOOK to chat with my school friends. It was then 11:45 pm when grandpa sent me to bring some items from the nearby store. I was out for it and when came back after about 12 minutes, I found no lights in the house d grandpa was missing despite I searched for him everywhere. I was worried a lot and came to my room sitting alone and having fear in my heart as to what happened in no time. But my fear suddenly changed into joy and extreme happiness when the clock stuck 12 am. Grandpa and all the neighbors suddenly came into my room in a much unexpected fashion. There were balloons, colorful caps and a beautiful cake in the hands of my grandpa. I was wondering what the matter was but seeing the candles on the cake, soon I realized it was my birthday party and grandpa did not tell me to keep it a surprise. These were the moments that I said to have been the biggest and most pleasant surprise for me by my grandfather. Due to my exams, I could not remember that it was my birthday but grandpa did and he had planned to give me this perfect surprise. I was extremely happy with the care that grandpa did for me from my birth till that day and could not stop my emotional tears. Then grandpa came forward to kiss my forehead in affection and asked to start the party. I blew down the candles and they all sang for me “Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you; happy birthday dear Lucas, happy birthday to you. I cut the cake and make grandpa have a bite of it. Everyone present there was happy and then grandpa placed a gift pack in my hands. When I opened the packing I realized that it contained the same bag that I saw with my grandfather and asked about in the shopping center. Sight of the bag make me realized that I was the one who grandpa called the most special to him. Grandpa asked me to open the bag and see whether the gift was good. I did the same and found that there was a brand new laptop in there. It was the latest technology design and featured all what was available at that time. I was unable to control myself and gave my grandfather a tight hug to thank him for the gift and this sensational surprise birthday party. These were the best of all those glorious moments that we had during the two days. The laptop I was gifted is still in my use and always make me remember grandpa and those days spent with him. References Candal, A. (2011). Buenos Aires Made Easy! (Kindle Edition) Yu, J. (2013). The Tango Dancers Guide to Buenos Aires [Kindle Edition] Read More