“VAAANNNGGGG!!! Our guests are heeeerrrrree!” Christine’s extremely irritating call rang through my ear. Great, now I have to go awkwardly greet our so-called “family friends” that I haven’t seen in years and talk about school, and my summer, and make small talk that they probably wont even remember the next day. I trudged down the stairs with Natalie as I was completely dreading the moments to come.

“Evangelina! Oh my gosh, you’ve gotten so big!” I gave a half smile, because I know that is the most cliché thing to say in this type of situation, and I gave Julie, the Korean wife of the blasian family, a hug. Later that day, Kedric Sr. decided to begin the conversation I was expecting this entire time. We talked about his son, Kedric Jr., and what colleges he’s applying to and how hard of a time he was having. At one point he says, “Enough about me, I want to hear how your summer went.” I begin with the usual:

I say, “I went to Greece for a month.”

“Oh. Did you see any family there?”

His monotone voice indicated to me that he really did not at all want to hear what I had to say. He just asked to be polite. But I told him anyways. I went on a rather lengthy story about Greece and about how much fun I had. I then started to go off about my trip to Peru.

“I got to see Machu Picchu, went camping in -----“ He cut me off

“Peru! That’s amazing!” His face suddenly lit up.

Julie, his wife, decided to chime in and ask, “Is that, like, dangerous?”

I ignored her typical “Tenafly” response and turned my attention back to Kedric’s reaction. I couldn’t help but grow a large grin on my face because of how prideful I felt.

I began with my extremely prolonged story about how I went to Machu Picchu and Cusco and Lima but he seemed particularly fascinated by the community service I did there. While I was in Cusco, an incredibly magnanimous woman named Gloria offered us her house to stay in for about 3 days. This was also because we agreed to participate in helping renovate a small school in one of the hills of Cusco city. We woke up that morning at around 5:30 am, still dragging our sock covered feet on the cool wood tile floor, our eyes still sown shut from exhaustion. Kabir and I woke up to make pancakes for the other 19 people of the group that were eagerly waiting to eat anything that wasn’t foreign. After about 2 hours of cooking, cleaning, gathering stuff, and trying to unclog yet again one more toilet, we set out to the nearest tool supply store we could find.

Dogs and children playing in the streets, and the sound of the long, insincere honks from the cars trying to pass them brought the neighborhood to life. When we reached the small one roomed schoolhouse, everyone who was already there working literally stopped and stared. It was like a dream come true for them. They saw about 20 people march in that wanted to actually help. Who has ever wanted to help us before? But we weren’t just any ordinary 20 people, we were Americans; we were like heroes from comic books to them. At that moment, I felt a few tugs on my pants. I looked down to see a little boy. His hands dirty, his ragged clothes, his eyes filled with thanks. He looked at me with those eyes like I was a God that has come to fix his beloved schoolhouse. I have never seen so much hope and thankfulness in someone’s eye then I just did at that moment. It made me feel like I was bigger than life and strong enough to do anything. But still, I envied these people. Every last one of them. I admired them for there immense capability for hope and happiness. I would consider every single one of them to be a Gatsby. Still with so little, I saw them all laughing, playing and loving. And back here in Jersey, I don’t see that kind of atmosphere; the warmth between one another, the understanding; it’s just not there.

So when I finished my story, I will never forget the expression on Kedric’s face. His eyes locked on me, his mouth hanging open and then closed eyes and looked up to the cloudless sky above him.

“I am so glad, that there are still some kids left in the world like you.” He said.

At that moment I realized I did not deserve that statement when I looked at the clothes on my back and the jewelry on my neck. We live in a world where people value money more than family and friendship. A world that has come to the point where I feel like nothing is real. And now that I have been on what has truly been an expedition, I can now say that I have truly seen both sides.