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Falling in Love During a Pandemic

Sebastian Arroyo and Diego Ahumada.jpeg
Ron Johns
Sebastian Arroyo and Diego Ahumada

Spanish transcription by Stacey Alex, Marisa Beintema, and Christian Supiot.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Okay. Sebastian, like my middle name as well?

Mark Munger

You don’t have to give your middle name.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Sebastian Arroyo S-E-B-A-S-T-I-A-N A-R-R-O-Y-O.

Diego Ahumada 

Me llamo Diego Ahumada. D-I-E-G-O A-H-U-M-A-D-A.

Mark Munger 

Okay. Can you say where and when were you born?

Diego Ahumada 

Cinco de agosto de mil nueve noventa y cuatro en Chile.

Sebastian Arroyo 

I was born on July 11th, 2000, in Sioux City, Iowa.

Mark Munger 

If we go to if we go to 2019, could you, could you describe just what you were doing at that time? What a typical day for you would have been?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Well, I was in school at the time. I was actually a full-time student in 2019. So, I was actually in school for teaching. I was enrolled at Western Iowa Tech community college, and I was working on my associate's degree to then transfer onto Morningside College here in Sioux City, Iowa. So, a typical day for me would probably be working part time on my job at the time and then also having to juggle like the gym and homework and classes. So, it was kind of a busy, busy year. But it was a nice year.

Mark Munger 

You can take on, take on asking questions too if you want because then you guys can kind of control the conversation.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Like do you remember what you did in 2019? What were you doing? ¿Qué estabas haciendo?

Diego Ahumada 

Yo estaba, bueno en 2019, yo estaba en Chile antes de agosto del 2019 y estaba postulando para un programa de para poder estudiar arte culinaria en el WIT, en el college de aquí de Sioux City. Y bueno quedé en el programa so llegué acá en agosto del 2019 y empecé a estudiar allí en el WIT.

Sebastian Arroyo 
Do you remember any, do you remember anything else from 2019?

Diego Ahumada 

Me acuerdo que cuando llegué acá el 2019, estuvimos esperando un tiempo estuve viviendo en el college y tuvimos que esperar un tiempo para poder empezar como a estudiar así que estuvimos un tiempo como haciendo nada y de en septiembre ya empezaron como las clases recuerdo. Y ahí bueno Entremedios todo eso empezó como en qué momento que el mes empezó el COVID, no me acuerdo muy bueno empezó como en esa fecha o no, en diciembre empezó.

Sebastian Arroyo 

December was the first COVID…

Mark Munger 

That’s when we started hearing stories about it.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, we were hearing like stuff about it on the news that somebody got it in December, I believe, and not, not many people thought it was going to be anything crazy, you know, they just thought like, “oh like, scary” but you know not a lot of people paid a lot of attention to it. It was like the start of like something insane, crazy.

Diego Ahumada 

Sí, y también fue un mes, el diciembre, aparte de que ahí empezaba como el COVID, fue un mes bien complicado porque justo me enfermé entonces tuve que ir como, tuve que estar en el hospital como casi siete días más o menos estuve como tres días y bien mal y me tuvieron que operar, me operaronincluso el día del 25 de diciembre para Navidad me operaron y después en marzo allí empezamos nosotros a hablar..

Sebastian Arroyo 

Ya. But December, December, you said that you had an operation?

Diego Ahumada 

Sí.

Sebastian Arroyo 

This is like right before, this is like right before the end of the year, huh? Dang. But um, oh yeah, we met, we started hanging out more in March. We started talking in February before COVID, right before COVID, I don't know when was the first COVID case here in the United States?

Mark Munger 

It was in February, I think that there were reports in February that really started like remember Seattle? I think it like Seattle.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Wow. No, yeah that that's when like…

Mark Munger 

Coasts were…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, because I remember like whenever I would hear something on the news I would, I would be like Diego would tell me something like “Oh, did you hear that there's something about COVID?” And I'm like, “oh what? that's crazy.” It was a kind of a topic that would kind of get us into like talking in conversation probably sometimes too.

Mark Munger 

So that was part of your meeting?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah. It was weird because yeah, it was, it was very weird because we just see stuff in the news and like I said, people would just wouldn't really pay more attention to it. They would just kind of comment on it. And then yeah, it was crazy because then, I don't know, nobody noticed like that was gonna be like, like 2020 was already like a crazy year to start off with in the beginning.

Mark Munger 

So where did you guys meet?

Diego Ahumada 

Bueno nosotros nos conocimos en el WIT, yo estaba asistiendo para hacer arte culinaria, culinary arts, y el Sebas estaba estudiando para ser profesor.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yes, we met at Western Iowa Tech at the coffee shop there at the time. I think it was the Coffee Spot. Yeah. And it was a cart back then. And I would just always get a coffee, my iced coffee, in the morning and he would be there sometimes and yeah, we would have just small conversations, you know, nothing. Nothing too crazy. And then like it was just kind of like an everyday thing where we everybody be like, “oh, hey, how are you?” Like, oh, it's kind of like you were a great conversation starter. You know, you got my attention very well.

Diego Ahumada 

Y allí yo me acuerdo que le pedí las redes sociales y allí empezamos como hablar y ahí después empezamos como a juntar y bueno como ya estaba en un programa de WIT hubo unos problemas con el programa de WIT y entonces nos tuvimos que ir y yo me tuve que ir de como de la ciudad de recuerdo y fue bien complicado porque no podía estar moviéndome por el tema de COVID y viniendo como de una ciudad a otra porque podía traer yo el virus. Entonces era como se llama era bien…eh tuve que tomar la determinación si quedarme en como en esta ciudad o en la otra ciudad y yo estaba recién conociendo a Sebastián entonces como que yo la verdad que yo que quería estar con él. Entonces, yo tomé o sea hablándolo con él y todo eso yo estaba solo él era como el único como apoyo que tenía en ese momento. Entonces, él allí me ayudó mucho, me ayudó mucho y allí empezó como nuestra historia de…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, it was it was weird, because like, I remember, like, you asked me for my Instagram at the Coffee Spot. From then on, it was just conversation, conversation. And then after COVID hit, they kicked Diego out of the program at WIT, so then he didn't know what to do. And so then, with that being, like with COVID happening, and then him having to go to Spencer, Iowa, you were like, “What?” Like, “What are we going to do with us?” You know, like, “I just started liking you, I started you know, liking your presence.” And then, so then we had to kind of compromise and try to make it work all while whole pandemic is starting. It's insane. Because you were there, you know, you were there. Just from like, when it was like it's the start. And then we kind of had to adjust it from like, starting out to having to deal with it at the moment very, very fast. I remember when he had to go to Spencer, I had actually went to go visit him multiple times in Spencer and we had to wear masks every time we went out in public. Even if it was a small town, people were kinda like all about the mask, at one point. And I remember that and then I would have to we would have to isolate, kind of stay indoors. That was crazy. That was all in Spencer, Iowa.

Mark Munger 

What a crazy place to be.

Sebastian Arroyo 

I know. For real. I've heard, I would always think like oh Sioux City, like, “oh, I was born and raised here, you know, sorry, we just saw that like as a really small town.” But then he got to Spencer and I'm like, “Oh, it's a smaller town in there. This is a smaller town than Sioux City.” So, I'm like, “Whoa.” But it was a, it was a part of like, just like adjusting like what I said, like mentioned, it’s insane how everyone kind of just had to adjust to the circumstances that was going on in the world around at that time. With like, the toilet paper shortages, the stuff closing down, businesses kind of going all over. So, they also, Diego was with an organization that was helping him out while he was in Spencer. And since COVID was happening, we actually had to decide where he was going to be living at to avoid anything to happen or to any viruses to get back to him and him…

Mark Munger 

And this is a couple of weeks, like, months after you met?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah. Yeah, cuz this is like we met in February. And then when this we went to Spencer, this was all in April. So it was like a couple, two months.

Mark Munger 

When, did you start having serious conversations about, “maybe we can stay together?”

Diego Ahumada 

I think, April. No?

Sebastian Arroyo 

I feel like it was April. Yeah. Because at the time when…

Diego Ahumada 

Me acuerdo que el trece de enero o sea el trece de abril yo le pedí que empezáramos como pareja…

Sebastian Arroyo 

The 13th of April is the date that Diego asked me to be to be his boyfriend because we just had that whole going back and forth to the cities and stuff. He just said like “hey, like we're in a pandemic. Why don't we just stay put and be something serious?”

Mark Munger 

Could you leave Spencer? At that time were you having to stay in Spencer? Or were you, could you come to Sioux City and see Sebastian or did Sebastian just have to go?

Diego Ahumada 

Yo estaba, yo me tuve que ir a Spencer y tenía que estar viajando para verlo a él y él también viajaba para el verme a mí, pero el tema es que como yo estaba en la organización y mi organización dijo que no podía estar viajando constantemente por el tema del COVID porque podía enfermar a otra gente o qué sé yo entonces fue cuando yo decidí, bueno con el apoyo de Sebastián, de irme de Spencer y quedarme en Sioux City con él.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, cuz I remember they told him “you can't be going back and forth. It's dangerous. Sioux City is a bigger place than Spencer. You can get you can bring something back and then it can affect somebody you know. That's probably will have a bad reaction or have bad time with COVID.” So, we kind of had to think of something quick. And it was either me, I was at this point I was, I had had the mindset. I was like, “I really like this man a lot. And I feel like I can't let that get away.” Especially with COVID happening. People were like, getting sick, but I was like, “Wait, like, I don't, I don't know. I kind of had to think fast at the moment.” We both had to. And then so we decided for him to come stay with my parents and I here in Sioux City, Iowa. And my dad was really looking like that he was a single dad, he, he liked Diego since he met him. So, we had I we had him come live with us. And within like, our first time of living together was weird because it was during a pandemic, and it was at my dad's house. It was like, we did everything backwards. You know, like people don't usually move in right away at three months of meeting, but it was kind of like the circumstances of the pandemic. We had to kind of quarantine together. We had like a quarantine relationship. Yeah, we would just be indoors all day, no work. And then I feel like that's what kind of got me to, I think that's what got me. Just be together everyday.

Diego Ahumada 

Hay gente que hay gente que no, de repente no puede entender cómo uno se puede conocer como en tan poco a lo mejor tiempo, pero como dices, Sebastián, estábamos en pandemia entonces estábamos en cuarentena y estábamos todos los días juntos. Entonces es algo que como que tengo un mes más no sé es como más fácil poder conocerse y hablar y entenderse y todo eso.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, cuz, because, you know, maybe the quarantine together for months can kind of get you to have conversations and kind of think about like life right now. It's kind of wanting you to be like, kind of, I don't know, I felt like during that time, I was just like, “oh, life is way too short.” Like, you kind of have to think about the moment. And I wanted that moment like, with you. So, then I, that's when we started quarantining from like 2020. And it was weird because like to think that I didn't even meet Diego in January. It was just February and then after February, it's just like, everything changed. It was insane. It was, it was awesome. It was a good thing. Everything was great. It's just weird because like, if you think about it, the circumstances of the whole world, everything that was going on, led me to like this. Like this part of like, the life at the moment when everyone was quarantining and going through it. I was kind of enjoying it. I was like thriving on it. Like how did you feel at the moment? At the peak of like 2020 just say like June or May, we were there. You were here in Sioux City.

Diego Ahumada 

¿Cuándo estábamos en junio?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Like in June, May, like the peak of like when the cases were rising.

Diego Ahumada 

Yeah. Fue bien…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, very scary.

Diego Ahumada 

Yeah. No podíamos… teníamos que estar todo el día casi en la casa.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Think about it. We couldn’t even go on actual date during the pandemic, we had to, we had to do what we had to do like, we had to make our own date and then my dad was just like, in the living room. Like, it’s not ideally romantic but like we, we made it work. You know.

Diego Ahumada

Y Bueno como dice él, Sebastián, el papá de él es papá soltero y un papá como, como clásico y entonces yo sentía como la obligación obviamente de ser respetuoso con todo eso y yo sabiendo que me tenía que quedar como que me iba a quedar en su casa porque era su casa tenía que hablar con él entonces como que yo dije ya tengo que hablar con él y decirle todo lo que yo siento por su hijo y allí fue como cuando le pedí la mano al papa del Sebas para poder quedar para poder estar allí y para que él también me entendiera toda la situación y tenerlo al tanto de todo la verdad.

Sebastian Arroyo 

I feel like my dad was like a big part of like, letting it all happen. When it came to COVID, I feel like just him being really open-minded and being really cool about how I feel, how I feel like that got him to think as well that maybe life really is too short. And if his son, which is me, was happy, that's what he wanted him to be, or what that's what he wanted to do. So then I feel like that's what kind of helped him, he saw me happy with Diego. So that's what kind of helped them realize that “oh, this is a great, great man” and he that's why he was just so easy for him to move in and make it all happen and make it easy for us.

Diego Ahumada 

Sí, tu papa fue como algo bien importante.

Sebastian Arroyo 

And like, to think like Diego’s family is in Chile during the pandemic, he couldn't just go and you couldn’t just go and visit your family. There was restrictions. His family was miles, miles away. So like we kind of became his family and like you know, in our own way, even though your family's far away like you're still part of ours. We tried our best to do that during that time as well. Thinking that family was very important during that period.

Diego Ahumada 

Sí, verdad. Bien importante que la familia igual como esté apoyándote porque si nosotros sabemos nosotros la verdad tenemos suerte de que hemos tenido una familia bien que ha estado con nosotros y nos ha apoyaban en muchos momentos importantes pero si no lo hubiéramos tenido como sabemos que hay gente que no tiene mucho el apoyo de su familia sobre todo cuando también tenemos temas de cómo hablar de que cuando la gente que a lo mejor sale de clóset o qué sé yo hay padres que no se lo toman bien y cuando en verdad cuando no hay ese apoyo de ellos es super difícil, super difícil. Tengo que dar gracias que la familia del Sebas y familia mía son unos excelentes padres y familia y todo.

Sebastian Arroyo 

It was crazy. Because when Diego asked my dad for my hand in, my hand in marriage, I was there. And it was, this was all like to think like, before the pandemic I was, I didn't even think I was gonna. I never, I never met, I never thought that I would be really like in love during, like everything that was going on, I never, I never would have thought of you would have told me I would have gotten married during a pandemic. I would have been like, “You're crazy.” And at this point, I was, I was really I was, I was starting to fall in love. And my dad noticed, and when Diego asked him for his hand, Diego, went up to my dad, and like, just was very honest about him, honest about me to him. And my dad really appreciated that. And my dad gave him his blessing right away. No hesitation. And we were worried my dad is not one of those people to be like, “oh, like, yeah, like, let's like, I don't know, like be” He wasn't very open-minded before. And right now, like, I feel like, if anything, he's way more open-minded than I thought he would ever be.

Diego Ahumada 

Y no nos pidió nada.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah and he wouldn't, yeah, we would ask for, to pay, or help around the house or, you know, pay rent. And then he was just very supportive.

Diego Ahumada 

With the bills or something. He'd say, no.

Sebastian Arroyo 

No, like, we're good. He’d say, “Yeah, focus on yourself.” And I was like, wow. And then so after, after, after my, that happened with my dad. I mean, Diego asked him then if he can marry me, and after my dad said, “yeah,” we, we were engaged. We got engaged during the pandemic as well. Here, I was off working at my shop at the time, the coffee shop that I was working at. And I got off work. And I got asked if, if I would get married, and I got asked with flowers, and I was just not going through it that day. I looked like I had like, mocha sauce all over me. And I was like, “oh, gosh, I'm engaged? What?” I was so happy. I remember that. I was so excited. And I was like, “Wait, but like, are we gonna wait for like the pandemic to happen? Like to go away?” but I was like “it's, we don't even know when it will go away. They what, what if it never went away? What if something was to happen to one of us, and then we just never went forward to what we wanted to do.” So, we got, we got, we set, we set a date. We set our date. And what was our date? ¿La fecha?

Diego Ahumada 

Del 2 de octubre.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yep. The second of October was our date. And we thought it was a great date, because October I mean, it's fall. It's Halloween time. I don't know I really liked pumpkin spice chais. I think those are really good. And during the time, so I was engaged. And then there was fall was awesome. Still the pandemic, but then like stuff started to open up around the time, but it was still, there were still restrictions. I remember. We had to go to get like our, like our license to get married in like our masks. I remember that we had to wait there was, we had to make appointments. It was pretty stressful. And then like at the time, like we were trying to…

Diego Ahumada 

Ahí también nos decían que cuando ya no teníamos la ceremonia, que no podíamos tener mucha gente.

Sebastian Arroyo 

During our ceremony, we were told we had to have a limited number of…

Diego Ahumada 

Like No, no people. No? Como dos y…

Sebastian Arroyo 

In the court, in the courthouse. It was, no people could have gone in. If it was somebody, if it were somewhere else, we could have had up to 10 people. It wasn't like a traditional, you know wedding where everyone's dancing and stuff like that. It was kind of more of a close type of wedding. Like we had our closest friends and family there. And when October 2nd came around, it was a beautiful day. I remember the day exactly.

Diego Ahumada 

Y yo tenía miedo porque me acuerdo que habíamos ido el día anterior a ver dónde iba a ser toda la ceremonia y todo eso y hacía mucho viento. Hacía frío, viento.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, we were scared because it was going to be cloudy and everything. We're like “no, this is our special day. Oh gosh. This is a sign.” The next day showed up and it was sunny out. It was beautiful out.

Diego Ahumada 

Yeah lleno de flores

Sebastian Arroyo 

And our friends were there. And the guy that was officiating our wedding showed up with a mask and he, we were all kind of spread out. Cuz the thing, people were still wearing their masks people were still scared about the pandemic. This is, the pandemic has not gone away like this is, it's still happening. So, we then we had 10 people. We did have 10 people and it was it was really sweet; it was really nice.

Diego Ahumada 

Sí, yo ahora que lo pienso, igual. Igual, la gente igual o sea la gente estaba muriendo en ese entonces por el tema del COVID y nuestros como familiares o amigos decidieron igual apoyarnos, ir a la ceremonia a pesar de todo cómo se llama de todo el peligro que había de contagiar…

Sebastian Arroyo 

People were, we invited our friends and to be honest they could have been like, “oh, no, sorry. I have to quarantine or, or I shouldn't be around people.” But like they kind of, obviously everyone was really careful with stuff like that you know the masks, you know being negative all that stuff. So, I really was pretty, No, it was not a good time to have a wedding. It was like the worst time to have a wedding. But with the people that we had there, we made it work and it was a great wedding. And I remember we after that, after the ceremony we, we had we had to compromise with the ceremony as well too because Diego’s family was in Chile during our wedding. And it was, they couldn't come down here.

Diego Ahumada 

Le hicimos live como por Instagram y le dijimos a uno de los mejores amigos de Sebastián que grabara para mi familia y él estaba como grabando, pero de repente mi familia me decía “estoy viendo los pies de no sé quién.”

Sebastian Arroyo 

So my friend was supposed to be recording and the whole time he had his phone towards our shoes.

So we were like, hey, Diego’s family is not looking at our shoes,

Diego Ahumada 

My family is like… Diego I can’t see you!

Sebastian Arroyo 

Like, because they want to see our face. And we're like right there holding hands, getting officiated right there. Our shoes are like the main spotlight. It was insane. Like “hey, Shawn, buddy, come on.” He was like, “Oh. Oh. Oh, my bad.” So yeah. And then like, there was family commenting. If it was, it felt like they were like, they were there. Obviously, we would have liked if they were there. We would have liked it if there was able to be more people. But like I said before, we made it totally work with everything we had to do that that day. You know what the live happening? I feel like Zoom, like FaceTime. Like that kind of became like the norm during that year since you couldn't really do much when it came to being with people. So, we made it work with the Instagram Live. And I mean, other than the shoes like after that everything, everybody got to see everything. And it was a very emotional day. I remember that because like not like, other than them being far away. Diego was getting married, and they couldn't be there. And that kind of made me upset. But the good thing like they were able to see everything. And then you had our family there. So, it was, it was great. So that was, that was awesome. We went to Crave out in Sioux City here, after and we had like a limited seating there as well. And we just kind of ate there. And then we went on our honeymoon. But our honeymoon, since it was the pandemic, we didn't really have much saved. We went to Minneapolis. (D.A.:Yeah) And this was all during the Black Lives Matter movement as well. So, we got to witness all of that too while in quarantining together. We saw all this like we saw it together. And we were just like, “wow, like this is all happening. Like right now.” And I remember we went to Minneapolis, and we got to see a bunch of stuff there as well. A lot with restrictions. Yeah, a lot of restrictions everywhere.

Diego Ahumada 

Me Acuerdo que el hotel estaba vacío. Empty.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, the hotel was empty. Restaurants were like, closed. There was, downtown was kind of insane because of the whole movements that was going on throughout the summer of 2020. So, it was like a crazy experience. But it was a good experience. We got to see a bunch of stuff there. We went to the sculpture park. We went to go eat at some really good places. We also went to George Floyd square. Yeah, everything happened on that summer of 2020. And George Floyd, it was, even like seeing that, it just made me realize like, life really is too short, and it can unexpectedly change within a second. And it was it was crazy. We went to Mall of America too, I remember that. I don't know if the amusement park was open. But we went there. I remember that. But it was cool.

Diego Ahumada 

I think the mall es tan hermoso.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Most of it was awesome. I this is all October of 2020. So, it was like towards the and have COVID year and like the first COVID year and you can totally tell a difference by like, March and February to like, December. Like people weren't as like, I don't know, scared as much of COVID now that that time it was just like kind of shifted weird. But like, it was just crazy to think that we started with it and then like we made it work to this very day with it. Yeah. It was insane that we have we went through all that. And so much more. Like, during that time period. But, but it was all good stuff. Like not bad. I mean, damn mostly good stuff. That's Wow. That's and to think like, three years later, it's still around and it’s still here. And I know, it kind of affected everybody differently. You know, COVID and, but for me, it was more of something like, like something that like, shifted my life to where I feel like I should be at. I feel like it brought, well it brought me to you. So, I feel like that was already one good thing.

Diego Ahumada 

Igual es triste el hecho de que para otra gente como dice el Sebas no fue igual o sea como que fue algo hay gente que perdieron sus familias y sus seres queridos, pero qué bueno que por el lado nosotros nos pudimos conocer y empezamos nuestra historia de amor.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, it was insane. We met in 20-, in COVID. We got, dated in COVID We got engaged in COVID. We got married in COVID. And we even got our first apartment in COVID. Yeah, it was just like, we did everything all like, just kind of just, like we like, went for it. We just went for it. We love that. We love the thrill. We love the excitement. And like three years later, like we're still loving the thrill. And we're still loving the excitement. We're still doing new things. It's just, it was a great way to start our relationship because it just made me realize like, “oh, like, I found this person that would want to do all this with me.” And I found it in a really crazy circumstances but like, I'm happy I did. I really am. So that's I think it's really cool. I feel like after years like of COVID and, and everything that happened from like 2020 to 20- to today like it was it was… for me it was more of a positive impact in my life. And you?

Diego Ahumada 

Así fue, que me perdí lo que estábamos hablando, ¿qué le dijiste…?

Sebastian Arroyo 

I thought that it was a positive impact.

Diego Ahumada 

Oh, yeah. Sí.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah. From 1 out of 10.

Diego Ahumada 

10.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Ah. Okay. Cap.

Diego Ahumada 

¿Puedo ir al baño rápido?

Mark Munger 

Yeah. It’s just a beautiful story.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah? It's I just don't know like what is like, I don't know, because they get I don't know what...

Mark Munger 

This is really I mean, really, what they're looking for is a sense of what life is for people, how it's affected, how they lived through it, any particular challenges. I mean, it’s amazing how you guys found each other.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, I like to think like during this whole time, I was I was 20. So, like, I was turning 20 in 2020. So, I was like, kind of freaking out about growing up too. So, it was like, “Okay, I don't want to do anything too you know, kinda like mess up like my plan for myself, but then I didn't even have a plan for myself, I kind of just was thinking that I always should have a plan.” But not everyone has a plan. And we're just kind of sometimes people just go with the flow and, or just surprises in life that can impact and change it in a whole new way.

Mark Munger 

Yeah, like how it changed your father a little bit.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, I feel like yeah, yeah, because I remember before like, my, like, my dad was he's one of those like, macho, you know, Mexican dads are like, “oh, like, let's you know, come help me fix the car or something.” And I'm like, “Okay, I'll go hold the flashlight. I don't know what I'm doing.” And then like now he's just like so like very affectionate now so lovable, so full of love. I feel like we talk about how great it is to be full of love and full of like passion for like, what it is that you're into. Like I feel like that really opened up his eyes for a lot of things as well. Yeah, it wasn’t.

Mark Munger 

In that in that time you think…

Sebastian Arroyo 

I feel like a lot of people kind of just started using the word or started kind of just thinking more about like you know like to enjoy everything, love everyone, be kind of start, you never know when your last day is gonna be on Earth you know so people like to get started thinking more about other things that they probably never thought of before. And that kind of, that's also something really good from COVID and I mean maybe it just got people to think. Maybe that's what they needed.

Mark Munger 

A little bit about your family, have you, have you guys now seen your family? Have you traveled?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Family? Yeah, yes. Yeah, no, yeah we've traveled to Chile in 2022 of January.

Mark Munger 

Wow, that must have been really wonderful.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Oh my gosh, it was insane.

Diego Ahumada 

teníamos como se llama, uno que el Sebas tenía que conocer a mi familia obvio y mi hermano también se iba a casar con su esposo entonces teníamos que viajar en tal fecha para llegar allá y fue como bien difícil todo porque como que yo no sé por qué, pero a mí nunca agarré el COVID menos mal o a lo mejor sí pasó, pero no sé no me di cuenta y entonces pero el Sebas cuando faltaban como cuánto, ¿Cómo una semana para viajar? Al Sebas le dio COVID.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, I, we were planning to leave to Chile, the 17th of January of 2022. And I got COVID like two days before our trip. And I was like, “No, I, this can't be happening right now.” I was hyped. I was meeting my, my mother-in-law. I was meeting my, my family. And for us to for me to get COVID I didn't get COVID throughout 2020, 2021, I was, I never got it. And then boom, I planned a trip, my first trip on a plane since COVID. Excited, and everything was practically packed. And I turned out positive. So, we had to, we had to move the date of our trip. And we moved it to like the 28th of January, the day before we were supposed to be at a wedding for Diego's brother. So, we got there just in time for the wedding. I remember that. And it was a great moment because it was a chance for me to meet the whole family at an event and we had to look good because cuz we had to wear like a shirt and ties and everything it was it was crazy.

Diego Ahumada 

Y el tiro en mi familia empezó a decir que Sebastián era un amor que era super tierno que se notaba que me amaba mucho.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, and then like so my Spanish wasn't really good before COVID actually. Diego, I would talk in Spanish with my dad sometimes but Diego kind of got me used to talking to him talking Spanish, like more on the daily like more like, directly towards him. So, I actually learned a lot of my Spanish from Diego as well. So, I was kind of scared to go to Chile and talk in Spanish and have an accent. Kind of embarrassed myself, you know, like, I'm just, you know I was from the United States. So, I was just like, oh gosh, I will hopefully I can like they can at least understand me or something. I was so scared, and everything turned out, like great like, there was my teacher, and they praised Diego for teaching me so much. I, they were my mother-in-law was able to talk to me and have a great time and I got along with Diego’s friends and Diego’s family, Diego’s like, everyone. It was crazy because I was just so I was just so worried about that. So worried it's, come on, it's not like it's not like easy meeting your mother in law for the first time I want her to like me like that's the point. So, this was yeah, it was one of those things where I was just so stressed and, and, and scared about but everything turned out pretty okay. It was a really good trip. I've had one of the best trips I've had my first trip leaving or first trip like on a plane with Diego. And we had to and over there COVID was a lot more stricter than here. We had to have a mobile pass. We had to have our vaccines we had to have masks at the beach, remember that? Like, it was insane.

Diego Ahumada 

Y cuando arribamos en el aeropuerto y tuvimos que esperar como…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, we were at the airport and we had to wear a mask in the in our flight for a nine hour flight we had to had our mask on it was it was a lot like it was but they, they did take it more like head on over there in Chile.

Diego Ahumada 

Do you remember they tested COVID, ¿como te lo hacen allá?

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah, when you get when you get to Chile from another country they do a COVID test right away at the airport and they stuck that Q-tip so, oh my gosh, like so far up there. I was I almost cried, and I was like, “Can I leave please, por favor, please?” And then it was it was so like ah it was so like bad they're like “all right, next” like, like I was just like wow, and so that, they were a lot more head on with COVID in Chile like for sure. It was something that we were not used to just because at that point here in the United States we nobody a lot of people didn't even get their vaccines you know so we got everything that we needed we had to have our mobile pass like it's a QR code they had there. They had no menus at all it was just like very like head on when it came to COVID over there. It was crazy because it made it seem like I don't know because the people kind of forgot about over here United States but over there it's still happening. People are still getting affected by it. And, but yeah that trip overall was really cool. Yeah, we got to see we also got to see like COVID from like a different point of like another country you know, that like the resources that they have the like the people that like you know like follow the, the rules and like the guidelines and everything it's just crazy how they…

Diego Ahumada 

Pero fue un buen viaje.

Sebastian Arroyo 

It was a really cool trip. I loved it a lot.

Diego Ahumada 

Yo quería que tú también conociera’ donde yo nací de dónde eran mis amigos y…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yes, being in Sioux City, Diego was able to see where I grew up. You know, I was born in like down the street in St. Lukes and I love like coffee. So, you know I take them to the, my spots. But now I want to see my friends. Yeah, my friends and my family and everything. But now I wanted to see like his spots. Like, “where did you grow up?” Like where, where would you hang out with your friends. And I got to see that, and it was awesome. Like I got to know a whole different part and whole different side of you. That made you very, very happy that you were glowing over there. Like you were great. You were happy to be there. And I was happy to be there with you.

Diego Ahumada 

Me too.

Sebastian Arroyo 

So, it was a really good trip. So, we want to go back eventually. But for now, like, we're just kind of going with the flow and kind of working but it would be so cool to go back.

Diego Ahumada 

Que mi mama viene también.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yes, yes, we miss we miss my mother-in-law. We miss my brother in laws and we miss Chile in general. We just wish everything was a lot more accessible or a lot more closer. You know we could have just taken a road trip but can't do that in Chile so, but the trip was cool.

Mark Munger 

What about life now?

Sebastian Arroyo 

I like life right now. I feel like, although it is very different from a couple years ago, it's still, it's still like, like a process. It's still like a step. I feel like, we got a lot of the hard stuff we had to do through the early years that we've met, and right now we're just kind of enjoying, we're kind of, you know, we're still growing, we're still experiencing new things. But now like, we got all the hard stuff out of the way. You know? Like, like I said earlier, like, not everyone moves in a month or two after meeting somebody, but I'm glad it was that way, in a way because it made me really realize that like, I don't know, you kind of have to follow your gut sometimes. And you have to like, listen to it. And then maybe life can, it can lead you to a really good life. And like I, how it has been for me. Everything has been great for me so far.

Diego Ahumada 

Sí siento que ahora igual estamos disfrutando cierto, y eso que… eso es bueno igual. Porque partimos como al revés porque partimos, así como bien intenso y ya ahora ya tipo no.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Keep going with the flow. Like if it was a very intense couple of months. Yeah, it was just a lot of like, moving and COVID. And like just, every like being sick, like anything, like it was just crazy. Now. Like, I feel like we're at that point in our life that like, okay, like, yes, COVID is still here. And then like yes COVID it was like, the outbreak was a couple years ago. But like now we learned from it, I feel like we learned a lot from it. We took stuff away that we would probably use for the rest of our life. And I'm kind of excited for it. I'm very excited for it.

Mark Munger 

Like, the biggest thing about love and marriage and togetherness and a relationship.

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yes. It really is amazing. And it's crazy how like we had like, it's very cheesy, but like a very COVID love story. And it was very cheesy. I know. But we had that, like we had. Our love story was literally during COVID. And I think it's awesome. That like, it's not your typical love story but it's our love story.

Diego Ahumada 

Yeah. Siento que el COVID nos ayudó o sea en verdad si no hubiera estado el COVID nada hubiera sido igual, no creo que hubiera sido igual, a lo mejor sí nos hubiera enamorado y todo eso a lo mejor pero hubiera sido como no tan intenso o sea nos hubiéramos tenido que dar más tiempo a lo mejor de conocernos y…

Sebastian Arroyo 

Yeah cuz, because I just think life before COVID is just way different than how it is now. So, I feel like it would not be the same if COVID didn’t happened.

Diego Ahumada 

Y también, fue como todo antes de conocer al Sebas como todo bien difícil porque estaba solo, estaba pasando el tema de estaba teniendo un problema con el WIT, un problema bien serio, y el Sebas fue como todo el apoyo para mí porque no en verdad yo creo que no hubiera podido hacer nada yo, yo si no hubiera estado el Sebas yo me hubiera vuelto a Chile no hubiera querido yo estar acá y batallando con todo el tema del tema del COVID y todo era como mencioné cuando me enfermé también todo fue como bien junto y la verdad que el Sebas fue como que llegó allí para arreglar mi mundo.

Sebastian Arroyo 

That’s very sweet.

Diego Ahumada 

Pero, bueno el COVID todavía sigue igual. Todavía tengo familia en Chile que..

.Sebastian Arroyo 

People are still going through it.

Mark Munger 

Well, thank you guys. Thank you so much.

Sebastian Arroyo 

You’re welcome. Thank you for having us.

Diego Ahumada 

Thank you.

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