My first month took me "home". In the USA I chose to spend my summer in CO with my daughter and sister (and her family-and my son who flew out to visit=OH, and "the moms"), in Ft. Collins area at the end of the CO time with good friends I met here in VZ and my cousin, in Wisconsin with my dad and his wife, in GA with my lifetime great friends, and in FL at a wedding of a dear HS friend (which turned into a mini reunion with people I should have been BETTER friends with in HS-but am thrilled to be great friends with now thanks to Facebook.) While in FL I got to see the sea turtles (loggerhead AND green) come on shore and lay their eggs...amazing experience!
Truthfully, I will never do that again. I was 20 pounds heavier (from all the special home cooking and visiting everyone's favorite spots to eat and all the "fun".) I was yearning for a routine; and I felt that I had not done justice to anyone through my "buckshot" approach to the summer. I know there is no perfect way to live overseas and then please/see everyone when I am home a month or so each year. BUT, I do need a better plan...and am up for options and advice as you see fit to give it =). I will be in ATL for a conference the week after Thanksgiving, in CO the 19-26 of Dec., and possibly in NYC or that area at the end of Dec. Then, I will have about a month in the USA again next summer...who knows where. Find me=)!!!
SO after that whirl across the USA, I flew back to VZ for two days of Un/Re packing. Then I flew to Ecuador for 3 1/2 weeks of Spanish lessons in the surfing paradise of Montanita. My luggage got lost and it rained every day...BUT...I LOVED IT. I learned so much about Spanish and gained the confidence to begin putting together sentences and making myself understood to people here. In addition, I saw humpback whales playing in the warm waters off shore that serve as their mating grounds. On a trip to Isla de la Plata I saw blue footed boobies and a funny bird with a red balloon thing on it's throat (Doug, my birding friend, will kill me for not knowing that). One of the 10 bloody Marys (statues who have cried tears of blood) is there as well- and I saw it. My days were filled with studying, practicing as I wandered the muddy streets of town lined with handicraft vendors, and going to class. Now and then I tried my luck at surfing the 6 foot waves....you had to be there! On the way home I had a night in Guayaquil, Ecuador (I walked and explored it!), and 8 hours in Bogota, Colombia (I left the airport and wandered the old town....even ate a bowl of traditional potato soup with cheese biscuits for brunch!)
I am happy to be back in VZ. After almost a month of only a few hours a night of good sleep due to the party culture of Montanita, I am enjoying unlimited silent sleeping hours. Going out for groceries or on errands is much less intimidating now that I can understand and speak much more spanish. My neighbors keep high-fiving me when I say stuff to them in Spanish-it's encouraging. We have 13 excited and fresh new teachers (out of 23 total) so it is like being at a whole new school this year. Today was the first day of classes-I have 16 sweet 6th graders who named themselves the "Allen Gang" and chose their class color to be gold. Aahhh...it's all good.
I am looking forward to the year ahead.
