Changes

Squeezed in a trip home this fall.  Amazing.

A great friend of my from high school was getting married and I really wanted to be there but flights are expensive and I didn't think my school was going to be too gung-ho about me missing work for a party.  Then grandpa starting going - quickly.  I was quite sure he wasn't going to hold out for one more of my visits in December, so I made the decision to book a flight that would allow me to visit with the grandparents and attend April's wedding.

Well, as in Grandpa fashion, he decided to do things his own way.  He passed away before I could say my final goodbyes but provided me with some great time with Grandma.  I arrived to her house a few days after the funeral which meant her stress levels were down and there weren't a million people visiting.  It was a great visit.  We went out to dinner, spent a morning drinking coffee and chatting on the back porch, and the weather could not have been better - cool, autumn air and trees with beautiful foliage.  I managed to run once with my parents - a run that prevented me from being able to walk normally for the following 3 days, those hills are no joke.

April's wedding was a great way to end my trip.  She was gorgeous (no surprise there) and seemed so happy.  It was great to catch up with old friends (old, as in friends from high school - we are not OLD in terms of our age...yet).

Beautiful bride.

Chance to catch up with old friends.

I should also mention I had a great visit with my "little" brother.  I got to relax and enjoy the views from his sweet apartment and recover from my red eye flight.  Then we went out to dinner (Northern Spy Co.  - highly recommended) and enjoyed a delicious, autumn meal and he paid! (I was outraged but then got over it...quickly..hehehe)  We ended the night drinking and watching football with his buddies.  These moments are few and far between, making them even more spectacular when they do happen.

The whole visit was a spur-of-the-minute idea, but I'm so glad I made it happen.

The toughest part about living abroad - Part 2

This has been a tough year.  I've lost my grandma, two uncles, and now my grandfather.  This time, however, when I got news that my grandfather's health was going quickly, I made plans to go home.  This year I am in a better place financially.  That was one of my new year's resolutions - build up enough financial security that when things happen back home, I can make family the priority that it should be.  Sadly, I will not have another conversation with my grandpa, but I will be able to spend time with my family - my mom, grandma, and maybe aunts and uncles and share memories and tales of life with grandpa.  Here are a few that I've shared with close friends here over the past couple of days.

• Tractor rides.  I remember being towed around in the trailer attached to Grandpa's tractor.  It seems he was always, in his final months, driving around in that thing.  It may seem silly...but sometime memories are like that.
• Singing.  I know my mom and her siblings have even more memories than I do but I remember listening to Grandpa sing.  I remember one Thanksgiving where we were all sitting around the dinner table and he just began belting out a Kris Kristofferson song about getting high (say what?!) - my dad chimed in and I just laughed shocked and entertained by the lyrics that my grandfather was singing and then even more so when I learned that it was a real song that my father also knew!  I remember Grandpa singing  along to all his favorite country classics on records, than on tapes...not sure we ever made it to CDs.  I remember my mom and aunts singing along as well.  I remembering thinking they sounded beautiful but that music was kind of boring...but now one of my favorites to sing to is the Best of Patsy Cline...
• Swearing.  For many this probably was not one of Grandpa's best qualities.  As my mom would say, he had the "mouth of a trucker/sailor".  But as a kid, and I'm sure my brother would agree, it was just the best listening to him swear.  He definitely helped me to develop my vocabulary - and some of the expressions he came up with - wowweeee!  Amazing.  I think I control my anger a bit better than he ever did but he definitely taught me that there's something to getting things off your chest - just letting the world know how you feel.  Sometimes it's the best way...I just try to use the f-word a little less when I do it. ;-)
• Squeaky Clean.  It's funny how the memory works.  It doesn't seem possible that I could remember some of these things....anyhow, I remember take baths at my grandparents' house in Bedford, putting on my pajamas, and then heading back to the living room.  My grandpa would always ask me if I was "squeaky clean".  I still use this expression, and always think of him.  

So looking forward to heading home and swapping memories and stories with family.  Missing everyone so much right now but feeling so grateful for being in a place that allows me to head home when I feel the need.  It makes the pain of losing someone, of losing grandpa, a little more bearable. 

A Day at the Races

So Friday arrived.  Everyone loves Fridays.  The end of the week, the weekend in sight.  We all have plans.  Sometimes those plans include going out for dinner or drinks with friends until some ungodly hour and sleeping until noon.  Other times they include taking advantage of those two days without work to get the laundry done, by the groceries and get a haircut.  Other times still the plan is that there is no plan and you are going to simply relax.  Ahhh.... Fridays.

Fridays at my school are extra special because we get to leave early - 2:10pm instead of the normal 4:00pm.  Awesome...unless there is an electric storm.  My school is very safety conscious.  We have a group of teachers that make up La Brigada.  They are responsible for training and preparing the school on how to respond in the case of an emergency - any emergency.  The biggest "emergency" we typically have is thunder and lightening.  Don't get me wrong, I understand that lightening can be a very dangerous thing and have no desire to be struck at any point in my life, but to consider it a school-wide emergency remains something quite new to me.  In my 20+ years in education (as student and teacher), Colombia is the only place where I have found electrical storms affecting my day-to-day life.

We have a device that measures the presence of electric storms and their distance from the school.  At a certain distance (not sure what that is...maybe 15 km?), La Brigada has determined that the risk of getting electrocuted is too high.  That is too high to use technology, too high to have the windows open, too high to leave the room you are in (we don't have hallways at our school to get from one place to another you must walk outside).

So on Friday, at 2:09pm, the alarm sounded signaling a state of emergency.  Most of the students had already gotten on their bus but us teachers, all waiting with bags packed were NOT on the bus nor in our cars and had the pleasure of staying at the school for an extra hour to wait out the risk of this passing electric storm.

Here's how we passed the time:

About 5 teachers participated in this great event of office chair racing before we were able to leave.  We each presented our own region/country.  You will all be proud to know that I, representative of the grand ole' US of A, won with a record time of 13 seconds...  my competitive spirit is alive and well. ;-)

Bills, bills, bills

So, for the past year I have lived alone and thus have been paying utilities - phone/Internet, electricity, gas, and water/garbage - here in Colombia.  All this time, I've been complaining because I thought the only way to pay these bills was to go to a place with a Baloto (Colombia lottery) and pay there.  You can only pay in cash and so each month (twice a month - because the phone bill comes in the middle of the month) the errand has included walking to at ATM, or several because almost always one of them is out-of-order, taking out cash, going to the little store that is generally only open during normal workday hours so I'm rushing when I get home to get the cash and get there in time and pay these bills.  Some of which, seem almost ridiculous to be paying.  My gas is maybe $5.00 per month,  "Can't I just pay for the whole year upfront?!" I would think to myself until I finally got a wake-up call and found out that I can pay my bills online directly from my bank account, just like in the United States.   Doh.

Lesson learned:  Ask around about things before deciding that things in Colombia are more complicated and frustrating than in the U.S.  (This still holds true for some things but I'm finding more the pluses balance out the cons...I just need to dig a bit deeper).