Goodbye

I'm at work. It's our last day. Tomorrow night, we go home. Our home. The home we made together for ourselves. Colorado.

We have grown so much in the last two years. The life education we received was much more intense and severely enlightening than anything we signed up for or expected. And I don't think we'll be able to focus on all the wonderful things about it until we have some distance and space from this life here.

And yet...goodbyes are in order. We leave wonderful people, a fascinating culture, my first teaching job, a language we've cultivated in ourselves, and norms and expectations we have finally adapted to. We are taking our experiences with us, the beautiful and the ugly, the severe and the suave, the scary and the comforting--they have all changed us. The rest, we leave behind.

Goodbye, year-round beautiful flowers and gardens.
Goodbye, awe-inspiring volcanoes. Cotopaxi, twice you rejected me. I was never able to try for a third.
Goodbye, seasonless year--holding us all in a perpetual springtime.
Goodbye, rain. I will miss you not.
Goodbye, easiest teaching job ever. I may miss your ease later in life.
Goodbye, eucalyptus leaves in my running park, filtering sunlight and freshening the air.
Goodbye, fear. Disappear. I don't want to see you again.
Goodbye, chatty, kind, and endearing students. I love you.
Goodbye, slow internet. I hope one day soon you can be fast.
Goodbye, colleagues. It's been one helluva ride.
Goodbye, climbers. You people are awesome. I hope we meet again somewhere soon.
Goodbye, airplanes overhead. All the time. Oye.
Goodbye, cheap and deliciously perfect steak. I think maybe we took you for granted and may regret that soon.
Goodbye, kind families that took care of us. We will always remember you.
Goodbye, pan de yucca, fresh fruit juices, my favorite yogurt, and all other yummies.
Goodbye, all the broken stuff in my classroom.
Goodbye, tall concrete.
Goodbye, Galapagos and jungle. You are treasures.
Goodbye, Canoa--home aways from home, great friends, lovely vacation spot.
Goodbye, severe green landscape with your nausea-inducing, twisty, curvy roads.
Goodbye, valley, goodbye, sigsi--our one climbing area, goodbye clothing that doesn't fit me.
Goodbye to all the things too numerous to name but that still made an impression--like the crowded buses, the sink holes, easy travel to the coast, etc.

Tomorrow night, we board a plane and say our goodbyes from above, looking down and back, on our first international living experience.
Goodbye Quito.

Klassic

I took Bali in so she could get her very official, stamped and dated health certificate. The vet listened to Bali's heart for about 30 seconds, declared her perfect, and signed the certificate. This was after much oooing and wowing over her age (kitties don't survive long south of the border) and about five minutes of me begging the vet to make the date on the cert this Friday, the day before we leave. I only had to ask twice and make a mild show of being upset about bringing in the cat too early. Ta-daaahh! Kitty ready to fly.

I'm doing something new with Bali this time. I'm not carrying litter and her little travel poo box. I'm going to try lining her carrier with diapers. Last time, she only peed in her carrier once and then refused food, water, and the chance to potty like a dignified kitty the whole rest of the travel time. We'll do a trial run tomorrow. All I worry about is how much space she has (nil) and how well the diapers will adhere and stay put.

And finally, some good news for us: we're moving to Martin Acres! A friend there needs her house sat for July. Lucky us, huh? South Boulder, watch out! Here we's come.

4 on the 4th

I just officially registered for Avery's short run and long drink event on the 4th of July. I think you should too.
You can register here for $25.

I'm also going to try to register for La Sportiva's trail 10k the 1st of August. I think you should do that one too.

Only 2 weeks for us to go. 2 weeks and we'll be finished with our first overseas living/teaching experience. I'll re-cap soon when I have some distance and so a clarified perspective as well. Right now, I can only focus on getting to Colorado. So I'm going to continue to honor that for now, and I'll get back to Quito in my mind soon enough.

Teaching Assignment

In honor of learning my teaching assignment today (and because I´m at an internet cafe until the Censo office opens), I thought I´d go ahead and open my new blog.

Next year in Turkey, I´ll teach 3 sections of English 9 (IGCSE curriculum) and I´ll teach IB Psychology again. Blissfully, no more TOK! I´m very excited to be teaching both my loves, and only having two preps--down from my current 4. I think it´ll be fantastic!

If you have not yet heard, our house in Quito was robbed. Quite a bummer. But my cat is fine, thank you for wondering. She hid while the baddies were in our house. But they did manage to take both our computers. Since we only have about 3 weeks left in Quito, we won´t be trying to replace those until we get back to Colorado (June 28th!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!). Thus, we are sorry about the limited contact. And pictureless blogs. The camera is gone too. But we´re not letting it get us too down. We´re fine and we´ll slowly replace what we´ve lost.

Can´t wait to see everyone this soon--we are so ready for a great Colorado summer!