Home is what the heart grows accustomed to...

This afternoon I asked myself the question, How the hell do I leave? My flight "home" to California is in exactly 3 months from today. 3 months. Thats just 91 days; 5400 hours. That's just a season, like Spring or Summer; a quarter of a year; only 3 new moons. How do I give this up?

I've tasted independence, adulthood. I've grown a love for this country that I have never experienced anywhere before. And even if I complain daily about the black soot clouds rising from the back of cars that should have been yanked off the road decades ago, there is a charm to Costa Rica that is hard to beat. Where else will I find the warm friendliness that surrounds me in any tico home I may enter? Where else will I become part of a new family, accepted equally by grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, nephrews?

How do I pack up the life I have build in the past two years?

But what makes this life any different? Why is this one so hard to give up?

I remember crying the first time I left Costa Rica in 2007. I cried so hard as the plane took off that the woman beside me asked if I was having a panic attack. I cried so hard my eyes were still red as I walked off the plane at LAX. And that was only after a stay of 5 months. I promised I would come back, and I did. Can I promise the same thing again?

Sitting here now, thinking about the day I'll get on the plane with an 'indefinite goodbye' drying on my lips, my eyes well up. This is my home. This is where my heart is.

A country with the longest lasting tradition of peace and that for centuries hasn't had or needed a military. A country of unprecedented scenic beauty in its mountains and beaches, volcanos and waterfalls. A country with potholes so big an entire car can vanish from sight; where a 4 km drive by car can take up to 15 minutes by bus. A country that after 50 years of planning finally builds a decent highway from its capital city to the closest beach, but then opens only two lanes, when road traffic has more than doubled since the year they began planning. A country where an avocado can cost less than 20 cents and where mangos rot on the ground because people can't eat them fast enough. A country whose local football league plays worse than a pack of monkeys, but whose fans bleed purple, or red and yellow, or red and black. A country where instead of having a Starbucks on every street corner, there is a church... even if its Catholic. A country that wholeheartedly believes in God.

This is my home. And yet part of me is scared I might not even miss it.

Ode to the first 8 months of the year...

Wow, hello mid-September. Where the hell did you come from? Gone is August and the start of my fourth (and final) semester. Gone is month 1 of the last 5 months I will ever (possibly) spend at a university. Gone is month 2 of my new (and somewhat exciting) job of being an English teacher. Gone are the 7 looooooong months spent waiting for the new NFL season to begin. Gone is the first week of the 2010 season. Gone, again, is September 11, thankfully with no repeat of that terrible day that we all no doubt remember like it was yesterday. And gone, as well, is the 12th, 13th, and 14th (although, I really don't know of anything exciting that has happened previously on those days hehe).

September 15. In Costa Rica and I believe all of Central and some of South America today is Independence Day. As in the US, every store, house, car, post box, light post, etc. has the Costa Rican flag displayed from it. Families are getting together for lunch; everyone has the day off. There are parades during the day (there was even one at 5:30 this morning I believe. I did not see it, I was just awoken by the heavy beating of drums and wind instruments), fireworks at night, food as far as the eye can see. I suppose every country celebrates their independence in a similar manner. And today is gorgeous. The sky is a blue I haven't seen since the rainy season began 6 months ago, the clouds are white and puffy and not gray and menacing (although I don't know how long that will last for). Sitting in my room, I hear my neighbour's music. Everything just seems different today. Uplifing. The world, or at least Costa Rica, is happy.

In other news, I have a date for the final presentation and defense of my thesis: November 11. Just less than 2 months away now. Have a set date makes the time between now and then seem waaaaay less though. When I think about what I still have to do: present the first final draft to my tutor, make the corrections he suggests, turn in a second draft, correct the translation yet again, turn in a final draft... and then, I present and have two weeks to again make corrections before turning in the final final draft. All of that before the end of November. And just in case you think there can't be that many corrections: my translation is 85 pages and my analysis close to 100. Of course maybe I did everything right the first time around... ha, wishful thinking.

Thankfully, the other 3 classes I have are very non-demanding this semester, so I can focus more of my time on making sure my thesis is 100%. And of course it gives me the extra time to work without going out of my mind. I'm enjoying teaching, all except 1 course that is. Adolecents aren't the greatest age, and with my utter lack of patience, we don't get along all that well. I think we've come to a mutual agreement: you talk your junk in English and I won't hassle you; lets just get through the next hour and a half and we'll all be happier for it. All of my classes are a different levels of English, which is somewhat a challenge. Its hard to go from one class with which I can speak perfect English and a normal pace, to having to explain everything in very short sentences and even Spanish, to once again being able to speak semi-normal English with very little or next to nothing of Spanish and then the next day having pure pure beginning where everything little topic is a challenge to get across, for example the verb To Be (I am, you are, he is etc.) and then to complicate matters even more, making QUESTIONS with the verb to be! (am I, are you, is he?). Just when they finally understand to use 'are' with 'you' they get the question where ___ your pencil? and suddently it isn't 'are' but 'is'. Ask me to explain THAT difference! Its fun though, as I have to start thinking about all the rules for English grammar that I have taken for granted since I was, well, born. Its fun though, and I really don't think I could have picked a better part time job while I was here...