Blogging from the Road

Literally.

Our rental car company offered an in car modem, that's also portable for hotels and whatnot, any place you can plug it in to a socket for power. It was $11 per day, one dollar less than getting a GPS, we can both use it at the same time, and we already used my laptop to Google the directions to Narcobollo, the Colombian restaurant that is a sister to the original one in Barranquilla that I visited with my profesora on one of our culture activity afternoons. We ate arroz con coco, tajadas, bollo limpio y bollo de mazorca, remolacha, suero, arepa con juevo, jugo de tamarindo y agua panel and got one more of each bollo to go. It was pretty close to the airport, but we got a little lost on the way.



Then we Googled directions to my Grandparent's house, and used Skype to call them and tell them we'll be late.

WE'RE SUCH GEEKS! HOORAY FOR GEEKS REUNITED! HOORAY FOR TASTY COLOMBIAN FOOD!! HAPPY!



Flight was fine, had a seat to myself for half of it and listed to my iPod, took pictures of clouds and wrote down verbs I want to understand better. They seem to use the same word to mean a lot of things...



I would write more, but my laptop battery sucks, so signing off for now. Just had to write while we were on the road. :D

Corazon Partido

Woke up around 5:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. This time I actually did cry, big, shuddering, quiet sobs, for the sadness of leaving this beautiful family. They have a togetherness I envy, and I'm sure many of my friends would envy as well. It's a state of mind more than just a physical presence, and it's a family bigger than just the immediate blood relatives. Quite beautiful and hard for me to describe more at the moment...

I had so many fears coming here - that I'd feel bored or lonely, that I'd get sick, that they'd get tired of me, but it was all for naught. I've felt so welcomed, supported, taken care of and happy here. It was a true break that I so needed to refresh and recharge, and I've learned so much more than just a language.

And while my Spanish isn't fluent, it's much much much better, and I've found myself in the last few days speaking whole sentences without pausing to think. Not sure how correct those sentences were, but that was the moment I kept hoping would happen. Hooray! Now I just need to continue when I get home!

I'll be happy to see my husband and family again after 2 months, even if they did go by quickly - my heart is just broken that Barranquilla and Iowa are so far apart.

(ok, I admit I got bored a few times, but that was when I did self portrait sessions, hahahaha)