Well, I found the cocaine spot on Thursday nights… unintentionally of course. As I mentioned in a past blog, Thursday nights I go out for drinks and tapas with some of my co-workers. We start off with tapas and beers at one bar, continue with the same thing at another bar, and end with harder drinks at a third, and usually last, bar. The last bar for the past two Thursdays has been a bar with an English name and a Guinness sign at the entrance. For some reason, this Thursday night we noticed a lot more shady characters enter the bar. I, automatically, figured it had to do with drugs, but figured it was one of my pessimistic thoughts and kept it to myself. We minded our business and kept on with our drinks and conversation, but couldn’t help notice the amount of peculiar people that entered this bar tonight.
At one point, Javier, one of my co-workers, got up to use the bathroom. He came back fairly quickly and mentioned that there was a long line for the bathroom and used a Spanish word that I’ve never heard before. I asked what the word meant and they explained to me that it meant that the line for the bathroom wasn’t to use the bathroom; it was to do cocaine in the bathroom. Well, that explains the crowd of people that we found ourselves amongst. It didn’t really matter though. They minded their business and we our own and there were no problems, I just found it interesting that it was so easy to tell that something was different about the people entering the bar that night. Whatever. They can all snort cocaine until their nasal canals are completely burnt and they fry their neurons for all I care. Let me get to the topic that I intended to discuss in this blog in the first place.
Thanksgiving! It’s Thanksgiving in the US of A today. I didn’t really think much of it when I woke up and went to work this morning, but to be completely honest, I almost cried in my first class of the day. My first class today was English with my 8th graders. Ana made photocopies of a text about Thanksgiving that I was to read to the class. She then told the class to write down questions that they wanted to ask me. During this time Ana asked me some questions herself. She asked me to explain to the class what my family usually does for Thanksgiving. Once I was done sharing my family’s usual Thanksgiving I could tell that half of the class didn’t even understand half of what I had said. Ana then went on to ask me “I know this may be somewhat of a personal question, but do you miss your family especially today since it is a holiday that you usually spend with them?” Yes. The answer was yes. I didn’t even have to think about it, the yes came out involuntarily. I hadn’t really thought about it but I knew that my family was going to get together and have a nice dinner and enjoy each other’s company to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I wasn’t there to celebrate with them. Ana told the class that she had thought of me a lot the night before and this morning because I am so far away from my family. She proceeded to tell the class that she and they were my family during my time here since I am so far away from home. When she was done saying this I overheard some of the students say “pobrecilla,” which (in literal translation) means “poor girl.”
Like I said, I hadn’t really taken the time to think about all of these things before coming to work today so it kind of hit me by surprise. Before I knew it I was fighting back tears. Yes, I do miss my family. Yes, I do wish I was going to be able to eat Thanksgiving dinner with them tonight. Yes, I wish I had been home for my dad’s birthday. Yes, I wish I had been home for Halloween. Yes, I am glad that I am going home for Christmas and get to see all of my friends at the annual Foursies Christmas party and all of my family at our annual Christmas Eve party. I am thankful for my family and friends back home, my many opportunities to travel and live abroad, the people who have let me into their lives, the friends I have made abroad and the maany experiences that I have been able to experience. I think that this Thanksgiving away from home has been the most thankful Thanksgiving I have ever had. Being away from everything that you know makes you realize how fortunate you are to have all of those things in your life.
I am thankful. I am thankful for everything: the good, the bad, and the in-between. Everything I’ve experienced has made me who I am today, and maybe I’m going through somewhat of an identity crisis but I’m okay. I’m happy to be alive and I’m happy with everything in my life right now. …What about you? …What are you thankful for?
Happy Thanksgiving to all J
and...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGETTE KIM!!
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