Well, it appears I am not a true blogger seeing as I have evidently given up on my first and only blog this past year. My last post was in January. It is now June and I have not only finished my year teaching in Ubrique, but I've already made the 40 hour journey (not an exaggeration) all the way back to good old North Tonawanda, NY!
I did think about updating this thing many times. Really! I could list a bunch of excuses why I didn't, like the fact that I was too busy: working in the school 12 whopping hours a week; giving classes out of my home; calling English speaking clients all over the world for a leather factory; flying out of the country for holiday breaks (Dublin! Itay!); beach hopping beautiful Andalusia; being ridiculous with the other guiris; spending all of my time OUT of the house and actually improving my speaking skills, (who woulda thought?); dealing with crazy people (they do exist everywhere); forming closer relationships with the amazing people I've met; and working on my most important relationship - the one with myself. Like I said, all excuses for slacking on my blogging responsibilities
I should also admit that I am an avid procrastinator. That could easily be a contributing factor to the dead halt in my blogging. Sometimes I waited so long to do my laundry in Spain that I would have to hand wash socks and underwear and hang them on my radiator to dry for school the next day (no dryers). I think I did that for a week straight once before finally tossing in a load. So I'm sure you can imagine how easy it was for me to put off staring at a computer and typing out my thoughts.
I also have a history of "unfinished projectes." I need to learn to continue what I started... beginning with this blog. I'm gonna do it... and I'm gonna do it well! On my last days in Ubrique, someone very dear to me said, "Sarah, when we do things, we do them well." He was simply referring to the bed sheets that I was too impatient to fold nicely before packing them up in a box. I don't think he knows, but it really made me think about the way I do things in every day life.
Anyway, the truth is.... I stopped writing for awhile because it honestly became difficult to put each experience into words. I think it's because I always felt it was so much more than just an experience I had, or a trip that I took... every single day, every thing I saw, every place I went, became crucial to this chapter of that crazy journey I call my life. When I sat down to put into words what I saw, did, or learned that particular day, the words just didn't come. Everything I tried to write, I erased immediately because I felt I didn't do it justice.
Now that I'm home, I'm finding it even harder to talk about my time in Spain face to face, particularly with people I haven't seen or heard from in awhile. It's the same thing, over and over. After the standard how are you's and good to see you's comes the unavoidable, inanswerable question: "So how was your trip?" . . . . . . they always appear so interested and eager -- weather they really want to know or if they're just being polite, I'll never know - but how does one respond to that question? A trip is like a vacation, an experience, a thing you do once - maybe more than once - you enjoy it, savor it and then it's over. This wasn't a trip. This was a year of my life. I wasn't just traveling and seeing cool things, though there was a lot of that involved... I had my friends. My family there. My piso, my stuff, my bank account. My favorite places to sit, my favorite waiters. I was teaching. I was learning. I was exploring. I was spending time with people I care about. I was living. It's not easy to put all that into words in a casual conversation in passing!
While all of that feels so BIG sometimes, it can also feel very small in retrospect... my time in Ubrique was simply just a small piece of the story that makes up my life. There's more before and more to come after it, though I would definitely say this particular chapter was crucial to my character development phase. But then again I've come to believe we never really stop growing and developing and changing. Whatever I do and wherever I go, I already know that Ubrique has woven itself into my heart along with the incredible people I met while living there. Those same people helped me to learn things about myself and grow in ways I never imagined and for that I will be forever thankful.
Perhaps this transition is easier because I know I'm not really closing the chapter on the Spanish adventure quite yet anyway.... here comes the exciting news: I'M GOING BACK! I've been accepted to the English Language Assistant program for one more year, livng very near to Ubrique in the capital of CADIZ. More details to come on that as September approaches!
But for now, since I've had some serious time to reflect, I think I'm ready to share, bit by bit, some of the fun details and anecdotes that are missing from the past few months of my life! The ideas area already brewing, but it's going to take quite awhile. Be on the look out for some or all or maybe none of the following "chapters".. and in no particular order.
Mi gente
The Guiri Marcha
The time I kicked a car
The crazy poet
Germany meets America in Spain
Cafes and Camareros
Landlords suck everywhere
Getting dorty in Dublin
CARNIVAL
The Rally
Spring break Italy edition
One night in the Ibiza
Oh yeah, I worked too
The Spanish Horario
The many marvelous beaches of Andalucia
San Martes!
Los Gamones
Mis palabras favoritas
FOOD
F* the police!
Bubbles, guns and glitter
The hardest goodbye and the longest journey
CADIZ CAPITAL- the adventure continues!!
My New Eyes
