I am down to 5 days left in this beautiful country, and I am finding it so hard to begin to say goodbye to all of the wonderful people that I have met and close the door on the best four months of my life. Last Thursday I had my last intercambio, every week I have been hanging out with this Madrileña named Beatriz. We have gotten to know each other pretty well and always had a great time laughing away. Sometimes things would just get lost in translation, but in the end we would both just end up cracking up. I got to see and experience so much more of Madrid with her as my guide.
Today I had my last tutoring session with my 15 year old student. He reminds me so much of Jarret, and at this point I basically consider him a brother. If it was hard saying goodbye to him, it was even harder saying goodbye to his mom. She is the sweetest lady ever. One day, when I was heading to tutoring I accidentally got off one metro stop early. I reasoned with myself that it was only one metro stop, so I could easily walk to their house from there. I then proceeded to walk in the complete opposite direction as their house. Thirty minutes later I was calling them apologizing for being late and trying to explain where I was. I was so fluster and extremely lost. It is very difficult to find your way without a map, or access to internet right in the palm of your hand like we have in the States. Finally using a picture of a metro map I began to walk in the correct direction. When I finally arrived, frustrated, exhausted, and sweating I felt so bad, but when Inma opened the door she immediately opened her arms to me and gave me a huge hug. She wasn’t mad at all and then shared with me that she had a present for me. I was thinking, wow here I am showing up 30 minutes late, and this lady says she has a present for me? She then walked into the room holding a jar of peanut butter! That was the best gift someone could give me….this country doesn’t have peanut butter as I have mentioned in an earlier blog….and peanut butter is a staple to my diet. Today I exchanged emails with her and told her that if she is even in the states at all that she must let me know. I am going to miss them and their dorm man. He is also so great. By this point in my adventure here I can understand Spanish very well, but I can never understand what this man is saying. He always ends up laughing at me, but in a kind way, and is always so excited whenever he sees me. Last week he called me a jamona. When I didn’t understand he explained to me that since Spain is known for their ham (jamon) and how it is so great, the word jamona means a girl who is very kind and intelligent. I will miss our conversations that in the end I never understand at all.
I then headed over to my advisor, Ana’s, house it say goodbye to a lot of the BC kids that are already done with their finals and are leaving. It’s even hard saying goodbye to them, even when I know that I am going to see them in one short month back at BC. But, things will never be like this again, and that is why, in a way it is a goodbye, and it is still hard to say.
I still have five more days, and a lot more goodbyes ahead of me, and some of hardest. I swear by then end of this week all of Madrid will be booking flights to New York, because I have literally been inviting everyone to come for a visit. Sorry mom, but we seriously could end up with a full house this summer with the way things are going so far! Okay, I really need to stop procrastinating and go back to studying for my finals! I will fill you in on how the rest of the goodbyes go later!
travel safe...HUGS Coach Kathy
