I drink good coffee every morning, comes from a place that's far away....
Blogging at 6 am ... who does that? At least security went crazy fast at this hour.
As I sip on my grande gingerbread latte and enjoy the last bagel and cream cheese that I will most likely have for several months (just a couple of the Americanisms, along with peanut butter, that should be exported to the rest of the world), the overwhelming emotion of the past 10 days is finally starting to sink in. As I live in the moment, flying back to the States enabled me to gain much needed perspective on my life in Colombia. Likewise, I know that over the next few days, as I pause my travels in Bogota before returning to the "real world" of Barranquilla, I will likely end up reflecting on my trip home over and over. Days on end of passionate conversations have resulted in a million thoughts and ideas about anything and everything running through my head. I do not even know where to begin...to understand, let alone explain. 3 languages worth of words are often not enough for me to express myself.
Did I return to the US in search of something? To escape something? Out of homesickness? What made me decide, with only a week's notice, to book a flight not to some wonderful exotic destination in South America, but to Chicago, IL, with the intention of bouncing all over Wisconsin for a week and a half? Would it be hard to say goodbye all over again or would I be excited to return to Colombia after the trip passed in the blink of an eye? I asked myself the same questions that others asked me with confusion. Occasionally I was able to articulate an explanation, more often I simply said that it was something I needed to do and that it was the best decision I could have made. I love my life in Colombia, where every day is an adventure, something new and challenging, I love speaking Spanish and understanding more and more everyday, but something told me that it was time to step back to home base, if only for a moment. Seeing my friends, the people who have inspired me, pushed me, sparked a passion inside of me, the most amazing people in my entire life, was indescribable. The jaw-drop-bug-eyed-I-can't-believe-that-you-are-here expressions, the hugs that reach across months, across thousands of miles, and seem to pause time indefinitely are a priceless feeling. A few photographs survive to recount the reunion, but the best memories that endure are the ones in which we are too caught up in the moment to do anything more than live the life, to love the life, more fully than anyone could have ever expected.
As I sip on my grande gingerbread latte and enjoy the last bagel and cream cheese that I will most likely have for several months (just a couple of the Americanisms, along with peanut butter, that should be exported to the rest of the world), the overwhelming emotion of the past 10 days is finally starting to sink in. As I live in the moment, flying back to the States enabled me to gain much needed perspective on my life in Colombia. Likewise, I know that over the next few days, as I pause my travels in Bogota before returning to the "real world" of Barranquilla, I will likely end up reflecting on my trip home over and over. Days on end of passionate conversations have resulted in a million thoughts and ideas about anything and everything running through my head. I do not even know where to begin...to understand, let alone explain. 3 languages worth of words are often not enough for me to express myself.
Did I return to the US in search of something? To escape something? Out of homesickness? What made me decide, with only a week's notice, to book a flight not to some wonderful exotic destination in South America, but to Chicago, IL, with the intention of bouncing all over Wisconsin for a week and a half? Would it be hard to say goodbye all over again or would I be excited to return to Colombia after the trip passed in the blink of an eye? I asked myself the same questions that others asked me with confusion. Occasionally I was able to articulate an explanation, more often I simply said that it was something I needed to do and that it was the best decision I could have made. I love my life in Colombia, where every day is an adventure, something new and challenging, I love speaking Spanish and understanding more and more everyday, but something told me that it was time to step back to home base, if only for a moment. Seeing my friends, the people who have inspired me, pushed me, sparked a passion inside of me, the most amazing people in my entire life, was indescribable. The jaw-drop-bug-eyed-I-can't-believe-that-you-are-here expressions, the hugs that reach across months, across thousands of miles, and seem to pause time indefinitely are a priceless feeling. A few photographs survive to recount the reunion, but the best memories that endure are the ones in which we are too caught up in the moment to do anything more than live the life, to love the life, more fully than anyone could have ever expected.
posted by SarahEliz at
12:31 PM
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