We are finally close enough that I can see the end and I can finally say "Only 'insert days/weeks' left". Actually in four short weeks, we'll already be back in the states visiting friends and family. YIPEE!
We are very very excited for our move. We know it'll be stressful, especially doing it now with a little one and we'll have to work extra the first year since we're teaching different courses and because, well, we're MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD!
BUT. The goodbyes are difficult. What's really surreal about some of our goodbyes is that they are just that - goodbye. We may never see some of these people ever again. They are not on the internet. They don't have mailing addresses. If they leave FDR then we'll have no means of contacting them. These are the people we said "chau" to on Saturday, friends who we will keep in our hearts forever.
Yesterday, we were invited to a lunch provided by a couple of workers at school. Pedro caught us during the week and invited us for anticuchos (skewered grilled beef hearts - YUM!). We arrived at school when they were done working on Saturday and had a really special, heartfelt lunch with some of our favorite people from school:
Pedro - the head gardener at school and probably the nicest human being I know.
Marino - a custodian at school, who is funny and goofy and has an infectious laugh
Connie - a soft spoken custodian at school who is so kind and always asking about Max
Marcos - the custodian in the high school, who is young, hardworking, has learned English with exceptional proficiency, and who just had a beautiful baby daughter, Luciana, whom we got to spoil with some of Max's baby clothes
Erasmo - the courier for the school. I love Erasmo. He's this cute little man who rides a motorcycle around town, sometimes sporting a little mustache and he has time after time helped us get packages through customs and to our door.
We taught them English in a class offered on Saturdays for workers two years ago. It was a really powerful experience for us. We got to teach them English, learn about who they are and their families, share ourselves and our customs. I don't know how we would have been able to get to know them well otherwise. Our Spanish has gotten better, so we can communicate, but we're often just passing by each other on campus, so without this class our relationship would have remained just polite hellos.
They have become tias and tios (aunts and uncles) for Max. They love him. Truly. They are constantly asking about him and were in class when I was first pregnant and were very concerned when they heard about his birth. They always have kisses for Max when they seem him and let him play with the hoses or Pedro lets him sit on the tractor when he has it out.
Here are a couple of pics from our lunch yesterday. It was a fantastic time, one we will cherish. (Thought the weather was HORRIBLE - wet and cold!) Max loved his first anticuchos, as you can see. He's definitely a little Peruvian boy.
