Now that we are home

by Christy

I'm glad we are back.  Friends from work threw me a going away party, though I will only be working down the street.  The food tasted so incredibly delicious.  We have gone blueberry picking twice and out to eat at two of our favorite places.  I worked in the yard.  I keep getting tearful when people ask about the trip.  I didn't reach my goal of speaking Spanish really well.  I told Corvallis Clinic they can't write that I speak English and Spanish on my portfolio.  Yet.  I am going to keep working.  I am reading Harry Potter in Spanish and am hoping to take a conversational Spanish class this fall.  I will speak to my patients in Spanish, I just don't think I'm fluent enough to call it a second language.  Not even close.  And that frustrates me.

But the kids needed me while we were in Peru.  They need me here too, but with all of the cultural differences and the lack of playgrounds where they could run off energy, they needed attention more than ever.  And the cold was emotionally draining.  So I am trying to let that go.  Other goals were met.  Both kids want to enroll in a bilingual school.  We have put their names on the waiting list at Garfield and hope they can continue the work they started.  That is such a big deal to me.  Changing schools is a life alterning event that they WANT to do.  This is because we opened doors for them.  And that is really what I wanted- to show them that there is a really huge world out there.  Language was the biggest barrier for them to enjoy it.  They want to get rid of that barrier and I'm proud of them for it.  I didn't have that goal until I went to medical school.  And it is so much harder for me to learn.

Someday I would like to do another grand adventure like this one.  But I think the next vacation might need to be something a bit more relaxing, a bit warmer, and for a bit shorter time.  Until then, I start a new life challenge on the 18th when I switch jobs.