I’ve been home since my time teaching in Italy for a few weeks now. There’s really nothing quite like spending the holidays with your family, not even the best travel adventures.
My mom picked me up from the airport and completely blindsided me, just the most vicious hug – exactly what I needed after being away so long. Turns out she even brought along a couple of my friends, Brandon and Sarah.
Waiting inside of the car was a coffee from one of my favorite local stops, Victrola. The Spanish definitely know their coffee but it’s always great to take in some of the local flavor.
Fortunately, Brandon and Sarah humored my mom on the way home and sat in complete silence, listening intently to every question. She was so excited to catch up with me that I barely got a chance to answer anything!
We played Apples to Apples over a few beers while I told everyone about my experience with the ESL students. The more I talked about them the more I genuinely missed them – all of a sudden I found myself feeling a different kind of homesick.
Juanito became an easy favorite for me as he and his family extended the invite for a very unofficial Thanksgiving. His mom reminded me so much of my own, I see familiar shades of genuine hospitality and humor among the pair.
Christmas came and went, with my family all over the country we didn’t really do anything too big. My mom and I celebrated with grandpa and met up with the Murphy’s for a white elephant – I ended up scoring big with a marshmallow gun. Maybe I can take it on my next adventure if I manage to get it past customs.
And then of course there was the highlight of sleeping in my own bed – paradise. Don’t get me wrong, I got all sorts of cozy with my little cot back in Madrid, but nothing beats this.
I earned a lot of great money out there in Spain from conducting the ESL semester, money I’ll no doubt be using to finance my next adventure. As for now I’m opting to mentally recharge before I set out again.
I’ve been going over potential next destinations (wise to keep quiet around my mom, lest I break her heart so soon) with my former editor, David. There’s lots of stuff in development right now but nothing is concrete. There’s a lot of talk about Asia which would be incredible to finally get there.
That’s about all from me for now, I’m still catching up on loads of sleep. I’ll be attempting to do a better recap of Spain soon!
