A little white lie for Liz… (I'm home!)

OK, so I lied to everyone. I told you I would be home in early July. The truth is, I got back on Friday… Antonia met me at the airport with a plan for Ethiopian dinner and volunteer work at the street festival the next day (where, naturally, I ran into people I knew). Welcome back to the Toronto rhythm, Marijke… *grin*

But why the lie? Well, it was all for Liz. This weekend was my girl’s bachelorette party and bridal shower. Since I’ve been the Bridesmaid-at-Large for the last few months, I was looking for a way to make up for my long-distance negligence.

Surprising Lizifer at her bachelorette party was the perfect way to do it.

So my apologies to everyone for the little lie I had to tell – Liz is actually a follower of my blog – to keep the surprise alive. If you had seen Liz’s face when I walked in the door last night, you’d know that it was all worthwhile.

Pictures and tales of the Sweden-Denmark-Germany portion of my travels coming soon.

It's not a family tree, it's a family bush

If you know me, you know that my family is... erm... complex. When asked the common icebreaker question, "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" I just shake my head and laugh. Kirsten likes to say that we don't have a family tree, we have a family bush. Really, even I get confused sometimes. It may require a map to understand, but they're all my family, and I love them. The problem is, we don't see each other nearly enough...

The last few days in Barcelona were sandwiched around a trip into the French Pyrenees for a family reunion (or as close as my family can get to that). As hard as it is to believe, France was actually the most convenient place to meet -- siblings came from Spain (me and Laura), Argentina (Diego) and California (Kirsten), and the parental generation (Laurence and Rosa) came from Canada.



It was the first time in 5 or 6 years that we had all been together, and we spent a few days enjoying good food, good wine and a whole lot of laughter. As much as I joke about my crazy, dispersed siblings, and as proud as I am that we all have such adventurous spirits, it's hard not to have a consolidated family unit that you see regularly. Despite logistical problems to get us all in the same place, we really do have a great time when we are together.

Granted, this is only one side of my family. With a little luck, we'll manage to coordinate the same thing on the other side of the family (that's you, mommas and Andres!) sometime in the summer or fall....



As an added bonus, I got to see my cousin Jay and and his wife Isabella, who happened to be in Barcelona the same days I was. And Diego and Laura and I had some quality BCN-drinkin' time. And to top it off, Laura and I spent my last night in the city at a Feist concert (an amazing show), where we even got to sing the Canadian national anthem at the top of our lungs -- oh the pride.

Pictures of Barcelona and France are here.

I arrived in Sweden yesterday, and am reconsidering some of my travel plans (Iceland may not be in the cards after all). Either way, it'll be an adventure....

Parting Is Such Sweet(water) Sorrow

It happens every time: I start to feel at home in a place just when it's time to leave... It's always in the last week that I find that great bar, that cute boy or that great group of friends... and this time was no different.

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of goodbye parties and sentimental moments. I don't deal well with goodbyes in general. I usually like to have a going-away party a few days ahead of time, and then slip away when no one is around. It didn't quite work that way this time.

In the end, the experience in Aguadulce was a good one. My original goals had been to gain teaching experience and travel around Andalucia, and I met (and surpassed) both of those goals. True, I wasn't in love with the town itself, and it lacked a certain social and cultural excitement. But I had great luck in terms of the school I was assigned to, which made the entire year enjoyable.



At the end of the day, the experience is about the people you meet. And I was lucky on that front, too. I met some amazing teachers -- people who taught me about teaching, inspired and encouraged me, and who were (and will continue to be) great friends. These people put the "sweet" in Sweetwater, and they are the main reason that I will miss the place.



And the kids.... Oh, the kids. How to describe how much I adored them? Saying goodbye to them was harder than I expected. My 1o ESO class (roughly Grade 7) cried their way through the last hour of class, sang songs, and gave me presents and sweet cards. The 2o ESO class (Grade 8) demanded one last sing-along to "Molly Malone", which I caught on video (they've learned all the words!). And the 2o BACH class (Grade 12/13) invited me to their graduation dinner, where there was much revelry and picture taking.

Pictures of all the great people I met are here.

And on to the next....

From here, it's a crazy ride that takes me through 5 countries (the main goals are a family reunion in France and a return to the Viking Festival in Iceland) before I land back in Canada in early July.

What's my next step? I'll let you know when I know....