Happy New Year! It's a little late, admittedly, but no one is perfect and if you didn't notice, my blog took a little hiatus. Well, I took a vacation from the blog. Don't give me that look. It's like I'm not supposed to have a life so I can write all the time, but I'll have you know I've been busy, like a little squirrel storing away nut after nut before hibernation.
Well, truth be told, I haven't been all that busy. The first three weeks or so I was home I was pretty busy, what with visiting friends in Duluth (a wonderful time), recovering from Ruben, the parasite (I finally had one and the symptoms started the very day I got back to MN!), Christmas shopping (I'm certainly glad the Hallowgivingmas season is over), and laundry-doing. And, oh, the laundry-doing! What with months of a washing machine with no spin cycle and wringing out the clothes and hanging them to dry in a backyard which resembled a grassy savannah with rotten avocados strewn about, the clothes were in sad shape. That was number one on my list of "First Things I'll Do When Home" list, alternately known as the "There Are Really Some Great Things About the U.S. because Apparently Latin Americans Just Don't Like Peanut Butter" list. I don't remember the other things on that list but I'm pretty sure I've done all of them. Definitely eaten enough peanut butter to kill a small cat.
Also, my parents are safe and sound. Whew, quite the cliffhanger, I know. Their plane was diverted, after being delayed several hours, and they didn't realize when they arrived to the other city that they were not where they were supposed to be. They were expecting me to pick them up and they waited awhile. Finally, the parents gave up waiting for me and since they had the address of their hotel, they grabbed a taxi. When they pulled out onto the highway, they saw a sign that said "Merida, 63 km." They knew their hotel was only 4 km. from the airport, so they were a little confused but figured it out pretty quickly and got to their hotel safely.
Meanwhile, I was running around like a chipmunk on speed, trying to figure out where they were. I decided to go to VEN-USA's going-away party as Astrid was supposed to hear from this other airport if the parents ever showed up there. By the time the going-away party was nearly over and my friends wanted to go out, Astrid had called the airport again and there was still no sign. Even though, if my parents' memories are correct, at the point of that phone call they would have been there, probably for around an hour or so.
Now, if this were a movie, we would cut to a scene of my parents, very American and looking very lost, sitting in that very airport, waiting patiently, with some Venezuelan airline person in the background telling Astrid that she hadn't seen anyone fitting the description I gave them. Ha. It'd be a comedy, really. That's how Venezuela worked. Or didn't work. I had to laugh when I found out my parents had been there but no one saw them, or bothered to call. I laughed at all the random things that went bizarrely wrong while I was there. There was no way I would have had half as much fun if I hadn't been able to laugh at all of it.
Anyway, my friends calmed me down and I realized that though my parents don't speak the language, they are adults (surprise!) and figured that they could take care of themselves, and went out to celebrate one of my last nights with my friends. Shameless, I know. Out having a good time while my parents were valiantly trying to make their way in a foreign place.
Actually, I was worried the whole time and went home around 1, and one of my homestay sisters came out on the balcony as my roommate and I walked up the drive and told me that my parents had called! and were in Merida! in their hotel! and would call me in the morning! The next day I went to their hotel, and Mike was waiting for me on a rock outside and he hugged me and then I saw my mom and she had tears in her eyes and gave me a long hug and I felt like I was home before I even set foot in the States.
Okay, okay, don't get too choked up with the cheesiness, because after a week or so playing tour guide to my parents, I was slightly less-than-thrilled to be there with them. Well, I was still having fun but man, it was taxing. Like babysitting. Except with adults, who can be way more needy than children. And seem to ask just as many unanswerable questions. Like, "Why would they not announce if the flight was going to be delayed four hours?" And "Why is there no toilet paper in public bathrooms in this damn country?" Trying not to roll my eyes, I would smile and say, "Welcome to Venezuela!" It was really Mike who had more questions, as my mom seemed much better at adjusting and picking up on Spanish. However, mostly I was really glad they could come and get a taste of my life there.
Since then, after another overnight stop in Miami, I returned to Minnesota, where, may I say, it's bloody cold. There were some major holidays in there, where I got some gifts and did some celebrating. I've seen a lot of friends, some that I hadn't seen for years, and some that I've seen more recently but still thoroughly enjoyed spending time with all of them. After Christmas and all the nut-gathering, I've been content just hibernating. Tonight I'm leaving the den to go to Reno, NV and California, to see my dad and my oldest brother, Ian, and his fam. Then it's back to Duluth in a week and a half for my last semester of college. Pretty scary.
All in all, it's been nice to get back into the ebb and flow of my life here. There are certainly things I miss about Venezuela, mostly friends and the weather, sometimes even the crazy buses or having rice every day, but I can't really say how good it feels to be home. Especially saying or thinking the words. Or typing them. I'm home!
