Under the Radar

Yes I am "home". But you might now know it because we're been Under the Radar, not visible, staying hidden, keeping quiet...whatever term you want to use.

We've been here for three days and except for a morning trip to my favorite coffee spot in PR, I have stayed safe and sound at PapaCBs house about one hour away. No running down mainstreet PR knocking on all doors, no talking on the phone for hours, no purchases of mass quantites at the local liquor store...just quietly and contently with my boys--David, PapaCB, Uncle Doug AND my dog Angel (I had to go get her!)
.

Anna is somewhere.. well I know where she is, she's re-connecting with friends. Having a great time, although I did catch her facebook entry yesterday saying "I'm sooo bored". I think her friends are working. Ah, the highs and lows of teenage life.

I guess I'm surprising myself. It's weird, this is something (being home) I wanted for so long, and now that I'm here, I am just content without need for fanfare.

Maybe it's jetlag. I am still taking naps at odd times of day (at least for Central Standard Time). Maybe it's fear that if I party too hard I'll wake up and I'll still be back in the desert! Maybe it's maturity (oh that made even me laugh!)

Whatever it is, it's all good. At least for now.

Tomorrow we head back to our lil town with a cement pelican in the middle. We'll see friends and start to tell the stories of our past year. We're been "warned" by other international teachers that people will want to listen for about 20 minutes and then, (as we were told) "you'll see their eyes glaze over and you know you've lost them". I can sort of understand that, it's so different where we live our lives now, it would be hard to relate.

When I first started my relationship with David, he would come out with statements like "when we went to Russia for Christmas" or "when we were in 5th grade we took a cruise around Spain"...and I would either want to barf or tell him that he was being "snooty". There was no way I could relate to that...well, I guess MY 6th grade class trip to St. Paul WAS a highlight!

Now I realize that he wasn't trying to be a snob, it was just his reality. Two weeks ago I had a pedicure (that's another story) with three fabulous women and we had all been to Australis at various times in our lives and we were talking about it as if we had just gone down the road. I had one of those surreal moments when I took myself our of the conversation and listened to what was being said and thought
" Wow Nadine, you aren't from the farm anymore!"

But I am. Deep down, I am still shaking my head at the knowledge that I survived a year in a completely foreign country. On the last day of school, a couple of the newbies (Formerly new teachers, now we've got experience!) were talking and we would look at each other and just say "Can you believe we did this?" Which was quickly followed by a shout of "WE ARE GOING HOME
TODAY"

From the sounds of this entry, I must still be on the plane because I'm zooming all over the place. Please be patient with me and if you don't see me, don't panic. I'm okay I'm just taking time re-entering.

OR maybe it's the affects of ham and beer that have gotten into my deprived system!