Tuesday, July 31, 2007

This is it...

our last night in our home for a while. Tomorrow, August 1, early evening we head for an airport hotel to stay 2 nights. I'll return Thursday to drop off the carseats and collect the remaining luggage, do the final shut down of the condo, drive back to the airport, turn in the rental car and join G. C. and E. for our final night in the U.S. Then, on August 3, we have a morning flight to Chicago, connect to Shanghai and arrive August 4 in the mid-afternoon.

This part of moving overseas always gets to me - excited that a new world of adventures lie ahead, combined with a shadow of doubt (fear) whispering "What am I doing???" But I look back on the Brazil days (20 years ago!) and can't imagine my life without that experience. There is a group of us that still communicate regularly and share a special bond. That is where I decided to go into language teaching. Having a teaching degree in English as Second Language (ESL) and Spanish opened so many doors for me. Then there's the Chile experience. Meeting and marrying G. (the most wonderful man), returning to the US with him, then adopting C. and E. from Guatemala. Not being Mom to the best kids in the world?? To think I would have missed all that if I had decided not to go (i.e. chickened out) to Chile! Now, the next chapter. Questions that will soon have (some) answers. I'm glad this family has the traveler's spirit. Onward...

A.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have a safe trip to China.
We'll all be waiting for the
first edition of your daily
adventures in China.
A fellow teacher in USA

Anonymous said...

Have a safe and uneventful trip to China. Looking so forward to following your families adventures. Best of Luck!

Amy

Anonymous said...

All of you have been in my thoughts these past couple of days. Hope the flight was uneventful and that you are now in Shanghai. Looking forward to your next posting.

LOL
Marietta

Anonymous said...

Are you settled in yet?
How was the flight?
a friend

Stephanie said...

Hi Aunt Ann, Tio Gustavo, Carlos and Elena,

Hope you had a safe flight!!

Miss you!!

Anonymous said...

Ojala suban mas fotos, espero con ansias sus nuevas experiencias en el continente asiatico, ya que algún dia también me embarcaré en esa aventura.chao

Leticia Godoy said...

Hi aunt Ann, Gustavo, CArlos and Elena...

Here a little present...

Twenty Love Poems: And a Song of Despair

PABLO NERUDA (chileno)

POEM # 20

Tonight I Can Write
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
Write, for example, "The night is starry
and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance."
The night wind revolves in the sky and sings.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.
Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.
I kissed her again and again under the endless sky.
She loved me, sometimes I loved her too.
How could one not have loved her great still eyes.
Tonight I can write the saddest lines.
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.
To hear the immense night, still more immense without her.
And the verse falls to the soul like dew to the pasture.
What does it matter that my love could not keep her.
The night is starry and she is not with me.
This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance.
My soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
My sight tries to find her as though to bring her closer.
My heart looks for her, and she is not with me.
The same night whitening the same trees.
We, of that time, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her.
My voice tried to find the wind to touch her hearing.
Another's. She will be another's. As she was before my kisses.
Her voice, her bright body. Her infinite eyes.
I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms
my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.
Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer
and these the last verses that I write for her.

BYE- BYE SEE YOU SOON ¡¡¡