What I'm Going To Miss

As I write, we have only 45 days, a short five weeks and change, left living in La Hoya. Although I'm excited about the new projects and future I have waiting for me in Scotland, it's difficult to imagine leaving behind the life Becky and I have created here in La Hoya.

We'll be leaving behind friends, people we count as family, an amazing job, students and a beautiful country that has become our home.

To give you a little bit of an idea of what I'm leaving behind here's a non-comprehensive list of what I'll be missing when I go back to Scotland.

1. Playing dominoes in the shade on a rocky beach, not always losing but not always winning, with the sound of waves crashing in the distance and salt water drying in my hair.
2.  Knowing every single child I meet on the street by name, knowing their age and how they're doing in school.
3. Having a notebook full of the picture my kids draw for me.
4. Spending a handful of pesos on candy at the colmado, buying coconut cookies and watermelon flavoured gum.
5. Fried plaintains eaten under starry skies out of a plate on my lap outside on a night when there's no electricity.
6. My friends, from the school drop out who lives a few houses down to university students to a 7-year-old child to my friends at youth group.
7. Mango trees and coconut in my rice.
8. Cracking jokes with my friends in Spanish, knowing that this is my second language.
9.  The happiness of one of my students when they get a question right or suceed in something difficult. 
10. An art classroom always full of children's art and the children proud to see it up on the walls. 

My life has changed by being here.