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.
- 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.
- Knowing every single child I meet on the street by name, knowing their age and how they're doing in school.
- Having a notebook full of the picture my kids draw for me.
- Spending a handful of pesos on candy at the colmado, buying coconut cookies and watermelon flavoured gum.
- Fried plaintains eaten under starry skies out of a plate on my lap outside on a night when there's no electricity.
- 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.
- Mango trees and coconut in my rice.
- Cracking jokes with my friends in Spanish, knowing that this is my second language.
- The happiness of one of my students when they get a question right or suceed in something difficult.
- An art classroom always full of children's art and the children proud to see it up on the walls.
