when a door shuts, a window opens

I've been back in Minnesota for a few days now but I thought I should formally wrap up my blog. It was tough saying goodbye to the friends that I had made as well as the family I already had. The trip to the airport was quite eventful since the secure taxi I had arranged didn't show. Luckily Rossi was able to flag down another and we were off. After sitting on the plane in Lima for 3 hours, it became apparent that I was not going to make my connection in Miami. The Doubletree that I got put up in was nice and I had the whole city at my fingertips! I finally arrived in Minneapolis Friday afternoon, 15 hours after my original flight had landed. It was nice to be home, except for the immediate trip to renew my drivers license. Three hours later I was back at the airport to eat supper with my brother who had a 2 hour layover. I think I've spent enough time there to last for awhile.

I was able to see a couple of friends from high school in between re-packing sessions. After 3 days I headed up to Portuguese camp here in Callaway. I'm still not used to speaking English all the time yet, but Portuguese is even more confusing. At the same time, I can't think of a better job right now than one that requires me to be at the beach all afternoon :) Even though I miss my friends and family in Peru, I am glad to see my camp family and to get back to some of my usual summer adventures. Not to mention my Portuguese is starting to come back to me!

Designated Family Day

Sunday used to be the day where the entire family would get together, eat a home cooked lunch and enjoy the company. While the tradition may have changed a little, I still see my families on Sundays. Weekly softball games mean that Sunday mornings are spent singing duets, begging for pizza, and occasionally tossing around a leather bound sphere of yarn. Today was our last game and it was no exception. It was also Gaby's birthday so we celebrated afterwards with Inka Kola, cake, chips, candy, and more chips. I could think of nothing better to do in Lima at 9am every morning than spending three hours with my crazy team.

Sundays also mean lunch with Mama Olga, my adopted Peruvian grandma. Her daughter and grandson were visiting from Florida. Colin is obsessed with soccer so we watched the double overtime between Spain and Holland followed by a ball game that I'm still not sure whether or not he invented . . . It was nice to get to see Mama Olga one more time before I head back.

The combi only took half an hour to get me back to San Miguel so I had some time to finally skype home for an hour. A mini family reunion via the computer was a nice way to end the day, although I wish it hadn't ended with them telling me to start packing . . . I'm beginning to realize that packing is a lot harder without a mom there to help :/