Goodbyes

Goodbyes are the hardest part about leaving! I've had a lot of goodbyes in the past two weeks, though the hardest ones are still yet to come. There are so many people I'll miss:

- I've said goodbye to both of my tandem conversation partners. Even though the pretext was to practice Spanish and English with each other, we had so many interesting conversations about culture, politics, careers, and a million other things. I'll miss their willingness to share, their patience, and their eagerness to exchange ideas and experiences.

- I spent my last afternoon with the two little girls whom I've babysat every Tuesday afternoon this school year. Even though we've had our battles about how many chocolate bars they could eat and whether they could run around the house completely naked, I'll miss watching Disney Channel (in Spanish!), eating tortilla española for dinner, and playing hide-and-seek every single week in the park on our way home from school. I wish I could watch the little one as she grows up and the older one as she becomes even more fluent in English.

- I attended my last orchestra rehearsal… completely unsuspecting that they would throw me a surprise party afterwards! The director had created an elaborate scheme to keep it a surprise, and when I went down to the cafeteria after rehearsal, the orchestra members were all there, waiting for me, with a "Bye Bye Nora" banner and all. I couldn't believe that they would do so much for me! We ate dinner, said our goodbyes, and they all signed a little booklet and gave me a framed picture of the orchestra. All of which served to make the goodbyes even more difficult.

I'm going to miss them!!!!!!

- Worst of all will be saying goodbye to my 25 little three-year-olds and to Mireia and her family. But I'm not going to think about those yet.

Also, on a more superficial note, my monthly metro pass expired today… and this time, I'm not going to renew it. It's weird, but I've always felt a little shimmer of excitement every time I swiped my metro pass; I went through so much to get it, so it serves as a sort of reminder of how I can be independent in a new place, and it makes me feel like I actually belong in Valencia like all the other permanent metro users. So putting away my bono was yet another "last" that made me kind of sad.

However, I am getting really excited about California! The fact that I'm moving across the country becomes more real every day, and it's exciting to think about how many people I'll meet and all the adventures I'll have… it's coming up so soon!