Exciting times! (OK, that might be an overstatement)

 The last 2 weeks have been some of the most exciting since being in quarantine, or rather “aislamiento mandatorio” for the past 5 months. For one, I got not one but TWO pieces of mail to successfully reach me from the U.S.! First piece was a credit card (shoutout to my Visa--- it made it to where I needed it to be!). The second piece was a box from Amazon though through Caribbean Shippers and it honestly felt like Christmas. Over the past 3 years I’ve had people try to send me mail that just never made it, but now, if you want, you can send it to my shipper and while I’ll have to pay a fee for it, it will make it to me!  What did I get in my Amazon box? Some new slippers-- thanks to being in the apartment for all this time, my slippers lost their softness! Some bralette tank tops because bras are so old school, haha. And then some PB2, yeast, ibuprofen (you can get it here but they’re always the individual packs with the plastic and the foil and nobody has time for that every morning), Biofreeze for my back and then some silicone measuring cups for our new hobby of making resin art. I know, very exciting stuff. 

As many of you know, we also adopted our foster dog, Paquita. I really wanted to be a good foster mom but I don’t think we did it right seeing as we couldn’t let her go! I really wanted to be strong enough to let her go and, if I’m being honest, know that I would not have to watch another pet age and all that comes with aging-- cataracts, diapers, silent pain-- but I guess that’s just something I have to accept, she’s ours and so sweet and smart and funny, so we’ll enjoy the time we have; since she came from the street, it’s hard to tell but she does have some gray around her snout and her eyes, she’s estimated to be about 6 years old.

The biggest and most awesome news was finally being notified that the NYCDOE is indeed (and in my opinion wrongly) implementing a hiring freeze for the majority of subject areas, mine included. This by itself could be very stressful, BUT, I feel hopeful that a year from now, the world and I will be in a better place and it will be less chaotic to try again and I have 11.5 years of experience, so I hope that will help me. But with everything being so unclear about what is going on in NYC schools in terms of returning to schools, safety, ventilation, I’m fine with not returning this year and it literally feels like I can breathe for the first time since March without having to take heaping gulps of air sometimes to the point of hyperventilation (though only when I’m alone). I get to try again and in the meantime live my “best [unemployed] life” here in Cartagena with my love for the rest of the year. I don’t have to worry about being in NY and not getting to see my family ever because of the possible danger I’d pose to my parents. I don’t have to worry about the fact that I’m unemployed because, thank the Lord, I have my savings which will go 3-5X as far here as it would in NY. We can live well here without depleting it, which is again, just bricks lifting from my shoulders and chest. The thought of being in NY unemployed, living in the basement of my parents house, not getting to see my fiance for an unknown amount of time is just not acceptable. I wish I could see my family though. 

In our currently abundant free time, Sam and I have collected shells from the beach and decided to turn them into coasters, so we use resin epoxy and now have a hobby that maybe we can also sell-- no one needs 100 resin coasters! I also started tutoring adults since I completed my TEFL course, so that’s something new as well. I never thought about tutoring adults before but hey, money is money/un peso es un peso and it’s that much less coming out of my US account, so why not?

So basically, for those who have been wondering and asking, this is what’s going on with me. I hope to get home before the end of the year, in fact since airlines are selling tickets without change fees, I think I’ll buy a flight in hopes of returning before the end of the year to see my friends and family whom I miss so much.