The Fun Doesn't Stop When the Vacation Ends

Home sweet Caracas home!  My mother would disagree with this statement. Home, she said, is ALWAYS where your mother is!  :)

Seriously though, it's great to be back in Caracas.  I am, deep down, a habitual creature and I was so relieved to get back on my normal schedule. And so happy to see my friends!  I missed them, particularly mi novio!  Ivan was kind enough to pick me up at the airport at six in the morning, after he had just arrived from Spain a mere 12 hours earlier.  He was there on time, with a smile on his face and a rose in his hand. That, my friends, is a how you make a very happy girl. 

So I got home and promptly slept the entire day, then spent half the night unpacking my goodies. Ivan probably thought I was crazy, though he was nice enough to not say anything.  I came back with the most random assortment of American knick knacks. Pens with feathers, fancy soap, peanut butter, red sequin slippers, whiskey, a bath mat, a baseball mitt, an arsenal of creams, washes, and glosses, and most troublesome to Ivan, multiple packages of dried mangos.  The ensuing conversation looked something like this:

Ivan: Tracey! Mangos??!?! Those are free here!  Literally, they rot on the trees because no one wants them, except you apparently!  You brought DRIED MANGOS when you could get fresh ones LITERALLY EVERYWHERE????

Tracey: But these are from TRADER JOES.

Ivan: :::Blank Stare:::

Tracey: TRADER JOES!!!!!

After unpacking, I pretty much slept the rest of the weekend. It was recovery time from my whirlwind of travel.  On Saturday afternoon, we did visit a very cool park in northeastern Caracas that was about as random as my suitcase contents.  Along with normal park things like grassy knolls, lakes, tennis courts, and couples making out everywhere, this park had a full replica wooden ship from the 1600's, crocodiles, monkeys, a planetarium, and the largest bird I had ever seen. Ivan said this same bird tried to eat his sister when she was a baby, which I would not only believe, given it's size, but also shocked me, as it then became both the largest and oldest bird I had ever seen (Ivan's sister is 29).

After the park, we searched in vain for the 37th time for beer, but found that most everything was still closed or sold out of things.  As the week has continued, I realize that the rest of Caracas is most definitely still on vacation. Lame.  But anyways, Ivan and I were able to string together enough stuff to make cheeseburgers, because having just come back from the states, that was the ONLY THING I WANTED TO EAT LIKE EVER AGAIN.  And those burgers were outrageously good, and went well with the whiskey I brought, since that quickly became our only booze option in all of Caracas.

This first week back to school has been remarkably smooth, probably because half our students are apparently also still on vacation.  I've been crazy busy working on some big projects, but it's nice to be using my brainpower again.  I have, however, noticed that my 10 hours of hard thought is taking a toll on my eyes- by the end of the day, I can barely see what's across the room my eyes are so tired.  My eyes have now fallen into a category of other things on my body, including my calf muscles, my all of my hair and my feet.  When things about my body change, I play a game called "Caracas or Thirty". Is this thing changing because I am in a new strange place or because I am getting F'ing old? Are my eyes getting tired because I am old or because I have a terrible Venezuelan bacteria in my retinas? Are my hair and eyelashes falling out because I am getting old or because the water here is chock full of hair eating parasites? Is the skin on my feet molting like a snake because it's old or because I have Venezuelan Leprosy? Are my calves super tight because I am a lazy ass sedentary old person or because I am about to die of some paralytic Venezuelan virus that starts with the calves? This, as you can imagine, is an incredibly fun and imaginative game that usually ends with me trying to read WebMd in Spanish.  In all seriousness though, these changes don't phase me in the least- in fact, for every random thing my body does that is less-than-exciting, it does something else super cool. For example, I sleep SO GOOD here.  UNMEDICATED. Like, holy crap.  I also lose weight without trying. I can go bald and blind but I will be skinny dammit!  For every time God closes a door, he opens a window:).

So in conclusion, being home for Christmas was amazing.  Seeing friends and family was just what I needed.  And all my previous concerns were misguided.  I had a great time with no emotional baggage either in the States or coming back.  And, I got to eat so much Chic-Fil-A! I couldn't be happier both with my trip and with coming home. I tell you what, I am BLESSED.  Even if I am going bald!