Once again, let me say I CAN NOT BELIEVE I ONLY HAVE FEW WEEKS left here in Quito. It makes me tear up for so many reasons:

• I have come to love (and dislike at times!) this country.
• I am going back to work after one year of doing whatever I want whenever I want.
• I have to leave friends and family.
• I have to leave E. (Yes, I will see him in Europe somewhere but not on the regular!)

In order to say goodbye to Ecuador properly, I am trying to do a little traveling and see the last few parts of Ecuador that I have not yet visited. This past weekend E and I went to his hometown, Tulcán, which is way up near Colombia – only 15 minutes from the border! We visited an amazing cemetery with beautifully pruned cypress trees that form kind of labyrinth. AMAZING! We ate hornado and tripa mishqui (or tripa mishki – I’ve seen both spellings!) We went to Ipiales, Colombia for the afternoon to do a little shopping. We visited E’s old stomping grounds. It was a fantastic trip. Hopefully next week, we’ll visit a few other places!

In addition to travel, I have been doing lots of fun things before I go. I had a fancy anniversary dinner at Zazu. I took a ride in the teléferico with my friend W and went hiking for a few hours at the top. E and I attended our friend W’s graduation. It was great to see him give a creative and fun speech that celebrated his classmates and their achievement. I saw a few of the teachers with whom I worked last year. They looked so happy too!

I’ve been gathering my things that I’ve acquired over my time here and selling them on a Quito expat Facebook page. I’ve sold my iPods (older and newer), cameras, kindle, etc. Next comes the kitchen stuff and beauty stuff. It feels great to be free of the stuff but really strange and sad to know that I will not need it anymore. I’m looking forward to use the money for summer clothes. Madrid’s climate is pretty nice for quite a long time so I’m going to need to clothes for warm weather. After living in a relatively cool place, I hope I can handle the heat!

I’ve been working on math for the last few weeks and I’ve started thinking about lesson plans as well. I found out I’ll be teaching two sections of Algebra 1, Algebra 2/Trig, and IB SL year 2. I feel like a first year teacher again. I’m really excited about what lies ahead in my professional life.

I made a promise to my friend N that I will be better about blogging in Madrid. There is so much to do and see there that I hope I will have the time. I really do want to be better about it! I have enjoyed reading the blogs of those who have gone there before me! Maybe I will be an inspiration to someone else next year!