It's been a while since writing and the past two weeks have been mainly filled with sharing time between visiting my old primary schools from last year, Vicente Medina in Azarbe and Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles in El Esparragal. Despite a seven month gap since last working as an English Language Assistent the friendships and bonds created between myself and the people in those schools haven't felt the strain of long distance. It's been uplifting to be back in the classroom, and after only revisiting each primary school a handful of times during this vacation a strong desire to return to Murcia has started to circulate in my mind. Seeing kids wanting to learn English and more importantly being excited to have their old teacher back has given me inspiration to pursue this route further.
Outside of school I've been reconnecting with friends from last year. Going on a "Ruta de Tapa," having coffee at Ficciones, catching a show at Revolver, walks along the Segura River, and trying out previously unfrequented bars like Tremolo, Cafe Zalacaín, and El Ahorcado Feliz have been some of the activities undertaken since coming back to Murcia. A large number of English teacher friends from last year didn't come back for a second contract in Murcia. Despite a lack of familiar faces, some really great people are still here and it's been truly great to spend at least a little bit of time with them again. More friends gained through intercambios are still either in Murcia or in El Esparragal which has been nice as well. Lieven and Claudia, Lola, Jesus, Lorena, Laura, Zaimi, Charo, David, Sarah, Gretchen and Lindsey are a few close friends who are fortunately still here and I feel very luckily to have seen them.
One of the biggest highlights of this trip was a reunion of what a select few used to call "The Best House in Murcia." This group consisted of Lola, myself, and our friend Lucia who is currently working in Limerick, Ireland. The three of us lived together most of last year and we hadn't been in the same place since parting ways at a bus station in June. We gave our house that unofficial title and maintained contact through a whatsapp group with the same name. Last weekend Lola, her friend Manuela, and myself booked a plane to Dublin, Ireland then rented a car to go visit Lucia in Limerick.
The time together was for only three days, however we managed to visit some really interesting places like the Cliffs of Moher, Lahinch Beach, Galway's Latin Quarter for seafood, Gleudalough, a roadside cabin-style restaurant for Irish Coffees, listened to Celtic music at pubs while have some necessary Guinness', and exploring Limerick's dance scene at Nancy's during a causally rain soaked evening.
It was great to see Lucia and having "The Best House" together in a different place outside of Murcia was special. This world we live in is huge, yet at the same time it can feel ever so small. I don't know when we will all be together again, perhaps in Lola's house or maybe in a pub drinking a dark tinted beer at a still completely unknown location. I'm not worried about it because deep down I know we will meet again, someway and somewhere.
This blog post started with tea at Haskell and it's about to end with an Alhambra beer at Cafe Ficciones. In a few minutes I'm about to meet up with some friends to get tapas in a nearby plaza, chat in English, then give a round of hugs...of farewell.
In two days I'm leaving Murcia and in less than a week I'll be back home. The trip that started on December 29th, 2015 is about be given a toast of completion on February 16th, 2016. I'm grateful for this experience but equally as excited to be making a return to the Bay Area. To anyone from home who is reading this we should definitely make plans to hang out!
More updates are coming soon, enjoy your day and more importantly enjoy being you.
Cheers.
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