Friday Afternoons

My second joy of this blog is Friday afternoons which turn into Friday nights, and early Saturday mornings. One of the greatest joys of my week is getting lunch and drinks with a few girlfriends after work on Fridays and just chatting about everything. It's weird, but I think I'm even picking up on their mannerisms and different ways of speaking because it's been a while since I've had such good conversations and just really enjoyed my time with people. Some Fridays we go the quesadilla place around the corner from my metro stop (Chapultepec)...soooo good! And then we go to my apartment and have some beers. Other times we go to cute little restaurants and have drinks and snacks. Last night we went to Lizzie's newly remodeled house. It's so cute! It makes me excited to have my own little spot someday. She made some delicious food, the best I've had in a long time (Moroccan stew mmm) and the five of us had some great conversations. Although, lately I've been suffering from verbal diarrhea and just saying whatever pops into my head. Hopefully they enjoy my company as much as I enjoy theirs! So, joy number 2: Great company, food and drinks on Friday afternoons.

Joys

Interesting how things can just work out sometimes. Things are going well here in DF, the job is good, friends are great, and I am really enjoying my last few months in Mexico. Coming back after Winter break was hard. Michigan used to shock me, make me feel uncomfortable and weird in a place I had once called home. But things have changed now, and I really feel ready to move back and buy a dresser with enough drawers that I don't have to live out of a suitcase. I guess I'm just ready to start something new. It's funny that now that I will have a teaching degree, master's degree, and enough experience that I could teach basically anywhere in the world (which was the original goal), now I just want to go home. Of course, this change does have to do with a certain someone, but it also has to do with everything. I miss my family, and I am tired of missing the important things that are happening with the people I really care about.
So coming back to Mexico in January was a trial. And I am still working on staying positive. I have a new friend who came to Mexico from Canada. She didn't love DF at first, and she's still adjusting, but she told me something that is making my time here so much more enjoyable. She told me that when she first came to Mexico, really she just missed her little everyday "joys." She used to get great coffee on her way to work, and she loved being able to go to craft stores and get anything she wanted. And at first, she couldn't find any joys in Mexico and could only focus on what she had lost. But eventually she started finding her little joys. The things you focus on so that the bad doesn't seem so bad. For her it's the hamburger stand in her neighborhood and the cheesebuns at the bakery across the street. So I started noticing things. Joys that I will miss when I leave Mexico. And really, I have so so many joys in my life. I realized that I need to stop ignoring joy when it's right in front of me. So from now on (and I'm going to try to stick with this blog a little better, I know I'm terrible) I am going to try to focus on my joys for the last 4.3 months I have left in this beautiful, crazy, and unique country. I sound very optimistic don't I?

Well, here is my first joy:

Long distance relationships are not always fun. I am learning this through my relationship with Matt. Michigan has never felt so far away. But, it is completely and totally worth it and I don't even consider giving up for a second. So, while there are many drawbacks of having a long distance relationship, there are some good things. Here is a lovely photo of the wonderful long distance flowers that Matt sent to my school for Valentine's Day. He suffered through language barriers and figuring out crazy Mexican addresses to get them to me. While of course I would rather be able to actually spend Valentine's Day with him, I'm thinking that this time apart will make us appreciate each other more. I know it made me appreciate the flowers more.

So ta da. Joy #1: Long distance presents.