The end...

So I have started this blog as an attempt to document my experience abroad. Granted, I have 2 months (almost to the day) before I leave for Colombia, but the action will start VERY soon. I have been putting many of the preparations on the back burner. Currently am teaching and the end of the year is always loco, nevermind the fact that I have to totally pack up my classroom and my life! But, tomorrow is the last day of school here in the States for a couple years, so I have decided to sit back and enjoy it...

Thinking about it now makes me tear up a bit. I don't have kids and don't want them (yet!), but I feel like these young men and women I have been spending most of my waking hours with are my kids! I can't even fathom what love must feel like for a biological kid...Anyway, will miss the school and staff and community terribly. So much so that I can't really put it into words. I'm not even gonna try. I know the decision to teach abroad is the right one, but it doesn't make the goodbye any easier. Got some really nice letters from my kids and fellow staff members. Being 5th graders, it's hard to get them to open up, but re-reading them tonight made me feel good about what I have done these past 3 years and I know the kudos are coming from an honest and pure source...It is nice to hear it from the students themselves. Blah--enough of that!

So, if you're reading this, you've probably received a mass email from me inviting you to keep up with what I do over the next few years. A little self indulgent, I admit. However, I enjoy reading my long lost friends' blogs'---thought you all might, too! It's also a way for me to keep in contact (very passive contact) with people. I suck at making phone calls, sending emails, writing letters, etc., so this will be a way to let you all know that:
1. I think about you often
2. I am having fun
3. I have not been kidnapped by the Cartel

So, welcome to my first blog. It will be a blog of beginnings...HOW EXCITING!

Oh yeah, the school I am teaching in is located in an area of Medellin, Colombia known as "El Alto de las Palmas"...hence the title!

Love!