The week before last I got the worst news since I´ve left home. While I was away I lost my grandfather, and I found my heart broken. It was a complete shock to hear, having spoken to him and heard him laughing over the phone just four days earlier. The rest of that day I was only glad to be living on my own, as having to experience this pain in my host family's home would have felt terrible. If I could not be with my own family where I could comfort them, and they me, I wanted to be no where else at the time but locked in the cave that is my house and let my grief wash over me.
Though the heart retching pang I felt had not gone away by the next day, I tried my best to stay strong as my grandfather always did and try to go about my day as normally as possible. I went to my school where I had a meeting with all my teachers where I had to give them a short presentation. It was hard to be in that classroom, but it would have been hard to be anywhere else in the world. I knew I could not handle another night like the one before and decided to go into the capital city to be with friends when I needed the support, but still understand my need for space. It went as well as one could hope and since then I´ve been feeling a little better trying to keep busy.
And so I try to live on. My grandfather was strong and would want me to maintain so. So from here I´ll tell you all the things that have happened that would have made him laugh.
Classes started recently and traveling to my rural schools is an adventure all on its own. Walking to the bus stop with my teachers on the first day of school we got chased by a mad cow down a dirt road. Even this is nothing compared to going to my farthest school the next week. More than five miles into the trip I fell off my bicycle, and into a river. And as I lay there in the water scrambling to get back up I look behind me and there are my teachers just cackling! By the time I finally made it to the school I was still soaking wet, and my shoes were so water logged I had to spend the rest of the school day observing classes barefoot. The best part is, this was my first day at this school, and that´s how the students met me.
Te quiero mucho Abuelo. Y te extrañare.