November 10, 2002

"At home in Mexico"

It is great to be back home! Traveling is nice, but there’s nothing like sleeping in my hammock, having my mom-away-from-home ask me if I want more tortillas with lunch, talking about my day with my family or complaining about el calor que hace with everyone who comes into the house.

It was such a great feeling when my mom told me that everyone missed me, and I must say, I missed my family too. After living here for two months, I feel like I finally belong. Just the other day, a woman asked me where she should take the bus to go to El Centro; I’m usually the person asking for directions to such-and-such place or whether I’m in the correct line for the bus. I’ve even got the hang for judging whether I can cross safely in the face of oncoming traffic or not.

Others in the group are succumbing to this feeling of belonging here as well. Lindsay Stoess remarked that she had told her mom (the one in the U.S.) that she couldn’t wait to get home, meaning Merida, and found that she really did think of Merida as her home. Unfortunately, the days are flying by and in a few weeks, we’ll have to leave “home” again and return to the United States.