I've been meaning to write this post for the last week and a half but have found myself far too wrapped up in being at home, catching up with people and, of course, preparing for stage 2 of the journey: Russia.
Everything came to an end all too suddenly in Spain. The last week was fantastic and was marked in a number of ways at school - from homemade brownies to posters and cards. One amazing class even learnt a song by heart in English and serenaded me with it. It got me so emotional that when it came to making a parting speech and my chance to impart some final words of wisdom upon them, I found myself, for a reason that is still unknown to me, blubbing about how they should watch Les Mis because it will help them learn English and it will touch their souls and it would make me so happy if they could love it as much as I do. I don't mind telling you I got a few blank stares for that outburst.
A lot of the kids asked if they could follow me on twitter which has resulted in the biggest boost in followers my account has ever experienced. Score. And one of my favorite students even managed a few tears. The teachers were equally lovely, all wishing me well in Russia and asking me to keep in touch. It was a very sad occasion all round and, unlikely as it may be, I'd like to think I could visit in the years to come to catch up with them all.
I spent my last evening in Gijón in the most appropriate way possible - stuffing my face full of tasty food and sidra at Tierrastur with a big group of friends. I assured myself that it would be an early night, what with having to pack the following day to leave forever. Midnight came and went and the beers were rolling and the music was bangin' but I kept telling myself that I really should make a move soon. To cut a long story short... one thing led to another and all of a sudden it was 8am and Jean and I were stumbling home to our flats, clutching our sandy belongings which we'd left on the beach before running to the sea for one last drunken dip. It was a perfect way to end the night. The way I felt when I awoke on Saturday at 3pm, still full of sidra and with packing and cleaning to be done and the small detail of a flight to catch in 6 hours however, was decidedly less-than-perfect.
And to top off the perfect last week in Gijón, this happened:
So there we have it. Spain is over. I've done a LOT of freakin' awesome stuff (I just reread some old blog posts from throughout the year and it really hit home just how much awesome stuff I've been able to do. I'm very grateful for the lot of it) and made some freakin' wonderful friends. And for many of those friends it's hopefully just 'hasta luego' instead of 'adios'. Yeah, that's cheesy. Sorry.
There'll be a period of downtime for this blog now as I travel up and down and around the country catching up with people and visiting friends but please tune back in for phase two: Ulyanovsk (you know? Ulyanovsk...? That really well-known city... you know... the one where there's... and they... ummm... right, yeah, no one's heard of it) which promises to be a voyage of fear and discovery. Gulp.
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