After putting it off for 2 months, here is the end to my sweeping saga, my grande finale...
Enjoy.
Friday, 17th
Today was a day of packing up, checking baggage weight
limits, gathering a month’s worth of my life and packaging it up to get ready
and leave again. Considering the fact that when I arrived I had a backpack with
my month in it and now I had a whole suitcase, well, it’s impressive but a good
part of it is presents for other people.
All I have left is my clothes and a few things and I'm
ready to be on my way.
Saturday, 18th
And so, my last full day in France began. The weighing of
baggage, the buying of certain French cheese for a certain someone,
coughDadcough, and making sure presents were packed, clothes were gathered, and
personal items were pulled out from under the bed, and the room was double
checked to make sure nothing was forgotten. The day went by far too fast, and
evening came. I took Ginette and Jean Luc out for dinner, to say thank you for
everything they had done for me in the past month. Funny thing, they chose the
restaurant, somewhere they hadn’t been before; a hip new place that had been
recommended, which turned out to be a bagel bistro. It wasn’t half bad either,
but definitely not what they’d expected. Sitting in the crowded, noisy
restaurant/bistro, I sat and thought about the past month and everything I had
experienced in it. The camping trip to the coast, the excursion north to
Bretagne, to school, my friends coming to visit, and finally, just the day to
day life of living in France, and how
grateful I was to get the opportunity to have those memories, and enjoy them as
much as I do and did. I went to bed happy and excited for the morning.
Sunday, 19th November
The last breakfast at the glass table, the last pop that
announced the toast from the yellow toaster, the last muted chatter of the
morning radio station, the last chill from the outside, fighting the radiator’s
for dominance. The last of many things, but then again, the beginning of many
other things.
The bags were all loaded up, the weight precisely
measured, the room swept one more time to be sure everything was recovered. I
stood in the hallway that I’d walked through countless times over the last
month and silently said goodbye. Much as I was excited to return to Portugal
and my family, a part of me also wished I could stay longer, a month, two
months, who knows? But mostly I was glad, to have learned as much as I did. My
French language speaking improved so much in one month I cant even imagine how
well I could do in a six month span, or even a year. The car ride was silent,
mixed emotions in the air. Jean Luc dropped Ginette and I, and went to park the
car. I got my bag checked at precisely 20 kg, yay me, and we regrouped on the
escalator up to security. There we said goodbye, and after being hugged gruffly
by Jean Luc and teary eyed by Ginette, I was on my way. The line moved fast and
I was through and off to my boarding gate to await my flight. My flight was pleasant enough in that I had
plenty of legroom, sitting just behind the emergency exits, and wonderful views
of snowy mountains and flat calm seas, but a lady had a very small, very
nervous dog that did not like the plane at all and yapped at a very high pitch
which triggered a headache for me. I managed to sleep for 45 minutes and only
woke when we began our descent into Lisbon. The baggage was late to the
carousel so by the time I had everything and was in a taxi on the way to the
bus station, I knew I was going to miss the 2 o clock bus down to Portimao. I
was right, of course, and spent an hour in the station, during which time I ate
my sandwich whilst being hungrily stalked by pigeons who looked like they might
beat me up for a crumb.
I caught the 3.15 bus, and made it to Portimao at 6.30,
already dark skies. My brother tried to pretend they weren’t going to show up,
but I know him better then that so I wasn’t surprised when he tried to jump out
from behind the bus stop. We loaded up my bag into our friend Martin’s car, and
went to the nearby supermarket for dinner.
Finally I was home, at least my home that I’d lived in longest,
Abracadabra, my water house, now high and dry, all hauled out and ready to be
cleaned up and put back in. After one month of living with people who I barely
knew, to feeling as comfortable with them as my own family, after flinging
myself so far out of my comfort zone(which is saying a lot, considering my life
up till now), after all that, I look back now and think, do I regret it? If I
could, would I change anything? And I don’t even have to think about my answer:
Not a chance, it was one of the most interesting, most
fun, amazing experiences and I’m so glad I could share it with you!
I’d like to thank Ginette and Jean Luc, for hosting me
and putting up with me for a month, you are such kind, generous and loving
people, to invite a non family member to live with you, in your house for such
a long period of time, wow, I’m truly grateful.
To my parents, who allowed me this opportunity, to spread
my wings and fly the coop, as it were: Thank you for this, I love you guys.
To the Baldran family for making such an effort to come
visit me, you guys are stars, and I hope to see you again soon.
To my friends and family, who passed on the good wishes
and messages, thank you so much, its always nice to receive them.
That’s all from this end, thanks for reading and Bonne
Nuit!
