Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Arriving Home

The smell of moist air brought my heart back to several different places, including Seattle, Albania, and Florence.  It is amazing how, after spending 10 months abroad, home is something so transient for me.  Stepping out of the car, after traveling for nearly 24 hours, morning air scented with dew hit my nose and I knew I was home.  The idea of home is an interesting one to me, especially because anytime that I travel and live in a place for more than three weeks, I begin to call it home.  Waiting in the Newark International Airport for my flight to Paris to depart, I overheard two African men (I am unsure as to which country they were from in Africa, sorry) discussing how excited they were to be going home.  Each man had lived in the US for more than 5 years and both were speaking on how, even after living in the States for so long, they always felt like they were truly going home when traveling to Africa.  I don't seem to have these feelings when I travel back to, what most people would consider, my home.  The feelings are more that I am moving from one home to another.  And I truly enjoy this fact.  To be able to move from one place to the next and connect with it in such a way that I do not feel without place is a huge blessing.  I am thankful for my transient version of home.

My new home is lovely.  And oh so very European.  It has three floors and a basement, and yet feels relatively small because it's width and length are small in comparison to it's height.  It's height isn't even that great, but the Europeans know how to build efficiently so that all space is used effectively.  The floors are all wooden and all the toilets have two buttons for flushing, one for number one and one for number two.  I am currently staying in Melis', the youngest daughter, room until Maggie, their current au pair, travels back to Germany in about a month.  The girls are so sweet.  Aylin is the eldest and has the most charming smile.  She reminds me so much of my niece, Vashti.  I have already been learning German from everyone in the home.  This evening, during supper, we were speaking in English, German, French, Italian, Turkish, and Albanian.  My heart couldn't have been happier.

We also played pantomime at the table after we were mostly done eating.  The girls are so creative and it was a lot of fun. 

Have you ever noticed how some homes, or places, have an 'at rest' feel to them?  While other homes feel depressed, chaotic, or just plain uncomfortable?  Well, I must say that upon walking into Demet and Roland's home, I felt at rest.  The home is peaceful, nurturing, and content.  I could not have asked for a better family to live with and work for.

I am focusing for this first month on learning German, which I have a feeling I will pick up quiet quickly seeing that the girls speak hardly any English.  They have both already decided that they will spend one hour a day teaching me German.  Which I love.  I truly am not worried about learning German.  My goal after getting a good working knowledge of German is to tackle the beast of finding friends who can only speak French  with me.  And then also keeping up my Italian.  Because I love my Italian.

It is time for me to go to bed so I can get into the time zone here.  Gute nacht, naten e mire, bonne nuit, buonanotte, and good night!

2 comments:

  1. parli con mi in italiano, cara! devo practicare piu' :)

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  2. Bonne chance, petite soeur. Avoir du plaisir. =D

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