The End and the Beginning

I am writing this entry at my desk in our beautiful new apartment. Yes, we finally moved. It only took 12 hours yesterday to move everything, but we are more or less settled in now.

I cannot believe though how quiet and spacious this neighborhood is. Just like any other person living in L.A., I have a love-hate relationship with the city. I love the diversity, but I do not like the self-absorbed and sometimes biased people. I love driving, but I hate the traffic. Here, people smile and seem genuinely interested in the conversation you are having. I was eating some zucchini fritti today and somebody came over and asked me if I ever tried that with ranch. She loved it and wanted me to try it as well. She would never go back to marinara, she added. I was very pleasantly surprised by both the lady and the zucchini-ranch combination. So far, I love this place.

Friday turned out to be a very emotional and surprising day. It was my last day at work, and although I knew people saw me as a fun but fair boss and co-worker, I did not expect them to actually be sorry to see me leave. They went all out, got me a cake, a laptop bag all decked out with everything I need for school, including an organizer with everybody’s contact information so that I “have to keep in touch”. Also – and this was the cherry on top – they gave me a photo album with everybody’s picture, pictures from different events we organized and went to, as well as pictures of some of our students. I was so touched! I admit, I even teared up.

It is strange how life works. The end to something means the beginning of something else, pain becomes joy, and the unknown can become very exciting. I am usually very nervous at the end of a journey, because I do not know what to expect. For the first time, I am not really sure what lies before me, but I cannot wait to find out. It is a good kind of anxiety. I am ready to find out where this journey takes me. And it all begins in a few days!