¡Feliz Abril, todos! I just finished a little Fort Collins
‘Tour de Starbucks’ with my friend Sarah from work and am a little jittery from
all of the caffeine, so I guess this is as good a time as any to get caught up
on the blog. Eight Starbucks in four hours. It was a lot of fun and a great way
to get to see some new parts of FoCo!
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| Enjoying some St. Patty's Day beer in downtown FoCo with Sabrina when she was visiting from Omaha. |
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| Views like this have made marathon training a lot easier. Things are going well, and I worked up to 16 miles this week! |
A good, quick way to describe the last month would probably
be ‘checking things off the bucket list.’ Kelsey and I are both pretty into
those lists, and we push each other to take advantage of opportunities and pursue the
random things we want to do. So, in the last month I have learned how to play
chess (I’m not great yet, but let me know if you want to play sometime!), read
the Great Gatsby and started the Harry Potter series in Spanish,
continued learning more about wines and coffees, memorized some new recipes,
enjoyed the best day of skiing I have ever had, and bought Groupons (no turning
back now!) to go skydiving over the Rockies and ride in a hot air balloon. I am
challenging myself to get the most I can out of the coming months and
appreciate each moment.
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| Skiing at Copper Mountain on fresh powder...perfect! |
Moving around so much in the past year has taught me a lot
of things…and one of those things is that it takes me around two months to
start feeling ‘at home’ in a place. I am thinking of developing this into a
theory (my methods of personal observation are super scientific, I know!), as
it has once again been the case here in Fort Collins. In late March, I had one
of those ‘aha’ moments where I stopped long enough to realize that I had
reached a milestone here in Colorado: I felt at home. I was used to the routine
of getting up for an early-morning workout, going to work, and then coming home
to cook dinner and hang out with Kelsey and friends. I had developed some
meaningful friendships. I knew what streets to take and how to get around town.
I even started to appreciate beer more (which is a big deal since there are
seriously at least a dozen breweries here).
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| I went to my first Starbucks employee forum this week. It has been great learning more about the company and meeting people! |
I am realizing more each day – through work, through
adjusting back to life in the States, and through the challenges that come with
everyday life – the importance of adapting to change and channeling uncertainty
and frustration into something positive. I still walk through supermarkets and
get overwhelmed by the amount of goods we have available to us compared to
people living in other parts of the world, and there are days when I am blown
away by being able to drive a dependable car on a flat, smooth road. Change, especially from one lifestyle to another in a short amount of time, can be
incredibly difficult. In those times, I realize just how much living in
Guatemala has changed me. I am determined to use those small daily reminders to help
me count my blessings and push me forward as I work to continue becoming a
person who serves with and for others.
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| I made it home for Easter and was able to see a lot of my family as well as some friends in Omaha...it was great! |
I hope you are doing well and that the last few weeks have
been great. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers as we move full-bore
into springtime. Te extraño y te quiero!
Paz,
Nico
