Are you back?

Some people still ask me where in the world I am. Many times I wonder myself:  when I suddenly doubt which side of the road I should be riding my bike on; when I look for the light switch on the outside wall of the bathroom; or when I temporarily forget what is outside of my home (I can go downstairs to the Family Mart around the corner. Oh! Wait! That was in Phuket). I guess this is normal when one lives in four countries in the course of six months.

I thought that I would stop writing this blog once I returned to Washington, DC. Yet, I have been back for four months and I still feel identified by the tittle “The Impermanent Resident”. I have the feeling that only part of me has come back. The rest is scattered around: at the Dayananda Ashram’s patio, contemplating the Ganges; on Rang Hill, where the monkeys steal from me while I do yoga and the sun splashes pink on the sky’s canvas; on my grandma’s hands, so tiny and so full of love; in the eyes of friends, people in the trains, lovers that never happened, curious children, the markets attendants, the cities passersby…

“Flor, are you back in DC?”

Am I?

Well, I have been trying to put myself together, finding ways to become busy and seeing people that know me, so that maybe they can regroup me.

So yes, in a way I am back in my old condo in the quiet side of Adams Morgan, just behind the zoo, from where I hear the lion roar. I have worked at a restaurant, just for the money and against my beliefs. Until the last week I worked at a summer school in Mundo Verde, an environmental charter school. Tomorrow I start a new job at a Montessori school, where I will be working with pre-kinder kids. I am also trying to start teaching yoga, so that I can share the wonderful things I learned in India and in the last years of practice. 

I started riding my bike again, after two years, and I sometimes cook meals that are too complex to be made in a rice cooker.

I miss too many people, but also my heart is full of pieces of those who have touched my life. My heart has expanded with my travel experiences and with the love of many.

So, here I am. For now.

U Street & 15th - Washington DC