It's still raining t-shirts...and goodbyes!

I meant to not update this again until I was actually "on the ground," as some of the Fulbright people put it, but too much is going to happen... We'll see how much time I have to update.  I want pictures on here, but of course have all the wrong cards and cords, etc.

Dinner with the Mulloys and Prathers (my friend Emily from GSP and her husband and sisters) was amazing.  We ate at Mama Mia's which is by the gas station on Harding and 65 and is really yummy.  It's small and always understaffed, so we got two full hours of pre-Mexico quality time.  It got to be a bit long and painful, but the company was great as usual.

From there I weighed my bags and realized that one bag is 60 pounds with lots of space left, so going to have to make some changes!

Friday morning, I "slept in" again (until 9 when my alarm did wake me this time).  I got going on my plans for the day.  Shower, load up my car with educational boxes to be mailed to Mexico (95 degree day totally negated my shower!), pick up last minute craft necessities from walmart for last minute books I bought on Thursday, drop car off at Firestone for pre-storage oil change, and wait on Leslie to pick me up for our lunch.  The Firestone people at 11:15 guessed it would be 2:00 before my car was ready, which was disheartening, but what was I going to do?  Leslie came by to pick me up and we went to Puffy Muffin in Brentwood.  I had a salad (which I'd wanted/needed at Zoe's on Thursday, but went for a quesadilla instead and was really thankful for the lettuce!).  We had plenty to talk about as usual, even though we had just been together the week before at Jenna's shindig.  Speaking of Jenna, I was on the phone with her while at Walmart (no easy task these days for me to multi-task...used to be the queen of, now can't handle so much), and could NOT find the chenille sticks (aka pipe cleaners).  I walked the circumference, diameter, and every other surface of the store and couldn't find them because they're with the fabric.  But aha! this Walmart (as well as many others apparently) no longer has a fabric area.  I asked for help from a woman with unfortunate bangs and continued my convo with Jenna.

Back to lunch with Leslie.  It was fun, we had a ball as usual, and she offered her intent to give me a phone card, which I explained was thoughtful, but not necessary.  So she bought me lunch instead.  I dealt with that for sure.

When she dropped me off at 12:30, miraculously my car was already ready!  I headed to East Nashville to get just a few more things and to pack and wrap and address and mail my packages.

It was at least a million degrees in the lounge and I didn't want to bother Yuri while she was teaching, so I sweated it out.

I got out of these just as the early-bird parents were forming a line to pick up their children.  Luckily I did not get blocked in.  I would've been a bit fuming.

I went to the post office and only spent 30 bucks on four boxes of shipping.  I thought it would be more, so I was thankful...and I think I'll be reimbursed...?

I went home and was hot and tired and not feeling so good and just chilled on the couch.  I was meeting the teachers at the Wildhorse at 7.  At 6:45, as Ashley and I are making our way downtown, I get a call from Sophia (3rd grade) who is with Yuri in line at the Wildhorse.  Well, there's never a line unless there's a concert and when there's a concert there are no lessons and it's more than 3 dollars to get in.

So, I was crushed, disappointed, sad, etc.  I texted everyone to meet at Big River instead.  We had a great time.  We had seats at a bar-type situation.  Not the bar, but similar, so we could order when we got there, didn't feel guilty for taking a table, etc.  It was a big crowd and I was glad to see everyone!  We were there for a while and I decided we should go to The Big Bang, a piano bar; I'd never been and what better time then before I left for a year?!  I'd always heard it was super-fun, and that it was.  There were plenty of people I knew there (aside from our 10+ crowd of teachers), and they played great song after great song and never took a break. So fun.

There was a party of a gazillion there for Ron's birthday.  I don't know Ron, but his whole posse had t-shirts that said "Seriously..." on the front, and "it's Ron's 50th birthday" on the back.  

Of course, upon entry, after getting us 4 or 6 free passes, Scruggs is on a mission to:

1. Find Ron

2. Make sure he knows we're there and that we're teachers

3. Get a shirt

Check.

Check.

Check.

I have been her summer mission.  She is bound and determined to get me a boyfriend.  Didn't work this summer, but she kept me busy meetin' and greetin'.  All I have to say is, look out Casey Bateman...you may be her new project!   She kept up her intent last night, and by the end of the night, she had a t-shirt that she gave to me.  Be on the lookout for pictures.  

Today is a low key day, and since it's going to rain, I won't be washing my car until tonight or tomorrow afternoon.  I am keeping my new babysitting family that I love, the Hartmans.  It'll be the last time until summer.  

SO WEIRD!

As it gets closer and I keep saying my goodbyes, they don't seem like goodbyes because there are still x days until departure.  But the closer I get, the more real it becomes.  T-4 days and it will be as real as can be!