leaving Santa Fe, arriving Gothenburg

Even after 5 years and a dozen or more trips, I still get giddy when I land in a foreign airport. It's pretty amazing that me, raised in the Little Havana part of Miami, is walking in Schiphol airport or landing in Cape Town. Growing up these were exotic places, and now I have some familiarity with both.

From 1998 until yesterday morning I lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For the last 5 years I lived in a wonderful house in the Casa Solana neighborhood. It fit me well. But for various reasons I decided that Santa Fe was no longer for me. It was a hard decision. Instead I'll be homeless for a while, staying mosly in Sweden and South Africa, with side trips to other places.

I left yesterday (Wednesday) morning. I invited people over the evening before for a "take our stuff party." My roommate coincidentally is also leaving the country the same week. It was nice to see friends for one last time and to do a bit of dancing and talking. I enjoyed it so much - thanks Dana :) - and didn't pack anywhere near as much as I planned so I woke up at 4am to continue packing and cleaning.

I thought I was doing well but ended up with a lot of things to take to the dump. I borrowed Dave's truck again to take two loads over. With this extra 1000 pounds I ended up hauling well over a ton of trash. The extra load cut into my safety factor. Thanfully Sara could do the mailings I couldn't quite manage, though there are some text books in the shed and a couple of propane canisters that I didn't get around to taking care of. Hmmm...

A quick shower, zip up the luggage, rush over to the auto consignment place so they have my car and title, then off to the airport. Via Santa Domingo Pueblo for car and people fuel. Cut it kinda close with the flight but no problem, and I got bumped up to first class because I've given them enough money and joined their frequent flier program.

The ABQ to MSP flight was uneventful. Actually, the only eventful thing was the tire which needed replacing for the MSP to AMS leg. They jacked up the plane's nose while we were in it.

Because of the lack of sleep the night before I slept decently well. I'm a belly sleeper and don't sleep well sitting up, but managed to contort myself just right. Managed to catnap some during the 4.5 hour layover at Schiphol.

Got to GOT, which is Gothenburg Sweden's Landvetter airport and to Bea's place in the Haga district. It was good to see her again after so many months away. We got money and groceries, I cleaned up, and off for tango at Oceanen.

I saw several familiar faces, remembered a few names, and was remembered by some others. When I last danced in mid-December I thought my Swedish was starting to get decent. Sadly, 4 months away with little practice didn't help. Things started coming back, though I know there's still a ways to go even to get back to where I was.

Tango finished at 11:30pm and I helped clean up, forgetting that the last tram before night service was just shy of midnight, so I instead walked back to the apartment. Checked mail, and decided to go ahead and start this blog. Hopefully I'll keep it up. Several friends of mine in Santa Fe want to know how I'm doing, and I so enjoy reading Heikki's blog of his family's life in Cape Town. We'll see.