Counting Down

Well I'm inside of two months left in the U.S., and only a month and a half before I leave Boston. As the days count down, I'm starting to deal with leaving in a very real and concrete way. It's a subtle change, and it happens mostly when talking with friends. My friend and former roommate Jeff started talking the other day about how high ticket prices are at Fenway and how he would really like to get to a game before he graduates. He turned to me and jokingly said, "I guess it's a bit more urgent for you, huh?" Sure, it's on my mind, but then again, the last time I was in Fenway Park was Game 2 of the World Series. You know, The Bloody Sock and all that other stuff. I'm okay with that being my final baseball memory as I leave the country.

I will sorely miss baseball. It has become so engrained in my life in such a short time while living in Boston. There's nothing like living within a mile of Fenway for three and a half years, and the connection that I made with the Sox has been intense and I'm sure it will be long-lasting. This is a team that I've vomited over (2003 ALCS Game 7), followed to Spring Training (2004), given up on (2004 ALCS Game 3), rioted over (2003 ALDS and 2004 ALCS), camped out for 20 hours outside Fenway (2004 World Series), and crowded Boylston St. to watch them parade by on duck boats. Call me a bandwagon fan if you want, but I never got on the Pats bandwagon, and I came to Boston already liking the idea of an underdog who could possibly win someday—in Chicago, the Cubs only give you the underdog part. I wonder if there's even an expression in Moldova for "This is the year."

Amy, my boss at the middle school where I work, asked me Friday in a one-on-one meeting what my goals were for my last five weeks of our after-school program. It was almost an instant tearjerker for me, but I restrained myself. I've spent just over two months working with these kids and building up relationships with them that are finally starting to show. And suddenly I'm being told that the end is near. Amy asking me that question very quickly turned around my way of thinking at work. Although the academic support we give is important, I can't lie and say that that's my biggest priority now. Now is the time to take stock of the relationships I have with the kids at work—and expanding on that, with everyone I know in Boston and the States—and do everything I can to strengthen those so that they can last over the course of 2 years. I'm not kidding myself into expecting a deluge of mail from my middle school kids, but I would hope that two or three of them keep in touch with me for at least some stretch of my time in Moldova.

Speaking of my middle school kids, I've once again blasted through the weekend without preparing for work on Monday, so I'm going to cut this entry perhaps a little shorter than I had planned on making it. There will be plenty of longer entries over the years, so if you're a reader who needs long posts in order to survive, you'll be in luck another day.