This summer

It was different, I spent a lot of time working with three wonderful women who are learning English as a Second Language and even though they are not yet completely fluent each one of them is doing their best to move forward in the use of their language skills.

At the same time that we were working together our lives were intertwined with stories, events, songs, birthdays, end of school, beginning of school, happy moments and sad ones too.

As we moved fully into the summer the heat wave came upon us, covering our houses and our bodies and leaving us a little bit drained but also giving us an excuse to complain or to sympathize with each other. Probably no one between us loves the heat as much as other people do but still we are used to it coming and surprising us right on our faces.

In particular I have had a very difficult weather experience twice this summer. First, the day the weather was 118 Fahrenheit outside. It felt horrible to walk outside; I happened to be outside several times because I was doing laundry and drying the clothes on a clothesline; every time I walked out i felt enveloped by a wave of warmth that my body rejected immediately, going into a state of headache and difficulty to breathe. As soon as I went back into the house I felt better. The second time I experienced difficulties was the day our Air Conditioning broke.

I noticed on Sunday evening that the air coming from the vents was not cool. But I did not know for sure what was happening; then, the following day it was pretty obvious: the AC was not producing cool air. We called a local company to come and fix it but they were available until Wednesday morning, and I thought I could live through that with "ease". No way. By 4 pm that Monday I was anxiously looking for another technician to come and help us fix the problem because the heat in the house was intolerable and even though I went into a room with a window AC I was not getting enough cool air. 

Luckily, I found someone who happened to be on his way to my town and he agreed to come and help us. He was a godsend. I don't know what I would have done had he not come that evening. My house took several hours to cool down to an acceptable temperature but at least we had AC again!!!

So, this summer has brought us a lot of things and one of them is hot weather, but we have also had a chance to go to parties, travel, get a driver's license, move house, work in internships, talk about goals, organization, fast fashion, events and the weather of course. We also have enjoyed some good food and sang along some good tunes. On the ugly side we gave dealt with an invasion of worms (in someone's tree). stress caused attending a party where we did not know the guests, stress caused by lack of planning for a day full of activities ending with a graduation party and disappointments on change of plans. But this is what life is and we have enjoyed and lived it at the fullest.

The summer goes on but it is time to go back to school and move onto new projects and stages of life; I am thankful for all the wonderful times I have had and I am looking forward to more exciting chats, events, tunes and times.