20K and a Year Away

We made it to Washington safe and sound. The sun was shining and it was warm. Beautiful day! The whole state dressed itself up to welcome us home…

Ha! That was yesterday.

The sun has disappeared behind the constant layer of clouds – part of the reason I left – and the temperatures are going down… too low for me! There is a steady drizzle right now and, of course, my toes are frozen.

We got to the house and the work to get it ready to sell started. A lot of work had been done, but there is always work to do when you want to sell fast. I got here at 2pm Saturday and by 9pm I had already painted a wall and cleaned the refrigerator, cleared out the bedroom, sorted Axel’s room, and did some cleaning. Whatever it takes to get this thing sold!

I spent Sunday painting the ceiling, repairing a spot on the wall, scrubbing the shower, and washing gross hotel clothes. It’s kind of funny how all this work makes me think about all the plans we had for this house but never seemed to be able to get to because life just keeps coming at you. It’s also funny to think how you are just not in the same place anymore because life just kept coming at you and priorities became clearer and those things that were supposed to be meaningful just weren’t. Funny, isn’t it.

The real estate agent came by yesterday to hang her sign in the yard at 1:30pm. We walked through the house to see what other big things needed to get done before showings. There were no huge problems, so I just continued to work on the little projects I had started. She left for her office to put the house on the market officially at 3pm. She called me at 3:30 to schedule a showing at 6pm. That was fast! I hope that is a sign of good things. This morning, she sent a text to schedule another showing at 1pm. We are going to go get froyo and send house-buying juju to the people coming to look!

While I was sorting out what to do with my life, I decided I wanted to go to Greece one day and needed to learn Greek. I got out the trusty Duolingo and added Greek to my list of languages – removed the Swedish, Russian, and Portuguese, for now – and started learning the alphabet. I was getting very little accomplished and decided I needed help. I went to the trusty internet, where everything is true and people are all good, and started a search for some language exchange options. I found 2 that seemed ok – well as ok as random sites can be – and set up a profile to find a Greek tutor and offer English tutoring in exchange.

It was amazing how quickly I was getting requests for English help. There were too many! I answered some that seemed legit – ok, are you getting my vibe here, yet? – and have a group of people I help in English and a Greek tutor. Right now, I have Antonio, Rosa, and Carmen (pen pal only) from Spain, Juan Pablo and Alejandro from Colombia, Omar from Peru, Mario from Italy, and Santino from Mexico who practice English, and Kostas who helps me with Greek while I help him prepare for his English certification test next summer. I chat with them about once a week to practice regular conversation skills and Kostas is teaching me verb conjugations and basic vocabulary. I doubt all of them keep it up, which is normal, and I am sure others will come along. It is fun to talk with people around the world and learn about their countries for my to-do list. Most of them anyway…

Let’s just talk a minute about the ones that did not make the short list. I had multiple requests from randos asking to practice conversation. I soon learned that dating apps are not the only way people try to make new best friends. I ended up blocking some people from sending requests. I just want to help with learning English. That’s all. You don’t have to be a creeper, seriously. One guy from Berlin wanted to practice conversation and started sending me these wacky good morning and happy day posts with coordinating emojis in strategic patterns. That was weird. Then, before we even sorted out when to have a conversation, he was asking for the deets – married, kids, job, etc. Dude, I am not signing up for anything. Next, he wanted pictures – to know who he was going to talk to. That was it. Not interested. I ended up blocking him because he did not take the hint from me not writing back. So far, though, he is the only one I have had to just remove completely. Those that did make the short list have goals for English and actually work on it. I also get to practice Spanish with most of them – a bonus for me.

If you are interested in which exchange I signed up for, let me know. It really is fascinating how many people out there are willing to share their time to help you. I will be using it again when I need to learn Swedish, Russian, and Portuguese. I have places to go, people!