Is it possible to be addicted to the sun?

 I really didn't think that I was going to like this place so much. I guess I thought that I would grow tired of the never ending sun and possibly tired of being an au pair as I have now spent a grand total of 13 months of my life carrying this title.

-oh oh side note : I'm sitting outside and a lizard just popped his head up through the deck like right beside me. He is now keeping very still and staring at me. The lizard in my room finally found his way out. Or at least he found his way to the laundry room, lived there for a few days, then escaped to the garage. This one staring at me is different though, he's quite a bit bigger. Still staring at me. These little creatures amuse me, kinda like penguins. ha or not at all.

But the thing is the sun is just so warm. I also think waking up to a cloudless blue sky every morning really effects your mood. It makes you happy :) Just like cheerios make you cheery. And there were times when I was becoming weary of being an au pair but all it really takes to get over that is going away for 2 weeks and then being welcomed back at the door by an enthusiastic little boy exclaiming "Ann! You come back!"

But I am leaving. I was going to leave today but, well, now I'm leaving next week. My host mom asked me to stay one more week so I can be here when the new au pair comes and help her get settled in. I was hesitant to stay as its starting to seem like I 'm just never going to leave but here I am, darkening my tan.

I think that the biggest reason I wasn't expecting to get attached to this place was that, as I realized a few weeks ago, my reason for coming back to Europe was never to learn Spanish. This surprised me when I realized this. I was on the bus going back home after my last Spanish class and I was thinking about how I really liked Spanish and how I wasn't really serious about learning it when I arrived, yes I wanted to learn something but I wasn't thinking that I was going to try and become fluent or anything, but maybe now I would like to keep on studying it. These thoughts were going around in my head when suddenly I was like, wait, the reason I came here wasn't to learn Spanish? That's what I told everyone I was coming here to do. Why are you going to Spain? To learn Spanish. It's the most logical reason. But no, really I just wanted to come here to wander. I wanted to come back to Europe to do whatever I want and not have to have a definite schedule of events and purposes. I only used the excuse of learning Spanish to have a valid reason to leave again.   

However, in the middle of using excuses to get to what I really want I have found that I really love languages and would probably be very happy if for the rest of my life I could just keep on learning new ones. Maybe I'll do just that. But in the meantime, next week I am going to start doing what I really wanted to do, I'm leaving on a boat for Portugal (and winter as people keep reminding me!) and going to wander. Don't worry, I have more definite plans than that but have run out of time and need to go catch a bus! I'll write again soon!