i've been thinking a lot about all the places i went to last year. it's weird, but it's really only now that i've truly realized i travelled like crazy in 2005. i visited a dozen different countries (not counting the states or canada), and i've noticed that it usually took awhile for me to actually soak in the fact that i'd been to those places. i went to guatemala in february, and i don't think it really hit me that i'd gone until around april (i still miss those little toddlers i played w/ everyday); backpacked through europe in the summer (10 countries in six weeks!) and only now am i really finally beginning to reflect on the whole experience. i still find it kind of surreal when i find myself telling friends about the time i was in antwerp, or budapest, or zurich.

and now i'm in mexico. i really didn't feel the full impact of this fact until i was at home for the holidays. it just seemed slightly absurd that i'd been walking on sand by the pacific ocean one week, surrounded by mexicans (and tourists) and then the next, i was strolling down college st. bundled in a winter jacket and scarf, marvelling at the ethnic diversity we have in the city.

since i've returned to vallarta, i've frequently been pondering where i wanna go for summer vacation. i've already got spring break covered (guanajuato, san miguel de allende, maybe queretaro, and for sure, mexico city), so i'm thinking even further in advance.
i suddenly have a hankering to see buenos aires (the globe and mail article i read today in the travel section sure helped). or maybe i should explore more of canada; i've always wanted to visit the east coast, and halifax in particular. or perhaps i've been away from new york for too long and we need to reaquaint ourselves...or then again, maybe chicago and i need to be introduced.
my head is full of potential travel plans.

my two-week vacation back home was a whirlwind of friend and family get-togethers, being chaffeured around the whole GTA in other ppl's cars (since my driving insurance was cancelled), and buying out the entire stock of rotate this! on boxing day. (i also bought a digital camera--so now i can take pics of my own and post 'em here!) oh, and my bro's engagement party. and acting like an idiot on new year's eve. and choosing a bridesmaid's dress for my bro's wedding (hooray--it isn't hideous). suffice it to say, it was busy and exhausting and now i need a vacation from my holiday.

but no. it's back to school, and i was totally phoning-it-in the whole first week we were back. i'm starting to ease in a bit more now, but i'm still not completely back on track yet.

alex and jen have decided that they want to head down to teach in australia next year, so they've informed our director that they won't be returning. it was a tough decision to make, and they were bouncing back and forth btwn staying and going for quite a while; every time i saw them, their decision would be different from the time i last spoke to 'em. i guess in the end, australia was just a more practical thing for them to do since they want to return to canada in about a year's time, and they really want to see australia. i'm sure they'll be missed here when they go.
besides those two though, i think everyone else is coming back for '06/'07. as for myself, i'm considering doing new zealand after i complete my two-year contract here. then maybe somewhere like shanghai, and then who knows where from there. all i know right now is that i have no real desire to do anything but travel and see some of the world.

so when are you folks out there who are also probably desperately in need of a vacation gonna come down here so i can show you around?? EH?

fine, fine. so this is a little late. i'm back in the cold, semi-rainy, demi-snowy winter for the timebeing, but maybe that makes this memory of mexico all the more heartwarming.

that weekend. during the festival of guadalupe.

the three of us were strolling around downtown, aiming to find the sample-friendly stall from guadalajara in that temporary alleyway of good eats by the cathedral that was selling the fragant sugared nuts and sour-gummy beings that i'd been dreaming about and salivating over the night before. [complicated and rambling sentence, anybody?]

we casually detoured to a makeshift artisan market by the ocean first, and browsed its eclectic wares as we instinctively attempted to match up friends and family back home with their potential christmas gifts.

after our leisurely (and surprisingly fruitful) impromptu giftshopping spree, we fulfilled our intended mission in the alley, and even tacked on a brief stop at the hot-drink vendor.

as we made our way through the festive crowds who, like us, were basking in the celebratory blanket of feeling that had fallen over the streets of vallarta, i ran into a student and then a co-worker, and greeted them without awkwardness (a rarity, in my case).

it turns out we coincidentally went for dinner at the father of that student's restaurant, known for its made-to-order-right-in-front-of-you guacamole and fajitas flambe.

i could hardly imagine a more pleasant evening. i've had quite a few more like it down there, too.

[flowery and wordy.]

then i got deathly sick on sunday.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!