Feeling at home...

I used to get manicures and pedicures.  I used to wash my hair with expensive shampoo.  I bought new clothes on a regular basis.  I’d cook fancy dinners on an average weeknight.  I spent $200 a month on cable TV.

But that has all changed.  My nails are short and bare.  My hair has seen better days.  We survive on spaghetti and eggs.  We don’t watch any TV, except for an occasional Law & Order that we rent from iTunes.  And I couldn’t be happier…

This new way of life has been transformative and liberating.  It's no longer about money and stuff and accumulation.  Now we spend Sundays strolling through the city, gawking at everything we pass.  Fridays and Saturdays, we’re out with friends—eating dinner as cheaply as possible, watching futbol, drinking (perhaps too much).

We walk around our own block and it’s like we’re in a movie.  We run into our friend Mike while he walks Danko, Maddy’s new doggie pal.  The baker waves to us from the cake shop, saying, “Buenos Dias.”  At our favorite restaurant, the barkeep shouts through the window, “Hola, chicos!”

We worked so hard to get here.  And it’s by no means easy now that we’re here.  I need to pick up more work.  We get lost.  I can’t speak the language.  We miss our family and friends back home.  Yet, I have not once felt homesick.  Quite the contrary, for the first time I feel settled.  I feel like I could stay here.  It amazes me that we had to travel so far away to shift our perspective so dramatically, and to find a place that truly feels like home.