It amazes me that in the course of an hour, I can relieve so much stress. I now have my visa card pin number, so that I can stop paying for everyone’s lunch and gathering cash. I will soon be reimbursed for my plane ticket, and I might be able to move into my apartment sooner than I thought.

And here I am embarking on a new adventure, in a world that I never imagined being in two months ago. When I walked off the curb onto the round about at the American School in Tampico, a voice in my head told me that I would never step off that curb again.The job in Malaysia was hovering, but it was a long interview away from reality. I wasn’t figuring on actually giving up my two and half decade career as an English teacher to embark on a career as an SME (Subject Matter Expert) in ESL.  Malaysia? I never considered it before. So I politely pushed the thought of not returning out of my head and plowed through the heat to start my final bus journey home. I left my car in the parking lot of the school, quite sure that it would never start again after I journeyed to New Hampshire and back.

That night a group of us went out for Sushi, and my dear friends Aliesha and Chip announced that they would not return to Tampico, which was a mind number (pronounced nummer) for me. When I walked home that night, I decided that I would leave too, job or no job. I would hop into my car, which had been patched together by a kind mechanic after I had been advised not to drive it, and go home — wherever that is, since I am renting my house. I trudged home plotting my life, called David, who quickly advised me against giving up a job when I did not have another one set for the future. So, the next day, I left Tampico leaving all of my possessions in a pile in my apartment. I had arranged to have someone move my stuff to a new apartment over the summer.

My first stop was New York City, where I stayed at my cousin’s apartment so that I could visit with Kate and Chelien. My second night I had a Skype interview with Malaysia — just for practice as far as I was concerned. One quarter of the way through the interview, I assumed that I was in way over my head, and when I hung up, I was relieved that I still had a job in Tampico. The next day I found out that I got the job.

It did not take long for me to accept the offer and resign from my post in Tampico. I went into immediate action and called Chip in Mexico. When in doubt, call Chip had been my motto for the year. I asked him if he could get my stuff and mail it to me from the states when he arrived there. Being who he is, he offered to tow my car up as well and use what money he could get from it to pay for the shipping. Now you know what type of friend he is, and that does not even begin to describe it. So the plan was set.

The next day, I received a text from Chip that read like this…..

Chip: Um lisa

Chip: We have or had a problem

Lisa: what is up

Chip: Your car flew off the road

Lisa: Ya…

Chip: Came undone from the trailer and landed in the jungle

Lisa: Ya…

Chip: At 50 mph

We got all of your stuff

But the car is done

Lisa: Now what?

Chip: Give me a minute

No joke i took it to Claidio’s the mechanic he did the work and boom

Came unhitched and flew off

Lucky we didn’t kill anyone

I got your stuff and your paperwork

But left it in the ten foot tall grass

Lisa: okay so it will just die in mx

Chip:Yez sorry

Lisa: it makes things easier i suppose

Are you okay?

Chip: Wr are ok

We just want to get out of here

It would be worse if the cops came…both cars have expired permits i might be in jail

Fuck…crazy…we can call u when we cross the border

Lisa:  so sorry

Chip: Im sorry too…its all smashed. We are in survival mode to just get out of mexico

*****

I am not sure where my car ended up, and I do not want to know.

There goes the call to prayer.  More to come about Malaysia soon.

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