Haven't mentioned any Y happenings lately so here's an update:
Dennis came back to work yesterday about two months after his heart attack. He's working half days this week, full days starting Saturday. It's great to have him back.
Tim revealed that he is returning to Paraguay in mid April to marry his girlfriend Sonia. We'd kiddingly speculated about this happening during his first trip back in January, but this is still a surprise.
About half the Brazilians are leaving this week, and within two weeks they'll all be gone. Things will certainly be quiet then: whenever I had the girls on my crew they'd yell "Break time, Seth!" every few minutes, and "Oh my!" when I told them to get to work, threw cellophane balls at them, etc. They'd also taken to calling me "Honey" in imitation, I guess, of Jo Ann, who calls everybody "Honey" like a loveable grandma.
The guys love to screw around as much as Wes, Baxter, and I do. There was a week when we were having snowball fights after lunch and break everyday; we'd regularly mess around with each other's vans, too.
When Tim found out that I have such a good rapport with the Brazilians, I had to tell him, "Don't get jealous just because I'm more popular than you."
Too bad I"m too fat to Capoeira anymore; we could have had that much more fun.
We've also lost a few of our 18 month international interns this last month. Ash and Justin are gone now; Slav is leaving next week. There was a special Open Mic Night this last Sunday featuring the Musically Inclined Brazilians (and me, the Lone American Poet), where Slav said to me, "I'm going to miss this place." I know the feeling.
But I'm on the other side now. This transitional period happens every three months at the Y, yet it's just as sad for those of us who stay to see those ones leaving as it is for them to go.
Alas. Good times, good times.
