Thoughts from Brooklyn

Well I've been home just under 2 weeks now.  I'm so happy to get to see my family and friends, but i really do miss being away! NY in the summer is a calamity. I hate tourists like no other, and since my non-job is performing shops in midtown, I'm always stuck there at the most inopportune times. I'm staying at my parents, which is great except for the fact that my clothes are scattered everywhere and I can't actually find anything. The train to the city is 1.5-2 hours and always has delays. And Foxy seems to think my parents' green carpet is grass, which means I'm forced to walk her way more than I ever did (which, to be fair, was never).
I got really stressed out about working right away, since I feel like I'm technically supposed to be in Colombia now therefore should get to just chill for a month. I miss not having plans ever but deciding what to so every morning.  I'm trying to not make too many plans so I can still have that freedom. I got very sick as soon as I got home. The gluten issues kicked back in full force, probably because the food there had no chemicals and here everything seems to have soy, barley and malt, my 3 arch nemesises.
On the positive side, I've been doing lots of fun things. I'm training for a half marathon in SI in early
October, which gives me not only a goal, but something to occupy me during the week when people are all at work. There's no gyms in Sheepshead though so I'm forced to run outside and faint in the heat, or wait until my parents wake up at 1 pm so I can go on the treadmill in their room. I decided if I'm going to train, I want to also work on speed, so I put together this ridiculous schedule that I'm sure I won't follow but if I do, maybe will do the half at a pace of 8:30. In reality, I'm hoping I just don't end up getting 100 stress fractures again. It's been 3 days, so far so good!
Foxy now has a basket to sit in so she can join me on bike rides. She hates it and sits and glares at me every time we go over a bump. I love her so much and don't know why I enjoy torturing her this way.
What else. Todd threw me a welcome back party. That was really nice of him since I was def too lazy to do anything of the sort, and I've exceeded my limit of party throwing for the year!
I booked a weekend trip to Seattle to visit a friend from  HS that I haven't seen in 10 years. I had a ton of miles so the flight was doable too! I want to go more places while I'm still not working!
I'm still deciding where to stay. I had 2 interviews but was very clear that I'm willing to relocate. I'm still thinking maybe Chi but I'm not sold on their winter. Philly was another option but I see 0 jobs in adv there.
What else. Ive developed severe insomnia. I stay up all night watching Entourage and Curb (nice Pinkberry plug Larry David!), and playing with Spotify trying to find new songs to entertain me while training. If I hear my 80s mix again I might cry.
I'm still a little paranoid, even though people aren't Ecuadorian (except Roland, who even though he's only half I'm scared he might rob me still. Kidding!)
I actually was scared of my own shadow the other day, and I have to call someone on my 17 min walk home from the train station because I'm scared someone is going to attack me again. It's getting a tiny bit better, but only a little.
I do miss my travel friends! Everyone in Colombia keeps telling me how great it is and it makes me sad. But I'm still convinced with the bad luck streak I was having I was going to end up kidnapped. Sarah, James and Dan did the Santa Cruz trek in Huaraz that I skipped and I so wish I could have done it with them.
Since I've been back though I've remembered just how much I love NY. I love the parks. The diversity (not including Times Square tourists. Still on the hate list). The fact that after being in SA for 4 months, my favorite Latin restaurants are Sushi Samba 7 (Brazilian, Peruvian and Japi fusion), Pio Pio (Peruvian) and Caracas (Venezuelan).  Jack's does not count because even though it was in Peru it was an Aussie-run restaurant and I liked it mostly because they were the only people on the entire continent who knew how to make an egg white omelet.
On my walk home, one of the songs from Lost popped up. For some reason, I had downloaded 10 instrumental songs from Lost before I left that I listened to religiously while I was away. It put me to sleep at night, it played while I was on my marathon bus rides and it just relaxed me while I stared out the window at the amazing landscapes. I had it on when I reached whatever the top destination point when I was hiking. It became a constant for me (get it, Lost fans?) and when I was robbed, the first thing I thought was that I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep at night without listening to it. So tonight, as I was walking home, looking up at the sky and remembering that now that I'm back in the northern hemisphere, I'm no longer looking at the same sky (and getting sad while realizing this), the song came on, and instead of being sad that I'm not a little Latin free spirit hiking my way through the best continent in the world, I smiled because I realized that nothing is forever, and I'm just so lucky I got to be there at all, and so lucky to come back to a place that I love.