Friday, December 26, 2003

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Texas   So I’ve finally arrived back in Eagle Pass, Texas.  It was a heck of a long trip to get here, taking over 24 hours from the time I walked out the door of my home in Germany to the time I stepped off the plane in San Antonio, but it was worth it.  These past few days I’ve been able to spend time with my mom and a couple of my best friends, watch American sports, eat some of my favorite food which you just can’t get decent examples of in Europe, and see Franklin – who for the record acted as if I had mad cow disease.  Also I have gotten a chance to just drive around my home town and Piedras Negras and realize that while most things around here never seem to change, that stability might not be all that bad.   A few things which have been kind of odd since I got here:   Re-learning how to drive my Explorer:  After taking so long to learn how to drive my BMW, going back to an automatic transmission has just felt weird the last couple of days.   Seeing my old classroom again with someone else’s stuff in it:  I was in that room for six years, and of all the things I miss about my old job, that room might be tops.   Driving past my old apartment complex:  Lots of memories tied into the eight years I lived there.  I even tried punching in my entry code at the gate.  Access Denied.   I’m still going to be here in Eagle Pass another week.  I hope to see more people and bump into the occasional former student.  The most awkward encounter so far was seeing a couple of students from last year’s third period outside of the Charcoal restaurant.  After the initial “Hi Mr. Mauldin!,” there was not much talking out of those two.  I think I did all the talking.  They just stared at me like I was some ghost.  Or one of those water stains in a church that people claim to see the Virgin Mary in.  I didn’t know I had that sort of affect on people.   If you want to see some of the pictures I’ve taken on this trip so far, I’ve created a gallery just for them.  I've placed captions at the top of each photo explaining what it is of and I’ll be adding more over the next week.  And yes, I know I take lots of pictures of food.  It’s just one of my things.   4:15:32 AM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.