Here I sit at the terminal in NYC waiting for my connecting flight back home to Minneapolis and all I can think is, "Did these past three weeks really just happen?!"
My last week in the Dominican Republic was fairly relaxing with not much planned besides seeing Pablo in the evenings. He has stayed just as serious as ever and inevitably decided to bring up marriage! No he didn't propose after three weeks but he needed to get a gauge of whether or not we had serious potential. The things he says to me are just so sweet. How the two of us would make beautiful children or how I'm the kind of person he's always been looking for. Throughout our conversations, I've learned that he is no Rico Suave. Apparently several girls have thrown themselves at him but he just wasn't interested until I came along. I don't know how this can be true except for my hair, I swear my hair has magical powers! I also know this boy sure isn't interested in a green card but I'll get to that later. So we had a few social gatherings and a few one on ones this week but the milestone moment was when he asked me to meet his mom.
It was a Sunday evening when I went to his house expecting to find his mother and one of his brothers that currently live there. Well I found them along with all six of his siblings and their families! Luckily they didn't all show up at the same time! His mom is so so sweet and his sister made a flan just for me. I was quite nervous not only because of the language barrier but because it hadn't even been three weeks and he wanted me to meet his mother! Pablo too was nervous because he reminded me several times that he was poor and didn't have many things. This has never been an issue for me but it was interesting seeing where he lived. He has a small house with concrete floors and a small kitchen. You could see the panels of the roof from the inside and there were curtains for bedroom doors. The bathroom was connected to the house but through the outside. His mom has a fetish for plants and flowers so I did the polite thing and asked her all about her plants while she showed me everything she had both inside and out. I had to practice a few Spanish phrases before going to meet her including, "you have a lovely home" and "you've raised a good son". Overall I think the evening went pretty well. Everyone was just so sweet! I did find it interesting that the next day when I saw Pablo he didn't tell me anything about how it went or what his family thought of me, or of us, and I was too nervous to ask. The following day I did get brave and I asked. That's when he hesitated but replied briefly that they said I seemed sincere. I can only imagine that they stressed to him how fast it was to bring a girl home and the fact that we live in two different countries which comes with different languages and cultures! Maybe Pablo will divulge more a little later.
One thing that Pablo and I struggled with throughout the week was how to be alone! I'm staying with Lindsey and Alberto so obviously they are home a lot and can't just crawl in to their room unless it's actually bed time. Pablo lives with his mom so that's not an option either. On Friday night we had a group activity planned with Alberto, Lindsey, Maria and Marco. Maria and Marco had a sick baby so we ended up going with Alberto, Lindsey and Alberto's cousin Eli. Lindsey and I wanted to try a new restaurant while Alberto couldn't resist another night at Tablon with his oh so coveted Burrata salad. The two restaurants were next door to each other and it ended up being Lindsey, Pablo and I for dinner at the new place. How awkward! The musical was loud, Lindesey was clearly a third wheel, the menu was overpriced and the one affordable thing on the menu, being a hamburger, wasn't even good! Lindsey tried to make conversation with Pablo as he is very shy when others are around. We finished the night with the five of us bowling but Pablo and I barely interacted because he's just so shy with other people. You could almost cut the awkward tension with a knife. When we got back home Pablo chows to leave right away because Alberto's cousin and aunt were at the house. I understand we can't make out in front of other people but I wish he would just stay with me to talk even while other people are there. This isn't the first time he's left early because people were around. It's not that he's rude, it's really that he's just so shy! But with me alone, he's much more himself.
Finally the day came that I was really going home. Pablo had meetings for church that night and couldn't show up at Lindsey' to say bye to me until almost 10pm! I was getting a ride to the airport from Alberto's cousin, Eli, and he too showed up before 11 while I didn't need to leave until 12:30am. Lindsey and Alberto knew that their cousin always comes over early to play video games and it's not like they could tell him he's not welcome because that would be rude. So when Eli arrived, Pablo and I decided to go outside and sit by the pool. We stayed there for about 30 minutes until a security gurard showed up and told us we had to leave. Now where we were going to go?! We ended up sitting on the stairs outside of Lindsey's apartment but every time Pablo went to kiss me there was some loud noise or someone coming! All we could do was laugh about this the whole night while Pablo kept asking, Why tonight? Why the night she is leaving? When can we just be left alone?
Amongst the craziness of finding a place to be alone, we did have some serious conversation. Remember how I said Pablo has went from the L-word to the M-word? He has now mentioned the possibility of marriage several times as he says I have the qualities he's looking for. I have been dreading asking him something because for me it's all too soon but at this point I had to know! I had to ask if there was any chance of him moving to the U S of A?! Once I finally did, he acknowledged that his life is in Santiago, his family, his school and his potential career. Pablo has eight months left of law school after which he already has two connections for jobs here in Santiago. On the other hand, Pablo also acknowledged that my family and career were in the US. He said I was more established in a life there whereas here he was just getting started. This is all very true, I've already finished my Masters degree and have been a school psychologist for several years. Granted Marriage and family are what's most important to me so I could live anywhere for a couple years but I couldn't stay in Santiago forever. If only he knew what the US had to offer, sometimes I'm shocked he has no idea. You could tell Pablo was unsure of wanting to move but what can you expect when Santiago really is all he knows? He's never left the country so of course it would be hard. But then Pablo said the sweetest thing. He'd leave it all behind for me! At least that's what I think he said in Spanish...He said he'd wait for me for one, two, three years, whatever I needed. He really thinks he's found the one and I , well I...I'm not so sure. Need I repeat that it's been three weeks and two different countries? But what I do know is if I stayed in this country any longer, I'd be falling in love with this guy! Man this kid is so adorable!
It was finally time for Eli to take me to the airport and Pablo surprisingly came along. I was happy he came but I felt so bad for Eli to be our awkward chafferer. Pablo carried my bags and kissed me goodbye while Eli on looked because he needed to wait to take Pablo home. Pablo even stayed to watch me walk through customs before going to my gate. It was clear that Pablo has never been to an airport and this was a whole new world for him. The only time he has travelled was for his mission for church and that was just in the southern part of his country.
Here I sit at the terminal in NYC waiting for my connecting flight back home to Minneapolis and all I can think is, "Did these past three weeks really just happen?!"Wait! I just noticed I've already missed a call from the DR! He's called me already and I can't call back because I don't have international calling. He was probably checking to see if I made it home safely. Little does he know my flight was delayed and I won't be home until 6pm. I do hope we get in contact soon.
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