Hello all, I thought I´d share a little story to maybe inspire you guys or simply just make you laugh at my stupidity. Well, many people know I work in Bollullos, but live in Huelva. Each day I commute to work, which isn´t bad since I usually get a ride. If not I take the train to La Palma which is a smaller pueblo 5 km north of Bollullos and 
then I get a ride from La Palma to Bollullos. Sounds like a fool-proof plan, since there are so many options... however, knowing my luck things never work out so easily. Sunday night, I get a text message from my carpool buddy saying she´s sick and won´t be going to school, this came in at about 10:30 pm btw. I was supposed to call the other girl I carpool with and we could work something out... but I call, and call and call, and no response. Then, I think I guess I´ll take the train to La Palma and get a ride from Miguel Angel... but wait a minute I don´t have his phone number anymore cuz´ I lost my cellphone last week and therefore lost all my numbers. So what is my last option.....???? Because I´m so dedicated to my job and slightly crazy I decided I could walk the 5 km(3.1 miles) to La Palma.
then I get a ride from La Palma to Bollullos. Sounds like a fool-proof plan, since there are so many options... however, knowing my luck things never work out so easily. Sunday night, I get a text message from my carpool buddy saying she´s sick and won´t be going to school, this came in at about 10:30 pm btw. I was supposed to call the other girl I carpool with and we could work something out... but I call, and call and call, and no response. Then, I think I guess I´ll take the train to La Palma and get a ride from Miguel Angel... but wait a minute I don´t have his phone number anymore cuz´ I lost my cellphone last week and therefore lost all my numbers. So what is my last option.....???? Because I´m so dedicated to my job and slightly crazy I decided I could walk the 5 km(3.1 miles) to La Palma.I wake up the next day at 6am, get ready to head out. I pack myself the regular muffins and waterbottle. I make sure I have a smaller purse, because from google maps it said my trip would take about 1.5 hrs and I didn´t want to be carrying my backpack or a big purse. I layer on the clothes because I knew it was going to be cold. I get on the train and go to La Palma a
s usual. After arriving at the train station, I set out for my trek to Bollullos. Of course as I walked out of the train station, the cold air had to greet me... it was literally freezing and I thought to myself... yeah I´m not going to make it. But it kinda sucks when you don´t have any other option. I thought about how my mom use to say she walked all the time in Vietnam or how my grandma walked from Hue to Nha Trang or even Saigon... so I guess I shouldn´t be such a pansy about it being cold. Sucking it up as much as I could, I put the hood on and plugged the headphones in and started to walk. After 15 minutes of walking I say a sign that said "Sevilla, Huelva", but no Bollullos. I looked around and see that the arrow for Bollullos were pointing in the direction that I came from... and so I slowly turned around... telling myself "slight detour, slight detour". Once I was able to get back on the right track, it started to get warmer, which made things easier. However for some reason I started to get tired, even though I had only walked for 30 minutes. Not willing to risk anything, I decided to sit down on a bench in a park and ate my muffins, and took a small break before continuing.
s usual. After arriving at the train station, I set out for my trek to Bollullos. Of course as I walked out of the train station, the cold air had to greet me... it was literally freezing and I thought to myself... yeah I´m not going to make it. But it kinda sucks when you don´t have any other option. I thought about how my mom use to say she walked all the time in Vietnam or how my grandma walked from Hue to Nha Trang or even Saigon... so I guess I shouldn´t be such a pansy about it being cold. Sucking it up as much as I could, I put the hood on and plugged the headphones in and started to walk. After 15 minutes of walking I say a sign that said "Sevilla, Huelva", but no Bollullos. I looked around and see that the arrow for Bollullos were pointing in the direction that I came from... and so I slowly turned around... telling myself "slight detour, slight detour". Once I was able to get back on the right track, it started to get warmer, which made things easier. However for some reason I started to get tired, even though I had only walked for 30 minutes. Not willing to risk anything, I decided to sit down on a bench in a park and ate my muffins, and took a small break before continuing.After my break I started walking again. For those that can´t quite imagine the picture... it´s like walking on the freeway by yourself
... everyone looks at you crazy, but they don´t stop to offer you a ride. There really is no walkway, so you hope that you can suck it in and a car doesn´t try to take off your arm. I tried to remember which side of the street to walk on just to be a little safer, but in the end I knew that there was no part in this little excursion that was safe at all. As was walking I noticed how beautiful it was. There was no big street lights, the sun was coming up, and there were no clouds in the sky. It was just grass and trees sprinkled with a few old houses. It was a very serene image, unfortunately i didn´t have enough room to pack my camera or else you could see real pictures. In a way it reminded me of Forrest Gump when he was running, however I wasn´t running, and I actually had a reason.
... everyone looks at you crazy, but they don´t stop to offer you a ride. There really is no walkway, so you hope that you can suck it in and a car doesn´t try to take off your arm. I tried to remember which side of the street to walk on just to be a little safer, but in the end I knew that there was no part in this little excursion that was safe at all. As was walking I noticed how beautiful it was. There was no big street lights, the sun was coming up, and there were no clouds in the sky. It was just grass and trees sprinkled with a few old houses. It was a very serene image, unfortunately i didn´t have enough room to pack my camera or else you could see real pictures. In a way it reminded me of Forrest Gump when he was running, however I wasn´t running, and I actually had a reason. After walking 4/5 km, I see this black car with the white daisy flower on the back and thought to myself, "Man that care looks famili
ar." It turned out to be Concha, my Spanish mother. She is the mother of Maria, a girl I tutor, she is soooooo nice to me, and would do anything to help me out. She was on her way to work in La Palma and saw me walking, and she had to turn around. So, sadly I didn´t get to complete the 5 km walk, because she gave me a ride the rest of the way. I guess I should have insisted that I finish because I was sooooo close, but she looked like she was going to have a heart attack when she saw me.
ar." It turned out to be Concha, my Spanish mother. She is the mother of Maria, a girl I tutor, she is soooooo nice to me, and would do anything to help me out. She was on her way to work in La Palma and saw me walking, and she had to turn around. So, sadly I didn´t get to complete the 5 km walk, because she gave me a ride the rest of the way. I guess I should have insisted that I finish because I was sooooo close, but she looked like she was going to have a heart attack when she saw me. In end, I made it to Bollullos, earlier than ever, I´m not even that tired, and I feel great. Maybe one day in the spring, I will get a bike and attempt the ride over, but it was a nice trip because the whole time I was thinking, "I would never do this in Seattle,¨or "Ngoc, people think you´re crazy.¨ Either way, it was a fun way to 
start the week, and I´m glad that I´m still alive to tell the story. Now Coi can never call me lazy again.
start the week, and I´m glad that I´m still alive to tell the story. Now Coi can never call me lazy again. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and that you´re enjoying the luxury of having a car.
Sending all my love,
Ngoc :)
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