Initially, I was going to write a blog post about Chicago in May after I’ve left. But I was in Michigan last weekend and it feels strange to write about Michigan without writing about the 2 weeks I spent in Chicago after Indonesia. So here we are. Those 2 weeks were mostly spent resting, recovering from my cold, babysitting, and spending time with friends.

When I first got to Chicago before our trip to Indonesia, I was a stranger to Luci (Therese’s daughter) and she was wary of me, rightfully so. I told her that we’d be friends soon. When we got back from Indonesia, I babysat her a few days while Therese was at work. Bernie, Therese’s mom, usually does that, but she stayed in Indonesia an extra week, so the task fell to me. On the first Monday after we were back, one of Therese’s friends babysat her in the morning and I picked her up in the afternoon. When I got there, Luci immediately reached for me. That’s when I knew I had succeeded in becoming her friend.

The days with Luci were spent playing with her, trying to get stuff done while she played independently, locking her in her play pen to contain her while I tried to get stuff done next to her, eating, and a lot of contact napping. We started calling her a koala baby because she clings to you while she naps and if you try to put her down, she wakes up. While she napped, I watched Korean dramas since there wasn’t much else I could do.

One of the days I babysat, Luci even went to the airport with me to pick up Nathalie. She was flying in for work and I got to see her the day she arrived. We had deep dish pizza for dinner and an açaí bowl for dessert and then I dropped her off at her hotel and I went to stay with Monica for the rest of the week. Of course, I had returned Luci to her parents after we picked Nathalie up. They wouldn’t have let me keep her while I was at Monica’s.

On Wednesday, Monica flew to Houston. She waited for me to leave in order to visit. Just kidding. She went to support her sister who was doing a hyrox there. Therese was supposed to go to Milwaukee that weekend, so I decided it would be a good weekend to visit Maria Daniela in Michigan.

Before going to Michigan, I got a conch piercing. The lady who did it is also from Guayaquil! When I got my second lobe piercing a few years ago, I barely felt it. I knew that piercing cartilage would hurt more, but I didn’t expect it to hurt as much as it did. I felt like a baby because of how much I wanted to complain about it. Nathalie told me it would only hurt for a day, and luckily, she was right. Now it only hurts if I touch it, so I try not to do that.

On Thursday evening, I drove to Lansing. A blog post on that is coming soon.