Jetlagged

Exhausted, I placed my two backpacks on the floor and held that little creature covered in yogurt named Luca in my arms, he totally cleaned his hand on my shirt. I was too tired to notice that. A funny smell was coming from Luca’s behind, still too tired to notice. I turned down the volume of the telly. Then I turned to Ana and hugged her, my dear friend, she was covered on baby vomit, I was too tired to notice either.

Well you did it – Ana said, totally unimpressed – you are back in New Zealand. Luca, who is that man? – asked the boy who was sort of licking dried yogurt from his right hand.

Uiiiiiis – he said, well, at least he pronounces my name better than the New Zealand migration officer.

There’s no way to express how I felt when he said my name (or at least the vowels in it). Uncle Luis finally arrived to Kiwiland.

My first days in this country were for some reason confusing, frustrating and at the same time relaxing and motivating. Before coming here, everything was sort of arranged, solved and predictable. Suddenly I was unemployed, alone and clueless about how things work in this place. My first night was horrible, I had nightmares, and a constant crying was drilling in my brain for some reason. It was not a nightmare, it was Didi, this 5 months old baby who was awake at 4 in the morning.

Suddenly I found myself wondering if I’ve made the right decision. The crying kept on going, I turned to one side of this tiny bed, tried to rearrange the pillow (not really a pillow, more like a decorative small pillow) in order to feel more comfortable, didn’t work. Oh god, did I struggle to sleep on that bed for almost 20 days. This was actually not a real bed, more like the base of a mattress. Yet, I wasn’t aware that my corporate, suited up, expensive restaurant days were officially over. They were so over, no more going out to expensive clubs, dinning at nice restaurants, driving my own French car or watching cable TV in my room. No more Mexican food (you people not from Mexico have no idea what you are missing out), no more of solving things out on my own language, no more good tequila. It was later on when one morning, after I moved out from Ana’s place, that I woke up and assimilated that I was living in a windowless room in a garage in a house with other 5 people. I shouldn’t rush; let’s just go day by day.

Oh, I almost forgot, this is crucial: the most important thing you need to remember about being the uncle of these two beautiful little people is that Luca and Didi look very Caucasian, just like Laurence. Also remember that Laurence works full time from Monday to Friday. Therefore Ana and I hang out with the kids pretty much the whole time, and Ana and I don’t look very “white”.  

On February the 22^nd I woke up in the wrong hemisphere, with people driving in the wrong side of the road; talking about rugby and the All Blacks; and having hot savoury pies as their major snack. This Mexican needed to get used to the long Maori names given to streets and the annoyingly slow speed limits they have here (really guys 50 km/hr, why?). Oh no, I wasn’t in Kansas anymore (cultural reference to the Wizard of Oz, in case you were wondering).