Day Two Hundred and Forty-Two

The Largo Viaje en Auto

I English-to-Spanish translated that. Alejandra is asleep, otherwise I'd ask her for the perfect translation. It's supposed to mean "The Road Trip" but I think it came out a little more like "The Long Ride in the Car." Hey, that works for me! 

Meet my sweet friend and baseball-watching partner, Alejandra. She's here all the way from Uruguay, but spent the last 5 years living in Tampa, Florida, where she attended high school, learned English, met Jose, and fell madly in love. (Isn't she precious?!!!) Now she lives in North Carolina with her fiance, and that means...A FRIEND!! Haha. She's been an absolute joy to spend time with...especially over the past 10 hours. New Jersey was calling our names, so sure enough, as any good "wives" would do, we packed the car and headed North! The boys begin a 4-day series against Lakewood tomorrow, and neither of us wanted to miss it. 

And then this happened. We hopped onto the freeway, and suddenly, cats and dogs were pounding relentlessly on our windshield. We looked at each other in unison thinking, "Should we really do this," and instead of turning around, Alejandra hit the gas a little harder. Ain't no rain gonna hold us back! Well, that's not entirely true. It definitely held our speedomoter back. For the first half of the trip, we were lucky to see 45 in a 65. It was a slow-go for sure, as the rain never completely stopped. From 2 o'clock until midnight, the sound of rain splatters was our constant companion. 

This was our other companion. And I don't know if there's a better one in the world. Oh my gosh. Alejandra introduced me to this dangerous combination today, and yes, I had 3. Take that P90X. Haha. 

Speaking of terrible foods, I have to share a little story about my new friend. Alejandra sometimes finds herself at the drive-thru of McDonald's. And sometimes, she orders "French Fries." For a girl who's only been in America for 5 years, her English is very good. But she still struggles with certain words. "French fries" is one of them (technically 2, but who's counting, honestly?). And every time she orders french fries from the drive-thru, the employee misunderstands her and asks, "What size of SPRITE would you like? Small, medium, or large?" Hahahaha. So cute.

And just because this made me laugh really hard today...

I told Alejandra that we'd be driving through Baltimore on our way to NJ. Her response was, "Like the bad guy in Harry Potter?!" 

Haha :) Love her.

I say this all in good fun. Alejandra is really excited to have a non-Spanish speaking friend (me) in her life, as she's determined to speak English better than she already does. I've been able to help her a lot over the past few weeks, and it's been such a blessing to watch her grow. I can't say enough how fortunate I am to have her around, and how much I value the friendship that we've developed this far. 

Goodnight from New Jersey! GO HOPPERS!