2017-11-08
I’m in a “complicated relationship” with language. I studied Spanish in school for six years. Yet when I arrived in country, I struggled to find the words to communicate with my first host family, my Spanish teachers, and my second (now permanent) host family. For example, Instead of saying “tengo hambre” (I’m hungry, or literally,...
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2017-11-08
“Perhaps the ache of homesickness was a fair price to pay for having so many good people in her life.” – Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet As the sunlight gleams through my metal bedroom window, I lay under my mosquito net and listen to the life outside of it. I...
Read More2017-11-08
I never stood out much in the States, at least not physically. I’m five two, with brown hair, and green eyes. Here, aside from my height, I couldn’t be more different from the people around me. At least on the outside. The stares and whispered words elicited purely by my pale skin scared me at...
Read More2017-11-07
On my first day as an English teacher, Edison, one of the main teachers I would be working with, took me to four of his classes to introduce me to his students. He introduced me to his first class in the following manner: "This is the new English assistant shes from the U.S but she...
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2017-11-07
Someone asked me to elaborate on the winter solstice festival after my last post (shoutout to Jan!). So I’m sharing a little blurb about it from the magazine I work for. Kapak Raymi is a festival in honor of wisdom, and is celebrated on the 21st of December, hallmay pacha. Rituals that are practiced include: hutuku...
Read More2017-11-07
Global Citizen Year focuses a lot on your stretch zone and I think I’ve just found a physical definition for it. Recently in capoeira class, I asked the teacher to show me how to do a one handed cartwheel. Apparently, there are four versions: two on each side with a different hand. My first try...
Read More2017-11-07
7 30am. A man I had never seen before opened my door and, having realized it wasn't the bathroom, politely apologized for the intrusion. I was far from awake, still lost in my dreams, probably breaking a string during my solo with Led Zeppelin or drumming for Pink Floyd in one of their majestic gigs....
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