so after flying to scotlqnd, paris, and casablanca and being in transit for over 36 hours i finally made it to Dakar at around 2am. As i stepped off the plane the area smelled like a sweet french blu cheese. Mboullie was there waiting for me and we took a taxi to his friends house. His friend is named babaker and he told me he will teach us french in the upcoming days. I could not fall asleep so we decided he would give me a tour of the town/village/sect?. I asked if i could call him babs for a nickname. He liked it. We walked around his home town called Yoff, a cultural section of Dakar. We walked to the beach and spoke about our childhoods. As we walkd back to his house/house area we heard and saw 30 youths drumming, singing and moving in unison; It was 4 in the morning and were waking the town up early so they can eat before the sun came up because this is the time of the rammadan. As we left to meet up with the rest of the group the roosters cried out their call. I will always remember my first hours in Africa.

 hey guys, heres an article i wrote for the school paper. miss you lots and hope all is well           

As Azar Nafisi said,  “You get a strange feeling when you leave a place…like you’ll not only miss the place you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and place, because you’ll never be this way again.” When we first met in the airport in Miami, we each came with our own story, different from anyone else’s, but by the end of the trip all thirteen of us had a connection, and a new story to tell about the person we became in Guatemala.

            This summer, I traveled for a month to Guatemala with a program called Where There Be Dragons that runs cultural immersion summer and semester programs in developing countries all over the world. No one on the trip had met before June 28^th, but by July 28^th, we all knew more about each other, and about ourselves than we had ever imagined.

            On our second night in Guatemala, each of us received a bracelet that we wore throughout the trip that represented our bond as a group. It was there to remind us that even at times when we woke up in the middle of the night to barking dogs, or wishing we had a hot shower and maybe even some toilet paper, that we were all in this together. We were all experiencing the same struggles, but also the same sense of accomplishment when we learned how to converse in K’iche or made a tortilla that our host family didn’t laugh at.

            Each day was filled with numerous opportunities to interact with the locals, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. On one of the most moving, but also one of the most exciting days we visited an elderly home in the morning and an orphanage in the afternoon. At first I was a little nervous about the elderly home because I thought I would have trouble communicating, but I overcame my shyness and my friend Sam and I went over to a man who was sitting by himself in a wheelchair. We realized quickly that he was blind and so we helped him eat the cake we had brought by breaking it into small pieces and putting them into his hand. After he was done with his food, he held our hands, first Sam’s and then mine. He examined them thoroughly by feeling all of the contours and then our bracelets and watches. Then he started scratching Sam’s palm lightly, which made both of us laugh and immediately the man’s face light up. We saw all of his wrinkles lift into a terrific smile and he began laughing as well. It was then that I realized that the language barrier was not an issue. He didn’t talk to us much, yet we still brightened his day. It was apparent that he appreciated Sam and I especially when we had to say goodbye. We told him we were leaving and his response was “Conmigo?” which means with me. It was so bittersweet knowing how we had touched his life, but at the same time recognizing that he probably didn’t get visitors very often.

            That afternoon, we also visited an orphanage. We were warned that the kids would call us Mom and Dad and grab onto us, but nothing could have prepared us for the experience. As soon as we walked in kids came running up to us and hugging us and asking our names. We organized a game of pato pato ganso (duck duck goose) and the room soon filled with chaos. After settling the kids down and giving them a snack, we scattered throughout the room and got to know the kids individually. I sat with two girls who were having a cartwheel competition and then we played tag the rest of the time, which was really fun for them, and for me too. A few times I pulled out my camera and they loved the attention.  The girls would pose for the camera and then immediately want to see the picture. When it came time for us to go, everyone had a really hard time. The kids kept asking why we had to leave and if we were coming back tomorrow, and I felt so horrible when we had to tell them that we couldn’t. It was heartbreaking that something as insignificant as a trip itinerary kept us from spending time with these loving kids who were less fortunate than us. Kids I hadn’t even talked to came running up to me, hugging me and not wanting to let go. The hardest part was saying goodbye to the two girls I played tag with. One of them wouldn’t let go of me and someone else had to pry her off of my leg after she said to me, “Tu eres mi mama”. I felt so terrible that I had to leave and couldn’t do anything else to help them. Here were these kids who were so open and loving despite the fact that none of them had parents and many of them had come from homes with domestic violence. Being at the orphanage gave me a reality check and made me appreciate all the opportunities that I have due to my parents.

            Being exposed to the elderly home and the orphanage were only some of the many opportunities that this trip gave us. With each new place we went, we were immersed in a different part of Guatemalan culture and met inspiring people. The people we came in contact with were ambitious, compassionate, and willing to talk to American students who were eager to learn about Guatemalan culture. I will never forget the impact they made on my experience.  

Hi everyone!!!

It's been so weird not waking up next to all of you, not searching out Cambodian noodles, not laughing over gross cuts or monk laundry... It definitely took some getting used to at first, but I think I've successfully managed to take my experience- the most powerful, eye widening, heart opening experiences of my life- and transform it into something I can reexperience on a daily basis. For that, I feel pretty accomplished.

About a week and a half ago, I wrote Allana an email I thought I'd share here about my transference experience. Here goes...

Saltando en el Salar de Uyini

City of rocks

todo el grupo

en el Salar

atardecer en la laguna colorada

Going home!!!

6 weeks

It was enough?, too much? Or not at all?... but the fact is that now we are going home with a new seed  of knowledge in our heart, hoping that some day it will become a beautiful tree full of grace!

We are going home with so many memories of places, faces, sunsets, buses, streets, and more that we experienced together. Individually and as a group we learned about Bolivia, about the incredible people who live in this country, people who opened their doors for us and let us come into their homes. We learned about the infinite landscape of the Andes, big mountains, high glaciers, salt flats, endless deserts and green rain forest in the amazon.

While you are sitting on the plane right now, I’m enjoying a cup of coffee (as you might know) thinking on you and starting to miss you already.

Here you have some of the last pictures that we took together as a wonderful group, so far the best I have ever had!

Love

An amazing thing just happened to us. Two days ago, we were craving the scrumptious green Cambodian noodles that our homestay families fed us last week for breakfast and are hard to scavenger in cities. Early Wednesday morning, before doing some last minute souvenir shopping at Psar Tuol Tom Poung and visiting the Silver Pagoda, we journeyed to the market near our hotel, Psar Oreussey, to enjoy those delicious noodles. Genevieve pointed out a vender squatting on a side street who by pure luck was selling Cambodian noodles. So, we sat down, savored our 50 cents worth of noodles, and headed off to the rest of our day without looking back.

This morning, we woke up around 7 fully intending to eat the extra bananas in our room for breakfast. But after some thought, we realized that on our second to last morning in Cambodia, we should relish those noodles one last time. Once again, we walked towards the market, surprised to find the same vender selling the green delicacy. When we were almost finished, a man, seeming to be another customer, sat down next to us and after a minute, he opened his wallet to unveil a small, ratty, piece of paper. Unfolding the paper, we saw that on the piece of paper was a letter written in English. At first, we thought it was a letter he had written, but after reading it, we discovered that he was the husband of the vender and that it was a letter given to him by a group of girls thanking him and his wife for their kindness and incredible noodles. The letter was signed by five girls: Erin, Mia, Emma, Stormie, and Adi. Suddenly, it clicked. These weren't just random tourists, these five girls were Dragons students two years ago. 

It was shocking that this gentle yet jolly man had kept this piece of paper that had been ripped out of a journal two years ago. Clearly, this paper had been viewed and well-loved by a number of people as it was torn and dirty. As we held the fraying edges of the paper between our shaking fingers, we struggled to hold back our tears. This man embodied everything that we have learned during our experiences in Cambodia- that such a small token of appreciation can mean the world to someone. Close to tears, we walked away humbled by his gratitude and with plans to write a letter of our own.

Today is our last day in Cambodia. When that letter was written, it was the authors' last day in Cambodia. There could not have been a better way for us to end our time here. It was almost as though we were coming full circle and finishing the bowl of noodles that those other Dragons pined to savor one last time.