Ha, yeah right. We all know I came down here to get colorful stamps on my passport.
When I left Seattle in February I was an uppity eighteen-year-old. I strutted into South America, eager to apply my attitude of confident, self-satisfied, cultural criticism to an exciting new world. But, I’ve grown so much since then.
I’m nineteen now.
Honestly though, I could not, in good conscious, write seventeen passages about my time here and never admit to feeling moved or experiencing anything profound. And so, at the risk of feeling like a pretentious sap, I have remembered below a few of the more powerful moments I experienced in the last four months.
When I was stuck for fourteen hours at political roadblock in Bolivia, an elderly native woman from a nearby farm came up to me and gave me three oranges. She refused payment saying, “You have a mother somewhere who would be worried if you didn’t have these.”
Last week the people I live with spent a great deal of time, effort and money to take me on an exciting adventure and make me feel at home on my birthday.
On the first day of construction at a Habitat for Humanity home all the volunteers were playing a get-to-know-you game in circle at lunch. The father of the family for whom the house was being built stepped into the circle to say a few words. His five-year-old daughter was standing on his shoe and clinging to his leg and he began to cry as he tried to express his gratitude.
But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll forget all about this forgotten, impoverished country and revert to my ways of middle-class cynicism as soon as I hear T-Pain’s electric voice on Kube 93.
Join me next Saturday for "Everyone say something you're thankful for"
When I left Seattle in February I was an uppity eighteen-year-old. I strutted into South America, eager to apply my attitude of confident, self-satisfied, cultural criticism to an exciting new world. But, I’ve grown so much since then.
I’m nineteen now.
Honestly though, I could not, in good conscious, write seventeen passages about my time here and never admit to feeling moved or experiencing anything profound. And so, at the risk of feeling like a pretentious sap, I have remembered below a few of the more powerful moments I experienced in the last four months.
When I was stuck for fourteen hours at political roadblock in Bolivia, an elderly native woman from a nearby farm came up to me and gave me three oranges. She refused payment saying, “You have a mother somewhere who would be worried if you didn’t have these.”
Last week the people I live with spent a great deal of time, effort and money to take me on an exciting adventure and make me feel at home on my birthday.
On the first day of construction at a Habitat for Humanity home all the volunteers were playing a get-to-know-you game in circle at lunch. The father of the family for whom the house was being built stepped into the circle to say a few words. His five-year-old daughter was standing on his shoe and clinging to his leg and he began to cry as he tried to express his gratitude.
But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll forget all about this forgotten, impoverished country and revert to my ways of middle-class cynicism as soon as I hear T-Pain’s electric voice on Kube 93.
Join me next Saturday for "Everyone say something you're thankful for"
I'm glad you wrote about some of the most touching moments you have had. I'm sure there were others, too. I'd like to thank the farm wife who gave my son 3 oranges because she knew I would want you to have them. Bless her heart!
ReplyDeleteBelieve me - you won't forget about Paraguay. There is just something about that country - the people - it just gets under your skin and becomes a part of you. You will have lots of fun trying to explain to others about this small country they've never heard of, and how incredible it truly is!
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