(Un)Adulting

Hellooooo starting this on the plane again, probs gonna finish when I get back to Córdoba.

I went for a spontaneous weekend trip after finding out that I had Thurs + Fri off and I found promo tickets to Puerto Madryn, where I had been hoping I could visit before leaving Argentina.

Puerto Madryn is known for its wildlife: ballenas (whales), pingüinos (you can probably guess that one: penguins), lobos marinos (sea lions, although the direct translation is sea wolf), elefantes marinos (elephant seals), and more. Given that list of animals, you can tell that this is a seaside town... and I am madly in love with the sea, so this was a blissful reunion.

There is also a lucky Fulbrighter placed in Puerto Madryn, and after we became friends at the conference in Rio, I was excited to visit her.

I had a really fun weekend, but a recurring thought process seemed to be following me around.

When I first arrived at the Trelew airport (an hour outside of Puerto Madryn), I walked out of the gate and saw a small dinosaur exhibit. I smiled and thought "When I was little, I would have been so excited..."

As I walked around exploring the beach with my friend, I couldn't help but notice all of the shells in the sand and think "Man if I was younger, I would have so much fun collecting these..."

On that walk, we passed a bunch of short but sturdy trees with branches intertwining- something very similar to what my dad and I called the Curly Tree Forest in Golden Gate Park. I flashed back to those weekend adventures with my parents and thought, "When I was a kid I would have loved climbing these trees..."

During my day trip to the peninsula to see all of the wildlife, I had about an hour free to explore the beach area while other travelers went whale-watching. I walked to a bunch of sandstone bluffs and saw a 6 or 7 year old kid scrambling up the rocks to reach the top. I watched them with a little bit of affection and a little bit of envy and thought, "That would have been me if I was younger..."

It took me a few iterations of this thought pattern to recognize it, but thankfully I did and had a little conversation with myself.

"When I was little... If I was younger..." Seriously? Excuse you, Adult Lizzy. Who are you to think wistfully about what you "used to" like and suck all of the fun out of your own adventures? How dare you forget everything you promised yourself as a child that you would remember? Why are you trying to smother the curiosity you still have about the world around you?

I think it's appropriate that the word "adult" is now used as a verb. (There's a whole Youtube channel called "How To Adult.") Adulting very much seems like it is not so much a fundamental change in our being that happens after we turn 18 or 21 or whatever age, but rather a series of actions we carry out in order to meet new societal expectations. Some of these adulting activities are freedoms that I appreciate, like getting to choose what clothes I wear every morning and exploring my own style. Some of them are stressful and hard but necessary to survive the world (who wants to learn how to do taxes and pay bills and get to work on time?). But during these moments this weekend, I recognized an adult behavior that I think is neither necessary nor freeing: the behavior that arises from an expectation to be proper, reserved, cautious and act like we know exactly what we are doing. It's the suppression of the urge to do silly things like climb trees and scramble up rocks and pick up shells for no reason other than it's fun... until the point you feel that you don't even want those things anymore.

I had almost reached that point, but there was still the curiosity, the drive inside me to explore, to wonder.

My dad wrote a journal to my sister and I starting from when we were babies. When I go back and read it, I can recognize a lot of the things that make me me from when I was little: my love of the ocean, my adventure bug, my obsession with reading and writing, my excitement around animals, my curiosity, my interest in both science and fantasy, my independent spirit, my empathy and care for others. All of these things still make up who I am.

Sure, there are definitely some things that Little Lizzy would have loved that I definitely don't-- ketchup on broccoli, for instance. But climbing and going on adventures and getting dirty and getting really really excited about dinosaurs... those aren't things I'll ever be too old for.

So why was I acting like a solemn bystander in my own life? Why was I acting like the kid I had been was gone, and instead I was this entirely separate entity who no longer had any need for "fun"?

Luckily I asked myself those questions, and so the story of this weekend has a happy ending.

Airport Dino

I took a picture of the dinosaur in the airport...

Highway Dino

and the dinosaur on the highway...

This is NOT a T-Rex but rather a Giganotasaurus

and before getting on the plane back...

Lookit all these guys

I made sure I had time to go to the paleontological museum

El dinosaurio más grande del mundo y yo / "The biggest dinosaur in the world and me"

which was SO COOL

because I STILL FREAKING LOVE DINOS

At the beach, I took off my shoes and walked barefoot in the sand and picked out some of my favorite shells and slipped them in my pocket to take home:

purty shells :)

I climbed the trees in the Curly Tree Forest

Curly Tree Forest

Sittin in a tree selfie

And I scrambled up the bluff after that kid, getting dust and sand and dirt all over my pants...

Climbing rocks!

and at the top I found a bunch of fossilized shells in the rock:

You can't tell from this pic, but these shells are completely imbedded in the rock!

I also go to hang out with penguins

What a view, huh buddy?

YES I FEEL YA PENGUIN

Watched the whales from the shore...

Looked out at the sea lions and elephant seals...

Those little blobs are the sea lions...

Meditated overlooking the ocean...

It is WINDY AF in southern Argentina!

Mate and chilled with some new friends...

Typical Argentine afternoon merienda: mate and baked goods outside in the sun

And went to a concert by a really amazing cover band that performed one of my favorite classic songs...

Twenty-five years and my life is still/ trying to get up that great big hill of hope

HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA

It was exhausting, because I was staying up late on Argentine time but also waking up early to go do activities, but it was so worth it.

I've done a lot of adulting in Argentina. I'm thousands of miles away from my parents and have no one making choices for me here-- even when sometimes I wish I did. I've had to figure out a lot of things for myself, and I've had to be responsible and respectful and navigate situations thoughtfully. I even spent my downtime in Puerto Madryn scanning LinkedIn and working on job searching/applications for when I get back. (Current dream job: Apprentice Chocolate Maker with Dandelion Chocolate... like how cool would that be?!)

But I have also had opportunities like this weekend to being out the child-- the person-- I have always been: silly, curious, adventurous, and really excited about dinos.

Permanent Marks

It has taken me until the very end of the day to finish this post because I actually don't know what to say.

Things feel... so normal. There are so many fewer obstacles to tackle each day, fewer things that stand out to me as new cultural differences, fewer changes or additions to things I have already discussed.

I guess this all shows that there has been one big change, a change that has been taking place slowly enough that I barely noticed it: I'm somewhat adjusted.

This week, for the first time, I actually felt really sad about the prospect of leaving Argentina.

After my circus class ended on Monday, I was saying goodbye to my teacher, and I realized that in a couple months I would be saying goodbye... forever. No more stretching on the exercise balls for warm-up, no more kissing every single person when I walk into the class, no more learning the names of moves in Spanish, no more growing alongside this unique group of artists...

I don't feel like I've had the same kind of intense bonds with people that I had with some of the friends I made at Oxford, but over the last several months I've had so many relationships that have built up slowly. So many people who have become part of my life day after day. And I am finally at the point where I realize that I am going to lose all of those small moments with people... the teacher I've worked with, the students I've grown close to, everyone who has helped me grow accustomed to this city.

Yesterday I met up with the owner of the apartment I used to rent so that we could catch up and I could return the keys and such, and I was telling her that it has taken me 6 months to finally feel "comoda" (comfortable) in my new city, my new life here. And, now that I'm pretty much adjusted, I have only 2 months left to enjoy this newfound sense of belonging.

At the Fulbright conference in Rio back in July, there was a discussion about "Life After Fulbright," and the presenters discussed the way that after you have lived in a different country, a different culture, for a period of time, you may not feel like you quite "fit in" anywhere anymore. They used an analogy with shapes... If you start off a triangle living in Triangle Country, then live in Circle Country, you may not totally become a circle, but you do change... maybe, for instance, you kinda become a square. And when you go back to Triangle Country, suddenly you realize you're not a triangle anymore, and you're not a circle, you're just... something different.

Back at Oxford, I took the positive spin on this: "If home is where the heart is, then I have a great many homes," I wrote right before leaving.

Which is still true... but it is also true that when I feel like I have so many places that are part of me, then wherever I am there is always something missing.

I've felt that my whole life with San Francisco and Spirit Lake, Idaho, where my family's summer cabin is. I always felt like "home" was half in SF and half at the Lake.

And then I moved to college in Washington State, and Walla Walla and Seattle became my new homes, and now when I'm down in California I miss the Pacific Northwest.

And then I studied abroad at Oxford, and Oxford became another piece of home.

And now, Argentina.

I love each of these places very much, and I wouldn't want to take back any of the experiences I've had in them... but it is frustrating that whichever place I'm in, part of me longs to be somewhere else.

I appreciate symbolism (I mean I was an English major, what do you expect), and at each of these places I've ended up with a physical mark.

I first pierced my ears when I was 13, at the Claire's in Stonestown Mall in San Francisco, and at the time I thought it was the only piercing I was going to get.

When I went to Oxford, I wanted to mark myself somehow, physically, to reflect the less tangible effects it had on me as a person... and I got my first cartilage piercing.

My mark from college wasn't quite as intentional... At the graduation party one of my friends through, I climbed a rope and ended with one of the deeper rope burns I've gotten... it took all summer to heal, and remained sensitive into the following spring. That mark, I think, is reflective of the time it took for me to process the emotional roller coaster of graduation, the end of the educational conveyer belt I'd been on for as long as I could remember.

Yesterday, one of the very first friends I made here in Córdoba came with me to the local tattoo parlor and I got my second cartilage piercing to mark my time here.

Sorry I don't actually have a good picture, just took this in the light of the street lamps while I was waiting for the bus back to my house...

It was surprisingly fast and it was... I dunno, it was kinda weird how easy it was to just suddenly have another piercing. My friend walked with me to the pharmacy (which I just tried to spell "farmacy," because the major pharmacy here is call "Farmacity") and helped me buy antibacterial soap and saline solution so I can take good care of the piercing throughout the healing process.

I know that these physical markings aren't the most important part of an experience, but they help me remember that in some way, I carry these places with me wherever I go.

I've been a square for a while now... not wholly of any one place, carrying with me the customs and experiences and friendships from the many places I have called home.

For all the time that I've spent longing to be back in San Francisco, it's going to be hard to say goodbye to this country.

And I thought my travel bug would be gone after this... but I'm already talking to friends about the places I want to go next. Not immediately, for sure-- I need to settle for a while first. But in a few more years... I guess I can't stop finding new places to miss.

Appreciations for Argentina* (*It's not just BA!!)

I'm sitting at the dining room table at my new house. It's been raining all day-- I can hear it through the sliding glass door that leads to the back yard. My host's daughter (my professor) and her children are here, as they are every Sunday afternoon, to spend time together as a family. 17 Again (with Zac Efron, yep) is playing on the TV in English, with Spanish subtitles... everyone is half-watching while we pass the mate, nibble on medialunas for merienda, and chat about hurricanes and politics and how much water you should drink in a day.

After moving to live with my professor's mom, my life in Argentina has changed a lot. I now live in a rather upper-class neighborhood. There are no supermarkets nearby, but there are plenty of health-food stores-- dietéticas, almacenes naturales, places that advertise tofu and mixed nuts and fancy cheeses. The streets have little guard-houses every few blocks for safety. The house is part of a gated complex. We have a dishwasher, not to mention a nice shower (with, yes, reliable hot water), an awesome stove, oven, laundry, cleaning lady... it is a different life from what I had been living.

The creature comforts are wonderful, but the best thing about having moved here is the community. I'm getting much more practice and exposure to Spanish, and I feel so much less isolated. True, I do have to take the bus for 45+ minutes to get into the city center for activities and to meet up with people, but I had to do the same trip in the opposite direction for work when I was living in the Center anyways.

As always, it's difficult to come up with a specific topic for my blog post.

I've been feeling a lot happier the last week, probably because of the trip to Iguazú and because of the change in living circumstances. A couple nights ago, I played music in my headphones and danced around my room at 11pm... I haven't done that in ages. :)

Because things feel positive right now, I want to focus on some of the things I've experienced in Argentina that I really appreciate.

Before that, though, I want to acknowledge something that happens a little too easily when talking about a country in which one does not live.

I've definitely had the experience here of Argentines telling me what the U. S. is like, and occasionally speaking over my experiences or giving their own perspective without giving me a chance to talk about my own. And, likewise, sometimes when I talk about Argentina, or when I hear other foreigners talk about their impression of the country, I realize that we're doing the same thing: telling someone what their country is without giving them space to define their own experiences. (Note: I recognize it's a different context when people here talk about the United States, because the U. S. has had a damaging presence in South America throughout history that does not go the other way)

Sometimes I do think that people who view something from the outside can have interesting insights, but that should never override people's lived experiences.

So I want to be clear that everything that I have to say about Argentina comes from a very limited viewpoint, and I do not by any means think that I have anywhere near a complete understanding of this country, let alone this province, city, or neighborhood. I can only speak to the specific experiences I've had here. And I highly recommend that you visit for yourself and talk to actual Argentines about their lives.

Also, one of the biggest misconceptions I think people in the States have about Argentina is that Buenos Aires is representative of all of Argentina. I know this is something that many people I have met in Córdoba definitely resent, because Buenos Aires is NOT all of Argentina. It is of course an important city, but Argentina is huge! There's Jujuy, Salta, and Missiones in the north, full of beautiful landscapes, salt flats, Iguazú Falls. There's of course Córdoba in the center, landlocked, full of contradictions like the radical queer artistic community living alongside conservatives from the older generations, the flat city with the second largest population in the country surrounded by the calm natural beauty of the sierras. And of course there is the vast south, from the snowy mountains of Bariloche to the "end of the world" by Ushuaia. And that's only a few of the highlights I know of-- there are 23 provinces in Argentina.

Sometimes I feel frustrated when people here find out I'm from "los Estados Unidos" and they go on to tell me everything they know about what the states are like because "I went to New York once!" or "I brought my kids to Disneyworld!" or "Hollywood!" and I think "The U. S. is so much more than New York, Miami, and LA..." So I can only imagine how people feel when anytime someone says "Argentina" the response is "Oh, Buenos Aires is great, it's so European!" Buenos Aires is great, but there are 23 provinces in Argentina, there many different climates and landscapes and cultures, and there is a lot more to it than that one city.

Anyways, some things that I really appreciate from my experience of Argentina that maybe I can carry back with me in some form when I return to the US:

Siesta, in some form

Maybe not all of siesta, because it can be a little frustrating to be unable to do any shopping or activities from 1:30-5pm, but I really like the general idea that workers deserve a break longer than 30 minutes in the afternoon to rest, recuperate, eat a solid meal, and spend time with friends and family.

Downtime

Along with the idea of siesta comes the cultural acceptance of downtime. In the states, I feel a constant pressure that if I am not Accomplishing Something-- working, cooking, gardening, cleaning, networking, etc-- I am wasting time. That is not a cultural phenomenon here in the same way. Most of the time when I ask someone what they did over the weekend, they don't laundry list 50 different activities, they say "Oh, not much... spent time with my family, watched a movie..." And there is no shame in that! Time off work is time to relax, not time to keep working.

Downtime can actually be hard. In order to be able to just chill for a day without guilt, you have to be able to sit with yourself. You have to, in some sense, be at ease with who and where you are. And I think a lot of people are afraid of that quiet time, afraid of the thoughts and feelings that they will no longer be distracting themselves from. Learning to face all of that and embrace downtime is something that I have gotten a lot better at here, and I think it is far more valuable than we give it credit for.

Emphasis on Socializing (with people you actually want to socialize with)

My professor spends every Sunday with her family. They don't do anything special. They just hang out together.

If there is anything I have learned during my time in Argentina, it is the importance my family has in my life. This is not only because I see so much emphasis on family time in the culture here, but also because I have missed my own family so much.

I don't think this is exclusive to family time, though. Not everyone wants to spend extended periods of time with their blood relations. But it is important to have time to be with the people you care most about, whoever they are. It doesn't have to be a big deal, it doesn't have to involve lots of planning and activities... just being in the same place with those people.

I know a lot of people who individually do this, but I wish that it was a more integrated part of day to day life... I think "socializing" often gets turned into "social obligation," "networking," "taking care of others," "going out and getting totally wasted," and other more draining forms of socializing. Socializing as in intentionally spending time in the same space as people who you care deeply about and who care deeply about you is something I believes deserves prioritizing.

No Detention in School

This is already changing in the states (the elementary school I worked at had eliminated detention), but it has GOT to become the norm.

Detention makes absolutely zero sense.

A student is struggling in a class, so instead of helping that student acclimatize to class in some way you... kick them out?? For a student who is unhappy in the classroom, this is literally incentivizing them to act out so that they can avoid the classroom environment. It does nothing to address any of the underlying problems that the student is facing. It does nothing to help them improve their chances of successfully engaging in classrooms in the future. It makes absolutely zero sense.

Free Education at the University Level

This is not just Argentina, but seriously, this is a no-brainer at this point. Higher education should be accessible to anyone who is interested, not just those who can afford the abSURDly high cost of college in the states.

I have had discussions with students and teachers about how in some schools, there is a lack of investment on the part of some students, and some may argue that when students are paying $200,000 for their education, they definitely don't take it for granted.

But I do not think apathy is the direct outcome of free education, and I have seen that a level of rigor and engagement absolutely is possible without charging students and their families so much they are in debt for years.

Minimum Paid Leave and Paid Holidays

All employees in Argentina receive a MINIMUM of two weeks paid vacation and 11 paid holidays, and that number increases with the number of years someone works.

Do you know what the minimum is in the states?

0.

Argentina also has a minimum of 13 weeks paid maternity leave, with 100% pay, and several days required paternity leave.

How many do we have in the states?

0.

And so many people I know in the states are exhausted, overworked, and anxious to take a single vacation day let alone a sick day.

I know that many companies offer paid vacation benefits in the states, but it's not required by law, and so those in most need of those rights are often the ones deprived of them.

But aside from it being a right that should be assured regardless of where someone works, I think it is also connected to the culture. There is a culture here that workers deserve rest, they deserve time to themselves, they deserve to have life outside of work. In the states... sometimes I'm afraid of entering the workforce because for so many people, their work becomes their whole life because it's hard to have the time or energy to do anything else. Even for someone who really loves their job, that's a lot, and I hope that this is something that we will change in the future.

To end the post, as usual, just some pictures from the week... apparently I've been in the mood for documenting inane occurrences in my day-to-day life, so here you go:

The cat really wants to read Harry Potter with me

I took a picture of myself getting stuck on a doorknob by the belt loop in my pants because THIS IS LIKE THE 4TH FREAKING TIME IT HAS HAPPENED WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME

srsly, every time I get out HP, kitty wants to join in

Finally visited the Museo de la memoria in the City Center, where desaparecidos were held during the dictatorship... across from the cathedral of Plaza San Martín, close enough to hear the church bells...

The atrium where recently abducted desaparecidos were held

Where now their pictures are on the walls

Playing tourist and finally taking a pic of the Capuchinos Cathedral at Paseo del Buen Pastor... named Capuchinos not like "cappuccino" coffee, but because the members of the congregation wore capuchas (hoods)

Bruncheríaaaaaaaa

I had to take a pic of this store front... I just had to... it actually turned out real artsy with my reflection lol. What does it say about me?? :P

Sometimes the writing on the desks at school (remember we share classrooms with a secondary school) make me happy :)

Went out for drinks/dinner and guess what was on the menu??? Poción multijugos, which I have been reading about in HP and know as Polyjuice Potion!!! Yes, of course I ordered it... it was pretty good.

Kitty came to watch HP5 with me ;)

10 Things I Love About Me (written Sunday, Sep 3)

This video is supposed to go at the end with the photos, but it won't 

move from here, so... have a slow-mo hummingbird video!

I wrote this post while getting ready to leave Iguazú Falls, which I visited this past weekend, and I didn't have time to type it up until today! Will write a regular blog post this Sunday.

I am, and have always been, a lot harder on myself than pretty much anyone else is on me. But since the end of high school, and especially the past year or so, I have been working to improve at self-care.

Self-care means a lot of different things to me. Sometimes it means physical activity, fresh air, getting outside of the house, having a healthy diet, and keeping up good personal hygiene. Sometimes it means doing things I don't feel like doing in the moment but that I know will help prevent feeling much worse in the future. Sometimes it means practicing mindfulness daily, going to weekly counseling sessions, and taking time for reflection and introspection. And sometimes it means coating the backs of my hands in lavender-scented lotion and curling up in my favorite blanket with my stuffed polar bear and drinking a hot cup of chamomile tea with honey.

One frequently recommended self-care action that has always been especially hard for me is self-affirmation. I can write gratitude notes before bedtime and feel proud of the accomplishments of my best friends, but when it comes to written or verbal affirmations about myself... I am rarely in a place where I feel like I can say anything positive, or at least not without countering it with some corresponding flaw.

But right now I'm getting ready to hop on a plane home from Puerto Iguazú, and I actually feel kind of proud of myself for the things I have done this weekend and throughout my Argentina journey in general. So, I'm gonna make a little list of things I am proud of or appreciate about myself, accomplishments that sometimes seem a little trivial but have actually taken a lot of work.

1) I told someone something they didn't want to hear because I knew it was the decision I needed to make for my own growth and well-being

Specifically, after a gas outage lasting 3 weeks, I finally told my apartment owner (who has become a friend) that I need to move, and that she won't be receiving rent from me for the next few months because I have the option of being in a place with hot showers and being able to cook and having someone present in the house who can help problem-solve issues, and I need to take that option. My trip to Iguazú marked my leaving my old apartment and moving into a room with my professor's mom in a fancy neighborhood on the outskirts of the city.

I explained this to a friend as we walked through the Iguazú National Park, and told her how I was really afraid to tell my apartment owner that I was leaving before I said I would, even though it was obvious that I had every right to do so. My friend talked about a class she had taken in college that taught her the term "nice girl in recovery."

There is a lot of pressure, especially on femme people, people assigned female at birth, and minority groups, to be likable or "nice," often to the extend of ignoring our own needs in order to prioritize the comfort of others (see: L'Oreal first hired a black trans model for their new diversity campaign and then fired her when she spoke on social media about the reality of racism in our country in a way that wasn't nice enough). If you're not quiet, submissive, agreeable, nice enough, you get dismissed by terms like "angry feminist" or "uppity black." And because the consequences can be so great-- so much as losing a relationship, a job, or even your life-- it's really hard to fight off that pressure even in much more low-key situations.

I find it ridiculously hard to say no to people, and I stayed in my apartment more than three weeks without hot water and eating only salads and microwaved foods partially because I didn't want to deal with the stress of moving again, but mostly because I didn't want to let down my apartment owner.

I think it is a good thing that I don't want to let other people down and that I take into account how my decisions will affect those around me. But at a certain point, I need to make the decision that is truly authentic to who I am and what I need... if I don't do that, then I'm not being fair to anyone, myself or others. So, I do feel pretty proud of myself for finally telling her that I needed to leave and finding a place and making it happen.

2) I admitted that I was struggling with something

Well, eventually. The first two weeks without gas, I didn't really talk or complain about it much to people outside of my immediate family. When people asked how I was doing, I talked about other things and said everything was fine.

When I finally started telling people that the gas had been out, I lied and said it had only been a couple days.

Why??

First of all, I know that not having gas is really not a big deal. Thousands of people are currently losing their homes to the changes in the global climate and the storms that are destroying their neighborhoods... and I am complaining about a few cold showers?

But ideally I can acknowledge other people's struggles, do my best to contribute by donating and spreading awareness, and also have space to acknowledge smaller things that I am dealing with. It doesn't have to be a comparison or zero-sum game.

So what else holds me back?

Sometimes I think I feel that by even voicing a concern or discomfort I am experiencing, I am unfairly placing my burdens on people or inconveniencing them or making them feel obligated to do something (listen, help, etc) that they don't actually want to do.

By actually admitting when I am having a problem, I have to place trust in the people I talk to that they will be honest about their own boundaries, what they can and cannot do to support me. In this case, everyone has been validating, and many have offered help in some form, from letting me take a hot shower in their house to helping me find a place to move.

3) I actually accepted help

One of my professors recommended that I reach out to her mom, whose house I stayed when I got back late from the airport. I'll call her Andrea here.

Andrea has a free room in her house, reliable hot water, a great stove and oven, and-- get this-- a DISHWASHER (seriously, this is the first one of these things I've seen in Argentina). She lives in a mini gated community in one of the wealthier districts of the city, very different from the other places I've lived so far.

She was happy to have me come join her, and if all goes well I will probably stay at this new place until I leave.

4) I went on some adventures alone

First of all, I booked a somewhat spontaneous trip to Iguazú because why not, and I met up with another Fulbrighter to explore on Saturday and did exploring on my own on Sunday. I went on a guided tour of Güria Oga, an amazing animal rescue center located right by the park, I asked a taxi driver for food recommendations, I treated myself to lunch, I visited the hummingbird garden in Puerto Iguazú, and I went on a nice walk out to the lookout where you can see Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina all at once.

5) I had conversations with strangers and got to know a little bit about their lives

Being a traveler surrounded by other travelers makes it so much easier to talk to other people. I had conversations with people from Germany, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and the US in three different languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese, which I don't really speak but is similar enough to Spanish that I can guess some words and was able to stumble through a basic conversation with a Brazilian couple). Everyone says (and I think it's true) that one of the most impactful things about traveling is getting to meet many different people who come from completely different places, cultures, and sets of experiences... sometimes I feel so introverted I never actually get around to learning about people, but I did quite a bit of it this trip and am really proud of myself.

6) My Spanish is actually improving a lot

I will always have room for improvement. Spanish will never be as natural as my first language and of course I'm not perfect. But it really is about time that I give myself credit for the fact that I have actually improved a ton, and I need to stay willing to keep practicing and actually use it!

I had a whole conversation with a Cordobés person in Spanish and it was really smooth, easily moving from one topic or question to the next... I'm now going to be living with Andrea, who only speaks Spanish, so I'll be getting even more practice... It's becoming less of a point of anxiety and more and more a normal part of my life.

7) I finished the 5th Harry Potter book (in Spanish)

'nough said. That book is a freakin' monster... only two more left! Excited to watch the Spanish Dub version of the movie this weekend...

8) I strive to live by the qualities of the obvious best Hogwarts House, Hufflepuff

Helga Hufflepuff is the only Hogwarts Founder who says she will accept anyone who wants to learn. Slytherin is super racist, Gryffindor is an arrogant jerk who says he'll only accept people who never back down from a fight, and Ravenclaw is kind of an elitist who only accepts people who match her criteria for being "smart," which is usually book-smart and certainly doesn't fit well with a growth-mindset.

I will always be proud to be a Hufflepuff, and I think the core values of hard work, loyalty, and acceptance are values that have become increasingly relevant.

9) I'm doing so many cool things on aerial rope

10) I provide a safe space for shy students at my institute who are afraid to speak in class to practice their English

I now work with two students every week on individual English conversation sessions, as well as other students on occasion. Both are older than the average student and feel really self-conscious about their accents and really anxious about speaking in class.

As someone who always struggled with speaking in class discussion, I have so much empathy for them and it means a lot to me that they have both felt safe enough with me to have full conversations in English and not worry quite so much about mistakes. I've learned so much about their lives and aspirations from spending time speaking with them each week, and I can see them slowly building confidence.

It means a lot to me that these students feel comfortable telling me about themselves and working on their language skills when I know how reserved and afraid they feel in class... and I am glad that I am able to be someone they can trust.


So, those are my 10 affirmations. I think this positive mood came about as a consequence of taking the weekend off to see one of the natural wonders of the world, Iguazú Falls... It is so huge that you can see it from the International Space Station. Absolutely stunning.

The mist rising out of the gorge...

Selfie at the Garganta del diablo (Devil's Throat, the main lookout on the Argentine side)

These little guys (Coatis) were EVERYWHERE... super cute until they try to steal your food out of your hands

Hiking down to the base of the falls

Too beautiful to contain in a pano

This is becoming my thing ;) But seriously, could any picture be more emblematic of me??

At the edge of the frontera between the three countries, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina