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Back at the airport
I remember a month ago sitting at the airport scared out of my mind. Well, I’m back at the airport and I did it! I can hardly believe that a month has passed and how much I have experienced in these past weeks. I lived in a house with people from around the world, I…
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The Wealthiest 5%
I knew that one thing I would have to grapple with upon my return to the USA was an inward look at what it means to live in a country where most of the people would qualify as the wealthiest 5% of people in the world. I knew that spending these weeks getting to know…
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Coming to An End
My time at Hilo Rojo ends this Wednesday. With only a few days left, my thoughts have turned to processing this whole experience. I don’t think I’ll be able to fully process it until I get home and assimilate my experiences here to my life in Colorado. However, my hope is that I can use…
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These Past Few Days Have Been Hard
I struggle with social media as I think it often becomes a means to “show off our best.” You read it and everyone is having the best holiday, the best vacation, the best marriage, the best kids… Well, my life isn’t always like that. My life is messy and hard and beautiful and amazing… it’s…
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Cultural or poverty
There is a TV show that I like called “Real or Cake.” The contestants on the show make these amazing cakes that are then compared to the real object. The judges have to determine if the item is “real or cake”, and you win if you can fool them. I often feel as if I…
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It Was Bound to Happen- I Got Sick
It was bound to happen- I got sick. Nothing too severe- what I would call “functionally ill” if I was at home. The runny nose, cough, headache- the kind of cold where you take some Tylenol and Sudafed and feel OK until it wears off. However, getting sick did not surprise me. Remember, we are…
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Lauren Visits!
If you watch the TV show, Survivor, I’m sure you remember the episodes where the loved ones visit. Everyone is standing together on the beach ready to compete and then their loved ones show up and, just seeing their loved ones, changes these strong players into “crying fools.” It’s as if seeing their loved ones…
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Everything I Learned In Kindergarten
Many of us are familiar with the poem, “Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” The poem starts…. “Share everything. Play fair. Don’t hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own messes. Don’t take things that aren’t yours. Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody….” It really is…
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Santos and Jose- Two More of My Favorites
When I started working here, there were two boys around 10-12 years old who would start class with us and then move to work in a different room, because they had such problem behaviors. They were constantly running around the room and hitting the other kids and never doing their work, so they were deemed…
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Transportation
First of all, I have never seen people drive crazier than they do here in Trujillo. Los Angeles… New York… Washington DC… you got nothing on Trujillo. Cars just drive through every intersection honking their horns and trying to avoid the cars coming the other way. No stop signs or stop lights- just two cars…
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