- Another thing I don´t like here is the subway. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it. The subte proves super useful for getting around, but it´s so noisy! Squeaking brakes and such. Gives a me a wee headache every day.
- I´ve reached 1,000 views for my blog! Thanks to all of you. Keep reading!
- Today after our last class with the group of pre-intermediate students, they told us (or rather, Octavio told us) that we were the best teachers they´d had, and they all gave us kisses on the cheek, thanked us, and wished us luck. I´ll miss this group, and it´s nice to know that we did actually connect with them during the two weeks we taught them. A nice warm fuzzy feeling to add to the joy of Friday.
A little bit more.
Three little tidbits to add to yesterday´s post.
Back in the Saddle
This week, like the last one, has flown by like a rocket! CELTA has kept me busy, as is to be expected. I've taught twice this week and both classes have gone well. Each time we have to plan more of the lesson on our own, with less and less information from our tutors. Compare: in week one, this is the planning information they gave us for each lesson.
Despite that I may seem to be complaining (I'm not...that much), I'm still really enjoying the course and all the people in it. We've started to develop good relationships with our students as we learn more about each other, but next week my teaching group will move to a different class where the students are at a higher level. I'm not sure if I clarified this before, but there are a total of 12 of us who are taking the CELTA course, and we've been split into two teaching practice (TP) groups of 6 people each. Within each group, three people teach per day, so we alternate teaching days. My TP group has been working with students at a pre-intermediate level, while the other group is working with upper intermediate students. Next week, we switch groups of students for the remaining two weeks of the course, so we all have the opportunity to work with learners at a couple of different skill levels. Cool.
So today was my last lesson with our pre-int group...kinda sad, in a way. I'm just about halfway through the course overall, and over halfway done with my teaching practice (I've done 5 of 9). It's nice not to have to plan a lesson for tomorrow...now I just have to plan one for Monday, as well as doing a four-page little written assignment over the weekend. Lots of work? Yes. Will I work all weekend? Nope. Three things are on my radar:
Reading, page 70. Lead-in to topic - exercise 1. Speak in pairs. Feedback on content. Gist task - exercise 2. Demonstrate. Check instructions. Read alone. Check in pairs. Check as class. Specific info task 1 - exercise 3. Demonstrate. Check instructions. Read alone. Check in pairs. Check as class. Specific info task 2 - exercise 4. Demonstrate. Check instructions. Read individually. Check answers in pairs. Check answers as class. Follow-up speaking - create some questions on topic. Prepare individually. Speak in pairs. Feedback on content. Feedback on language.In week two, this is what we get:
Grammar, page 89. Continue context from yesterday. Use guided discovery handout and sentences from text to clarify meaning, pronunciation, and form. Exercise 1 - noticing language. Exercise 2 - controlled practice. Exercise 3 - less controlled practice. Exercise 4 - freer practice (and/or speaking). Feedback on content and language.Much less helpful, right? And here's what we have for next week:
Vocab, pages 114-115.Ha. Talk about weaning us. I'm glad they do it this way (and in week four they don't tell us anything at all, so we generate the lesson completely on our own), but it makes for a lot more work every night you have to plan a lesson. I've been consistently staying up until 1:30 or 2 in the morning finishing my plan and all the supplementary material we have to hand in before we teach, and then getting up early to get to school an hour early so I can print off student handouts and make any last-minute preparations. You could say I'm a wee bit tired. Throwback to my college days, when this was a pretty normal routine. I'm a college grad now, though, which means I'm an old lady and keep an appropriately old-lady-like schedule..."early to bed and early to rise...". At least, that's what I was (mostly) doing before I got back in the student saddle.
Despite that I may seem to be complaining (I'm not...that much), I'm still really enjoying the course and all the people in it. We've started to develop good relationships with our students as we learn more about each other, but next week my teaching group will move to a different class where the students are at a higher level. I'm not sure if I clarified this before, but there are a total of 12 of us who are taking the CELTA course, and we've been split into two teaching practice (TP) groups of 6 people each. Within each group, three people teach per day, so we alternate teaching days. My TP group has been working with students at a pre-intermediate level, while the other group is working with upper intermediate students. Next week, we switch groups of students for the remaining two weeks of the course, so we all have the opportunity to work with learners at a couple of different skill levels. Cool.
So today was my last lesson with our pre-int group...kinda sad, in a way. I'm just about halfway through the course overall, and over halfway done with my teaching practice (I've done 5 of 9). It's nice not to have to plan a lesson for tomorrow...now I just have to plan one for Monday, as well as doing a four-page little written assignment over the weekend. Lots of work? Yes. Will I work all weekend? Nope. Three things are on my radar:
- My friend Robin (also from Salida, lives here and has started a biking business with his college roomie)'s roomie (the one he started the business with) is leaving BA on Monday for a few weeks, so we're all working on some kind of get together before he takes off. [P.S. How was that explanation for confusing? I have to remember to be clear and concise for my students, so I have to get my unintelligible ya-yas out somewhere. You lucky guinea pigs, you.]
- On Sunday night there's a fútbol match between Boca and Racing, two national teams who are apparently pretty intense rivals. My friend Greta (Argentine, in CELTA) and I are talking about going, because it would be a lot of fun with a properly crazy crowd. We're still trying to find out about tickets and all that jazz, and this is still assuming we haven't totally procrastinated on our work come Sunday.
- I haven't done any exercise besides walking to and from the subway station since I've been here (although I have started walking up and down the stairs at school instead of taking the elevator and everyone else is dong it too, because they feel lazy if they don't...haha!). I could come up with all kinds of excuses if you like, but the fact of the matter is I've been lazy and I'm getting rather stir-crazy and I've decided to go for a run this weekend. Here's hoping that it doesn't hurt my knee.
Other than that, my life is boring. CELTA domintates. Although I did still manage to find time to go watch the fútbol match between Argentina and Colombia (World Cup qualifiers) with some classmates in a bar near school. Argentina won 2-1, but they didn't start really trying until the second half. Both their goals were from deflected balls that the Colombian keeper couldn't hold on to, so they were rolling around in front of the net like early Christmas presents. Apparently the Argentine team likes these presents.
Another fun little tidbit! I met a teacher named Rebecca earlier this week who is from...guess where...Grand Junction! She's been here in BA for about three years teaching English, after she took the CELTA (same as mine) and got a work visa. Funny small world. I love it.
I'll sign off this rambling post with two things I don't love about Argentina. It's only fair, since last time I talked about all the good things. So here's your food for thought:
- Inflation. Even since we've been here, prices for some things at the supermarket have gone up, and even more so in the little fruit stands and places where they don't have set, tagged prices. Some things (like cheese) are more expensive here than back home! Ugh (stamps foot and rolls eyes).
- Spicy does not exist here. Neither do black beans, tortillas, or a variety of veggies you can find at home. This makes eating out somewhat monotonous...empanadas (delicious, but not for every day), pasta, pizza, paninis, etc. Are you seeing the carbo loading going on here? No wonder I'm stir crazy...my body wants to use all the bread I've been eating. For the lack of spicy and a shortage of otherwise non-Italian food, I wish I was in Perú, or even better, in Oaxaca :)
four things to love about argentina.
My, how time flies when you're having fun. The past four days have been something of a blur, between class, teaching, lesson planning, a fútbol match, going out, and weekend homework. I used my weekend to get behind on sleep instead of catching up, so we're gonna make this post a quickie. I've been collecting an array of things in my head that I love about Argentina, so here they are, in no particular order (thus far):
1. The men here, or at least some of them, are confident enough to give each other kisses on the cheek as a greeting. This is a typical salutation between girls or girls and guys, but for two men to do it takes some guts, I think. No one in Spain or Mexico dares to do it. I've noticed that it seems to happen when the two guys are good friends, or maybe relatives. Either way, nice show of no-homo affection!
2. Empanadas and facturas. Actually, make that all the pastries here. And the bakeries they come from. SO GOOD. I don't know which group of European immigrants influenced the country enough to have a thriving pastry appetite, but I owe 'em one. Empanadas are small, fist-sized pastried filled with savory delights, like corn, cheese, spinach, squash, or several types of meat if that's your fancy. The dough is light and slightly flaky, with a nice balanced saltiness to it. The facturas, on the other hand, are the sweet treats. They're essentially half-moon croissants, made with sweet, flaky dough. They come in various sizes; some are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, while others are a good seven inches long. Yum.
3. The weather. It's sunny and warm here, with the occasional thunderstorm. Sure beats snow...
4. The nightlife. Granted, I've only been out one night thus far, but it was one of the best nights I've had in a long time: sangria and word/card games at Kate and Aminah's apartment (they are CELTA classmates) with other CELTees as well, then heading to a rooftop bar with a cool vibe around 2 am and staying there until sunrise, then heading to Alec's apartment with him and Brian (the CELTA comedians) to play guitar and sing for a while, then walking home with Brian (he lives across the street from me) talking, snacking on empanadas, and getting lost. All told, I finally crawled into bed at 9:30 on Saturday morning. I had no idea I could stay out that long, and it won't happen very often, but it was a great introduction to nightlife in BA.
That's all I care to come up with right now, but rest assured that more comments about Argentina and BA are on their way. For now, I'm off to dream land...
1. The men here, or at least some of them, are confident enough to give each other kisses on the cheek as a greeting. This is a typical salutation between girls or girls and guys, but for two men to do it takes some guts, I think. No one in Spain or Mexico dares to do it. I've noticed that it seems to happen when the two guys are good friends, or maybe relatives. Either way, nice show of no-homo affection!
2. Empanadas and facturas. Actually, make that all the pastries here. And the bakeries they come from. SO GOOD. I don't know which group of European immigrants influenced the country enough to have a thriving pastry appetite, but I owe 'em one. Empanadas are small, fist-sized pastried filled with savory delights, like corn, cheese, spinach, squash, or several types of meat if that's your fancy. The dough is light and slightly flaky, with a nice balanced saltiness to it. The facturas, on the other hand, are the sweet treats. They're essentially half-moon croissants, made with sweet, flaky dough. They come in various sizes; some are small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, while others are a good seven inches long. Yum.
3. The weather. It's sunny and warm here, with the occasional thunderstorm. Sure beats snow...
4. The nightlife. Granted, I've only been out one night thus far, but it was one of the best nights I've had in a long time: sangria and word/card games at Kate and Aminah's apartment (they are CELTA classmates) with other CELTees as well, then heading to a rooftop bar with a cool vibe around 2 am and staying there until sunrise, then heading to Alec's apartment with him and Brian (the CELTA comedians) to play guitar and sing for a while, then walking home with Brian (he lives across the street from me) talking, snacking on empanadas, and getting lost. All told, I finally crawled into bed at 9:30 on Saturday morning. I had no idea I could stay out that long, and it won't happen very often, but it was a great introduction to nightlife in BA.
That's all I care to come up with right now, but rest assured that more comments about Argentina and BA are on their way. For now, I'm off to dream land...
I'm lovin' it
For the record, the above statement is gramatically incorrect and we shouldn't use it. That's unfortunate. It's one I actually use quite a bit. So suck it, English language. I'm sticking with it. And I'm loving it.
Know what else I'm loving? My CELTA course! I know I say this every time, but my classmates really are fantastic. We're coming out of our shells more and more, and we have some really funny people in this world. Quick thinkers. Example: today when Brian, our Scotsman, was teaching, one of the students told him that he scared them, because of his accent and the quickness of his speech. I would've been taken aback, but no, not Brian. He fired right back: "Well, you scare me." BOOM. I was shaking from laughing so hard while trying not to make a sound. Second example: (background first: our tutors like to tell us not to do things when we teach because we'd be opening a can of worms, and we don't want to do that to ourselves) during our afternoon session, our tutor asked us what else came in cans besides Coca-Cola. We're all listing things like soup and vegetables and then Alec casually says, "worms." We almost didn't catch it, but then our tutor did a little double take and his clever mischief was discovered. We all had a healthy laugh about that one too. Come to think about it, laughter is one thing that we're all really good at, and we laugh a lot. So even though the course is intensive and we're there for at least eight hours a day, it doesn't feel as bad as it good because we've got nice light and fun attitudes about it.
By today I've had an official hour of observed teaching practice, 20 minutes yesterday and 40 today. I was more nervous yesterday, I think just because it was the first day and I always put a pressure on myself to do above and beyond well. The lessons for both days did go off decently, although my students the first day were a bit unruly. Today's session was much better in that way...we had 5 women who are all interested in learning but could be directed more easily than the 8 students we had the day before.
Let me paint a picture of today's class for you. We've got a group of students who basically get free lessons for putting up with our training in progress; they pay a deposit of 100 pesos and if they show up to 80% of our sessions, they get their money back at the end. They're all pretty funny...since our class is in the middle of the morning, from 9:30 to 11:30, most of our students don't work, or at least not regularly. So picture a room of middle-aged women and the token male (named Octavio) who likes to ask us girls awkward questions about boyfriends and succeeds in making us very uncomfortable somehow. It's fun. Today, we had 5 women: Dolly, Ana Maria, Mirta, Yoon, and Renee (see, I remember their names!). There are three of us slated to teach each day, and while one works with the students, the rest of us in our group of six are seated in the back watching and writing down our observations. Aminah went first today, then Brian (with the lovely escapade you read about earlier), and then me. I woke up feeling pretty confident, and I wasn't nervous at all, so I was able to enjoy my lesson. Our topic was horoscopes, and we had to talk about them in the context of a magazine article that we read about how some employers look up the star signs of potential hires to learn about their personalities and decide whether or not they'd be good candidates for the job. You may be impressed, but don't be: at this point, all of our lessons and exercises are coming out of a workbook. Each week we have more freedom and expectation to come up with our own stuff, until finally in week four we plan the entire lesson from scratch. Our class is at a pre-intermediate level, but we were able to have some good discussions about horoscopes and their validity, and I felt that it went really well overall. In our follow-up feedback session, it turned out that my classmates and our tutor shared my view of the lesson, which was encouraging, but I also got some good reminders and suggestions from everyone.
After this input session, we're given an hour for lunch, and return to the school at 2 pm for our afternoon instruction sessions, where one of our tutors walks us through types of example lessons and gives us more skills to add to our teaching arsenal. This takes us till 5 pm, and then it's either time to head home or time to get going on the lesson plan for the next day. Thus passes every day of the week for us. The number of hours and amount of information that we cover makes for a long day, but for now I'm enjoying it. I'm turning into a teacher!
Know what else I'm loving? My CELTA course! I know I say this every time, but my classmates really are fantastic. We're coming out of our shells more and more, and we have some really funny people in this world. Quick thinkers. Example: today when Brian, our Scotsman, was teaching, one of the students told him that he scared them, because of his accent and the quickness of his speech. I would've been taken aback, but no, not Brian. He fired right back: "Well, you scare me." BOOM. I was shaking from laughing so hard while trying not to make a sound. Second example: (background first: our tutors like to tell us not to do things when we teach because we'd be opening a can of worms, and we don't want to do that to ourselves) during our afternoon session, our tutor asked us what else came in cans besides Coca-Cola. We're all listing things like soup and vegetables and then Alec casually says, "worms." We almost didn't catch it, but then our tutor did a little double take and his clever mischief was discovered. We all had a healthy laugh about that one too. Come to think about it, laughter is one thing that we're all really good at, and we laugh a lot. So even though the course is intensive and we're there for at least eight hours a day, it doesn't feel as bad as it good because we've got nice light and fun attitudes about it.
By today I've had an official hour of observed teaching practice, 20 minutes yesterday and 40 today. I was more nervous yesterday, I think just because it was the first day and I always put a pressure on myself to do above and beyond well. The lessons for both days did go off decently, although my students the first day were a bit unruly. Today's session was much better in that way...we had 5 women who are all interested in learning but could be directed more easily than the 8 students we had the day before.
Let me paint a picture of today's class for you. We've got a group of students who basically get free lessons for putting up with our training in progress; they pay a deposit of 100 pesos and if they show up to 80% of our sessions, they get their money back at the end. They're all pretty funny...since our class is in the middle of the morning, from 9:30 to 11:30, most of our students don't work, or at least not regularly. So picture a room of middle-aged women and the token male (named Octavio) who likes to ask us girls awkward questions about boyfriends and succeeds in making us very uncomfortable somehow. It's fun. Today, we had 5 women: Dolly, Ana Maria, Mirta, Yoon, and Renee (see, I remember their names!). There are three of us slated to teach each day, and while one works with the students, the rest of us in our group of six are seated in the back watching and writing down our observations. Aminah went first today, then Brian (with the lovely escapade you read about earlier), and then me. I woke up feeling pretty confident, and I wasn't nervous at all, so I was able to enjoy my lesson. Our topic was horoscopes, and we had to talk about them in the context of a magazine article that we read about how some employers look up the star signs of potential hires to learn about their personalities and decide whether or not they'd be good candidates for the job. You may be impressed, but don't be: at this point, all of our lessons and exercises are coming out of a workbook. Each week we have more freedom and expectation to come up with our own stuff, until finally in week four we plan the entire lesson from scratch. Our class is at a pre-intermediate level, but we were able to have some good discussions about horoscopes and their validity, and I felt that it went really well overall. In our follow-up feedback session, it turned out that my classmates and our tutor shared my view of the lesson, which was encouraging, but I also got some good reminders and suggestions from everyone.
After this input session, we're given an hour for lunch, and return to the school at 2 pm for our afternoon instruction sessions, where one of our tutors walks us through types of example lessons and gives us more skills to add to our teaching arsenal. This takes us till 5 pm, and then it's either time to head home or time to get going on the lesson plan for the next day. Thus passes every day of the week for us. The number of hours and amount of information that we cover makes for a long day, but for now I'm enjoying it. I'm turning into a teacher!
Diving In
I started my CELTA class today! I like all my fellow classmates, and our tutors seem to be pretty funny and truly interested in us and our success, so we're off to a good start. We've already got a lot of work to do, and I think it'll only get more intense as we teach more involved lessons. Tomorrow we're all splitting up the two-hour session with our learners and teaching a short activity each. Talk about diving right in. I think everyone in the class is unsure of what to expect, even though we observed our classes today and know generally what level the students are at, etc. It's one thing to watch someone else teach and a whole different animal to do it yourself, but I'm glad that we're getting so much practice with this course, and starting right off the bat. Stay tuned for the results...
Other than trying to recoop my health and energy to start class, I haven't been doing much for the past few days. Taking it easy is good for me, and not something I do very often, so I suppose it was a good usage of time. Since I've been pretty lazy and slightly bedridden, I've blasted through quite a few movies: Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship), Pirates #4, Crazy Stupid Love, Four Christmases, Water for Elephants, Puss in Boots...as well as catching up on past episodes of the Sing Off. Disclaimer: I'm really not this much of a TV person. I'd rather be outside doing something fun and active, but since my stomach wouldn't have liked that too well, and my knee won't let me go for a run anyway, I decided to give in to my sedate state and veg out. I did enjoy it, but it's nice to be busy doing things again. I may take that statement back next week when I'm run down, but for now I'm relishing in the purpose of each day.
Also, rather randomly, I've been doing some reflecting on life, relationships, and people, partly spurred by news from a dear friend of mine about the recent death of her father, and the anniversary of the death of a different dear friend's pops. Both of these situations, though inherently very distinct from one another, seem incredibly unfair to me, and it's times like these when I have a hard time holding to my philosophy that everything happens for a reason. I know eventually the reason will show from it, but is there ever really a reason that a loved one has to be taken away from us so suddenly and prematurely? As cliché as it sounds, the obvious lesson from it is to appreciate the people you have in your life and let them know how much they mean to you, because they could be snatched away from you just like that. Remind me again of why I've moved so far away from all the people I care about?
Interestingly enough, one of my housemates, Andrés (the elder) and I had a little conversation about this a few nights ago. We were talking about the independence that so many kids in the states seem to adopt and feel entitled to, and how for some, family values have totally fallen by the wayside, in sharp contrast to the majority of people that I've met in Latin America. He told me a story of a Colombian girl he knew who was here in Buenos Aires and decided to go home because she couldn't stand being so far away from all her family. He asked me what I would do if one of my family members, like a grandparent, died...would I go back to be with everyone, or would I stay where I am in Buenos Aires? I didn't have to think long about the answer, but I did pause for shame. I honestly would stay where I am (this actually happened to me last summer while I was in Spain). Is that bad? I guess the biggest reason for me staying put is that plane tickets are expensive. But that shouldn't be a deterrent if it was really important for me to get back home for a family affair. Does that mean that I don't value my family enough? Who's to determine how much is enough? For the record, all my dear relatives who are reading this, I love you all with all I am, and I hope you know this. But what does it mean if I say that, yet act differently?
I'll leave it as a rhetorical question, put out there as a thought provoker. And on a happier note, I've been thinking a lot about what it is that makes traveling with someone, even a person you just met, such a special and trusting thing. Let's think about the way I traveled around Perú, for example. I met two guys in a bar, they invited me to go camping with them, and I didn't have a second thought. This is totally not something I would do with two characters from a bar in Colorado. I could flatter myself and say that I'm just an excellent judge of character and knew I didn't have anything to worry about, but that would be an exaggeration. True, I didn't feel there was any cause to worry, but why was I so quick to trust? And not just me, but them as well? And all the travelers everywhere who have spontaneously decided to merge their paths and walk together for a while? It's because there is some kind of unspoken camaraderie and trust amongst travelers. I'm still working out exactly what this consists of, or how to explain it, but I think I'm making progress. The most basic explanation I can proffer is that since we're all out of our routine and our comfort zone, to varying degrees, we're apt to drop all the precautions and prejudices we otherwise would've been instructed by, and we forge relationships with everybody we meet. These bonds are crazy fast, but also remarkably strong. Why? I don't rightly know.
Stay tuned...and tell them that you love them. I love you!
Other than trying to recoop my health and energy to start class, I haven't been doing much for the past few days. Taking it easy is good for me, and not something I do very often, so I suppose it was a good usage of time. Since I've been pretty lazy and slightly bedridden, I've blasted through quite a few movies: Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship), Pirates #4, Crazy Stupid Love, Four Christmases, Water for Elephants, Puss in Boots...as well as catching up on past episodes of the Sing Off. Disclaimer: I'm really not this much of a TV person. I'd rather be outside doing something fun and active, but since my stomach wouldn't have liked that too well, and my knee won't let me go for a run anyway, I decided to give in to my sedate state and veg out. I did enjoy it, but it's nice to be busy doing things again. I may take that statement back next week when I'm run down, but for now I'm relishing in the purpose of each day.
Also, rather randomly, I've been doing some reflecting on life, relationships, and people, partly spurred by news from a dear friend of mine about the recent death of her father, and the anniversary of the death of a different dear friend's pops. Both of these situations, though inherently very distinct from one another, seem incredibly unfair to me, and it's times like these when I have a hard time holding to my philosophy that everything happens for a reason. I know eventually the reason will show from it, but is there ever really a reason that a loved one has to be taken away from us so suddenly and prematurely? As cliché as it sounds, the obvious lesson from it is to appreciate the people you have in your life and let them know how much they mean to you, because they could be snatched away from you just like that. Remind me again of why I've moved so far away from all the people I care about?
Interestingly enough, one of my housemates, Andrés (the elder) and I had a little conversation about this a few nights ago. We were talking about the independence that so many kids in the states seem to adopt and feel entitled to, and how for some, family values have totally fallen by the wayside, in sharp contrast to the majority of people that I've met in Latin America. He told me a story of a Colombian girl he knew who was here in Buenos Aires and decided to go home because she couldn't stand being so far away from all her family. He asked me what I would do if one of my family members, like a grandparent, died...would I go back to be with everyone, or would I stay where I am in Buenos Aires? I didn't have to think long about the answer, but I did pause for shame. I honestly would stay where I am (this actually happened to me last summer while I was in Spain). Is that bad? I guess the biggest reason for me staying put is that plane tickets are expensive. But that shouldn't be a deterrent if it was really important for me to get back home for a family affair. Does that mean that I don't value my family enough? Who's to determine how much is enough? For the record, all my dear relatives who are reading this, I love you all with all I am, and I hope you know this. But what does it mean if I say that, yet act differently?
I'll leave it as a rhetorical question, put out there as a thought provoker. And on a happier note, I've been thinking a lot about what it is that makes traveling with someone, even a person you just met, such a special and trusting thing. Let's think about the way I traveled around Perú, for example. I met two guys in a bar, they invited me to go camping with them, and I didn't have a second thought. This is totally not something I would do with two characters from a bar in Colorado. I could flatter myself and say that I'm just an excellent judge of character and knew I didn't have anything to worry about, but that would be an exaggeration. True, I didn't feel there was any cause to worry, but why was I so quick to trust? And not just me, but them as well? And all the travelers everywhere who have spontaneously decided to merge their paths and walk together for a while? It's because there is some kind of unspoken camaraderie and trust amongst travelers. I'm still working out exactly what this consists of, or how to explain it, but I think I'm making progress. The most basic explanation I can proffer is that since we're all out of our routine and our comfort zone, to varying degrees, we're apt to drop all the precautions and prejudices we otherwise would've been instructed by, and we forge relationships with everybody we meet. These bonds are crazy fast, but also remarkably strong. Why? I don't rightly know.
Stay tuned...and tell them that you love them. I love you!
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