Born This Way

For a long time I've wondered how or what inspired me to start learning about other cultures and people but traveling, studying, and befriending people other than Americans.  I wonder what was the tipping point, where did I go from ignorant to insatiable?  When did I begin to see the number of my international friends usurp the number of my American friends?  When did I start feeling like I was missing out by only knowing English?

I have vague memories of international friends and exposures to cultural events other than American during elementary school and I know I wanted to be a foreign exchange student during high school, realizing that dream during my junior year of college.  The fact that my mother is an interpreter and spends her days fostering communication between two distinct cultures is also one more block in my foundation of realization of something greater.

Before coming to Venezuela, I spent a lot of time anxiously thinking about the future, a dark cavernous vault that I'm not sure how to fill.  It's so easy to forget that all the steps you take lead you somewhere, there's never a cliff (or there never should be).  In my case I take a lot of big steps into unknown territory just to know.  I like to say, "I want to know what's going on there, I'm going to go and try to find out."  This time, though, I feel something different.  Some kind of connection, some kind of motivating force.  I'm beginning to understand another language; I'm beginning to see why and how and for what people live here; I'm beginning to feel like it's really never been "my way or the highway" because there has never been a my way or a highway.  People are people and all  it takes is a little understanding, motive to respect what you learn, and determination to keep trying to understand after you feel shot down or misunderstood.  I've felt a lot of the latter, but to overcome that is to open a doorway of humor and trust.

I'm in Venezuela, for the forseeable future (for me is like a week).  I'm living the life that my little steps have taken me.  I wasn't born to stay and choose a career and see the world through movies or books.  I was born to see and hear and smell and taste the world.  I'm here, and I love it.