Everyday is A Winding Road

You think you’re open-minded until you experience another culture and not only does this experience open one’s mind but it opens one’s heart.




The other day we found ourselves at a school meeting the woman who was taking us to go build beds. Well Oliver, Felicia, and Travis all decided that they wanted to play Futbol with the kids (this is when I jumped in and decided to play too, and then came Bobbs, and then came Steve). While playing I was thinking to myself about how awesome it was that we were playing soccer with a bunch kids we can’t understand and they can’t understand us. I mean we found a way to communicate and have a good time together that didn’t involve much language. The thing is we had found a way to overcome the language barrier.

Later that day I walked over when Crystal was talking to one of the men that we were helping with the bed building and we were trying to hold a conversation with him. None of us understood each other but we had found a way to speak to him in VERY broken Spanish and we again had overcome the barrier. And the thing is when you find a way to overcome the barrier you feel as if (like Crystal we saying to me) you made a connection with that person.

So then we went to Papaya Music to interview Manuel Obregon and he had many different beautiful things to say and I just wanted to bring up one of the things he mentioned. He talked about listening to the rainforest. He talked about feeling the vibrations of the rainforest and just listening to what’s around us. And that’s something I can really appreciate. We’re leaving for the rainforest tomorrow and I think this is going to be something we can all really appreciate. AW MAN THE OUTDOORS!! I LOVE IT!!!

We also just had a nice discussion about talking out our situations and I think we ended on a good note. We need to learn how to solve our own problems but that doesn’t mean that no one is ever going to be there to help us along in the sense that we can’t ask them how they could fix the situation but how can I fix the situation. I mean we got into how there aren’t going to be Olivers and Wildss around for us all the time in the sense that we need to change our idea of who they are now (almost like someone who can almost solve our problems for us) in to how can they help us figure things out (like by asking them for their opinion on the situations we’re in). Do you understand? If not you can ask me.

Anyways it’s late and I have to get up early. BEACH TOMORROW!! So I’ll talk to you guys later.

-- Britney Marie Countz