Finding My Center
Dear Constant Readers,
Every time I come to Piura I feel a little depressed. This week I finally figured what causes that feeling. In my site the life is so slow that when I come into the city I'm overwhelmed by emails to answer, people to call, things to write, errands to run, tasty food to eat, people to meet, and it all sort of hits you like a grand piano dropped out of an eighth floor apartment window.
Which is actually the reason why I didn't write the last time I was in Piura. I was just too busy. And at my site itself I have also been busy. But not exactly with service work as it were. That's mainly what I want to write about tonight.
I was reflecting about my reasons why I joined Peace Corps. Was it for adventure? Yes, in a big part. It was also because I wasn't sure where I might want to go in my life, but something about this potential adventure attracted me. And then it began to dawn on me while reading some of the testimonies written by friends, colleagues and students of linguist Kenneth Hale, who worked at MIT. I realized that one of the driving reasons for me was to learn the language of a given area (or improve, as is the case) but also so become aware of the culture. I think I am most interested in building kinds of cultural bridges.
I need not stress I'm sure how passionate I am about languages, and I started to consider that perhaps this is the route I want to take in life. I have considered it often, but now I wonder if working in linguistics is what I want to do. For years it has been my dream to travel and work with a variety of languages and see a variety of cultures, and I'm hoping that maybe I can find away to do that kind of field work.
You see, I'm not the service work type of person. To me, the importance is showing others how cultures are valuable and making them aware that we all are human who share the same planet. It might sound kind of idealist, but it's something that I am coming to see. In my mind, I am interested in doing it through languages, truly unique marks of genius to the imagination of humanity.
Once I started to realize this about myself, I have noticed that I feel better at my site. I actually don't have much to report from there specifically, but little by little it is becoming more homelike to me. Overall I feel more comfortable there.
Here I am going to end this entry due to the fact it's late and I have to pack still. I will try to write more in my next entry.
Hope all is well!
Tristan
Every time I come to Piura I feel a little depressed. This week I finally figured what causes that feeling. In my site the life is so slow that when I come into the city I'm overwhelmed by emails to answer, people to call, things to write, errands to run, tasty food to eat, people to meet, and it all sort of hits you like a grand piano dropped out of an eighth floor apartment window.
Which is actually the reason why I didn't write the last time I was in Piura. I was just too busy. And at my site itself I have also been busy. But not exactly with service work as it were. That's mainly what I want to write about tonight.
I was reflecting about my reasons why I joined Peace Corps. Was it for adventure? Yes, in a big part. It was also because I wasn't sure where I might want to go in my life, but something about this potential adventure attracted me. And then it began to dawn on me while reading some of the testimonies written by friends, colleagues and students of linguist Kenneth Hale, who worked at MIT. I realized that one of the driving reasons for me was to learn the language of a given area (or improve, as is the case) but also so become aware of the culture. I think I am most interested in building kinds of cultural bridges.
I need not stress I'm sure how passionate I am about languages, and I started to consider that perhaps this is the route I want to take in life. I have considered it often, but now I wonder if working in linguistics is what I want to do. For years it has been my dream to travel and work with a variety of languages and see a variety of cultures, and I'm hoping that maybe I can find away to do that kind of field work.
You see, I'm not the service work type of person. To me, the importance is showing others how cultures are valuable and making them aware that we all are human who share the same planet. It might sound kind of idealist, but it's something that I am coming to see. In my mind, I am interested in doing it through languages, truly unique marks of genius to the imagination of humanity.
Once I started to realize this about myself, I have noticed that I feel better at my site. I actually don't have much to report from there specifically, but little by little it is becoming more homelike to me. Overall I feel more comfortable there.
Here I am going to end this entry due to the fact it's late and I have to pack still. I will try to write more in my next entry.
Hope all is well!
Tristan
posted by Tristan | 8:12 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home