The Bard Life

I believe the biggest lesson I´m learning on this trip is this: the thing you least want to do, the person you least want to talk to, the hardest day to open your eyes, the times you feel alone, when you feel that feeling of, "I don´t wanna!" just do it. Nike really has it right. I thought I´d learned this lesson before, but I suppose certain life lessons can be learned and relearned.

Yesterday, when I climbed on the bus after a long day of walking around Mexico City, seeing the Modern Art Museum and a really awesome castle, all I wanted to do was curl up in a window seat, turn on my music and sleep for the hour long bus ride. But when I got on the bus, I saw Mitch, one of our Education directors who traveled as a student last year, with an empty seat next to him. I hadn´t talked to him that much and he always seemed like a really cool person, so I asked if I could sit next to him. We ended up talking the entire way back about religion, our families, how our parents met, his backpacking trip through Spain, my struggling with wanting alone time here in Up with People, and tons of other random stuff. That conversation was one of the few I´ve had here that I felt truly present for. I felt like I shared myself more than I have been with others, and that inspired me to begin sharing more freely and openly with everyone around me.

This experience, for me, is one opportunity after another to learn how to get past that stage of "I don´t want to," and be present in the moment so I can share my thoughts, ideas and energy with everyone around me. With every person I talk to when I don't want to, every community service project I do when I don't want to, every show I perform in when I just feel like crying, I can feel myself grow a little stronger, more independent and more trusting of my own abilities.

On Tuesday, we went to DIF which is a governmental organization that provides physical and psycological therapy for children with birth defects. DIF had games planned that they called the Olympics. I was feeling extremely tired and really dizzy. I decided not to participate in the shortened verson of the show we did because I felt like I could hardly stand up, much less dance without falling over, but now I wonder if I had just decided I was OK, if I would*ve felt better. At any rate, I lay down for a while and after resting felt a bit better. Lunch was prepared by all the therapists who work for DIF and we all ate with the families and their children who had come for the day of games. I sat with a mother and her two sons, one only a year old and the other six, and talked with her as I ate.

Ok, enough philisophicalness for today...

Ok, I'm finally publishing this post one week after I wrote it. Now I'm in Puebla, which I like much more than Mexico City because it's quieter, smaller, and has less people. Plus, it has a really beautiful downtown area and this coffee chain called the Italian Coffee Company, which is way cheaper and yummier than any Starbucks! Ok, I have to go shower, but I'll write again soon!

Marina