Thursday, January 20

Today was another great day! Our lecture at LASP this morning was on poverty, and a man named Elmer came to share with us about his life of poverty and his experiences of inequality throughout Latin America. It was difficult to imagine living through the things he described to us, such as searching for food every day of his childhood in the garbage dump upon which his family lived and working 36-hour shifts as a security guard to support his family now. Elmer emphasized that what he wants more than anything is for the rich people he comes in contact with to show him that they care, that they know he is human. He said simply having a friendly conversation and learning each others' names would make a world of difference in the relationships between rich and poor people everywhere.

After Elmer's lecture, we broke out in small groups and my group discussed what we are supposed to do with the information we are gaining during our time here. How are we supposed to react to hearing about a reality that is so vastly different from our own? Trevor talked about how this will be a question we ask ourselves for the rest of the semester and that simply being more aware and conscious of our everyday habits is a big step towards progress.

We talked for about an hour in our small group, had time for lunch, and then it was time to walk to ICADS for Spanish. The sun was shining and the weather was incredible again today, so the walk was very enjoyable. Spanish class was also a lot of fun and I feel like my language skills are really improving. Everyone in my class noticed that I was feeling a lot better today, and I was happy to be able to participate intelligently instead of being half-engaged because of my allergies.

When I got home I had the house to myself and Holly called me on Skype, so I talked to her and Emily for a while before my family came home and I had a fantastic dinner of fried fish while we caught up with each other. It seems like the days fly by here and I can't believe how exhausted I am by the time 9:00 rolls around each night. There's so much to do and learn in such a short semester here. Every moment is a time for growth and I think Trevor was right in emphasizing that its not always so much about what we are doing, but our thoughts and motives can impact us and others in small ways that may make the biggest differences.