In the middle of the hustle and bustle of packing my dormitory belongings yesterday, I paused and took a look at my beautiful (but I’m biased) plant, Dionysus. The red squiggle indicates where the leaves hung at the beginning of this school year. It grew remarkably during this time with just a cup of water every few days, sunshine as often as Vancouver could afford it, and a pinch of me proudly fawning over it. I had to wonder: did I grow half as much?
The reality is that while I may not have smiled throughout, I think I did. Not that I could draw red squiggly markers indicating how and when and what and who and why—would that I were a poet or a storyteller so that I could weave my tales these last few months together into a story! But I think I did. It was not in the manner in which I had wished…but the aches of becoming wise sometimes resemble the pangs of a certain set of teeth breaking through the gums, yes?
Despite this, I’m afraid everything has become a little stale here, a little bitter, and it’s time to get re-energized. I’ll be spending 6 weeks with 19 other UBC Vancouver & Okanagan students and 2 professors, studying in multiple regions in Guatemala (inshallah!) Thanks to generous ARCAAP funding applicable to the Arts Term Abroad in Global Citizenship program through UBC Go Global. What’s a humanities education without travel? I think travelling makes you humble, and humility makes you wise. Particularly when you know next to nothing about Central America…I will be largely unplugged from the Internet starting May 5th, but if it’s not too inconvenient, I’ll try to blog on paper and then type it up quickly at an internet cafe.
And now I have 11 days between what was and what will be. My plans include learning a handful of words in Spanish, reading some good ol’ political theory, being with close family and friends, and breathing (I highly recommend it.)