Identity

This nose is in honor of my present state of mind, I feel like one gigantic nose, a sniffiling, running, sprinting nose. Please somebody give me a new one?

So, what's so great about being a language teacher...

Books. You must always be around them and you get to carry them around like faithful companions. I love that feeling.

Writing on the Board. I can't explain the narcissistic pleasure of writing on a board for someone to see, illuminating new worlds of comprehension...ah!

Word nitpicking. You are paid to hang on words and meanings. Literally.

If you're lucky, you work in a place with many different languages and representatives of the entire globe. That contact is amazing and makes me tingle head to toe...especially when I hear the guten tags, the bon jours and buenos días!!

My Brazilian side comes out strongly due to the contrast. I can see myself in some of these people, I see what I am not. I see myself because I see what I'm not and I come into focus.

Give me arroz and feijão, misto quente na padaria and our flexible "punctuality" anyday over a life of bagels and NY coffee places and "actual" punctuality.

I appreciate coming into focus and I appreciate what made me choose this country and this life, even though it hasn't been easy. It wouldn't have been easier in the States, I'm sure of that, because my heart has always belonged here, as much as I couldn't understand why.

I don't care...and it's not that HERE is better than all my coworker's THERE'S, don't read me the wrong way. It's just that it's my here, and it's better for me.

I know this might not make sense to many...How can this be such an issue for this girl? You might be asking yourself, but it is, it has been and has been source of much conflict and strife. Identity, belonging, integration...

This is my winter song for you...

My love a beacon in the night

My words will be your light

To carry you to me...