Traveling with Soul

Written Thursday, July 21

I imagine when I go home that I might have to describe my trip to family and friends. In all honesty, I could probably pick a word, any word, and describe part of this six-week adventure with it. eye-opening. exhausting. exhilirating. embarrassing. tearful. challenging. crappy. wicked. wonderous. wild. prayerful. peaceful. More often than not, I imagine I'll just end up saying, "It was good."

How do you describe something life-changing? How do you use words to describe things that can only be felt, and seen? How do you describe a soul? This trip has a soul. It's been dwelling within me for years. It was given life by stories of friends that studied abroad in college, by friends that speak Spanish, by Mad Hot Tap-dancing Spanish-speaking fourth graders, by the students at International High School in Paterson, NJ and their cacophany of Spanglish in the hallways, by the one Spanish teacher who wouldn't let me sit in on her class and told me I wouldn't be much help anyway, by the Salseros in Milwaukee that make me want to sing along to every salsa song, by my bi-lingual brother, by mis companeros, by Wesley and Jonathan, by my professors, by Dr. Haley's encouragement, by the Spanish textbooks that have collecting dust on my shelf. And by countless interactions and memorable moments in Cochabamba.

In Quechuan, there is no equivalent translation for, "Como estas" or "How are you," in the way we ask in English and in Spanish. The Quechuan greeting translates to something like, "How is your soul? Tell me, really." I hope that I get to talk about the soul of my trip.

Love and painful transitions,
K


PS I'm sitting in a coffee shop in Dekalb as I'm posting this and woman next to me is speaking Spanish to a man she called, "professor," and I corrected her in my head after she spoke and then the professor corrected her saying the same thing I said in my head!! EEkk!! I know some Spanish!!)