Nomvember

(^See what I did there??)

Now, I know I haven't been blogging nearly as much lately. It's just so much effort when my everyday activities don't seem overly exciting. I'm not traipsing around beautiful South Africa or exploring Seoul these days. Instead, I'm back in the grind at Babson, focusing on classes and the job search.

But, in the spirit of Thanksgiving I figured I'd put up a blog post. First, for those of you who don't follow all of my social media platforms, you may have missed the many pictures I've posted over the past few days. As such here is the visual story of my Thanksgiving:

Ready to make my pecan pies! I made 1 special (with rum) and one normal
(without rum).  I'd just like to say the only pie that was completely gone Friday
morning was my special pie.

My buddy, Riley. He got a haircut just in time for Thanksgiving. Isn't he adorable?!

The table is set! Dinner for 16 all at 1 table. Go ahead, be impressed. But that's
 not even where I would eat dinner. I went down to visit the other side of my
family where there were about 20 other people. I'd just like to add, I finally got to
 sit at the adult table. 21 years old and these are the big things in my life.

Dessert is set! My pecan pies in the back, 2 pumpkin pies, 2  lemon sponge pies,
 and 2 apple pies on their way shortly after. Since I ate dinner with Dad's family
I was back with Mom's family for all of this dessert...Nom noms!

After dessert, Brady decided it was time for a tea party. As the only child in the
 family he pretty much runs the show.

And no, he did not find it necessary to wear his shirt (he's only 4)

Naturally I couldn't let him go a day without learning a lesson. Brady gives big
to the pig! #Babson. Fortunately there was only 1 broken item for the evening,
and he was really cute when he apologized so I couldn't get upset with him.

You'll notice there's a lack of pictures of actual eating. We were all busy eating. Sticky fingers can't touch cameras so just go with it. In a nutshell, the food was delicious, as always. Turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, squash, candied sweet potatoes (the BEST!), carrots, rolls, stuffing. SO MUCH FOOD. The good news is, because we have the same menu every year we know we can skip something and get it next year. NOM NOM NOM!!

But let's trace back a bit, because it's been a while since I posted. October was filled with midterms and job interviews. Nothing overly exciting there. Until...

HURRICANE SANDY aka FRANKENSTORM!!!!

Now, we didn't get hit nearly as bad as New Jersey or New York, but we still got a day off from school due to the hurricane. We have quite a few trees down, and a lot of people lost power for a while. This was tricky as it was right before Halloween and whole neighborhoods were still down (and naturally kids have to follow the rule of not visiting houses without lights on).

Notice the towel blocking the rain from coming in. We had
to replace that quite a few times.

Quite a few trees down. This one is behind Putney.

All the rain seemed to drain right into that one little nook.

A few days later the rain was subsiding, but the wind was still blowing the trees.

And finally we were left with just a few clouds!

(^ It's a video of the storm looking out from my suite)

With that I suppose I should say how thankful I am that everyone I know came out of the storm safe and sound. Other things I'm thankful for?

Being home. As much as I miss being abroad, it is good to be home with family and friends, and of course my Riley. I've really been making an effort to spend as much time as possible catching up with people who I went so long without seeing. Naturally there are people I don't see as often as I'd like, but it's been great.

But it's not all catching up. As per usual, I'm meeting new people. As I was gone for a year there are many people who I didn't get a chance to meet before but heard about from my friends' stories, if at all. Shout outs go to a few of them:

Hilary: Don't know how I'd missed out on this little nugget. She is also from Maine and when we were pulling together a suite Amy suggested we bring her in. So glad we did! It's helpful to have someone else around who understands what it's like to be from Maine ;) #ImAMainer

Wendy: For about one moment during the semester I had nothing to do so I decided to participate in Wednesday Night Trivia. We somehow ended up on the same team and absolutely dominated. We've been friends ever since, and I've dominated at trivia ever since (although not always on her team...)

Taran: the newest of the Players, Taran's a freshman at Babson. He's from Idaho, as you can clearly tell from talking to him (not just because of his very prominent accent, either). He's also quite hilarious. Always fun to hangout with Taran.

There are others, too, but I think this provides a sufficient recap of what I've been up to recently. I know if I give you all too much to read you'll simply give up. So with that,

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Now time to go listen to Christmas music almost nonstop for the next month, yay!

Barriers: Part 6

For those that have followed my blog for a while, you'll remember a few earlier posts on barriers (pts 1-5). For those that haven't followed from the beginning, it'll make more sense if you go through the other parts first, but the brief background is this: I spent a weekend in Bo Kaap, a neighborhood in Cape Town, South Africa (this was actually almost exactly a year ago now). When I returned to Stellenbosch (the city I was studying in last July-November) I reflected a bit on the idea of cultural barriers and wrote down my thoughts. This is the final installment of the essay:

A child from the Pebbles Project wearing my
             sunglasses near Stellnbosch, South Africa

Moving away from houses we now come to a pocket sized barrier. Now what, you ask, could provide a barrier and fit in your pocket? Sunglasses, of course! (It is important to note here that much of what can be said of sunglasses can be applied to other articles of clothing/accessories, but it is not pertinent to dwell on many of the same thing so I am going to just use sunglasses.) My sunglasses are made of black frames with a fairly simple, yet for me slightly flashy opaque swirl design on the frames and slightly purplish fading lenses. They serve their purpose of protecting my eyes from the sun well (which in the future I will be glad of when I don’t need real glasses or go blind. The same can be said of clothes/sunblock and skin cancer). They also serve as a little fashion statement. Whether they are up or down they add a little to my outfit. I can leave them on my head when I am out of direct sunlight and they can then function as my headband (gotta love multi functional accessories!). Sunglasses go beyond fashion and functionality, however; they also serve as a barrier between me and those around me. When I put them on I can look around, roll my eyes, or make eye contact, without the other person knowing what my eyes are doing. As eyes are such a huge component of non verbal communication, this barrier between us is shutting them out of some of my communication clues. They allow me to take away some of the emotion of what I am saying, which serves as a protection for me. Or I can allow someone to come in. I can put my sunglasses up and look straight at the person. I am giving that person permission to enter my emotions and thoughts, and to better understand what I am communicating. While I am not spelling out all that different clothes and accessories do as barriers, I urge you to think about what the clothes you or others around you say. They serve as an outward, non verbal form of communication and personal expression.

As I was hinting at with sunglasses, we each have emotional barriers. These are perhaps the most powerful of all. While it is possible to break any physical barrier with the use of physical force which anyone can apply, it is not so easy to break emotional barriers. Under this term “emotional” lies the broad spectrum of cultural and personal emotions. These are barriers that cannot be seen so easily as a wall or a door, but to the trained eye are more evident and perhaps even more potent.

Cultural barriers are, technically speaking, cultural differences. They may include simple things to grasp such as language or food, but they certainly include much harder aspects that can hardly be described. As proof of this, think about the United States. Take someone from San Francisco and someone from Los Angeles. These two individuals will have virtually the same language and same accent, yet culturally, they come from very different ways of life. While they both may have the Californianess in them, the one from San Francisco will likely be more laid back, and I dare to stereotype and say more hippie. The one from Los Angeles will likely be in a rush to get somewhere and not be pleased that you have taken more than two seconds of his time without having any connections to the Hollywood industry. It is not completely impossible to overcome cultural barriers, but it is nearly impossible to fully assimilate into a culture that is not your own. This is because there is so much memory and history derived in a culture that cannot be taken away from a person trying to leave a culture. Nor can a new culture be fully understood if a person has other memories and histories that contradict the new ones. In this way, over time, all cultures are lost to changing peoples, but also new cultures are developed. In order for a person to have any hope of learning a new culture, he must immerse himself in it firsthand. Otherwise he will miss out on the many indescribable intricacies that make a culture unique.

Personal emotional barriers are yet the hardest to cross or understand. Each individual has his or her own barrier that only he or she can control. It is a barrier without doors, but with many windows. Over each of these windows we choose when to draw the curtain. Sometimes we only draw the curtain part way and sometimes there are blinds instead of a curtain. With practice you can learn to see through the windows of a person’s emotions, but you can never fully understand them. Just like culturally we each have different histories and memories, personally we each have different histories and memories. Even siblings have different experiences. We can teach others what makes us tick, and they may get what we are trying to communicate, but they can never fully understand. Some people have a barrier that is extra thick. They do not let anyone see through and this closes them off from the world. Others have barriers that are virtually all window with curtain drawn open. Some people have barriers that are shattered and have to be rebuilt. Some see their barriers start to shatter and so they fortify it, and in doing so shut out the outside world. Again, I am now going to ask you to observe and think. What can you see for barriers in the people around you? How about in yourself? What do these barriers mean? You may be surprised what you find you project and what others project when you really think about it. But then, thinking about it will also give you greater understanding and respect for not only those around you, but also for yourself.

Korea: the (almost) end

It is finals time here in Korea and it is hard to imagine that I will very soon return home. It's actually very surreal. The adventure I've had the past year has been the most amazing adventure. I've traveled the entire globe, from Boston to London, to Cape Town, Seoul, Osaka, and next week I will go to Hong Kong. When I am home I will put up the official post on my experience, but for now I just wanted to express how grateful I am for the past year.

The next week will be busy with finals and good byes. Actually, the stress of finals has already started (I was up until 6am this morning writing an essay. I saw my first Korean sunrise). In this way I like the system of South Africa better. I had about three weeks after I finished finals to make my rounds and say my goodbyes. I have not quite three days here.

But then I fly out to Hong Kong where I get to meet the family of one of my best friends. I look forward to experiencing her home culture especially since I always get to share mine with her. I currently have a list of things to maybe do that is certainly way too long. Hong Kong will be my fourth Asian country. It is also the continent I have explored the most.

Finally, I would like to congratulate my younger brother on his high school graduation. Growing up I called him a wild card. I saw that he had potential to do anything and be anyone. I am very proud of what he has become. He is a smart young man with great potential. He has grown a tremendous amount over the past few years. I think he is now grasping his own intelligence and potential, and putting it to good use. Love you kid and good luck with your future! Can't wait to see you this summer!

Things Left Unsaid

Crazy to think I have only 3 weeks left here in Seoul. It's going to be a busy 3 weeks with sightseeing, finals, and goodbyes. I've grown to love my time here and will truly miss it. But I also know that when I leave the experience will not be replicable. Unlike when I left South Africa, when I left people who were staying, most of the people I have grown close to here will also be leaving.

Throughout this semester I've tried to keep up more with blogging about my adventures (that is, after all, the point of this blog). In doing so I have a constant "catch up on blogging" listed on my to do list. By speaking just about adventures I've missed discussing culture a fair amount. As such, my next few posts will be about what my experiences have taught me about culture.