From Consultant to Costeña

Ch. 10: Letter to myself

[Note: You don’t have to read this entry, as it is on the feelsy-ier side. But a few people had asked if I could…

Ch. 9: Travel pictures

Something about living and working in a country on a volunteer stipend affects one’s travel habits. I think twice…

Ch. 8: Everyday life in Cartagena

“What do you do in your free time?”

It’s a question I receive often and for some reason I always have a trouble answering it. What do I do in my free time? I guess I read, practice Spanish, wander around the historic center, hang out with…

Ch. 7: “…So, now can you tell me how teaching is?”

Ch. 6: Papa Park’s tough love on volunteer teaching

Back in August, about a month into teaching, I was skyping with my dad, venting about the difficult time I had been having.

He was good enough to indulge me and listen first. He had also grown up in a poor…

Ch. 5: Yo hablo americano

I need to get vegetables.

Okay, I think I’ve communicated that I’d like to buy vegetables. He’s calling his girlfriend / my host sister over, letting my host mom know what I just said, and it looks like he’s now gesturing for me to get in the car.

Ch. 4: So machisimo walks into a bar…

And he begins by staring. I ignore him for awhile, despite the fact my elbow is grazing his arm. I continue debating my friend about whether the bartender was playing “Gangnam Style” because he knew I was Korean.

Ch. 3: “Eres china?”

On my first day at school, the principal pulled me into her office to personally greet me. Radiating with smiles, she asked about my trip in, about my host family, and how I was feeling. She asked where I was from and I replied that I was from the United States but had been born in Korea.

Ch. 2: “So how is teaching??”

The question everyone back home asks when they want to catch up on how I’m doing. Understandably so, since…