Hi everyone! Thanks for joining me and happy December! It’s official my birthday week!

I want to share a quick reflection of my past year of experience teaching abroad.

I want to share my observations of the similarities and differences between both countries and cultures, and how each impacts my experiences.

I will start by saying family and community are huge components of both cultures in important ways. They each allow family to shape the identity of the people within each country. I’ve visited different regions of both continents, and each community that I have been a part of has vastly shaped my worldview. In my country, sitting down and enjoying time with family is a lost art.

Even in schools in both India and Guatemala, you eat and commune with the people you work with.

Being overseas has made me aware of how important quality time with loved ones really is.

Also they both value their traditions very much and take them very seriously, within both cultures there is a mix of different cultural styles based on region.

From the food, to the clothing, to the music, each region of these cultures represents varied tastes and experiences within the same country.

I took a cooking class here in Guatemala recently and realized that the traditional foods here reflect a lot of different cultures, and it made me think about how we are all more alike than we are different.

Food can unite people, the way that music can.

Thanks for reflecting with me!

Until the next adventure,