After many days spent studying and learning about Costa Rica, we finally reached the orphanage, a place where I felt like we could make the most difference and connect with the people of Costa Rica on a raw and personal level. The kids didn’t waste time getting to know us, before you had the chance to say your name they are already asking “do you have any money?” “Is that your boyfriend?” “Will you give me a piggyback ride.” I was excited about how friendly and welcoming the young kids were, but also saddened at the conditions they were living in. Hours passed as I played soccer, colored Dora pictures, swung the jump rope, was taught how to dance, and my favorite, watching the children take hundreds of pictures of us together, we began to leave when Aurlina, the small chubby coco colored hair 3 year old little girl who hadn’t left my leg all day looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and reached for arms as she pleaded we not leave. “ Don’t go yet, please! You can stay here, we can share a room and play all day.” She had the hope in her eyes that in reality we didn’t have to leave, that eventually if she begged enough all of us would stay. The toys, toothbrushes and books we brought to them didn’t matter, at least not to the kids, what they wanted most was individual attention the feeling that someone would consistently be by their side. By the end of the day each child had latched themselves onto a teenager or teacher’s leg and had become their friend for the day. It struck me as Aurlina begged me not to go that truthfully we hadn’t made a difference at all. The day would pass; we would drive off on our huge gas guzzling bus, get on an airplane and fly home, going back to school and leaving all those longing faces hoping for our return. Even though we had visited and helped for a day leaving behind hundreds of dollars worth of helping goods, we didn’t give the children what they wanted or needed most. Guilt started to become my memory rather than the warm feeling of helping others and improving the lives of those innocent precious children.

The concept of always having two contradictory thoughts in your mind is what has resonated with me most so far in class. The discussion and comments made in relation to this idea have prompted me to question myself, and whether or not I always fit into this specific perception of human relationships. The relationship of how I perceive myself is obviously different than how other people see me, but the real question is do my actions reflect the perceptions of me coming from other people. I think yes, I think all people act in response to others reactions. People continue to search for acceptance no matter what group they are attempting to become a part of. Even the so-called “outsiders” or people trying to NOT fit in are in realty fitting in, yet they are fitting in with the outcasts. Our culture as human beings has a characteristic of wanting to be with others, our nature is to feel a part of something, despite the fact that we might have to change ourselves to become a recognized part of the group. We have grown up being altered and advised to be a specific way or play a certain part. Forget the fact that maybe those roles are different from each other, they community you grow up in shapes the adult and individual you will become. The atmosphere of the person is ultimately deciding who the person is.
Now that I have put it in words it becomes kind of creepy. To realize you in truth aren’t yourself unless your are being accepted as your self is scary. This makes life seem like a constant strive and steps of changes being dictated by the people and places you surround yourself with.

Language Evolving

Yes, our language has changed vastly over time and will continue to change everyday we continue to speak it. The English language is fluent, communities and culture influence the way each person speaks. The spoken word is the most important and most used form of communication. Different people and places alter language and the dialect certain groups use to speak to one another. A form of communication must change with the people and place it is spoken from it had to adapt to the society using it.
Words like, tight, struggle, and ballin have become a common word for young adults and teenagers, and even though these words have existed much longer than the last 5 years, they have taken on new meaning and are now being used in new contexts. Also words like shall and thou have died out from common use. Most likely you can still find them in formal texts and literature but you won’t here those old English words used in the hallways at high school.
I think for sure that generations not only separate people with age, but also with their vocabulary and the context, which they play with words. I wouldn’t say some words to my parents that I use frequently with my friends and the idea or meaning being assumed from my parents or grandparents would be misinterpreted. For example tight, in my head it means to be cool or sweet, but in my grandparents minds they think of close together or tight fitting. It only goes to show you how quickly and dramatically language evolves.

Response to "Red Sky in the Morning"

Hampl is inspired by an encounter with a complete stranger to reflect and try to understand the importance and meaning of memoirs and the value of words. She realizes how much more life has to say, but the people who have stories and experiences to tell are limited with the vocabulary understood.
I have never been presented with a short amount of words or phrases that captured and lead my mind to inquire as deeply as Hampl did, but I might have come close.
I was pilfering through my older sister's doors when I noticed a long hand written letter wrinkled under a stack of magazines. I began to read and as I finished tears began to fill my eyes. The note, it was a birthday card from Audrie's 18th Birthday left from my mom a few months ago. First of all my mom doesn't write long lengthy letters, especially on birthdays, at my house "it is ALWAYS your birthday," that caught me off guard. Secondly, the note addressed how much my mom appreciated the fact that Audrie, the sister that claims to not want anything to do with her four younger siblings, is huge role model and how proud my mom is to call my sister her daughter and the best influence on her younger children. Maybe to some families this isn't that meaningful of an event but in my house, where we never tell each other how much we love them and how important they are to us, because we all have five thousand other things going on, I have never felt connected with my sister especially through a note that was neither written or addressed to me. I began to realize how much I do admire Audrie, how I always seem to be immulating her actions, but never on purpose. As much as we downsize our relationship in reality I value it more than most things in life, and maybe it took words coming from my mom to acknowledge it.

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