De otro planeta

La fe en ciertas cosas comienza a deteriorarse un poquito  al ver ciertas cosas que pasan alrededor de nosotros que nos tocan bien de cerca. Es muy fácil criticar y opinar de las situaciones de otros cuando no son personas tan cercanas a ti. Cuando sí lo son quisieramos poder tapar  el cielo con la mano. Quisieramos no saber lo que sabemos. La vida comienza a tornarse más real y vemos algunos sueños casi imposibles de lograr... Nos preguntamos: ¿si nadie puede ( incluso nuestros más cercanos) por qué yo lo he de lograr?

Es muy difícil pero a cada segundo me debo recordar que soy de otro planeta y que hay unos pocos por ahí navegando por el mundo que también son como yo. Andamos perdidos perdiendo en ocasiones la fe pero después recordándonos que no somos igual a los demás. Nosotros sí lo podemos lograr aunque todo incluso las estadísticas no estén a nuestro favor. ¡Solo necesitamos creer...! 

Creer que el mundo puede cambiar si el cambio empieza por tí mismo. Creer que hay otros como tú solo que están igual de perdidos. Creer que el mundo no es tan malo como parece solo que la mayoría prefiere pintarlo de colores oscuros en vez de resaltar aquello que brilla por naturaleza. Creer que el ser humano puede cambiar. 

Todo es tan simple como rescatar la fe en la humanidad. Solo así el cambio se podrá lograr. 

Si crees que eres de otro planeta no lo luches; déjate llevar. Nuestros instintos nos pueden ayudar a hacer de este mundo un mejor lugar. 

El Cambio

No me interesan los creditos, los alagos ni lo que reciba a cambio. Solo estoy loca por comenzar ver los resultado. Creo en el cambio. No cualquier cambio sino un gran cambio. Lo veo posible y no está lejano. Tengo fe de que puedo lograrlo. 

Poco a poco, paso a paso, gota a gota el mundo podrá dar un cambio. ¡Pronto!

Creer

Dios es amor no una institución no una religión... Solo amor nada más ni nada menos que eso... Si crees en el amor crees en Dios... El amor lo puede todo... Dios lo puede todo. Practica la religión que te haga ser una mejor persona y la que te haga amar más... Solo así tendremos un mejor mundo.

Llega el momento en la vida en el cual tenemos que tomar nuestras propias decisiones acerca de todo ya sea en que quermos creer o que cosas queremos seguir o lograr. Es ahí cuando nos damos cuenta que estamos en el proceso de crecer porque ya nadie nos dice que hacer sino nosotros mismos nos toca crear o decidir nuestro propio camino.

Crecer es uno de los procesos más duros de nuestras vidas y alargamos el tiempo lo más que podemos para no tener que pasar por el. Muchas cosas nos asustan de crecer pero saber que nuestras acciones son nuestra responsabilidad creo que es la más difícil. Sobretodo abandonar y dejar atrás muchas cosas para enfrentarnos a otras... Como, por ejemplo, el tema de la religión es una de las muchas cosas que nos toca decidir al crecer. Nuestra vida espiritual le dará sentido a todo lo que nos queda de vida y es sumamente importante elegir aquella que te haga un mejor ser humano. No necesariamente la que te digan los demás que sigas ni la que te enseñaron tus padres sino aquella que te haga sentir que lo puedes lograr todo. Sigue aquella que te impulse a hacer un cambio en este mundo tan destrozado. Aquella que te de la esperanza y la fuerza de lograr todo lo que te propongas. La que te invite a creer en ti y lograr lo imposible.

TODO se puede y todo se puede lograr en este mundo pero solo si tenemos las energías, la gasolina, el espíritu necesario. Esto solo no los da esa fuerza inexplicable en la cual todos debemos creer. No importa el nombre que le quieras poner. El truco está en creer en algo... Lo que sea... Y a tú manera ... :)

Sentimientos Encontrados

La vida es fuerte, de eso no hay duda. Nos toma de sorpresa cuando menos lo esperamos. Nos hace sufrir, llorar y reír. No estamos claros de lo fuerte que es la vida hasta que no estamos ahí en ese instante en el que todo va lento y te das cuenta de las cosas que están pasando. La muerte cada vez nos toca más de cerca y en ocasiones es humano cuestionarse por qué a nosotros o por qué a los buenos. No hay manera de entender la vida y es normal sentirnos enojados o frustrados con ella en ocasiones, a pesar de lo mucho que esta  nos ha dado.

En ocasiones, se nos hace tan difícil entender tantas cosas que ya no sabemos si la vida nos da las situaciones para reír o para llorar. A veces la espera por la muerte es tan larga para algunas personas que sufren que cuando mueren no sabemos si es conveniente darle gracias a Dios porque ya no sufren más o si debemos pedirle que vire el tiempo para atrás una vez más. A veces la tristeza también desespera y solo queremos que termine aunque su final sea aun más triste. Luego, sentimos una especie de paz pero a su vez culpabilidad. La vida es una mezcla de sentimientos que nunca lograremos entender ni de cerca ni de lejos.

La vida es para ser vivida no entendida y en ocasiones ya no queda más remedio que continuar y tratar de llegar hasta ese final que todos anhelamos: La felicidad.

El truco es no perder la esperanza de algún día poder llegar...

Halloween special :) Enjoy ;)

http://entreparentesis.com/2013/11/halloween-una-tradicion-cambiante/

Dudas

Todo  el mundo duda... Se duda a cada segundo, cada minuto, cada día... Pero solo basta con recordar tu risa y tu sonrisa para olvidar todo lo demás. El truco es recordar los buenos momentos y olvidar los malos cada vez que pienses en dudar.

Alerta

Ten cuidado que hay más locos afuera que adentro. Hay más enemigos cerca que lejos. Hay más mentirosos entre los que confiamos que entre los que mantenemos alejados. Y por ahí sigue la lista...

Estar enamorado

"Vivir en el cielo. Así se siente estar enamorado. Sentir que mueres lentamente en cada beso y que revives rapidamente en el instante que el corazón está acelerado. Es vivir parado en el tiempo. Vivir en otra dimensión en donde nada se mide con la razón. Es vivir a base de impulsos y de señales que no salen de tí sino del corazón. " 

No estás solo

Dios nos habla a través de muchas personas para recordarnos que Él esta aquí muy cerca de nosotros y por tanto no podemos perder la fe ni las fuerzas. ¡Hay que seguir!

Sueños

Para que tus sueños se conviertan en realidad, déjalos volar un poco. Déjalos ser libres y permite que otros los moldeen un poco sin que pierdan su esencia. Mientras más personas sueñen tu sueño más cerca estarán de hacerse realidad.  

Magia

Perdonen que hace tiempo que no he escrito pero hace tiempo que tampoco he dormido. Así de mal me tiene la universidad. Así que hoy les dejo un regalito muy bueno escrito por mí leanlo :) 

http://entreparentesis.com/2013/10/la-magia-del-circo/

Proximamente

"Se acercan cambios por la vecindad en la cual su música son las balaceras y en la cual sus murmuros lejanos se encuentra la alegría que parece inalcanzable."

Just Divorce

Sí ese era el tema de decoraciones para fiestas con el que me encontré en party city y me dejó en "shock". ¿Cómo es posible que se celebre un evento que aunque sea en parte un alivio siempre alguien sufre en el camino? Ya sea los hijos o los familiares de quienes se están divorciando o hasta los mimos que se divorcian siempre alguien sufrirá de alguna manera. Entiendo que hoy en día un divorcio es muy común pero aún así es algo muy difícil, complicado y no un proceso muy feliz ni placentero que digamos. Entonces, ¿porqué la necesidad de celebrarlo? ¿Estaré loca yo? ¿Seré de otro planeta? Pero aunque el divorcio sea lo mejor para ambos, estás celebrando un error. Casarte con esa persona puede haya sido un error. ¿Y eso es de lo que estás orgulloso? Definitivamente hay algo mal...

Stop

Alguien en el tren me dijo algo que me hizo pensar: A veces hace falta hacer una pausa... Ver lo que esta a nuestro alrededor. Cuánta razón tiene la vida nos pasa por encima practicamente y no la percivimos ni nos detenemos a observarla y ver lo maravillosa que es. Es como dice una frase muy común: Esperamos toda una vida para que pase algo .... Y lo que pasa es la VIDA.

Life is full of surprises

I have heard a lot that we should expect the worst and if you receive something better it will be a big surprise. Boy is that true! Today is a special day but I had a bad feeling that everything was going to go wrong and I was being a bit pessimistic. So every tiny little detail and surprise   I received was even more surprising and more special than usual because I thought it wouldn't be a good day . But it was completely amazing and extraordinary even though I did go through some rough time all the beautiful little things helped me forget it. I heard such wonderful words and things about me and received so much that I truly feel blessed and I thank God for all He has given me. The lesson is we should always expect less and we will be always grateful  for the things that life gives us!! 

Bigger than you

Imaginar ser parte de algo mucho más grande que tú. Bigger than you como se diría en ingles. Creo que nuestra vida comienza a tener sentido cuando esto pasa. Cuando nos sentimos útiles y parte de algo. Cuando nuestras acciones comienzan a tener efecto en miles y miles de personas. Cuando cambiar el mundo está tan cerca de tus manos que ya puedes empezar a olerlo y a saborearlo. Creo que esto es lo que les falta a los jóvenes de hoy día ser sumamente ambiciosos y soñar en grande. Tenemos y podemos ser el cambio que queremos ver en el mundo, solo tenemos que recordarnos que el secreto de la felicidad está dentro del otro, de los que están a nuestro alrededor. Y ser parte de algo grande significa hacer un cambio en ti primero y luego en miles de personas más. Ser el cambio para luego ver el cambio y sentirte feliz y poderoso porque haz sido capaz de hacer algo que pocos pueden hacer: impactar y contagiar y con ello ver los resultados de tu pequeño esfuerzo que se ha convertido en algo grande. Más grande que tú.

Pausa. Piensa. Pero no te arrepientas.

A veces la vida nos obliga a pensar. Hacer una pausa y mirar hacia atrás. Ver lo que hemos recorrido, observar nuestro camino y analizar si hemos tomado las decisiones correctas. Y cuánto dudamos, en ocasiones,de TODO... Pero la realidad es que, a pesar, de nuestras dudas y nuestras confusiones nunca nos debemos arrepentir de nada porque todo ese camino de la vida que has recorrido te ha hecho la persona que eres ahora y si hay algo de lo que nunca te debes de arrepentir es de tu persona. Si eso llegara a pasar, algo paso en el camino que te hizo arrepentirte del viejo tú. Por lo tanto, cada detalle del pasado te creo, te dio forma, te hizo quien eres ahora. Por eso, piénsalo todo de vez en cuando, analiza tu vida pero nunca te arrepientas de nada. De vez en cuando también haz cosas sin pensar porque a veces son justo las que necesitamos para ponernos a pensar.

Besar <3

Besar es el arte abstracto de unir las almas, no los cuerpos. 

Reir :D

No hay mejor medicina para cualquier mal que la risa y que rico es reír. No hay nada en este mundo que te haga sentir por un instante en el estado de felicidad como reír. No hay mejor dolorcito que el que te da justo en el centro de la barriga de tanto reírte y de la pavera que no se te quiere ir. No importa quien te haga reír, un compañero, un amigo o tu novi@ estarás todo el día agradecido y contento con esa persona que te alegro el día. La risa en este mundo hace falta por eso te invito que no solo no dejes pasar ni un día de tu vida sin reír sino que no dejes pasar ni uno en el cual no hayas hecho reír a otra persona. Así solo así si seguimos esta cadena de felicidad y de risas tal vez podríamos estar aportando un granito de arena a un futuro mejor lleno de personas mucho más felices. :D

Palabras

De las pocas palabras bonitas que aun quedan por ahí en este mundo y que he tenido el privilegio de escucharlas hacia mí... Es un honor para mí que dos personas a quienes admiro con todo mi corazón me hayan dicho que les recuerdo a ellas o que se identifican o me parezco a ellas. Es algo bien inusual, grandioso y especial que te digan estas palabras o decirlas porque en este planeta de locos lo único que todos deseamos es ser únicos y destacarnos. No queremos que nadie se parezca a nosotros. Sin embargo, sacar la valentía y la humildad para decir palabras como estas significa que has encontrado una chispa de esperanza escondida en otra persona que te recuerda y te deja saber que aun en este mundo tan extraño y desesperanzado, muchas veces, quedan personas tan buenas como tú. Personas de tu misma raza o de tu misma especie que pensaste que ya no quedaban más por ahí en medio de este lugar donde hay tanta maldad. Justo ahí, en ese momento en que logras encontrar a alguien que se parece a ti vuelves a recuperar la fe y las esperanzas de que todo puede mejorar. A la misma vez que esto pasa le das la esperanza a esa personita a quien le dijiste que se parece a ti a luchar por seguir siendo igual que tú...personas dignas de admirar. 

Detallitos

Es increíble como pequeñísimos detalles de la vida pueden cambiar tu día para bien o para mal. Desde charlar en el tren con un viejo amigo y recordar buenos tiempos hasta reir por nada con la persona que más amas. Pero así mismo como los detalles buenos nos alegran y nos hacen el día, en ocasiones, dejamos que detalles insignificantes no los dañen también. Optemos por dejar que solo las cosas buenas de la vida sean las que nos afecten siempre, no las malas.  Solo así lograremos ser verdaderamente felices. :)

Dormir... Soñar

Nada ni nadie te puede quitar la paz que sientes al soñar. Es viajar sin tener que moverte de ese lugar. Es sentir y hacer todo lo que desees sin consecuencia alguna en la Tierra. Es entrar a un mundo mágico casi irreal donde nada ni nadie te puede lastimar. No hay nada que se compare con ese sentimiento indescriptible y peculiar que se siente al soñar.

(Definitivamente uno de mis hobbies favoritos)

Babysitting: Caoticamente hermoso

     A las 8 de la noche ya tienes sueño y a las 9:30-10 de la noche cuando por fin se deciden dormirse es que entonces te toca a ti hacer todo lo que no has podido hacer por estar para arriba y para abajo detrás de ellos.
     Cada vez que cuido niños se me olvida lo difícil que es pero a la vez sumamente gratificante pues no hay nada que se compare con ver la sonrisa de un niño que sonríe gracias a ti. No hay nada como volver a la niñez por esos momentitos para hacer feliz a un niño. Definitivamente, cada vez aprendo más que no es nada fácil tener hijos y cada vez admiro más a todos aquellos que los tienen. No es nada fácil estar detrás de un niño todo el día pendiente hay que no se caiga, no se de un golpe y que este siempre entretenido, saludable, etc. Son dignos de admiración todos aquellos padres que lo hacen y más aún aquellos que les corresponde la tarea y son solteros. Pero admiro a los que hacen bien su trabajo, los que sí se preocupan a cada segundo por ellos y juegan con ellos y les dedican de su tiempo. Aquellos que dejan de ver televisión o de hacer cosas para ellos mismos para vestirse de princesas o de superheroes para complacer y darle una niñez inolvidable a sus hijos. Ahora, tampoco es malcriarlos, hay un balance para todo y no admiro a los padres que tienen hijos de 18 años y todavía estén practicamente verificando todos los días que los calzoncillos que se pone esten limpios (por decir un ejemplo). Hay que saber ser un buen padre y hacer cosas con tus hijos pero también enseñarlos y educarlos a hacer las cosas por ellos mismos cuando sea el momento indicado.
     El hecho de que cuide niños de vez en cuando no me hace tener ni una pizca de experiencia para criar un hijo pues no es para nada lo mismo pero sí aprendo mucho observando y practicando por eso es que estoy más que segura que aún me falta mucho por aprender. Ser padre TIENE que ser una vocación para todo el que tome la DESICIÓN de serlo porque no es una posesión tener un niño es un estilo de vida. Para mí ser padre es entregar tu vida completa por unos veintipico de años para dar lo mejor de tí para esas criaturas que necesitan a alguien que los guíe por la vida . Lo digo porque es lo que pude observar día a día en mi hogar, sobretodo con mi mamá quien practicamente dejo todo por criarnos. No es fácil y es un sacrificio. Siempre se debe pensar de esta manera y tal vez así tendríamos mejores generaciones en el futuro. Por último, debemos siempre recordar que si como padres, hicieron bien este trabajo no habrá nada más gratificante que al final del camino poder ver los frutos. Una sonrisa genuina en el rostro de un hijo que se siente satisfecho con el ser humano que es gracias a ti será lo único que se necesitará para comprender que todo el sacrificio valió la pena. Para mí, no hay nada más hermoso que poder ver una sonrisa en los niños que cuido. No me quiero imaginar cuando en algún futuro bien lejano pueda ver ESA sonrisa cargada de tantos sentimientos de gratitud en el rostro de algún hijo mío.

Tu sonrisa

Tu sonrisa más genuina es la que brota de manera innata de tu boca luego de cada beso que me das. Solo me pregunto si será la misma sonrisa que me darás cuando abras los ojos y me veas a tu lado cada día al despertar...

No lo digas

El tiempo es relativo, mas no cuando estoy contigo.
En tu presencia el tiempo se desvanece. No hay años, no hay días, no hay meses.
Es un tiempo como el que cuentan que solo existe en los cielos.
Infinito, no se mide, no hace falta medirlo porque todo es perfecto.
Aún así por más que queramos ignorar el reloj no podemos ignorar la realidad que nos espera.
Tú y yo juntos en un mismo espacio, eso es irreal, pero una irrealidad que aún no podemos alcanzar
porque la realidad nos espera, nos necesita y nos ajora con eso en que no queremos creer...
Con el tiempo.
Cuando los nervios nos hacen mirar el reloj, aunque no queramos vemos que se nos acabo el tiempo.
Es hora de regresar, por ahora, porque si algo sí te prometo es que algún día llegaremos a ese momento dónde no existirá eso .
No lo digas, no lo menciones, sabes lo que es, tal vez solo si dejamos de creer en el dejará de existir.
Cierra los ojos, sujeta mi mano, dame un beso... ¿Funcionó?

You

I used to pray every night for someone like you, for a love like those you had. In your eyes I could always see a spark that reflected how much you truly loved. But instead I got something much better than that, I got you. Now, when your eyes sparkle I see something much better than just love I see true happiness, true love, but much more than that, I see in your eyes my reflection hidden inside.

Bucket list: Travel the world

          I’ve always been really sure of this big ambitious wish of mine of travelling the entire world.  I’ve always told myself I can’t die or have any children before seeing the whole world. My biggest wish is to at least visit a part of every single continent, although the country that I most desire to visit is Italy. I wish to learn about all the different cultures, religions and people that are outside of Puerto Rico. My mother always tells me and my sister how if she ever wins the lottery she wouldn’t waste any money on material things, she would just get on a plane and see the whole world. I have always love this idea and wish to follow it even if I don’t have a lot money because we should always follow our dreams no matter what and that is what I hope to do.

            I can’t finish this class without expressing my biggest wish in life because even though this is something that has always been in my life plans, this class has encouraged me to start with this plan as soon as possible because with this class I have learned a lot about journeys and I am excited to start having my own journeys. I’ve also learned about the different types of journeys we can all have and how we learn something new in each one. But the most important thing I learned in this class is that I want to travel the world as a traveler not as a tourist. A traveler visits different places with a humble attitude willing to learn something from this place and with a purpose he or she wishes to fulfill, while a tourist looks for commodities and to have a good time not necessary to learn something new or about the cultures.

            Now I feel that after this class I know almost everything there is to know about journeys and I am really glad I took it. I am ready to start my journeys with a whole new perspective about journeys and about life because like I have said before life itself is the biggest and most beautiful journey anyone can have.  Hopefully soon I will begin travelling the world and writing about my different journeys also. But the most important thing I wish is that I can have this journey with my personal pilot and the love of my life, my boyfriend. Every journey I take with him, I know it will always be a great one just because he will be by my side. My bucket list is not just about travelling the world, but also growing as a person, learning about life and about the world but especially accomplishing every one of my dreams with the company of my loved ones.

 

Blogger’s life

             Having a blog is like having a little piece of you on the internet. I have really liked this experience and it was something that I have never done before but now I hope to keep it and keep posting more things in it. Each word, even if not many people read it, is something that you want the world to know about you. Everything in your blog is something that has you written all over it. You write and you let feelings be free and let your works be who you are. It is a world where you wish you could live in because you have created it just the way you like it. It is something that is your own and you begin to love it and get attached to it because it allows you to scream the words that people don’t let you even whisper. A blog is a free world where words cannot be silenced or stopped because you are the one in charged of it. Your words are like art and they paint your blog with what you need to say, how you need to say it and they help you express what you want others to know.

            Life should be a never ending blog for everyone where we could freely express ourselves anytime anywhere in hopes of talking or writting about things that could make our world a better place. Everyone should be able fight for their beliefs and talk about everything with everyone but in the same peaceful one can express themselves throughout a blog. People should learn how to express themselves with words or with art in a way that doesn’t disrespect or hurt other people. Everyone should respect different opinions and ways of thinking and learn from it, in the same way we do this by reading books or by reading what others put in their blogs and comment about it. A blogger’s life would be a much better way to live, more free and more democratic. A place were all thoughts could live together in a free way where they wouldn’t clash against each other in any form of violence but just hear and learn from each other like in the internet world or the blog world.

A little journey called LIFE

            I never would have imagined that when I chose my English literature class it would be something as significant and incredible as this class has been for me in my life. The last thing you think when you see a class named “Journey in literature” is that you will actually talk about journeys that people may have. In my case a thought it would be about how we can go in a kind of like journey though the reading of literature. But for my surprise the class was about everything that had to do with journeys, from the different types of journeys that we have daily until the kinds of people that have journeys.

            This class has opened my eyes to a whole new world I would have never thought that I was living. It has helped me change my perspective upon life itself. Now, I see everything that I live and that surrounds me as a journey. I have learned that every path and every challenge we have in our lives is a new journey that we live each day. I now know that life itself is a journey with an arrival day but with an expiration date we do not now. This is why we have to live each day as if it were our last and it is something really amazing to see each day a new journey in which we discover, learn, accomplish, and overcome different things.

            In my life I have had a lot of journeys both internal and external and if I had to choose my favorite ones from the pictures that I have on my Journey Journal I would choose one of my favorite external journey which has my trip to Spain in 2011 to the World Youth Day which was also for everyone a really strong internal journey and an unforgettable experience. I would also choose the pictures that represent my daily journeys, with my family, with my friends and with my love journey with my boyfriend. I would choose this because the best kinds of journeys that we have are those that are with our loved ones. The last picture I would choose would be the one where I am giving a talk to a group of teenagers in my church because helping others and talking to them about God is a journey that I have every day in my life because God is always the center of my days.

            This Journey Journal has been the thing that has helped me the most throughout the class to understand what journeys are about and to see life as a journey each day. Through writing in the journal I could think as a traveler and live as one each day. This is an incredible experience and I hope I always keep doing it or at least have it in mind. Internal and external journeys was something that I also learned to differentiate with the journal because I noticed that every day I had different internal journeys but also that in every external journey that I had I also experienced an internal journey. Do you know why? Probably your answer is right. It is all because we live in a little journey called LIFE.

Student Conference Panel

           From the moment of writing the paper without even knowing about the possibility of being chosen to participate in a student conference panel until the moment I walked out of the conference it was all an incredible journey.

            At first when the Professor indicated that some of the works we had handed in for the midterm paper were going to be chosen for them to be read in the Student Conference Panel, all I could think of was how I wished I would have done a better job. I knew I had done a good job with my essay but I probably would have made it a little bit more mine. The Professor explained how this would have been a great opportunity for those who were chosen and something we could even mention in our future resumes. I was really excited and hoped that I would be chosen but I was not sure if I would be chose because I thought my work could be better.

            When the professor started mentioning the people that would be reading their essays on the conference I was starting to get really nervous and she started mentioning a lot of my classmates but not me until the last person to be mentioned was me. I was really happy and it made me feel special in a way that I was chosen and I was glad that I would be able to have that experience. Then the Professor asked us to write a small biography of ourselves to be presented in the conference before we read our essays which had to be in 25 words. For me, this was something kind of tricky because I like to write a lot but I managed to do it in a bit more than 25 words.

            Finally it was April 10, the day of the student conference and everyone was really nervous. It was a really nice experience to hear everyone’s paper and their different opinions on journeys and travelers and tourists. I was a bit nervous when it was reading my essay but then I liked reading it to everyone. In my opinion I would have liked if there were a bit more students and professors hearing our works but I liked a lot the whole experience. I also would have liked if I did not have any class after the conference so I could have stayed and answer some questions.   

Sarah Macdonald as a traveler

After saying she would never go to India again, Sarah MacDonald, eleven years later, has to return to this place because of love. Her boyfriend Jonathan was the Australian Broadcasting Company’s South Asia correspondent based in New Delhi. She was going to move here with him because they could not live apart. This is where the adventure of the novel begins and when Sara Macdonald starts to transform from a tourist to a traveler without noticing.

                Sarah Macdonald starts recognizing that by moving to this place she is just not travelling to this different place but starting a new life in a new country. It is a big change and transformation what she is going to go through. She starts to see thing s differently from the first time she had gone to India because know she must learn about the place where she is going to live and this new culture. Now she is paying more attention to details and her surroundings. She talks about the food, how people drive, the importance of the cow known as the holy cow, and about their religion.  The author is a lot more open now to this new culture and learns a lot about it because she has to live in it. We can clearly see an example of this when the author says: “It’s again time to abandon shyness, personal space and privacy and to become spectacle as well as spectator. Eleven years ago, as an awkward postadolescent, this annoyed me intensely, but now I see it’s a fair exchange for my voyeurism.”

                This whole new attitude Sarah Macdonald has to India this time that we can see that she wants to learn and experience different things in India this time, transforms her into a traveler or shows us that she wants to be a traveler now. Now she also has a purpose that she wants to accomplish throughout this new journey in her life. The author expresses this when she states: “Leaving my wonderful job was the hardest thing I’ve ever done but perhaps I didn’t do it just for love. A part of me wanted to reclaim myself, to redefine my identity, to grow up professionally, to embrace anonymity and to get rid of the stalker.”   This lets us see that this time she is in India in search for something, with a mission she wishes to accomplish and as a traveler who wishes to gain something out of this journey. In a way she is in search of a change, which she is not sure what it will be but she hopes to find as a traveler by learning and being open minded about everything that will happen throughout this journey.

Sarah Macdonald as a tourist

                In her novel Holy Cow, Sarah Macdonald starts by narrating a trip she had for her twenty first birthday which her parents gave her the plane ticket as a present. It was a middle class rite passage and had become a family tradition. Her mother wanted all of her children to experience the joy of travel before they settled in their jobs.  The narrator does not tell much details of her trip but she does make it clear she did not enjoy her two month tour in India and throughout the novel she explains little bits or reasons of things that she did not like from India or situations that happened to her that were really bad. After this trip she says she hates India and that she will never go back.

                This trip that Sarah Macdonald did at her twenty first years was only for the experience of travelling and to enjoy the trip. It was a tradition in her family and something that she was expected to do just because she had to.   This was not a trip for a specific purpose but more to have a good time and to enjoy herself before entering the laboring world.  In my opinion this first trip that Sarah MacDonald has is more a tourist’s trip than a traveler’s trip because even though it was one year she was on this trip, it did not seem she had any other purpose in the trip other than just having the experience of a trip.

                Even though we are not given too much detailed information about this trip, Sarah Macdonald can be considered more as a tourist than a traveler in this trip. We can see this because she did not go on the trip searching for a purpose to be fulfilled but more as an experience she had to live. Also we can see this because she does not have a lot to say about the trip and barely remembers it. She tells us more about the place that she did not like and did not want to go to again, India, than the other places where she went.  She does not narrate a lot of experiences she had or things she learned. By these brief things we know about this trip, we can assume she was more in the position of a tourist than a traveler.

A small place by Jamaica Kincaid

        There are so much different feelings in this novel! It is really extraordinary how the author goes from the beginning of the novel until the end describing Antigua with infinite details. First she stars describing how Antigua is seen from a tourist eyes and how much he tourist does not know about the place, then she describes a little about Antigua's history and how it had been an England possession, then she critiques every aspect and gives her opinion about the political status that Antigua has gone through and how this has affect this place. Finally she states that although Antigua had gone through all these things and worked so hard for a self-government which is not even good, says the author, this small place is still remarkably beautiful and incredible in every aspect.

     You can definitely feel the passion the author has for Antigua. She describes the place as unreal because of all its beauty. You know that even though the author critics the government and some aspects of this place, she only those this because she truly loves Antigua and wishes this place could have only the best. She wants the library to be restored because it was one her favorite places in Antigua, she describes how much she loved that place and she wishes she could do something to make it better. In my opinion the author shows us that she wishes she could fix every aspect that is  wrong or damaged about Antigua.

     She is also very sad about all the things Antigua had to go through and she refers to slavery a lot.  I love the ending of the novel because we can notice that she is angry because of this and because of these people that had considered themselves superior to Antiguans . The last line in the novel she says that everyone the masters or the slaves they were all equals they were all just human beings. I liked this phrase a lot, it made me think a lot and it the most powerful phrase in the novel.

A room with a view

    

      This movie was really good and it does have a relationship with travelling and journeys but I think it has more to do with personal journeys and decisions. The main character Lucy has to make personal decisions about her life which she is really struggling about but all of her problems begin with a trip that she made with her cousin Charlotte to Italy. They both arrived there as tourists with no concerns but to have a room with a view. They did not go there with any purpose but Charlotte did find out how travelers are like through a writer that helped her see Italy a little bit differently and Lucy did find something in Italy that she did not expected: Love. 

      I liked a lot one of the phrases a resident told Lucy when she told him she was a tourist. The man said that residents pity tourist because they do things unconsciously. He stated that they just want to see specific places that they have in mind and get done with the place and leave as soon as possible. I think this is the main difference between a tourist and a traveler. A traveler is very open minded and wants to see the place where he is going in every way possible and learn and acquire an experience or a sense of satisfaction from it, he or she goes there with a purpose to fulfill. Meanwhile a tourist is only passing by and seeing what a tourist always sees when he or she goes to these places but they don't acknowledge the experience or get something out of it.

      Lucy's personal journey has a lot of factors involved but her main problem is that she is engaged to a man when she reencounters with her love from Italy. She struggles throughout the movie with if she should marry this man that she is engaged to but knows she doesn't truly love or if she should leave him for her true passionate love from Italy. This man from Italy named George was a traveler in London where Lucy lived and his purpose was clearly to find her even if he did not quite know it. When Lucy finally makes her decision to leave Cecil her fiancé she wants to travel just to escape from this reality, which is another factor why tourist also travel. But Mr. Emerson stops her and she meets again with George. Then they travel together and were extremely happy and in love.  

A small place- Second Chapter

     In this second story the narrator is someone that has lived in Antigua for a long time and knows how it used to be when it was ruled by England. Her opinion is that this empire did a lot of harm to Antigua and that they never should have left their home. In this time Antigua had a Government house, a library, a bank and a Mill Reef Club. At this club the only black people accepted here were as servants. There was a lot of racism towards the native people from the English. This is why the native all thought that that this people had bad behavior.

    The native saw these strangers as rude but they did not think of them as what they were: racist. The doctors were racists and the schools were racists, they even referred to the natives as monkeys. The Antiguans even saw themselves as superior to the English because they were better behaved. Antigua revolved completely around England even though they made millions of Antiguans orphan. Antiguans saw them as crazy or ill-mannered but never as racist.

     This relationship between England and Antigua is similar to U.S.A. and Puerto Rico in the aspect that we do not see the bad things and the bad aspects that this relationship has. We see ourselves as if we completely dependent to the United States and do not find ways to be autonomous by ourselves. We see them as the good ones when they are the ones that sometimes take advantage of us.

A small Place- Frist Chapter

     In the first chapter of the novel "A small place" , Antigua is described as if it was being narrated by a tourist's point of view. The place is described as a beautiful island where the sun always shines, which is exactly what the tourist is looking for because he or she is trying to escape from the cold. The tourist observes that the roads are really bad in this place and your driver is reckless. But like every tourist you do not know the story behind this place. You are not aware that the hospital and its doctors cannot be trusted or that the library is damaged. You watch a couple of mansions and expensive Japanese cars but you do not know that the water you  are using to bathe and to clean your teeth ends up in that beautiful water you lung to swim in. Neither are conscious that most of the food that you are eating comes from a plane from Miami.
      This lets us know that tourist the majority of times go to places without knowing its history or any kind of information about it. This is way natives laugh at your strangeness because you don't fit it in, you are not familiarized with their culture or customs. They think you are silly or have bad manners; they do not like you. This is why tourist feel out of place and a little foolish, when they are travelling. But we should always remember what this chapter tells us at the end... Every native is a tourist somewhere and every tourist is a native somewhere.

Burguer King

  

  The most recent journey or adventure that I had was the first of February, a Friday, when my family had to go to Miami to get my sister's passport because it expired and she has to go to a school trip to Santo Domingo. I did not want to go because we were leaving Friday morning and returning Friday night, but finally I had to. I got up really early that day like at five in the morning and at 7am I was already on the plane on my way to Miami. When we arrived we quickly went to get our car for the day so we could go to the place where we were getting the passport. But when we were at the car trying to figure out where the place was it was really difficult because the GPS did not register the directions. Thankfully someone told us were it was and we followed instructions. Finally, we arrived to the office and everything and everyone was really quite and boring and we were all really hungry. My dad and I went to eat while my mom and sister waited to be attended. We went first to Checker's so that I could order what I wanted and then we went to Burger King so that my dad could order what he wanted and stayed there to eat. After finishing, we stayed there waiting for my mom and my sister. Later they arrived to eat but left again to the office to pick up the passport and my father and I waited again at the Burger King for a long, long, long time until they got back again. We practically spent the whole day at that Burger King at Miami. Can you imagine being at a fast food for a whole day? Smelling the food and being in those uncomfortable tables? It was pretty boring; I read my homework in my tablet while my dad saw videos on my phone. We took advantage of the wi-fi. But I also observed that other people also stayed there for a long time just waiting for something, like us, or letting time pass by. There was even a man that took a long nap after eating and then left. The good thing was that after my mom and my sister got back we went to visit my aunt at her house and I met one of my little cousins that was there. He was completely adorable and shy with big brown eyes and blonde hair which I will never forget. After this short journey we went back home to Puerto Rico.

Helping vs. Cheating

I found really interesting how in Chapter 8 we are described that the students were actually categorizing cheating as helping. They were not aware that what they were doing was bad because they were always taught to look at their neighbor’s paper if they did not know the answer. “The teachers not only let them cheat, they teach them how, they encourage them.” said the author. This problem was essentially a cultural problem because Puerto Ricans are taught from their childhood to be cooperative not competitive. It is in their nature to be helpful to others because they are taught to be this way. They could not understand why they could not help a friend when he or she needed help in a test because they are very emphatic people.

In my opinion this is a problem that is still happening frequently in Puerto Rico although the students are now more conscious that this is wrong and that it could get you in to a lot of problems. I think this problem is still linked to a cultural aspect but I do not think still has to do with helping or empathy. I think that this is has to do with the fact that Puerto Ricans are lazier and prefer to copy the answers from others instead of studying. I also think that they have this theory that they are never going to be caught or they are just not afraid to get caught and they are indifferent if they do.

I do not think that helping or cheating is fair when it comes to being evaluated because through evaluations is the only way to see what you have really learned and to know what do you have to get better at. I think that we should all help each other in the process of learning   because we should be kind and help does who need us. But when it comes to evaluation we have to demonstrate what we have learned so far for ourselves. Helping or cheating is not fair because you are stealing someone else’s knowledge and work, not proving what you can do for yourself.  

Travellers vs. tourists

     Most of the times that I have travelled I have always felt like a tourist because we just go to places to entertain ourselves or to have fun but we don't really think about where are we going or what we are getting out of it. We are just thinking that we have to go there because everybody goes there or because we want to have fun in a different way. In my opinion this is mainly what a tourist would do but a traveler is much more different, a traveler goes to a place with a specific purpose. A traveler wants to learn something from this place or he or she is going and be a part of this place and of its culture. The traveler does not want to have fun or entertain himself or herself but wants to acquire something of this place. A traveler goes to a place with a mission that may or may not be accomplished in the trip. A traveler wants to see the world and its culture and be a part of it. In the future I hope and I want to be a traveler and see the world as a traveler not a tourist.

My favorite journey: JMJ 2011

      

I could write not one or two pages about this journey that I will tell you about, but more than 20 pages if I could and if I had the time. I would consider this journey the only journey that I have had because it is not the same a journey as a trip. In my opinion in a trip you enjoy everything but in a journey you discover everything. This is what happened to me on this journey, I did not just enjoyed it, I learned things about me, about other cultures, about my religion and my believes and especially about God. Sometimes I even suffered a bit, because it my first long trip without my family.

     My journey physically started on August 11, 2011 and I was going to Spain for the World Youth Day 2011 (Jornada Mundial de la Juventud 2011) with a group of 50 people of my church and from other churches with the same patron saint. But the spiritual preparation for this journey began a year earlier in 2010 when we were chosen to be a part of this journey. I always dreamed of going to this kind of journey and I was really happy to have been chosen. Once the group of people was decided we started to receive spiritual retreats to prepare ourselves for this pilgrimage we would have, but also that we could get to know each other.

     In this whole process I learned a lot more about my religion, about praying, about being in peace with myself and with God, but especially I got to know all the extraordinary people that were going to accompany me on my trip. Some of which, became my really good friends, others my brothers and my sisters and one special boy became and still is the love of my life.

     The whole preparation was really useful and I enjoyed it a lot, but the journey itself was what helped me discover a lot of things about who I am and what gives meaning to my life. We went to a lot of different places in Spain like: Segovia, Zaragoza, Barcelona, Sallent, Vic, Barbastro, Fusimaña and Madrid. All of which I thought they were beautiful and I hope to visit them again, because we mainly went to see chapels in all these places. Although in Segovia we got to meet a lot of people from all over the world where I learned about themselves, their culture, their language, etc. This was one of my favorite parts of the journey, but I also liked learning a lot about my patron saint and about the martyrs of Barbastro.

     Although I learned a lot about my religion and of other cultures, I think what was the most meaningful part of this journey was learning more about myself. I learned that I am strong, and can do things by myself without my family. I learned that I can accomplish anything I set my mind into doing. I learned that I am a good friend and I worry about people and always want them to be happy, but I also learned that I had new friends who were also there for me. I grew as a person and my boyfriend and I grew as a couple. But the most important thing that I learned was that God has always been with me and blessed me with everything. I learned that I would always be able to feel His presence and feel Him with me if I could be at peace with myself and look for Him at the most humble places in life, like when I felt Him in a small chapel in Fusimaña, Spain. 

 

We are always travellers

     Life is a never ending journey and we are travelers all the time even if we don't look at it that way. We come into this world with a ticket that has an arrival date which is the day we are born and we arrive at this journey called life. It is strange because we don't take our time in life to just enjoy it while we can. We don't realize that life is a trip and it comes expiration date also, which we don't know and never will know which day is it. We should always remember this and be aware of it, we should live life each day as if it were the last because we don't know if it will be. We are all travelers every day in this world, and our journey is called: life.

     Trying to imagine yourself as a traveler all the time is not easy at all, you try to see everything that is around you in a different way, but you can't because you are so used to living life automatically with the same routines each and every day that you can't do it differently. It is not easy to stop time and just look at the incredible world that is around you and enjoy it. It is really hard because we have so much things going and happening and so much things to do that you can't just STOP for a minute, just to open your eyes and see; see everything that surrounds you. This is why sometimes we are not even thankful for the things we have because we don't even notice them. We are used to things or people just being there because they have to be there.

     I really wish I could stop time every once in a while to just look around me and reflect upon everything, about life, about my life, without being pressured by time. I wish I could go all alone to the highest mountain in the whole world and just be at peace and think about everything that I usually don't have time to think about and know that the whole world is just in pause waiting patiently for me to come down with everything figured out and at peace with myself and with my life. I wish I could escape and see things differently, see them as they truly are and be genuinely thankful for them.