Post number 44 here.
My 20th birthday is in 10 days, which falls in the 44th week of the year. I wouldn't bring up my birthday if it weren't for the 44 connection.
Well it's raining in Paris right now. Which is fine because I just got back from interning, and now I'm relaxing and drying off while bloggin and listening to Manchester Orchestre. My new musical obsession thanks to Walsh. The band is going to by at Lupo's on December 3rd and I'm a lil bit upset...which is absurd because I'm in Paris, but I'm really senesitive about missing live music...especially at Lupo's.
This morning I went to my internship across Paris in the 20th despite the RER strike that is going on. Public transport has been a lil unreliable, but I'm dealing...so is all of Paris.
Today, since the students will be on holiday next week, I had a lesson about Halloween for all three classes. We talked about Halloween tradtions and went over a bit of vocab and new words like "jack-o-lantern" and "trick-or-treat". The most difficult thing I've ever explained in my life is the concept of hypens and the "o" in the middle of jack-o-lantern.
I love my internship and I'm already sad that I'm not going to see these students ever again after December 6th. I really just adore working with children...I'm really happy that I've found that is really my passion. I never thought of it as something I was meant to do-- Until fairly recently, I just knew I wanted to work with children/teach because it seemed fitting for me, but now I sincerely can't imagine doing anything else.
SO a little recent news on the Paris front...
I already talked about this with Molly, Cassie and Erica via Skype, but I have met some people here who just have completely opposite ways of thinking/world views than I have. This isn't necessarily a bad thing--it's good to meet people who think differently, but I've been struggling with this one person in particular who just so opposite of me that I just can't handle it.
We've been debating serious ethical dilemmas...I haven't been able to just let it drop for the sole reason that this guy questions the ability for anyone (besides someone with "a lot of money") to make a lasting difference in the world.
Speaking of changing the world a lil bit, I'm in the process of applying for a HOPE trip over spring break. I based my application essay on Letter to a Young Activist During Troubled Times by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.
Here is an excerpt from it, but you can read the letter in it's inspirational entirety here
Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts — adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.
