Gracefully Clumsy

Genna and I, despite being two and a half years apart, are actually pretty close. I think about all of the new and cool things I’ve tried in the past month and how almost all of them are somehow related to her. In no particular order: Geocaching is a global scavenger hunt played by strangers through the Internet. People hide boxes, pill bottles, and magnetic hide-a-keys all covered in camouflage duct tape in nooks and crannies with clues as to how to find them. Genna introduced it to me a while ago and while it’s definitely her thing, I enjoy it too. Every time we go to a new city we’ll try to find at least one. Remember how fit everyone got when Pokémon Go went live? Similarly, we’ll walk over 3 miles to find one and log it in the records. SoulCycle is a cult. Not gonna lie. But the group mentality is actually really comforting. While it is a challenge by choice, having people around you holds you accountable in some sort of way to give it your all. Genna and I have only done a few cl...

I meant it when I said the Gracefully Clunsy antics weren’t stopping. Little known fact about me: I have been living with Sleep Apnea since... well, since I was born. My Sleep Apnea in particular comes from the fact that my lower jaw is inset and as a result I have a dangerously narrow airway. When I sleep the airway will collapse on itself. This has been a work in progress for about seven years. Today I finally had my jaw expanded and therefore opening my airway and allowing me to breathe like a normal person! So, in case you care, here are some stats and how I’m feeling: -I actually didn’t know I had wisdom teeth until a few months ago, so those got taken out today as well -My jaw is currently swollen and wired shut (a blessing to the people who think I talk too much, and trust me, it’s a significant number) -When I swish and spit my medicine there is a lot of blood -I’m actually not feeling a ton of pain right now, it’s mostly sore and annoying plus a bit of a sore throat ...

April 13th is maybe the best and worst day of my life. Let me start from the beginning. April 13th, 2014: We get into the Accident. I sustain the Traumatic Brain Injury. From this point on my life has changed for worse: my processing speed is unbearably slow, my short term memory has flown out the window, I’m tired literally all of the time-physically, mentally, and emotionally. From this point on my life has changed for better even though I may not realize it: I was going through a bit of a hard time and having the Accident come when it did actually got me out of a rut. However, this realization is gradual and isn’t typically my main reaction or first appreciation in the coming years. April 13th, 2015: The Accident is still relatively fresh. It has defined me now that I’m allowed extra time, I’m taking fewer classes, and I’m still incredibly tired-in all three ways mentioned before. I actually asked my parents if I could take a mental health day and skip school—I wasn’t a...

It started with the fact that I live on a boat. No it’s not a raft like she uses but I am using lines to sweat sails like she does. We take watch periods in a cycle - 4 hours on 8 off - and whenever you get a clear night watch you can see a million different stars in the sky. My watch team leader Dan and fellow watch team member Jack are both really into Celestial Navigation and so I’ve learned a lot about the stars from them. One of my new favorite constellations is Scorpio. Scorpio’s tail is the Greek equivalent of the Polynesian Maui’s Hook. So yes, I Am Moana. A rundown of things: -our mains’l boom broke... uh oh -we swam crossed the Equator! -we visited St. Helena, Fernando De Noronha, and Devil’s Island -we are now in Barbados about to start island hopping -we are about to start learning how to SCUBA dive -we’ve been taking classes on Marine Bio, Oceanography, Seamanship, and Leadership (I have my seamanship oral final tomorrow... wish me luck) We had a prom on Argo...

While we were in Cape Town the crew of Argo visited Cape Point which is the southern mist point in Africa. I feel like I stood at the edge of the world. A few days later we set out to sea. It’s been about two weeks and we are now on the most remote island in the world, St. Helena. It’s so remote that when Napoleon was exiled for the second time (because they needed to send him somewhere even farther way) they sent him here. We set sail for Brazil in a few days. In the meantime keep checking the SeaMester logs! I’ve already been skipper of the day once and can’t wait to write again.

I’ve been in South Africa for four days. I’ve been living on a boat. Her name is Argo. We leave port in a few days and head across the Atlantic Ocean. In case you didn’t know, WiFi doesn’t exist in the middle of the ocean — not really anyway. Personally, I won’t be able to post on this blog (maybe a few times on port over the next three months) but you can check in on all my activities and life on deck here: the SeaMester blog , where the skipper of the day updates it each night. Wish me luck!

If you know me then you probably know that I am a goody-two shoes. Being a goody-two shoes is not necessarily something I'm proud of, but I like order, I like predicability, I like following rules, and I like my comfort zone. I also LOVE doing things outside of my comfort zone. I'm a bit of an adrenaline junkie. I like roller coasters, I like rock climbing, I like high dives/high jumps, and feeling the wind ripping through my hair in a fast moving vehicle like a convertible or a lancha. So here's where this comes into conflict: I like to play it safe. Even when it's out of my comfort zone it's still in an environment where I know I'll be safe and won't break any rules. Obligatory "This is what this gap year is for..." It's not about breaking rules but it's about letting go of expectations, of what is "right," and of not letting anything get in the way of adventure. So... we wanted to see "The Disaster Artist" o...

First of all, sorry for not posting for these last few weeks. We've been really busy. Here's what's happened: -worked on an avocado farm digging holes and picked coffee beans on a coffee farm -went cliff jumping in San Marcos -had an incredible potluck Thanksgiving (Gracefully Clumsy vlog post coming soon...) -contracted bacteria from water/food, I was 15th of 17, went to a clinic in Antigua -went gift shopping in the market! -finished the Harry Potter series (still v shook over a certain character's death) -finished our media project, a video titled "Why Is Blonde Beautiful?" I'm working on getting the file to put on YouTube -landed back in DC For the past week I've been hanging out in DC meeting with Development and Aid organizations such as PeaceCorps, World Bank, the UN, and the NRDC, not to mention had seminars about how to actually affect change. We went to Smithsonians, went on a monument tour, and met up with friends in the area (...

Heigh, ho! Heigh, ho! It's off to work we g o!  *whistling noises * We look like the 14 dwarves. Every day at 8 we're met by a handful of farmers from San Juan. They divide us into groups and we follow them to our various farms all the while carrying shovels, hoes, and pick-axes over our shoulders or machetes in our belt loops. I said in one of my most recent posts that I feel fairly confident in my Spanish skills and I can say that the majority of the TBB group does too. In fact we've all gotten used to speaking in a English-Spanish hybrid where a number of common words in our vernacular are verbs in Spanish with an -ing ending attached. They include, but are not limited to: subiring, bajaring, descansaring, and limpiaring. The verb limpiar in Spanish, for those who don't know, means to clean. For two weeks we have been limpiaring. For the first week I was in a group of four with my friends Sam, Madison, and Charlotte. Every day we walked up a super steep hill fo...

Let's start with books. I love books. Always have. Except that school, first of all, took up all my time so that I never had time to read for fun, and secondly, to be honest drained a little of my love for them. Thinking Beyond Borders is one of the more academic heavy Gap Year programs. I love learning and I love school so I 've  enjoyed our twice-weekly seminars that call for discussions and debates on what constitutes productive education, how policy affects sustainable agriculture and consumption, and of course the question t hat 's been driving our exploration for two months: what is development? However, all this heavy reading about the Mayan Genocide, extreme poverty, banana republics, and government coups at times can be, well, to say the least, difficult and saddening material. I 've found myself with more time on my hands than I ever had in high school. So, with all that time I 've decided to fill it up with what I love: reading. To be perfectly...

I've been taking Spanish for as long as I can remember. Literally. Except for one year in 5th grade when I took Latin I have spent every single year of my life in school, from Pre-K to Senior year, taking Spanish in some sort of academic capacity. To be honest, I hadn't found my Spanish education to be satisfactory and if you're looking at my AP score as the only official way to measure my ability in Spanish, I did fine, but not great. While looking at Gap Year programs the only thing my parents asked of me was that I spend some time in a Spanish speaking country. I saw no harm in this and took it upon myself to in fact come out of this experience speaking and understanding Spanish a million times better than I had before. After two months of living in South/Latin America, living with homestays, working in the communities, taking classes in Spanish, and breathing in the language as a part of my daily life, I can proudly and honestly say that I have achieved this. ...

When we last left off our heroine, Grace, was flying away from Guatemala with her coffee beans in hand never to return. Little did she know fate would bring her back to San Juan la Laguna on her Gap Year adventure. This is... Global Investigator Trip 2: Return To Guatemala Okay, that's a bit dramatic but it's not a bad title for a jam-packed, action-filled sequel. Here's the low down: I came to Guatemala and San Juan la Laguna for my Junior year Global Investigator Trip. For a number of reasons, it was not the best trip and I promised myself that of all the places in the world I would never EVER go back. While looking at Gap Year Programs I specifically avoided all and any trips that went to Guatemala. The original TBB plan looked a little more like this: Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, DC. A little ways into the summer I got an email saying that Bolivia had been switched to Guatemala and more specifically to San Juan la Laguna. So here we are three days in to our month-lon...

Happy Halfway! Wednesday the 25th marked the halfway point for the Thinking Beyond Borders Latin America Fall Gap Semester 2017 group. We didn't have a celebration since we were in the middle of the Salkantay Trek (check out my latest vlog on it here) but we did end up in Machu Piccu. I've also been thinking a lot recently. This marks our 6 week together as a group and 6 weeks, for me at least, marks the longest period of time I've ever been away from home by myself. Sleep away camps in middle school only ever lasted a week, summer programs in high school expanded to 3 or 5 weeks, but 6 weeks is a different entity altogether. I've had the opportunity to Facetime family and friends and yes, I miss them. But I'm having a great time and loving every minute. So... I'll see you in 6 weeks. Hey, it's only halfway :)

Hi, my name is Grace. I want to go vegetarian. I wrote that opening as a joke placeholder a week ago, but it´s not a bad attention grabber, is it? On to the story. Here in Minas we live on a farm. We work on the farm too. A couple weeks ago I woke up and after talking to Paula at breakfast she told me that one of the pigs they keep gave birth to four piglets. That night as we were feeding the pigs I saw the piglets. They were cold and huddled together in a corner of the concrete cage they live in and will probably live in until the day they die. They will never know the feeling of dirt or grass. I went to summer camp on Sprout Creek Farm for three years and I know that the kind way they treat animals is rare for America and that even if I thought a little farm in Ecuador was bad it was definetly worse back home. It started with my roommate Madison. She and her entire family at home are vegan. It´s for ethical reasons (like stated above), but also for ecological and human health...

Today is our last full day in San Jose de Minas so I´d like to use this blog post to reflect on my few weeks here. Uncle Greg, this is for you. We begin every day by waking up around 6. Then I turn the alarm off and sleep in for 10 more minutes (can you blame me?) Madison and I live at the top of the hill in a green two-story house with orange lining (I would include pictures, but am writing this in an internet cafe). Our room is on the bottom floor. It opens up into a kitchen but it´s not the main kitchen we use. We head upstairs for breakfast. The whole family is there. Paula and Luz Clarita are scrambling to get ready for school and eat breakfast not to mention take care of the baby. Zoila prepares something similar for us every day. We begin with tea, then eat either eggs, bread, or eggs and bread, and we finish it off with a fruit juice. Next, we´re off to school. As explained in my other blogpost it´s about a 20 minute walk from our house on the hill to school. Also you...

Today is October 11th. It officially marks the start of our journey as a whole group. Since I´ve been with these people for a whole month now and have gotten to know them really well, I figured it was about time you did too. The Program Leaders (PLs): Isaac - A Bostonian schoolteacher with a passion for ultimate frisbee and changing the world. Kelly - A patient, yet energetic teacher with a deep love for culture, travel, and thrift shopping. The Students: Chris - A fellow film kid who just wants to reach the people. Eddie - Just a tough kid from Chicago. Jack - The oldest of our group, he´s already done a year at Georgetown, and like all of us is here to learn about and maybe change the world. Sam - A guitar-wielding, acapella-singing, wave-riding, slope-hitting Massachutsian ready to take on the world. Nathan - A Wisconsonian kid who likes to cook, play poker, and swim. Madison - My vegan roomate with spunk and a passion for righting the world´s wrongs. Erika - A...

Confession time: I have not yet read "Conversations With Great Teachers" by Bill Smoot. However, because of the time I have spent in Ecuador studying the flaws in education and various pedagogy I know that it will be one of the first things I do upon returning to the States. I also know that I still have two more months before I can discuss the Ecuadorian education system with Mr. Smoot and Artemis, or any of my Castilleja teachers as a matter of fact, so here is some of what I'v e found to be so different between Castilleja and Colegio Municipal: In Thinking Beyond Borders Seminars we' ve been reading and discussing "Pedagogy of The Oppressed" by Paulo Freire and "Whatever It Takes" by Paul Tough. So far we' ve talked about what an opressive education looks like, how education shapes us, and the role of teachers in the classroom. We' ve talked about teaching and being student-centered vs. teacher-centered and the differences between ...

It was Wednesday, October 4th. While in Ecuador our focus is on Education so to better understand varying pedagogy and the flaws in the education system all 17 of us have been separated into the various primary and secondary schools in San Jose de Minas to help teach English. I am working in El Colegio Municipal. It´s grades 8, 9, 10 (which more closely correlates to an American system middle school grades 6, 7, and 8) and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Year of Bachillerato (kinda like Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior year of American high school). There are 6 of us working there: Madison, Avery, Gabi, Chris, Kamea, and I. This post is not about our experience in the school, however. Although, it´s coming soon. Madison was helping to teach a different subject and Gabi, Chris, and Kamea had all taken the morning shift. So that left Me... and Avery? It took a while for Avery to show up and once she did, explained that she had experienced a sever allergic reaction the night before and had gon...

"Hey Kelly, this is Chris. By the way, Grace is dying." Here are some things you should know: 1. I have been suseptible to massive nosebleeds since I was a child. 2. Ecuador is hot, dry, and at a high altitude. 3. Madison and I´s homestay is at the very top of a very long and very steep hill (but honestly it feels like a mountain during each hike). It´s about a 20 minute walk from the center of town/the school where I work. Before the nosebleed story, let me tell you about our homestay family and life on the hilltop. Madison and I live with mother Zoila, father Rafael (though he´s an engineer and works all day so we rarely see him), 16-year-old daughter Paula, 11-year-old daughter Luz Clarita, and 1-year-old grandson Nicholas. We honestly couldn´t have been placed with a better family. We call each other sisters, they teach us to dance, we help with homework, together we clean the kitchen, feed the guinea pigs, ducks, and giant pigs (believe me when I say giant. I´m ...

It was another normal dinner in the Mindo forest, or rainforest to be exact, and it was pasta... again. Don't get me wrong, I love pasta plus there were some freshly brewed cups of Hierba Luisa a lemongrass-like tea. I was sitting across from one of the Thinking Beyond Borders Program Leaders, Kelly, mentally preparing myself for the River of Life presentation I would have to give in half an hour and twirling my spaghetti when a giant tarantula fell into it. I flew backwards out of my seat and onto the dirt below. This isn't a typical day in Ecuador though there are lots of bugs and, accordingly, lots of bug bites. My time here so far has been absolutely incredible. Though it's only been 12 days I've learned so much more about world injustices, economic thought processes, and the Spanish language. Not to mention I feel like I've known these 3 program leaders, 11 girls, and 5 boys for at least 2 months . We're currently in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, bef...