Today I felt the nudge to just start blogging.I even decided to splurge and purchase a domain. It’s fine to splurge from time to time in the little pleasures of life. Even if that includes the vanity of delight in seeing my name as a website.
Fair warning: I have very little to no experience blogging, unless you count Myspace or Xanga which was the thing to do over a decade ago! But facebook and social media has started to tire me. I find myself distracted by how much “love” I’m getting, and my motivation to share tidbits of my life become focused on external acknowledgement. I’d rather share genuinely, in an unadulterated fashion that focuses on what actually matters to me from my core. It’s like a personal journal, but perhaps someone may stumble onto this page and take the time to read what I have to say.
But consider this space a place to share my story. It will be genuine, may contain grammatical or spelling errors, be redundant or ramble. But it is genuine, sincere, and will encapsulate my inspirations, fears, and determinations. So here it goes:
I returned from 5 nights and 6 days in Barcelona, Spain earlier last week. It was beautiful. I felt like I was being warped back into time, and I imagined myself spending my days there studying Spanish, ordering cafe cortados or sipping on red wine, and chatting with the local people in a small tucked away alleys in the Barrio de Gotic. I delighted in using the handful of Spanish words I had learned, which usually quickly turned to embarrassment because I couldn’t carry a conversation beyond Hola, donde estas, and the mix of random words that I could still slightly recall from my High School Spanish class days.
Sure, these days most people can speak some level of English, but it was when I was communicating in the local language that I felt this rush of energy. Maybe it had something to do with the melodic tone and intonation. But it felt right, and exciting, and drew me into their charming world of theirs, if even only for a moment.
It made me realize something. Many people can say that I am privileged to speak English as my native language. I love my language, I do! The effortless ease of communicating a thought without having to overthink every single word. But my favorite part about travelling somewhere new is being able to firsthand feel and experience the culture of that country’s people. And honestly, when I was speaking English, it was efficient but it also left me feeling a little disappointed for lack of a better word. That, ladies and gentleman, is the blessing of this vast world. Language is the very thing that instantly connects us as human beings, despite where we come from, who we are, or what we believe. It touches the inner soul in a way that can not be quantified.
Down the Sagrada Familia Nativity Tower Spiral Staircase
Speak for the People 