Friday, December 21, 2012

Dear Cuba, you were so good to me. Thank you for the opportunity to learn from your people and from fellow community organizers with Witness for Peace. So much to reflect on, and I'm definitely not quite ready for this white Christmas concept yet!

I'm thankful for the opportunities to contextualize my own culture in relation to another abroad experience. Even if I'm still overwhelmed by feelings of privilege, I am fortunate to be able to make choices about what is too much in my life than worry about having too little. It was not easy to land in Miami to smack into responsibilities, 684 emails in my inbox, and pervasive materialism after those eleven days, but such is life, and I need to learn how to readapt to my own culture while drawing from the adaptability, general contentedness, and solidarity I found in Cuban culture. Peoples connect better than messed-up politics, when given the chance, and I'm so grateful for my chance.

I still have more unpacking of things and thoughts to do from my Cuba delegation, but as I keep processing, I'm thankful for a personalized message from Santa via one of my besties and for the realization that this Christmas I'd be content with awesome bright colored socks. And I'm thankful that we have officially all survived the shortest day of the year. Things are looking up! (And for us Minnesotans especially, that means a lot!)

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