快乐的中秋节

Zhōngqiū jié Kuàilè de or in English: Happy Mid Autumn Festival 

Living in China has broaden my knowledge of their culture exponentially. Today, we celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake festival. This holiday reminds me a lot of Thanksgiving. Though this holiday has many different legends and stories behind it, it centers in gathering families from all over the country bringing them together to give thanks for everything and to ask in a praying manner for good fortune. It amazes me that even though we all have different traditions and customs we all are very similar in many ways.

Many of my students traveled to their home towns this weekend to be with their families in order to celebrate this festival. As they know I am far from my family and friends so they always know how to make me feel at home. 

Citizen of the World

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

 Nationalism is a feeling that people have of being loyal to and proud of their country often with the belief that it is better and more important than other countries. 

Many of us that have been raised in different countries grew up feeling some type of patriotism. Being raised in Chicago one of the most diverse ethnic cities in the United States it only seems normal to have pride of your origins. If you have ever been to Chicago you can see the evidence of this pride in each neighborhood. Even though we are proud of our "melting pot" we have learned to hide our segregated communities by implying that it's our way of showing off our roots.

This sentiment can be found throughout the world. It's handed down from generation to generation. The problem I find with this is that it transcends into all aspects of an individual's perspective. Growing up in Chicago I remember feeling resentment towards the assimilation process that many immigrant families go through including my own. Though I was young when my parents moved us I still received a solid Honduran foundation. ( Hehehehe I don't know if being instilled specific cultural traits be consider a foundation but I think I get my point across.) See regardless of how hard an immigrant family wants to maintain their customs when they emigrate cultural assimilation always creeps in. I believe this happens in all immigration cases. 

Now that I'm older and have had the privilege to travel and live not only in Central America but also in China I see how having this ethnocentric thought can be detrimental in an individual's perspective. I have observed that regardless of the country or culture you travel to people are always eager to point out how their traditions are best. It is so subtle at times because we all share this similar behavior that we perceive it as "normal". This pride in traditions gets poured into all areas of a person's life. Mothers are always trying to make their children be the best at everything. Fathers are always trying to provide the best for their family. As you read this you are probably asking yourself what's wrong with that? Well, in order for you to strive for better or best you must have something you are comparing it to. I believe that's where the problem lies.

Why are we always competing with each other? Are we not all humans? Why must we look to feel superior than others? Is it our lack of character that makes us this shallow? Maybe it's a global insecurity. This sentimental has existed and growing probably since humans started roaming the earth. The more I travel the more I realize how all cultures are similar. We all deal with the same problems. Our traditions may vary but interesting enough they all share common ground. ( I think food and language are probably the areas that I can say gives a culture a distinct difference from others.) Even though thousands of books have been written about how all of the cultures have similarities we are inclined to only see the differences. This focus on our differences has led me to believe that it is the reason why we are so apathetic to the atrocities that happen on a daily basis on this earth. We have turned a blind eye to the fact we are all citizens of this world. We want to separate each other so badly that we think these imaginary borders called countries gives us the right to feel a pride for our way of thinking and behaving.

I'd like to challenge you to see it differently. I have made the decision to see myself  as a citizen of the world. Where I am not superior to anyone and that my actions affect not only the community I directly live in but also the planet I live in. Many of us complain about the situation we are all currently living in worldwide but we forget that change starts within us. If we could all remember that we are all humans and if ever we were to be attacked by aliens we wouldn't fight against them as individual countries but we would fight them as an entire human race. I invite you to become a citizen of the world.

Beginnings

Throughout the last eight years I have relied on a skill that my parents made huge sacrifices for me to acquire. I was fortunate to start my academic journey at a bilingual institution in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I clearly remember protesting at a young age how much I hated the English language and that I practiced it enough at during school and should not be forced to speak it at home. Thankfully, my parents thought different and made it a daily task for me to practice. I would have never guessed what to me felt like a chore would in turn become my career.
By the time I reached 3rd grade I had mastered both English and Spanish. (well as far as third graders go at least.) I excelled in all my classes and was I might add an honor roll student. ( Too bad this didn't stuck!) At the end of my third grade my parents decided to move to Chicago. I thought how cool I get to live in a place where there is snow. ( Boy, I had no idea how much I would come to hate winter!)
Now coming from a Spanish speaking country many of you probably think that once I started school I'd end up in one of those ESL classes right? If you thought that let me just say you haven't read this correctly I told you had mastered both English and Spanish by third grade. So, I went straight to a normal fourth grade class at a Catholic School in Chicago. The transition went very well except for the fact that I was the new foreign kid but you know I managed my way through. I must thank my parents for really insisting on my English learning. Who knows how the story would have ended up otherwise.
Years went by I graduated Junior High and High School in Chicago and then at 19 after a year and half of college classes I decided to move back to Honduras. ( Seems really crazy but it was the best decision I've ever made!) I spent my first getting to know my family, adapting and I also took college courses and turns out my Spanish was not bad for a third grade level.
At 20, I found myself needing a job but what job could I possibly hold in Honduras without a college degree?! In countries like Honduras the job market is dominated by college graduates. Basically almost no one holds a job till they have a college degree. This has been changing in the last few years but mind you this was almost 10 years ago. ( Time goes by so fast.) As I was searching for a job I came across the fact that I had something that many Hondurans pay lots of money for. Can you guess what it is?! That's right I'm practically a native English speaker. ( I wasn't born in the States so I can't be a native really.)
I will never forget the day I went in for my first English teaching position interview. Reuben Colon sat down with me and asked many questions in English and said, "great when can you start?", I said right way. Never in a million years did I expect to start that very same day. Reuben gave me the opportunity to start my career without even knowing it. Though he did throw me straight into a lion's cage I enjoyed every single minute. come to think about it I haven't stopped teaching since.
I guess sometimes we don't realize how simple skills we learn in our youth can be used to our advantages. Today I live in Fengjie, Chongqing, China. I am an English teacher at a public middle school. I've had the opportunity to teach in Honduras, Costa Rica and with my online teaching I pretty much teach people all over the globe. These are my stories and adventures hope you enjoy them!