Entonces...

Last week, I spent the entire work week serving as a tour guide for a group of people from Leon, Mexico who work for a similar trade association and came here to sign a partnership agreement with my association. There were five men and one woman in the group, along with a translator from the international organization facilitating this partnership. In spite of having a translator present, I ended up being on my own with the group or a part of the group much of the time and had to rely on my limited Spanish (which allows me to understand a lot but not say much) and two of the men's limited English for communication.

The week was really exhausting overall. Trying to listen and communicate in Spanish is about 50 times more difficult than lazily communicating in my own language. In addition, the language barrier made it difficult to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves etc. However, I think I have had few weeks at work that have been more rewarding than last week. When my coworker and I dropped our new friends off at the airport Friday afternoon we both felt really sad. We got hugs and kisses from everyone and a couple of them even busted out with their first sentence of English to say, "Jodi, thank you very much." That was particularly touching because I know how embarrassed I felt speaking in Spanish and could only imagine that my new friends felt the same about talking to me in English.

I went home that night missing my new friends and I began to wonder if perhaps the absence of language allows people to reveal more of themselves. I realize this new theory of mine seems counterintuitive, but maybe it's not. For the most part, language couldn't get in the way last week and so I could see my new friends for who they are. We had gestures, a few words and that's it so we just existed in each others' company much of the time. Or we spoke in full sentences in our own language and talked right past each other but somehow we understood each other.

Anyways, I am really grateful that I got to meet Angel, Javier, Josee, Thomas, Oscar and Cora Emma. My life has been enriched by the connections we made last week.