If you can read this, you are incredibly fortunate. Not because it’s a one-of-a-kind Kent Green blog. The skill of understanding English is something people from countries like the United States, England and Australia simply grow up with. Most are oblivious that it’s something billions o[...]
Archive for May, 2010
May 24th, 2010 - 8:19 am § in Costa Rica, Volunteer
The Seven Cruelest Concepts for English Language Learners
Whistle While You Work; I’ll Try Not to Be a Jerk
Living abroad anywhere is an endurance test of getting used to one thing after another. In Puerto Jimenez, I’ve had to adapt to the heavy food, the heat, the dust, the assault of bugs, and the slow pace of life, among other things. After some rough patches, I’ve done well in accepting mo[...]
Happiness is: New Experiences and Unpredictability in a Foreign Country
“Maybe we mistakenly think we want ‘happiness’, which we tend to picture in very vague, soft-focus terms, when what we really crave is the harder-edged intensity of experience.” I read this in a New York Times article two days before leaving the States for my yearlong stint in Cusco. Nine mo[...]
Goldfish and Golden Sunsets: Life in Montevideo
“And you’ve never been to Uruguay before?” people would ask, when they learned why I was fleeing Boston mid-winter. No, I’d tell them. Although when feeling more expansive I’d amend: well, for one day back in 2003. I hopped over from Buenos Aires to Colonia by myself, ate a ch[...]
Guilt of the Gringo
My friend count in Puerto Jimenez has dropped by one. Rachel, a youth-focused Peace Corps volunteer, finished her two-year stint this week. She’s off to travel and to eventually head back to the States. (We’ll stay friends on Facebook, so the number that matters will stay the same.) I[...]
