Has it really been 10 years?

July 19th marks my 10th year anniversary since I started my new life in Costa Rica. 

I remember accepting a full time teaching job in Costa Rica back in 2016. The whole process lasted two days...I applied to a teaching job to an international school on a whim, while listening to Fifth Dimension's "The Age of Aquarius," thinking this could result into something... a change of fate, a redirection of sorts. 

At the time, I remember feeling disappointed with my experience in Canada...the miserable weather, the abusive Church, and so many negative experiences. I need a change. A positive change. 

Within minutes of submitting my application, the General Director replied and wanted to send the school chauffeur to pick me up to the interview. The next day I went to the interview and was hired at the spot, complete with a housing stipend. Later on, students commented that the General Director sensed "good vibes/energy" and thought I would be a positive influence to the school community. Little did I know that job would transform the way I view education, reveal power it holds and shape the vision I continue to carry with me to this very day. 

Ten years later, Costa Rica has allowed me to create the life that I wanted. I was able to travel to the UK (Cambridge University for my Literature programme, SOAS for Gender Studies), meet people and then travel together to Utrecht and the Andalusian region in Spain, Volunteer in Senegal, China (Xian and Zhangjiajie for my Honeymoon), Ireland, Iceland, Chile, The Galapagos in Ecuador, and Curacao. 

And next comes one of the biggest milestones of all: Graduating from the University of Bath with a Masters of Arts in Education. 

Through my work, I have met all sorts of fascinating people, from Cold War survivors from Poland and Hungary who later became European Diplomats, to children of U.S Embassy staff, expats from various multinational companies and amazing educators from all walks of life. I also met my husband, and together we are raising our beautiful daughter. I am endlessly grateful for my little artistic and traveling family. 

This entire chapter started with taking a risk, having the courage to leave behind abusive and unhealthy experiences, and wholeheartedly embracing change. 

In the blink of an eye, ten years have passed. After a marriage, a daughter, and now Costa Rican citizenship, I can honestly say this has been one of the best chapters of my life...and the best is yet to come!

The Galapagos

The Galapagos has been on my bucket list ever since one of my colleagues went there on a diving trip. I have meticulously planned this trip one year ago; buying tickets when they were cheap and booking accommodations with anticipation. Ecuador has always fascinated me with its rich history and culture. 

Yet no one warned me about the long lines that one must wait in the airport to get the Tourist Card and the luggage check (to check for biohazard material). We arrived at 6am for our 9am flight yet we nearly managed to miss this long anticipated flight! Talk about airport frenzy! Once we got our tourist cards, the LATAM counter (I am shamelessly calling them out! lousy customer service) was closed, we could not check our luggage. The boarding gate was closing in 20 minutes. Our option was to lose our flight or lose our luggage. Thank God that there was an airport locker and we chose to leave our big luggage behind so we could board since the airline refused to check our luggage. After frantically running around the airport, we managed to board to our flight to Guayaquil and San Cristobal de Galapagos. 

Arriving to San Cristobal, we checked into our Airbnb and toured around the island. The sea lions were everywhere....scattered around the pier and greeting every visitor with a honk-like roar. We ended our first day in Playa Mann. My toddler was so excited; her eyes brimming with joy as she clashed with the waves. She is fearless, and like mom, has a unquenchable spirit for adventure. 

Second day, we did the 360 tour around San Cristobal. We circled the island starting with Kicker's Rock. When I tell you, that my heart leapt when I saw Charles Darwin's Blue Boobies...it was magical! My husband and I took turns snorkeling, and was a bit disappointed we did not spot hammerhead whales. We the stopped at Bahia Sardina, a beautiful beach East and Bahia Rosa Blanca in the North. Not a soul in sight and we were enjoying the most pristine waters. We swam with sea turtles and sea lions. At some point, a baby sea lion approached my toddler and me and started to play with us. We snorkeled and spotted so many sea turtles. 

Fourth day, I visited Isla Española. Isla Española is an island 35 km away from San Cristobal. It was about a 2-3 hours boat ride from the pier. Isla Española is the oldest island in Galapagos, and completely uninhabited. Going there was an adventure. Our Zodiac broke down a number of times: the sea lions kept surrounding us as the motor would NOT turn on. And surprisingly, it was the captain from our previous 360 tour that rescued us. My eyes lit up when I heard the other tour guide exclaim "Guacamoleeee!!!" (the 360 tour captain was notoriously famous in San Cristobal for making the best Guacamole on tour). As we landed in Isla Española, we walked about 100 meters and was surrounded by Albatross birds nesting and mating. A most exquisite sight, since the Albatross of Galapagos only nests in Isla Española and we were in season. Their magnificent wings can spread up to two meters and they can fly up to 110km per hour. I was so amazed at the sight of beautiful albatross circling around us so freely. The poem by Gerald Manley Hopkins came into my mind "Let me be to Thee a circling bird."

Let me be to Thee as the circling bird,
Or bat with tender and air-crisping wings
That shapes in half-light his departing rings,
From both of whom a changeless note is heard.
I have found my music in a common word,
Trying each pleasurable throat that sings
And every praised sequence of sweet strings,
And know infallibly which I preferred.
The authentic cadence was discovered late
Which ends those only strains that I approve,
And other science all gone out of date
And minor sweetness scarce made mention of:
I have found the dominant of my range and state —
Love, O my God, to call thee Love and Love.

Such an unmatched and spiritual experience. Such a riveting sight seeing these majestic giant birds circling around us in this uninhabited island without a care in the world. I shared this experience with a retired Biology teacher and an Irish lady I met at the boat ride to Española. We just stood there speechless, soaking in the moment of pure beauty and joy. 

However, my greatest satisfaction from this trip was to watch my three year old toddler learn and play with nature in its finest glory. Galapagos is untamed, wild and filled with brazen beauty. 

Life in 2023

It's been a while. 

Some of my friends have asked me if I still write on this blog. To be honest, so much has happened lately that it has been quite hard to find some time to write. But here I am :). 

Life in 2023 feels like living in the future. I started this blog in 2004, and to put it frankly, my 2004-version-me would probably not recognize the post-pandemic world we live in. Artificial intelligence, the Russian invasion in the Ukraine and the increase in mass shootings paints a very dystopic world. 

Also, I feel so grown-up in the sense that I have a family of my own...a husband and a 1-year old baby. I quit teaching last year for an (extended) maternity leave and have been traveling back and forth between Costa Rica and El Salvador to be with family and friends. I am trying to raise my daughter in bilingual (and eventually trilingual) household. Coupled with swimming lessons, music lessons, early stimulation and a few walks with nature during the week, this soccer-esque mom in the making is frankly tired. I have experiences many different types of tired in life (teacher tired, college burnout) but there is nothing like mom tired. It is a new level of exhaustion that no one talks about. It's like never having a full night of sleep and being "on" all the time. IYKYK. 

There are a couple of exciting things happening this year. I am finishing my final course in Bath this Summer and will be traveling to the Emerald Isle. Nothing can go wrong with some good ol' Guinness, Irish tap dancing and reading about Irish folklore and history. The Ring of Kerry, Aran Island and visiting the musical city of Galway are on top of my bucket list. Oh, and we also talked about visiting the Amazon Rainforest this morning with some friends...so who knows...

Life does change after becoming a mom. One of my greatest fear was to lose my identity in the process. But I am trying to find a balance. There is so much (unnecessary) shame from society of what you should do and not do as a mother. Yet no one speaks about the emotional load and toll it  brings to your life. I still want to chase after my dreams...to travel, to work in education, become a writer...with my daughter by my side, always.

Anyways. Stayed tuned for more posts on motherhood, life and travels.

To my daughter

I hold my daughter close, 

Inside my womanly wounded womb. 

I feel my daughter's quickening, 

Her kick, her spirit, her great dreaming. 

I hold you close, my tiny dancer, 

My playful artist, my wonderful fighter. 

Let your life be light and joy to those around you. 

Be the change that the world so desperately needs, 

My darling daughter, my strong dreamer. 

Season of grief

Pandemic.

What a horrible word has it become. How I loathe it to its very core. 

One of my good friends passed away recently from Covid. She was a brilliant linguist who translated the book of Mark into a Mixtec variant. She was young, strong, warm, hospitable. But most of all, she was my dearest friend who received me into her home during my study exchange in Oaxaca. It was her friendship and dedication to her community and work who helped me heal after a terrible onslaught of spiritual abuse from my previous church. It was because of her, that I held on to the belief that there are good Christians out there. 

We would write often after I left Oaxaca and I once went back to visit her. She was truly formidable....teaching linguistics in colleges, writing books about linguistics, directing workshops for translators, and doing amazing work amongst the indigenous community. She combined her passion for languages with a powerful vision. I loved her and admired her for who she was and how she made others feel around her. 

Sometime in July this year she wrote me a note about reminiscing our times in Oaxaca. Sometime in August she fell ill with Covid. I prayed and prayed for her life. Sometime in September she passed away. Life is that short and effervescent. 

And these past few days, my grief has come washing me with its ebb and flow. Sometimes, I find myself crying in the car asking God...why? Why did you take her so soon? And sometimes I am comforted that I will see her again. But most of all, I just think of the wonderful days I got to spend with her in Oaxaca, going from village to village to visit the indigenous communities...talking to new people, eating mole and smashing piñatas in birthday parties. 

What an honor to have met you, Karina. 

My father's poem

Yesterday was my dad's birthday. It was nice catching up and talking about life. Although, we are in different stages in life, I still feel his closeness, care and love. I woke up today to this poem that he wrote.

决择，。      

 几许往时梦，几许心惆怅，别了惜日家，万里而去心潮千万丈，收起往时梦，抛开心惆怅，任那海和山，肋我寻遍天涯各处乡，闯一番新世界，挺身发奋图强，要将我根和苗，，再种新土壤，就算受错折，也当平常，发辉决择的力量，再起我新门墙，像那家乡样，胜我旧家乡。

This resonates to my heart so much. He encourages me to leave my past behind, travel the world, accomplish my dreams and live a fruitful and victorious life. 

Victory is my homeland.

Conchalio

Do you ever feel homesick? 

Specially when Corona has the world on lockdown, 

But your heart is elsewhere, waiting and anxious to return, 

To your family, to the waves you called home. 

I still reminisce those sunny days, 

When my aunt took me by my hand to see the dawn rise, 

Those stony pebbles, the sandy feet and warm gatherings in 

Conchalio. 

Seem so far away, now. It's been more than 20 years. 

But it will be always be the moment I have felt the most at home. 

Zhangjiajie

Zhangjiajie is well-known for its beautiful mountains. It is also the place that Avatar was filmed. 

Michael has been obsessed with visiting the mountains. We made a stop in our Honeymoon. 

Everywhere I looked, it looked like a Chinese painting....majestic and poetic.

I would highly recommend going to Zhangjiajie if you are in Hunan province. We are thinking of going back once Covid ends during the Summer time. 

Pictures for your enjoyment.

The Prisoner

The captive raised her face; it was a soft and mild

As sculptured marble saint; or slumbering unweaned child;

It was so soft and mild, it was so sweet and fair, 

Pain could not trace a line, or grief a shadow there!

The captive raised her hand and pressed it to her brow; 

"I have been struck," she said, "and I am suffering now;

Yet these are little worth, your bolts and iron strong; 

And, were they forged in steel, they could not hold me long."

-Emily Brontë, 

"The Prisoner," 1845

To experience the different facets of life

I grew up in a very religious community...where wearing nail polish was deemed wrong, using sleeveless shirts was provocative and listening to non-Christian music was worldly.

I lived in this kind of environment from age 12-23. I truly believed that by following God, reading the Bible every day and following the rules imposed by this community, I would live a full and glorious life.

Yet, deep down, I often felt suppressed and unfulfilled. The religious leaders would isolate me from my family members, become weirdly jealous when I attended other youth meetings and were just very controlling. 

Again, at a young age, I thought I was doing the right thing...leaving everything behind to follow Jesus. 

But as I became older, travelled more and met more people, I realized that this religious community was not normal. It was abusive. If I did not attend, say a Friday meeting, they would call and check on me. They did not respect my boundaries. They started asking for money. I didn't feel loved or supported. I felt used. 

So I left. 

I changed my phone number and stopped going to all meetings. 

I erased all my contacts from social media and quit cold turkey. 

To this day, I have not returned or contacted any members. 

It has been by far one of the most difficult things I have ever done. It took me every ounce of courage to leave. But it was worth it. 

I sincerely believe that Jesus does not want us to live a life of spiritual abuse. He gave us all freedom. Freedom to live life and choose our life paths. 

And I started to carve my own path, with its ups and downs, but I experienced freedom. 

I moved to Costa Rica and started from scratch. It was not easy but so liberating to finally live a life that I wanted.

I was able to attend Summer programmes in Cambridge and the School of Oriental and African studies in the UK. I am currently doing a Masters on International Education in the University of Bath. 

I went to Senegal and helped out on a project started by a Costa Rican and it was so interesting to experience another culture. 

I met a loving partner that supports me in all my dreams. He takes cares of me and loves me for who I am. We have a dream of traveling and working in different places while producing art and literature. 

I was able to experience the different facets that life has to offer...the good and the bad. I've experienced heartbreak, disappointment, joy, love but most of all freedom. 

Let no one take away your freedom...

For life is too short to live a life that others want you to live. 

Xian

Xian was handsdown my favorite stop in our honeymoon. 

During our first date, Michael asked me if I could go anywhere in the world...where it would be? I answered: The Silk Road. And he said "we shall go one day." In my mind, I thought he was a little crazy since it was our first date. Also in my mind, the Silk Road encompasses: Xian, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Turkey, parts of Iran and lastly Italy. Travelling to those places would be the ultimate adventure since my inner nerd loves the history and art of the Silk Road. 

To be honest, Beijing was quite hectic and stressful since it was such a big city and the people were a tad bit unfriendly. If it wasn't for my friend whom I met in Bath, we would be lost. Xian was much friendlier, the people spoke more English and it was such a culinary adventure! 

The first day, we ventured down to Muslim Street! It has always been a dream of mine to taste all the delicacies and see the encounter between the East and West of China. We had so much fun tasting all the street food: oysters, flat bread with meat fillings, lamb burgers, steamed dumplings...you name it! Everything seemed so exquisite and exotic...Western China is quite impressive (I have previously travelled to China but only knew the Cantonese side).

The second day, we went to see the Terracota warriors. I have seen them in history books and heard about them but to actually see them was kind of surreal. I recommend booking a tour since the museum is 1 hour away from the city, and it so much easier to have a guide. We also met one of the farmers that discovered the Terracota Warriors. It was interesting to learn that the warriors had a hierarchy and were placed a certain way for auspicious purposes. We also went to the Ban Po people museum where we learned about the ancient settlers who had similar cultural practices as the Mosuo people (walking marriages, round houses) in the south. 

The third day, we went to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. I really recommend this place since it has a nice garden to walk around and different ancient artefacts to look at. The Pagoda itself is not accesible to the public since it is so old. There is a giant bronze bell that you can play for good luck (for the price of 5 yuan ~ $0.70). It was an overally fun place to tour around. At night, we attended a Tang dynasty show which was really cool since it showcased the costumes, music and traditionsof said dynasty.

Overall, I would rate Xian 10/10 in terms of food, hospitality and adventure factor. I woudl definitely go again just for the food!

Pictures for your enjoyment:

 

The Southern Skies

 (Inspired by my travels to Fiji in the Summers of 2008, 2009, 2010)

 

Oh to walk at night, 

Gazing at the Southern skies, 

Gilded with stars, as bright as

Jewels, dancing in their glory

To the music of the spheres. 

With Melody by my side, 

We were singing as we walked  

From Nasese to Suva, 

Dreaming bright dreams of Abba.

To all the naysayers

I have always lived my life in my own terms.

Despite the naysayers, the religious people, and even my own family, I have always had my mind on my own. 

"Africa is too dangerous."

I travelled to Madagascar, South Africa and Senegal in my twenties. Travelling to those countries opened my eyes and helped me learn so much from the world. 

"Why did you leave church?"

I left an spiritual abusive church and a system of thought that was soul crushing and mind boggling in so many ways. It has been by far one of the most difficult things I have gone through.

"You can't do it on your own," they said. "Why are you leaving everything behind?" 

I moved to Canada alone at 18 and moved to Costa Rica on my own at 27. Got a bachelors degree in Canada and I am working at a job in Costa Rica that fulfills my purpose on earth. 

"Why don't you have a boyfriend? It must be so dull."

I took Summer courses in Cambridge University and University of London and had the chance to meet interesting people around the world. I embraced my freedom in my late 20s and pursued my interests fiercely.

"He is too old, he might be married."

And I married a University professor (he is not that old btw...mid 30s) who teaches sculpture at Costa Rica's largest university and makes me breakfast everyday. 

"Why don't you get married in a hotel? It will be much easier."

And I got married in a forest, in a volcano in a Vera Wang dress, with my closest friends, a string quartet and Salvadoran artesanal ice-cream at my wedding. Just like I wanted it to be. 

"When will you have babies?"

Just stop. Seriously. Stop. We have been married for only 8 months and we are in the middle of a pandemic. I am getting my Masters degree in Education and babies are still not part of the equation. 

In my 31 years of existence, one thing that I have learned is that no one else will live your life. Naysayers are often people who are not courageous enough to live out their own lives. They are often sad people who judge your life to make themselves to feel better. 

Life is too short to allow such people to push you back. 

People should just let other people be. 

Our Honeymoon in China (Part 1 - Beijing)

When I first met Michael, one of his first questions was where I would like to travel. I replied that I would love to go to the Silk Road one day. His response to that was that he would come to with me. I was like "yeah, right...first date and he already wants to travel with me." Little did I know that we would eventually get married and travel to the Silk Road for our honeymoon.

Fast forward 1 year and a half from our first date, we get married in this beautiful forest wedding. After spending a few days in the lake with out-of-town friends, we embark into a 25 hour journey to Beijing. My very good friend from my masters programme in Bath was kind enough to let us stay with her. So I was excited to see her and explore China with my new husband.

Prior to the trip, I was anxious about travelling to China without my parents. I can only speak broken Mandarin and the idea of peeing in squat toilets did not excite me. But here I was, newlywed and seeking adventure with my sculptor husband.

Once we arrived to Beijing, we grabbed a cab to go to Susan's place. I printed out the directions in Chinese since I can barely communicate in Mandarin (my family speaks Cantonese). We were without Internet, no google maps, no way to communicate with Susan. Nothing. We arrive at the compound (Yao Min lives in the same compound by the way), and we knock on the door but no one answers. We tried to call Susan and she explains to the taxi driver how to get to the right house. Anyways, long story short, we arrive and we go for Hot Pot during the evening.

Our days in Beijing were filled with excitment, fun and much frustration. We ventured into the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs the second day we got there. The Great Wall during Winter looked very pretty. The air was crisp, there were not many people and the winter scenery looked and sounded poetic. Michael and I climbed the stairs and got up to the third tower before we started our descent. Now, the descent was interesting. Instead of going down through the chairlifts we toboganned our way down. It was so much fun.

Other points of interests that we visited were the Forbidden City, the National Art Museum and the Art District. The thing about Beijing is that it takes HOURS to get from one place to another. A subway journey to Tiannamen from our place took literally 2 hours. The overall atmosphere was serious and rigid. People in the subway were quiet and serious. I was also not used to the idea of being under surveillance all the time. There were cameras in the streets, public transportations, museums...everywhere. It made me feel a bit paranoid since they have face detection technology. 

After we had enough of Beijing, we decided that our next stop would be Xian. We've heard all kinds of fascinating things about the city. However, figuring how to get to Xian was a major point of frustration. We first booked a high speed train, but the reservations got cancelled last minute because they did not register our passport information (thanks to the Internet restriction!). We got to the train station and tried to buy the tickets, but since my Mandarin is almost non-existence, we ended up buying a 14-hour journey in 4th class. So we had no other option but to go back to Susan's place and book air tickets to Xian. Thankfully, everything worked out and we left during the evening.

To be honest, I experienced much frustration for not being able to speak Mandarin. Everyone assumed that I spoke the language since I look ethnically Chinese. I even tried to lie that I was Korean one time to avoid the trouble of explaining why I don't speak Chinese but they didn't believe me. Chinese people are really good at detecting what kind of Asian you are!

I will be posting Part 2 (Xian) soon.

Pictures for your enjoyment:

The Day of Gladness of our Hearts

My wedding day was a dream come true.

It was the day where we shared our love and joy for each other.

It was a celebration that gathered all my dearests family members and friends together.

My heart is full. 

Courage

What is courage?

Courage means leaving a cult-like system of beliefs that trapped you into being a religious automaton and choosing the life you love.

Courage means moving away from the comforts of home in pursuit of a life that is meaningful and beautiful.

Courage means cutting ties with toxic people and choosing to forge healthy friendships instead.

Courage means saying no.

Courage means digressing from the cultural norm of marrying someone from your same culture. Courage is to marry someone you love.

To love is a courageous act.

Courage is to travel to a foreign country by yourself. It's liberating.

Courage means speaking up.

Courage means finding your path and following it. 

The depths of love

It's been a while since I posted on my blog. Life, a Masters degree, planning a wedding and starting a new job has kept me busy.

Love has been a recurring theme in my life, and I am strong believer that finding love in life is a birthright. My dating experiences in the past have not been very pleasant but I was wise enough to get out of those situations fast. Looking back, those experiences were fleeting and insignificant. And the pain that I had to undergo made me to start losing hope in romantic love.

Since my last relationship, I stayed three years single...happily travelling around the globe with a non-chalant attitude towards love and dating. I worked, studied, made friends and chased my own kind of happiness. Asian parents were naturally worried as I remained single during my late 20s while my cousins and counterparts were getting married and having kids by the bunch.

Then came The Sculptor.

It started with a "hey, let's grab a beer" to hiking mountains in Heredia while talking about artistic movements and Philosophy, late afternoon coffees and watching The Avengers (hated Infinity Wars btw). It then grew into having The Sculptor taking care of me while I was sick, cooking together and watching Netflix on rainy days. The sense of familiarity and warmth made me feel safe to love and experience love again. The feeling of familiarity soon blossomed into a feeling of home. We belonged.

Love is like coming home.  

And this brings me into deeper thought about love. When I was younger, I used to be caught up by the thrill of the chase, looks, the infatuation stage, etc. But now I've come to understand that love is spoken through actions. Just a few days ago, I was very sick and had to go to the hospital. My partner rushed into the emergency ward after work to pick me up. He then cooked me dinner and made me tea. We cuddled in our Pjs, watched La Casa de Papel and laughed at our stupid jokes.

We are getting married in December and I feel so lucky to have found a life partner.

Sketches

1981. A young Chinese man travels from The People's Republic of China to El Salvador 

"Five years of dreaming and waiting. Five more minutes until landing. I have 7 dollars in my pocket, a big brother waiting for me at the airport and a handful of dreams to fulfill. Dreams. I want to be rich."

He sighs and smiles, the sides of his eyes wrinkles as he sees the green tropical landscape from the skies.

Landing.

Picture this: Comalapa airport in the early 1980s during the brink of the Civil War. A young Chinese man going through customs with bell bottom jeans, aviator glasses and a simple shirt. He sees his brother waiting for him on the other side. They embrace and talk. Someone from the same hometown is with his brother. Same dialect, same custom. He was my mother's brother. Little did he know that this connection would change his life.

Growing up, my father used to tell me his first impressions and stories about when he immigrated to El Salvador. How he met my mother. How he tried to save money for his first business. How he struggled to learn Spanish. Yet, in spite of so many difficulties, he always hoped for the best.

I am trying to piece every story and every anecdote together.

Education

Forty years ago, my father tried to cross the Shizi Ocean in Southern China with the hope of escaping to Hong Kong. “It was late at night, my brother and I borrowed an old boat and tried to row our way down to Hong Kong. The next thing we saw were the Communist policemen pointing their guns at us and taking us to jail,” he recalls as he lights a cigarette. “But that did not stop us. We had to get out of that oppressive system.” As a child of the Cultural Revolution, my father withstood countless trials living under the Communist regime. He witnessed how the Communist government took over his family’s business – a Soy Sauce factory which previous generations had worked really hard to build and keep running, and the burning of precious family relics. He was constantly bullied in school because of his supposedly ‘Capitalist’ family background. “No one played with me, except little Wai. Oh, Little Wai was so good…but he never had the guts to get out of that system. He still lives on the farm.” 

The death of Mao Zedong marked a new era for my family which had an impact on my own personal history. Deng Xiaoping came into power and his economic reforms allowed people more freedom to travel. My father had a brother who started a business in El Salvador. In 1981, with only seven US dollars in his pocket and a one-way ticket, he flew over to El Salvador, a small country in Central America; a country that was ransacked by a civil war at that time. Nevertheless, he worked hard ---making Chop Suey and Chao Mein in his brother’s small restaurant with the sounds of bombs and guns in the background. He and my uncle faithfully sent money over to China to keep their starving relatives alive. 

In the late 1980s, I was born into this humble Chinese family during the height of the Salvadorean Civil War. Even though my family did not have much at the time, they invested what they had into my education. My father enrolled me into the British School, one of the best schools in the country. He said that Education would open many doors in the future. Thanks to the British School I began to grasp and understand the world with a more holistic and critical perspective. The IB programme opened my eyes to the literature and rich experiences of other cultures. 

After graduating, I was accepted into the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. While there, I joined a NGO which gave me opportunities to travel to the far ends of the world. For three Summers, I would go to the Fiji Islands to help lead and direct an after school tutoring club. From this experience, I learned that Education is a transformational and a powerful tool which helps build communities. It was so enriching to cultivate positive and inspiring relationships with my students. Many of them have become teachers to this day. 

After completing my undergrad, I spent three months in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa volunteering as an English teacher and team leader in an after-school programme. I witnessed how the AIDS stricken township lacked schools and after-school facilities to take care of their young people. Parents had to travel and work long hours, leaving their young behind vulnerable to strangers and dangerous situations. 

The place that I made the definite decision to dedicate my life to education and empowering youth for a better future was when I travelled to Antananarivo, Madagascar in 2012. My heart wrenched when I saw the extreme poverty in the city. That 3-month trip was eye-opening as I soon learned that most of my students lived under $2 USD a day. Many of them did not have enough money for medical expenses or food. 

Although, I am currently working as an IB Theory of Knowledge and a Language Arts teacher in a private school serving the wealthier community in Escazú, my heart still lies with the people from the poorer communities. This was confirmed last year when I travelled to Senegal to volunteer with Marabout children who have been abandoned by their families. One day, as I saw the Marabout children begging for food on the streets, I remembered my father’s words: “Education can give you the tools for change. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Conversations

While having hotpot, our traditional go-to celebratory meal.

"I would've never imagined that I would be marrying someone that I really, really like."
*Smiles*
"I am crazy about you."

I am engaged. And I feel incredibly happy and at peace.