Rotary Presentation

Presentation
AHHH!!! Found out Monday night that I had a presentation to give to my Rotary club---Wednesday!! 10 minutes--in Spanish--with powerpoint--about my experience as an exchange student and my country. With freaking a day and a half to prepare!! After reading the email, I ran upstairs and asked Emi, "The 29th isn't, this Wednesday, is it?" "Uh...Yeah, yeah it is." I freaked out. I wrote the dang thing in school Tuesday and worked on the powerpoint all night.
Sheesh. Imagine me having to actually do work here. : )
My mom was so sweet and helped me brainstorm ideas and revise what I had written.
My uncle drove me to the Rotary meeting and gave me some of the best advice I've heard in awhile. I told him I was nervous, and he said to me very sincerely, "the answer is love."
"Love?" I thought to myself, "not confidence or something like that?"
"Just love the people you're speaking to," he told me. Then he recounted his days as a college professor and how he used to be nervous before teaching. But then he discovered the secret to "teaching and speeching," as he put it. "Loving the people you're talking to takes away all the nervousness and allows you to talk with your whole heart."
I sat there stunned. Why had I not thought of this before? Duh?!
Love.
So simple, yet so profound.
...And it worked.
The presentation went 10 times better than expected. The 3 people who went before me didn't know very much Spanish, so it made my presentation seem better than it actually was. hehe
I didn't forget any of my words though! And I managed not to be nervous while giving the speech. Everyone applauded and told me how good my Spanish was--little did they know I had basically memorized the speech that was checked and rechecked by my mom and classmates.

Family
Everything is fantastic with my host fam. I'm starting to communicate better with my mom--and I don't mean my Spanish--just plain communication in general. In the States, I never had to communicate what I was planning for my day or what I wanted to do or where I was going. Mostly because I had a car and my mom wasn't worried about me. (Mom, I mean that in a good way : )) And even then, I sucked at communication. I'd be running out the door, literally, and my mom would ask, "where are you going?" "I'll tell you later, Mom!" Slam. the door would shut. And if she, or anyone for that matter, needed to get ahold of me, I rarely had my cell phone. I suck at answering my cell.
Here, I have to say everything. Because if I don't, I won't go anywhere or get anything done. It's not really a trust or liberty issue like I thought, my mom just wants to know what's up and is big on communication.
The other night, we had a little dance party in the attic. I was showing my mom some of things
I learned in salsa class, and she was showing me some other passes. Emi just sat there laughing at us. At one point, we were dancing together, like hand in hand, and we both started laughing our heads off. We kept trying to get back to that dancing position, but every time, it was too funny, and we couldn't refrain from laughter. I thought we were going to die from lack of oxygen. It was hilarious.

Thoughts
At the beginning of my exchange, I mentioned this wasn't the "adventure" I imagined. Now I realize this is more than the adventure I imagined, and I just had the wrong definition of adventure. Adventure isn't just roaming through the jungle or climbing a mountain or exploring a deserted cave. It's not always a time when I'm full of adrenaline or hapiness or excitement. It's also the times when things are hard, when I'm stretched, when I'm forced to learn certain life lessons. It's discovering the little things of a new culture, like communication is extremely important and to share everything you have. It's living without the things or people that once made you comfortable. It's taking a salsa class. It's playing the guitar. It's growing. It's loving. It's learning.

It's life.