Bringing Out the Caution Tape

In Front of the Trump Hotel after the Clean Up in 2016

          It has been three weeks since the death of George Floyd took place. If you don't know who he is, he was the guy who was killed by a police officer in Minneapolis on Memorial Day. This death was one of the reasons for the uproar amongst a lot of citizens in America for the demand of fair treatment and respect among people of color and the awareness of police brutality. Two days after Floyd's death, protesting grew all over the United States demanding changes to the current police style of policing. Many of the protests were peaceful and still are today, but rioting over cities in different states started to take place around the same time usually during late hours of the night and caused mayors to create curfews and added police forces to block streets. Within the week, protests about police brutality took place overseas in several countries. Those countries also have current problems with police brutality amongst their colored citizens and those citizens were inspired by the United States to have their voices heard as well.

         These protests are similar to the protests that took place during the Civil War movement and others that took place in the 1960s, but looks very different at the same time. People of all races and backgrounds are showing up to shout out #BlackLivesMatter standing beside people of color as support. During the first two weeks of protesting: official state leaders started to recognize the citizens shout for change; old cases reopened relating to deaths caused by police brutality; new charges has been made against the four police officers involved with the death of George Floyd; Confederate related statues has either been destroyed by protesters or removed through vote; some of the members of the police union has protested along with the protesters while others in the union has been fighting back as though they are the victims; laws has been made in some states to ban polices to include the choke hold method when policing; police departments has view their style of policing to make changes for the better; Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members and racist people has been exposed and receiving a lot of negative consequences and backlash; and the current President Trump has been adding oil to an already fired situation while trying to campaign for a second term.

Mayor of D.C got "Black Lives Matter" paint on the streets 

          Whoever says protesting and rioting has never solved problems lied. As what we saw during the 1960s and what's taking place now has shown that protesting and making your voice heard creates an impact and get things done. But what happens when all the protesting stop completely? Will state representatives stop creating changes on how police departments in their states police? Will old cases relating to police brutality remain unsolved? Will people stop caring about Black lives and the equal rights for all citizens regardless of their backgrounds? Will people forget that they have important decisions to make this coming November for election day? My guess is that a lot of people will stop the uproar for change and focus on the next big topic. My fear is that a lot of people will not show up to the polls to vote in November. I believe that we need to continue the fight when protesting completely ends.

          It is important that when the protesting stops, we don't stop demanding for the end of police brutality amongst all, especially people of color. There are a few ways that we can accomplish this goal. One way is to keep your local police departments accountable for the way they choose their police officers, the training that is being provided, taking away policing techniques that harms citizens to the point of death, and charging police officers for wrong doing while on duty and when off. You can get in contact with the officers in the departments by going to the police department offices in person and or writing emails and letters to them to let them know your concerns on the state the police officers do their jobs.  The second way is by emailing your state representatives your concerns and what you would like to take place in your state to create a safer and fair environment for all. I mean that is the reason why you voted for them right? And lastly, make sure you make your voice heard by placing your votes during every election with some consideration on why you are voting for them. It's good to go to the polls to vote, but you don't want to just put anybody in charge because at the end of the day, these individuals are going to be your representatives until the next election for their positions.   

          If you've witnessed some of my posts on my social media pages, you'll know my hatred for Trump is real. I've been against him running for presidency since 2016. I don't understand how people can vote for someone who has shown multiple times that they have no care for anyone who don't fit the descriptions of being rich, white, male, and heterosexual. Not only has Donald Trump showed that he has little care for majority of citizens in the United States, he has zero experience working in law or with government in a representative stands. This man just don't care unless it personally effects him.

          During Trump's whole presidency, his actions has proven to me that all my concerns about having him as a president were legit. For four years, it has felt like I didn't have a president. None of his actions has benefitted me what so ever. I know there is no such thing as a "prefect president", but being a decent human being who cares about humanity should be top on the list and someone who knows some knowledge about law or willing to learn while on the job should be second on the list when it comes to qualifying as a possible presidential candidate. This year alone has shown how unquantifiable he is as president. In the beginning of the year, he had a problem with North Korea and almost caused a war. In late February, he didn't realize how serious the spread of Covid-19 was and didn't listen to the experts until he was forced too. Trump gave unauthorized advise to the public on how to survive from the Coronavirus and it caused a lot of people to become sick. Now he's being ruthless during the witnessing of protests taking place all over the country by threating mayors to control protesters and add more police officers to block the street or else he would personally fix the problem while he hides into a secret location making clashing statements on his Twitter account. With all these actions taking place in six months, do Donald Trump seem like the best fit to run a country? My answer is no. You would think majority of people would agree, but unfornately that's not the case and they will be voting for Trump once again in November. I will not be and I feel the same way as  I felt in 2016 when I wrote my poem on the situation. You can check out the video clip of me performing my poem, " In Government We Trust," by clicking the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDadoO3ouDk  

The President had police throw smoke gas so he could walk to 

the church

Protesters trying to move back in place

once the president walked back to the White House

          Right before I was getting ready to release this article, President Trump came on live national news to give a speech on the executive order on police reform and signing the document for everyone present and watching could see. A lot of things Trumped mentioned in his speech was very contradicting to one another. In just about all the speeches Trump has done this year was him always mentioning China's involvement in spreading Covid-19 and how the economy is doing "so well". Below, you can see the images from the event and just by reading the captions, you can get an idea of how the speech went. The only thing you will not be able to read is his statements on China and about the economy.

While it's great that President Trump finally signed a law to help solve police brutality in America, I feel as though people in his corner only told him that by signing the law, people will vote for him in November. I say this because during the start of the protesting and weeks in, he would call participants "thugs" and gave empty threats to bring out more policemen and the military if the mayors were not able to stop protesters from protesting and rioting in cities. 

How to Build Your Resume while in Quarantine

          As a teacher and mentor, I believe it's important to stay relevant in the areas you are teaching others about and in most cases that means you have to continuously return back to the student position. If you've been keeping up with my articles and read, " Seven Straight Years of College: What's the Move Now!, " I mentioned my long higher educational journey before receiving my bachelor degrees in English and Psychology with a concentration in Developmental Psychology. When I applied myself to complete these degrees and many certificates; my overall goal was too get enough certifications and three degrees under my name so I can stop having to stay up long hours of the night studying and completing assignments for school. By the time I entered my final year of college my views started to change especially when my life calling and career choice started to become stable. In this article, I will discuss how my experience of wearing the student hat once again is going so far and ways you can continue to grow mentally without having to enroll in a class per say that requires you to complete assignments for grades.

          On May 23rd this year, it had become a year since I graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) and I've been in the student seat a couple of times since the time I walked across the stage. Currently as you read this article, I am enrolled in a course to become an English teacher to speakers of other languages while traveling and living overseas. The course was apart of a program I signed up months ago around the Fall season. Originally, I was suppose to attend the class in China during the month of August this year, but then the Coronavirus pandemic took place. I wondered if I could get the money back that I paid for in order to be apart of the program or if it was possible to choose a different month to take the class. When I emailed the American representative for the company to learn what my options were, the representative told me that the schools in China were going to open up soon and the only way I could get my money back was if the pandemic worsen. It would be April when the company would tell me about the option to participate in a virtual course that would be available in the middle of month and in May, but there was a catch. Only the classroom sessions would take place online, but would still have to spend two weeks in China to complete the in-person teaching practices portion of the program . I signed up for the May session. I would figure out which month I would complete my in-person teaching sessions later in the coming months.

         The first day of class was on Sunday, May 17th, at 8pm Eastern time U.S.A; whereas it was Monday, May 18th, at 8am for the teachers who are currently living in China. During the first session, me and the other students learned that it would no longer be a requirement for us to do the in-person teaching practices in China because of the lack of ability to enter certain borders at the moment while we are currently in a pandemic. The teachers made it possible for us to complete our three teaching practices online along with the other requirements. So far we are currently we have done our second round of teaching practices. 

Poster and Game created for 2nd teaching practice

Images I drew to teach the new vocabulary words

          The requirements me and the other students need to complete in order for us to pass the course and receive our TEFL certificates were to read seven chapters and complete the quizzes that goes along with those chapters; watching expert teacher teaching videos and completing observation videos about those teachers; two projects; complete three teaching practice sessions and a self-evaluation for each one; a mid-term; and a final exam. All of these assignments have to be completed by June 11th, U.S. date. 

By being apart of this class, I am reminded why I couldn't wait to graduate from University last year for the simple fact that I'm up late to attend class and staying up to complete homework assignments. At the same time, I'm learning a lot on how to become a more effective teacher. I now know activities I can use to teach grammar that are both effective and fun. I'm improving how I create my lesson plans by making them more detailed thanks to all the feedback I receive from both my teachers and the other students. Lastly, I'm learning the common mistakes students usually make when they are learning English for the first time. With each teaching practice I have done, I have improved my teaching techniques greatly. My last teaching practice will take place this coming Sunday. I'm hoping for a greater performance than my last.

        While I know I can do a lot of things with the degrees and the concentration certificate I have; I know I wouldn't have been aware of the many challenges learners have when it comes to learning the English language nor how I could teach the language to them effectively. My teaching experience in Spain and this virtual class has taught me how I can accomplish these goal. These experiences, has shown me that there are so many things I need to be aware of when it comes to teaching the English language and just teaching in general. I didn't learn or understand these concepts while I was in working on my degrees. With that being said, I want to let others know how important learning new skills are to their personal callings as well.

         Learning new skills don't always have to involve enrolling into a course where you have to complete homework assignments daily. You can gain knowledge from reading self-help books; working and living in a different country as I mentioned about my experience working in Spain; participating in an organization; and entering a skill building program which you can gain access too by going on your local library's website and using your library card to sign in. By learning new skills, you simply become someone with many talents and are able to use those skills within your career life. These new talents may also cause you to see the world differently than you once saw life as. 

         I hope this article encouraged you to further your knowledge on things in your career field or personal callings in life. Let me know what you been during to build new skills while in quarantine.

         

Quarantine Dating: Dating Challenges

New Year's Eve 2019

          During the Coronavirus ( Covid-19) we've been told that the only way we can remain safe until a working vaccine is available is by social distancing ourselves from people we aren't living with. This has lead us to quarantine alone or with family members we are living with while trying to create some type of normalcy with others outside the home. There's been a lot of trends taking place since the start of the pandemic and lockdowns around the world. Celebrities and television show hosts are continuing to record new episodes for their talk shows from locations in their homes; people hosting virtual hangouts with friends; binge watching on streaming apps; creating entertainment on social media; making videos on the Tic Toc app; and now planning virtual dates and weddings. Virtual dating has by far caught my interest the most. I find it very cute and creative how people were taking the extra mile to spend time with love interests from a distance in creative ways. In this article, I discuss how I personally been handling quarantine dating thus far and virtual dates I would love to do with my boyfriend Logan.

          In my earliest articles, Multi-Dating: Tinder Edition, Who Did I End Up Choosing? Part 2 of Multi-Dating: Tinder Edition, and Tinder Dating: One Year Later, I mentioned details on my dating life and adventures. Through my dating experiences I've been able to break out of my shell in the dating world and faced many different challenges; but dating during a Pandemic is a whole different adventure that I wasn't expecting nor prepared for.

          In the beginning of this year, I left the United States (U.S) to live and work in Spain for six months as an English teacher assistant. Around that time, me and Logan had recently rekindled our relationship.We briefly separated for a couple months because he felt as though I deserved better than what he was giving me and that he needed space to grow. These were his words to me. The entire time we were separated, we stayed in contact and wasn't really interested in seeing other people. It would be around October or November when I brought up the idea to him about getting back together and would he be okay with a temporary long distance relationship. He mentioned how he didn't like long distance relationships but he would think it over after I gave him legit reasons why our relationship could still work. After a few days from our conversation, he decided that he would give our temporary long-distance relationship a try. The last time we would see each other would be on New Year's Day. I would get on my first flight to Spain on January 6, 2020.

          During my time in Spain, Logan and I stayed in contact through the use of Facebook messenger. We had been using Facebook messenger for years before I went overseas so there was some normalcy while we were apart. I did feel some type of way when I learned that he was unable to visit me in Spain because of the inability to afford the flights and other necessities. The original plan before I left was for he to visit me for either Valentine's day, February 14th which is in fact one of my favorite holidays, or for my birthday in March. Instead, I got a "lovely" Valentine's day text message and videochatted on my birthday when I came back from work that day.  Since Valentine's Day isn't really celebrated in Spain on the same day nor the same way as people in the U.S, it just felt like a regular day at work so I was easily able to distract myself from not thinking about not being able to celebrate how I hoped to do. Spain's version of Valentine's day is called, "St. George's Day" or "La Diada de Sant Jordi". St. George's day is celebrated on the 23rd of April. On this day, ladies get a rose from their lover and ladies give the guys a book as an exchange. I was very much looking forward to celebrating this holiday before the pandemic took place in Europe. I just might see if Logan would be interested in celebrating Spain's version of Valentine's day next year. At least I know he will appreciate a nice book.

          If you thought we only had to worry about a long distance relationship while I was in Spain, you will be mistaken. The reason why he was unable to come visit me in Spain was because he had to save up money so he can move to his own place which so happens to be located in the South of the United States. That meant that he was no longer going to be in Maryland when I returned in the end of June. This was of course before the lockdowns around the world took place. 

          When I returned back to Maryland, U.S; at the end of March, Logan decided to move to his new place on the first of May because he thought maybe the lockdowns would somewhat be lifted. During that month, he came to visit me three times before he left the state. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking then yes I know we broke the social distancing rule. Not one, but three times, but we were in two different countries for three months so seeing each other in person was an Essential!

          It has now been almost a month since he's been at his new place and a restart of our long distance relationship until I move down there with him and I got to say, being in a long distance relationship while overseas was easier to deal with then it is now with us living in two different states. While overseas if we had a hard time understanding each other through text messaging, I would instantly video call him to get clarity and he would answer so we could talk it out. By being in Spain, I realized that the best form of communication for us when we got into a disagreement was through video or voice calling. Once he left to his new home, the video calls kept getting rejected and he would give me a different reason why he rejected it. I even tried to set up a virtual date and he conveniently forgot which day it was supposed to be on. Recently, I became feed up with him not wanting to video chat nor voice call with me that I couldn't take it anymore and even asked him if he wanted to stay in the relationship. YES! I went there. Fortunately, he did want to remain in the relationship and eventually agreed to video chatting or voice calling at least once a week until I move in with him. So we are now back on good terms, but I got to say long distancing in a relationship is no joke.

          As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the virtual dates has inspired me to think of some possible virtual dates for me and Logan. One of those ideas was a paint night where we try to paint the same image. Once he get some art materials, we can give this a try. Another idea was a virtual game night. This idea seems like the most reasonable since we don't need a lot of equipment. Playing games like "Would you rather" or "Truth or Dare" with a drink sounds pretty fun to me. And lastly, a virtual movie date. Even though it's possible to do this since we share the same streaming apps, it would never be close to being the same as watching the movie together next to each other. But, now I have a question for you. Are you out there virtually dating or breaking social distancing rules to see babe?

          

Mental Breakdowns within a Pandemic

Waiting for outside to open up again

          Outside is closed. Weekly routines has changed. Banks accounts continue to decrease and it seems as though everyone is calling out to the government for welfare. Celebrations cancelled. The weekends has no end and the days of the week are all looking the same. The new reports were already depressing, but now it feels like it's the end of the world. And now I have cabin fever, recurring panic attacks, and depression at the same damn time. What A Fuckin' Time To Be Alive! Death seems more peaceful right about now. In this article, I will discuss how the Coronavirus outbreak and pandemic has affected me mentally and things I've been doing to relieve stress which can possibly help others who are going through something similar.

          I can't tell you how many times I gave myself a mini panic attack since returning back to Maryland and out of self-quarantine. It's crazy that while in Spain, I was completely fine. I believe that since the new reports in Spain were shown majority of the time in Spanish and I'm not fluent in the language, I was easily able to ignore the horrible news. Now that I'm back in the U.S.A. and an English speaking country, I can't avoid the Coronavirus updates and Trump's outlandish performances he puts on almost everyday both the tv screens and on social media. When I was in self-quarantine for seven days, I was only able to watch streaming apps and YouTube on my firestick since I don't have cable in my room. I was oblivious about the news updates.

          I started having mental break downs and mini panic attacks two weeks after arriving back home with my family. If you read my article, International Teaching on Pause, I described a short scenery of me trying to get through one of my depressive states through the use of music and shutting down the noise coming from the tv screen reporting the latest update on the Coronavirus update. That was just one of my depressive states.

          April 12th was the start of me having mini panic attacks. On that day, everything was going well and everything was fine until 3 p.m. when suddenly I felt like one side of my lungs was closing in on me. I drunk a cup of hot tea with a cough and flu mix, lime juice, and honey. I didn't put anymore thought into it until the next day when both sides of my lungs felt like they were closing in. My grandmother even tried to calm me down by letting me know that my allergies were probably reacting badly because of the weird weather the U.S. been having all year and that it's been reported that this was going to be a bad seasonal year for people with allergies. Then the real panicking started to appear. I then feared that I wasn't in the clear from possibly being exposed to the virus since it was now just fifteen days since being back from overseas and New York. I panic that I could possibly get my family sick; which was my biggest concern when it came down to me coming back home so soon. My grandmother and mother was still trying to tell me that it could have just been my allergies coming back with extreme force. I tried to believe them, but my mind wouldn't accept it. I called my doctor's office to get a refill on my allergy medicine the same day. I wasn't taking the medicine for several months before going to Spain because I wasn't having any allergy reactions at the time and in Spain it was the same.

          I ended up calling my doctor the very next morning because I still wasn't feeling well and came in an hour later to get my throat checked. The doctor didn't see anything wrong with them and then gave me antibiotics and steroid drug to stop the swelling of my throat. He even tested me for strap throat. The test came back negative. He then says to me that I should come back on Saturday if my throat had remained the same or if symptoms worsen. If they did, he would give me a test to see if I had the Coronavirus. I took the medicine the doctor prescribed to me for five days along with my allergy medicine, drinking cups of hot tea, lots of water intake, and the vitamins my dad gave me when I first told him about my throat.

          Everyday during the week of April 12 through the18th, I kept the routine up. During the day I felt fine, but around 8 and 9 p.m. I would feel like I was able to have a stroke. By Friday night, I couldn't take it anymore and asked my mom and grandmother if there was a number I could dial to call the ER. My mom said, "No... you'll talk to the doctor tomorrow..." On Saturday, it was determined that I was fine, my allergies were overreacting, and I was giving myself mini panic attacks which was also causing my body more pain.

          The next week was the same week of the release of my last article for April and I came to the realization that I was experiencing depression. I was only able to recognize the signs of depression because I felt similar to the times when I was in a depressive state in the past. When I get in this state of mind, I break down crying, isolate myself from everyone so no one can see me and they start asking questions, and usually sit in a dark room while crying with my hands covering my whole face and saying small prayers between tears.

Praying

Covering my face to catch my tears

         The news reports seem to become more and more depressing everyday even with the small amount of great news they share. People dying from a virus that researchers are still learning about. More and more people are losing their form of incomes, but the bills keep arriving in the mail. Nobody knows when we will really be clear to open outside again and continue some form of normalcy until a vaccine is approve. The government is too worried about the damn economy that many of the governors are willing to open jobs back up quickly, but we aren't close to having an approved vaccine yet. These are depressing times. I wonder what the world did during the Spanish flu outbreak and when did they know when the spreading of the virus was clear enough to let people go back outside freely. I guess we will learn soon enough.

          Until a vaccine is cleared to be given out to the public and we can return to some form of normalcy, I've been participating in certain activities to help me when I feel like I'm about to return back to a depressive state of mind. Those activities has been; focusing on my writing projects, meditating, listening to music, exercising , catching up with friends and family I can't see at the moment, and trying to stay healthy as I can in order to build up my immune system. I also try not to listen too much on the new updates by catching up on shows and movies I haven't had chance to watch until now. By doing these things, I feel relaxed and able to accomplish goals throughout the day.

Meditating and praying

Doing yoga

Stretching the limbs 

Ab workouts

The final stretch after an intense workout

         Have you too been feeling down lately? If so, I personally believe the following activities can help and the reasons why:

1. Turning off the tv when the pandemic outbreak updates is on: You don't need to hear every update because it will just keep you feeling depress, have you diagnosing your self wrongly, and cause you to have a lot of fear 

2. Listening to good feeling music: Sometimes we need to hear the sounds of nature or the ocean instead of listen to hard core rap or pop in order to clear our minds

3.  Exercising: This is a great way to clear you mind and help sweat out the bad energies surrounding you

4. Eating healthy as you can: It has been scientifically proven that eating a lot of carbs and sugary food items can not only cause you to become unhealthy, but can add to depression. Also during this time, it is best to build up your immune system which has been the only real cure so far to fighting off the virus 

5. Connecting with you family and friends via camera if you're not in quarantine together: By connecting with people you would have usually seen and talked to can help create some normalcy and help you understand that you are not alone as the world figure out the next steps for society

6. Meditating: Through focusing on your breathing, you have another way to clear your mind. You can even add some wave or nature sounds to the mix if you find quietness awkward

7. Finding a new hobby or going back to a craft you once didn't have time to explore: Through this time in quarantine, you get a chance to learn what possible things you're good at or going back to the hobbies you once loved to do but life had got in the way

8. Connecting with your faith and beliefs: This is the best time to connect with your spirituality because during these times, we tend to lose our faith and start losing sight in believing that better days are ahead

Did I miss any other ways to relieve stress? What do you do when you get into a depressive state of mind? Let me know in the comment 

International Teaching on Pause

Being on a swing has always been my happy place

          It is April 19, 2020 and I'm sitting across the table from my grandmother as I'm writing this article. I'm blasting good feeling music in my ears from my phone through my earphones as I try my best to tune out the news update of the Coronavirus pandemic that my grandmother feels as though we must stay up-to-date on. This method of therapy is working somewhat well. I have finally reached the stage of helplessness even though I am now back in the States (U.S.A) with my family and with a roof still over our heads. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking about then yes to your question; I am no longer living in Spain. I returned back to the United States a month ago on March 27th, but arrived in Maryland on March 28th. In this article, I will discuss how the decision process took place when I decided to leave Spain three months earlier than expected and how my two days of traveling went.

         From the last article, A Birthday Celebration in Spain, I mentioned how the week of my birthday celebrations was also the last week I would work at the school I was interning at and the last times I would get to spend with all the people I've gotten to know before the president of Spain, Pedro Sanchez announced the State of Emergency for Spain. After the announcement, all the schools and non-essential businesses were closed for two-weeks. The jobs that the government of Spain considers essential is very limited compared to the jobs the government of the United States considers essential. The jobs that were allowed to remain open in Spain, were jobs that could telework from home; hospitals and medical centers; and hotels holding patients who were tested positive with the coronavirus and couldn't stay at a hospital.

         I gained the news about the school closing from my host family since they received an email from the school. When the president spoke about Spain declaring a state of emergency on the news, my host family had translated it for me in English. For a week and a half, I stayed in the house with my host family while we waited to learn more news about the pandemic and before I would learned where I would be living at until my mentor/ tutor found me another host family.

          On March 17, I received a text message from my mentor letting me know that my time with my host family had came to an end. Since she wasn't able to find me a new host family before the deadline, she talked with one of the teachers I assisted in the classrooms with during my time working at the school and she agreed to let me stay with them until another host family was found for me. I was excited when I learned who the teacher was because it was someone I really consider as a friend and I would finally be able to hang out with another female. It was cool hanging out with the Harrys, but it's nice to have "girl talks" sometimes. Deep down, I knew my mentor wasn't going to be able to find me a new host family with this pandemic taking place, but I didn't worry about that during that time. While living with the teacher; we baked pizzas, baked a brownie cake for Father's Day, watched movies with her dog, had a cook out, working out in the living room, and made an exercise video for the preschool students. And of course we had "girl talks." It was like an endless sleepover that I didn't want to end but you know the saying, "all good things have to come to an end."

A barbecue cook out with the teacher Judit and her dad 

Celebrating Father's Day March 19, 2020

Baking homemade pizzas

Baking a homemade Pizza and open styled Stromboli's

Movie nights with the teacher Judit and her dog Tula

Me and Tula getting to know each other when I first moved in

By March 23rd, my mentor/ tutor emailed me to say,
 "...As your tutor and on behalf of the school, we are worried about you since your family live in the States and maybe the borders will be closed in the near future.

We are sorry to say that maybe the best option for you now would be coming back home as soon as possible before the flights are cancelled. don't you think so?..."

          After reading the email, it became real for me that possibly the shut down in Spain was going to last longer than expected and my internship will be coming to an end, but I remained hopeful while worrying of the possible fact that I would have to travel through the madness. I personally felt as though I was safer in Spain during their lockdown than coming to the U.S.A's version of their lockdown. I still feel the same way to this day.

         I eventually responded back to my mentor and told her my concerns about traveling in the midst of two countries on lockdown and possibly catching the virus myself to end up bringing it to my family. She sounded very understanding when we finished our conversation that day, but the next day, the tone I received from her messages said differently. Somehow, she thought through my concerning questions, I had decided to buy a flight back to the States. For the next two days, it felt as though I was being pushed to go back to the U.S. by both my mentor and the teacher.

          By the evening of March 25th, I had a flight from Barcelona, Spain to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. booked after three failed previously attempted. By then it was around 8 or 9am in Maryland and I told my parents, grandmother, and boyfriend that I will be back in Maryland on the following Saturday.

Repacking all my stuff so it can fit in my suitcases. Why is repacking always the hardest?

         Friday, March 27th, was the day of my first two flights before arriving in the States. I'm going to start off by saying that the day was crazy from the start. I woke up around 5am to get dressed and ate some breakfast. After eating half a bowl of cereal, the teacher and I left to head to the metro station. With the shutdown taking place, this was the only way I could get to the airport. The police had blocked the streets within the communities because people were only allowed to travel the roads if they were going to their essential jobs or going to the grocery stores. It was a ten minute drive to the metro station from her house so luckily there wasn't any police in the area at five o'clock in the morning. We then put on gloves before entry. After the teacher paid for my ticket to enter the gates and I made it to the other side; we waved goodbye to each other and she left to go back home.

          I struggled to hold my two heavily packed suitcases together with my bookbag in one place as I sat for two hours on the train heading to the airport. Once I arrived to the station leading me to the airport, I spent almost an whole hour walking up and down the station trying to figure out where I was suppose to go in order to get inside the airport. I asked three or four people working at the station who spoke English and they all guided me to different locations. I even turned on my international mobile data on my phone so I could contact the teacher. Imagine a 5'4 height girl, weighing 150 pounds, walking up and down a ,metro station, carrying 200 or more pounds weighed luggage while cussing under her breath the whole time. That was my ass. As the time for checking in at the airline table was getting closer, I remained lost. But for the grace of God, a random guy who was walking pass me saw that I was lost and told me where to go to get inside the airport and he spoke English.

The Metro Station I passed countless times while looking for the airport entry

          With thirty minutes left before check-in; I was able to buy a ticket to enter the gates that lead to an elevator. The elevator lead me to another train that took me inside the airport and I walked up to the AirFrance check-in table with less than fifteen minutes to spare. The teacher even helped me with those that as well over the phone.

          I thought I was done running around like a lost child, but I was very mistaken when the AirFrance workers told me that I had to pay for my second suitcase. The place I had to go was located at a different table on the same floor. Once I finally paid for the second suitcase and arrived back to the check-in table, the ladies that I talked to were gone, but luckily another worker who had overheard what was taking place with my luggage was able to help me and guide me to the next place I had to go. After going through security and getting my passport stamped and checked twice, I was finally on the plane before take off. Thank God! My ass almost missed the flight.

          Two hours and thirty minutes later, the plane landed in Paris, France. I stayed in the airport for literally thirty minutes before getting on the next flight to New York, U.S.A. Everyone on this flight were Americans citizens or legal citizens returning back home since the United States of America's president, Donald Trump, closed the boarders for non-Americans three weeks prior. We were all asked to show our passports, the reason why we were in the country we were at, how long did we stay in that country, and whether or not we brought anything from that country with us. The flight from Paris, France to NewYork, U.S.A was seven hours long. We arrived around five o' clock in the afternoon. Before we could get off the plane, we had to file out a form about the countries we were in before arriving to New York and got our temperatures taken. We got our passports checked like three times, questioned about our travels, and had to get our luggage. Since my last flight to Maryland was the very next day, I stayed the night at a nearby hotel. I was so done with the day, but I was grateful that I finally arrived back to the States in one piece because so many factors could have changed that.

One of the play areas at the airport in Paris, France

         When I woke up the next morning, I quickly got dressed and ate breakfast then ate my leftover dinner for lunch before I sat in the lobby waiting for the van to take me back to the airport. Five or six hours later, I was back in Maryland with my family where I had to immediately self-quarantine alone in my room.

Getting Ready to leave the hotel in New York, U.S.A

A man was nice enough to give me a pair of gloves and a mask before getting on my flight to Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A

          As you can tell from this article, I faced a lot of challenges and went through a lot of emotions when it came to making my decision to come back to the United States. I also faced some challenges when it came to my first flight and had to pay for additional things within my travels even though it went smoother than most people who are still trying to come back to their native countries during this pandemic. All three airports were very empty looking. New York had the most people because the JFK airport is one of the few spots returning American citizens land at when returning back from being overseas before having to get on another flight to get to a certain state in the U.S. I got questioned a lot at all the airports especially the one in New York then the amount I usually deal with when I'm about to get on a flight. When I was going through security before getting on my final flight, I was asked my age and the lady stilled asked for my I.D because she didn't believe that I was twenty six years old. I found that hilarious and this was the first time that happened at the airport. At the end, I am happy to be back home with my friends and family. I am also grateful that both my mentor and teacher pushed me to go back while there were flights available because I am stubborn and I would have waited longer before booking a flight back.

A Birthday Celebration in Spain

          As I sit in the house like most of you probably are too, I want to reflect more on my experiences I gained while living in Spain for three months. One of those experiences I got the pleasure of experiencing was my twenty-six birthday with my host family, the other English assistants, and the members of the school I was working at. In this article, I will be sharing the details of my birthday celebrations.

          I turned twenty-six years old on March 10th this year and when I got accepted into my internship in October of last year, I couldn't imagine how I would be able to celebrate my birthday while overseas. All I knew was the fact that all the people I would have celebrated with was going to be in the United States (U.S.) while I was in Spain. I also knew that there was going to be a language barrier between me and the locals since my Spanish was terrible before I started my internship. With these factors, my expectations were very low, but I remained hopeful.

          Around sometime in February me and the Harrys ( the other English assistants) were out getting my tea and their sodas during our lunch break when I decided to mention the date of my birthday and the age I was turning when the topic of our ages came up in a conversation we were having. That is when one of them suggested that we should going out for lunch on my actual birthday. I didn't even expect him to even suggest that or even would want to celebrate with me, but I was overall excited about our future plans. When it became a week before my birthday and we had just finished majority of the activities for English day, I asked the Harrys if my birthday plans with them were still happening and they of course said "Yes. It's still happening."

"Getting some sun"-  A common quote from The Harrys
 One of our adventures to the cafe

          In this same time period, I decided to include getting a fill in and a pedicure as part of my birthday plans. If you all would have saw my nails by the time March came, you would have agreed that a fill in was definitely needed. When I mentioned to one of the Harrys about my added plans, he was able to find a local nail salon for me so I wouldn't have to explore the city alone without a working phone. And it was a good thing too because I would have had to get on a train and walk a few blocks to get to one of the nail salons.  I didn't end up going to that exact salon he showed me, but it lead me to finding one on my own and creating an appointment with them.

         On Thursday, days leading up to my birthday, I found a four flavor caramel ice cream pack set while on my walk back to the house from the school that evening at a nearby grocery store and I thought my night was set. I was wrong. After eating dinner, I mentioned to my host parents that the kids grandmother's and mine birthdays were coming up which lead to them asking me when my birthday was. Once I told them that it was on the following Tuesday, the host dad then asked if I wanted to celebrate that weekend or the following weekend. When I told him that I wanted to celebrate that weekend leading up to my birthday, he mentioned the belief that if you celebrate your birthday early then bad luck would happen. I gave it a quick thought then said I still wanted to celebrate my birthday during the coming weekend before my birthday. That is when he said, "Okay, I'll order a cake tomorrow for Sunday." If you think I was excited for my birthday before, I was feeling off the top now.

          Saturday, March 7th, was the beginning of my birthday celebration. I got dressed, took pictures, and headed out the door feeling myself. I then walked to my nail appointment. Two hours later, I decided to do some shopping and ended up purchasing a pair of fitted jeans with studs on the lower parts of the jeans. They are literally a perfect fit on me. Once I returned back to the house, I enjoyed some barbecue ribs with wine and some ice cream. The next day after eating lunch, the family came to the table with a vanilla flavor cake with whip cream and chocolate drops and sung the "Happy Birthday" song to me in English. They even gave me a gift; which I didn't even expect to get but it was a perfect gift for me.

The Outfit I wore on Saturday

The Birthday Celebration on Sunday

My Birthday Gift from my host family

My host Family singing the "Happy Birthday" song

to me

          On Tuesday, my actual birthday, I got dressed up in a nice dress that I've been trying to wear forever since I purchased it months ago and went on my usual walk in the morning to the school. When I arrived at the school, everything was normal until it became breakfast time. The infantile English teacher entered the classroom from the door that separated the classrooms and mentioned to the teacher I was in the classroom with and all the students from both classrooms that it was my birthday. The students then decorated a hat with gold and silver colored stickers with the shapes of stars and circles then the two teachers later placed it on my head when they finished. They kids then gather around me and everyone in the room sung the English version of "Happy Birthday" to me before taking pictures.

Me with the students from both three year old classrooms

My Birthday Hat the teachers made and the kids decorated

In the Infantile classrooms, the teachers makes similar hats

for the students when it's their birthday as well 

          One o'clock soon arrived and it was time for lunch. As promised, the Harrys took me to a local restaurant for lunch then we walked to the café we usually visit and had a drink of soda for them and a tea for me before returning back to the classroom. Who knew that was going to be the last time we would hangout again?

          My family and friends in the United States, called, texted, and video chatted with me to wish me a "Happy Birthday" as well. The very next day, the principal, vice principals, and teachers through out the whole school was randomly wishing me a "Happy Birthday" all day. I was wondering how they found out  until I entered the conference room during the lunch break. Someone had wrote me a shout out on the whiteboard mentioning to everyone who saw it that it was my birthday. Still to this day, I don't even know who created that birthday shout out because it was never revealed. It was a nice gesture nevertheless.

          As you can see, I had a lot of very eventful birthday celebrations and events this year. While writing this article, I am grateful that I decided to celebrate my birthday during the weekend leading up to it instead of waiting for the following weekend. I say this because, on Saturday, March 14th, the president of Spain announced the State of Emergency that day and the majority of businesses were closed starting that very day. The only places that were allowed to remain open were medical centers, grocery stores, and hotels holding patients that couldn't stay in the hospitals. I also think about what the host dad said about celebrating one's birthday early and wonder if this was a part of my bad luck. Who knew that the day after my birthday would literally be the last day I would ever see the students, teachers, and my English assistant colleagues? But, I am glad that I enjoyed every moment leading to the shutting down of schools. At the end, I really enjoyed all the celebrations and I will cherish those moments forever. And I can now cross out celebrating my birthday in another country off my bucket list.