Tu puedes

I figured out today that 100% of the time you can do it. The only variable is whether you need someone telling you that you can or someone showing you that you can.

I can't tell you how many times I've asked a niño to read me something, to tell me the words in English and I've been met with a bashful little "no puedo", I can't. And then when the whole class does a call response, what do you know the kids are experts in colours and body parts and shapes. It is a matter of leading them into the fire, a small prompt here and encouragement there and honestly they do so well like this. Even Nicole gets embarrassed sometimes with her English but I'm just here reveling in how much they can do, especially in a country that doesn't have mandatory English classes in public schools. I just want to encourage them all the time to keep speaking, keep practicing, they are doing so well.

Tu puedes is the extent of the encouragement I can give, and now I think it might be all anyone needs to hear. You can. You literally can, whatever it may be. You can do it. You can travel to a foreign country and you can discover every corner of wonder in the world. You can leave familiarity behind and start new and different. You can dance more and be more and smile more than you think. You can. You just can and nothing should get in between that subject and that verb.

Tu puedes.

I believe in you. I believe in the kids who get by and thrive with hole-y pants and cut arms and ducking heads and slippery shoes. I believe in the teachers that spend their days repeating over and again the lessons they've been teaching and their sense of humor and their ability to fold the kids right into their sides as if to say it is okay. Maybe the rest of the world is being washed away by the rain and the greed but here you are as safe as leaky roofs and brown bananas can make you. I believe in the whiteboards and running feet and echoing laughter that has devoured my days these last weeks and the volcanic horizons and ocean sunsets and lightning storms before that, and all the adventures out there to find now that I've been here.

Tu puedes.

dftba
-k