I am nearing my last few days in South America and I must admit this was a humbling experience. First off, the people here are some of the most polite I’ve ever met. The men are gentle. The women are fierce! The food is excellent, and cheap. I am not sure if it’s because we are in their late winter season or not, but the women here dress more modest than those in the U.S. I have so many comments, but I can’t share them all here!

What I do want to say, however, is that I feel Americans should take the extra step to learn at least two foreign languages. I can’t tell you how many times someone apologized to me for their “bad” English when they were speaking perfectly good English, and I had NO IDEA how to communicate in Spanish! That is quite embarassing isn’t it? I mean I payed X amount of dollars to visit this amazing place and didn’t even take the initiative to learn how to order a cup of coffee??? As the days went on I learned more and more Spanish, but this was truly eye opening for me.

I took French in H.S. and College. I am going to perfect it and also pick up Spanish and hopefully Chinese (Mandarin). I will never visit another country again without at least knowing how to get around the city and order food.

Please excuse my Spanish-It’s terrible, because I didn’t try:(

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Kari L. Brown offers coaching/mentoring to students looking to succeed and keep a purposeful relationship with God. For more information visit www.karilbrown.com.