Cultural Exchange- Ashlyn Pierce

Today was our Cultural Exchange day, and its basically what we’ve been working at the last seven months. When we got up today I didn’t know that my emotions would be similar to the rollercoasters at Nico Park it would be. Since I love lists I thought i’d write another

    -Yoga: We started the day at the boarding school learning about Indian yoga. It was one of the hardest things I have done physically this whole trip. The ways i’ve learned by body can bend because of that class is crazy. We did some crazy moves that I can’t even translate into words. Mostly because I couldn’t translate what the instructor was saying, but it was still an amazing experience. My favorite part was doing the meditation at the end, I felt so relaxed at the end. It was surreal.

    -Dance Class: Okay, so I am very uncoordinated and I very much destroyed the grace of the dance we learned. But it was very beautiful. The dance teacher was amazing and laughed at us as we tried to follow her, which can’t be a good sign right? Though Cuti told us it wasn’t that bad.

    -Cultural Exchange: This was where my emotions hit the fan.  The way the exchange worked was the girls performed, then YMAD preformed.  The youngest level girls performed first, then it was Brie and me signing our song. When we got up there I basically lost it. I started crying the minute we finished preforming. The girls started crying then too. The girls kept looking at us and told us to stop crying. The tears didn’t stop until the Flower dance. Eveyones singing and dancing was amazing. Specially Sabrina and Miceala’s song, and Elliot and Talmage’s Dance. The girls were so fantastic, the hard work they’ve put in all year has really paid off. I took every second of it as if it were the last. I hope I never forget those seconds. 

    -Lunch: For not the first in my life I ate on the floor with my hands. But it was probably the craziest one. The girls were lined up and down the school floor. The plates were every where and everyone was talking, it was so loud! But as normal, the food was practically perfect in every way.

    -Henna, Signatures, and Pictures: Yes, I am now covered in henna. Yes, I passed out all of my family photos. Yes, my journal is now covered in signatures. The hour we had to do this was the craziest part of my whole entire day. There were children every where trying to get a picture, most of the girls I didn’t even know. I almost had my journal stolen when I turned my back. Little to say, by the end I was very stressed out. BUT I know that the children will cherish the photos forever, the way I’m going to treasure my notebook that is covered in their names.

    I’m doing amazing and love you all. I hope tomorrow never comes. 

-Ashlyn

2 Responses to “Cultural Exchange- Ashlyn Pierce”

1. Michelle Hagen, on November 27th, 2016 at 6:00 pm Said:

   Ashlyn- your post made me cry. You are a sweet, wonderful person. ❤️❤️❤️

2. Lynda T. Christensen, on November 29th, 2016 at 10:35 pm Said:

   Dearest Ashlyn,
   How wonderful for you to share how you were feeling. Taking it all in and feeling passionate about your adventure is priceless. Those last seconds on cultural exchange will be with you forever.

   THanks again for sharing.
   Miss Lynda