"re-envisioning home"

The Global Education Office at Gordon is having a photo contest for returning study abroad students. Students were invited to submit a picture and write a brief explanation of how the photo fits with the theme "re-envisioning home." All the photos and writing are on display in the library for the next month or so. This is what I submitted...it's nothing I haven't written about before but I wanted to share it anyway :)

I lived in three different “homes” while I was in Latin America: three different houses I walked to after taking the bus home from Spanish class or after working at the local elementary school cutting plátanos for lunch,  or after a day at the little Nicaraguan church down the road. I entered my home each day with new thoughts, observations, and questions swirling in my mind. One of the greatest joys of being at home in Latin America was sharing a home with Latin Americans who loved and cared for me despite the many boundaries of culture, language, and personality. This picture shows some of my dear friends and playmates whom I lived with in San José de la Montaña, a beautiful town in the mountains. We were neighbors and we shared a home together. But more than that, we shared life together, whether that was playing soccer in the afternoons, picking wildberries on our walk home from school, or enjoying mid-afternoon coffee breaks, cafecito. Yes, they opened their homes to me, but more than that, they opened their hearts as well.