I've been in Miami for a month already. 1 whole month.
It takes a month for the moon to change.
It takes a month to learn something new.
It takes a month to draw a perfect painting.
It takes a month to write a short book.
It takes a month to try something new.
It takes a month to have a trial account in some apps.
And it took a month for me to realize that I am not being productive here.
It's been a month since I arrived, and only now do I realize that I haven't learned anything new. I watched award shows, gone shopping, read a book or two, but what have I really learned? Nothing. And this nothing made me feel incomplete and dumb. So today I started thinking about something that I want to learn. But not a boring Science fact that I can learn during school, or how to solve some big math problem that my teachers can later on teach me. I wanted to learn something that I could teach myself and use later on in life. In conclusion, something that I am passionate about.
I remember a few weeks ago in math class. I was sitting in my usual desk, next to my usual peers, completing the usual work. My teacher had just taught us how to find the square root of big numbers and we were doing some practice problems that were written on the board. Problem number 1 asked us to find the square root of 2042 without using a calculator. I raised my hand and asked Mr. Garbutt, my math teacher, for some help. Once he explained how to solve the problem I carried on with my work. At the end of class I stayed a while and sat next to Mr. Garbutt who was fixing some things on his desk. "Mr. Garbut, may I ask you a question?" I said in an intriguing voice. "Yes Noa," he answered. "Well, I was wondering. Today we learned how to solve the square root of all these big numbers without using a calculator. Technology is advancing every day another step and I know that in the future I want to study something not related to mathematics at all. I know that adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying are going to help us in the future. But how is learning all these complicated equations going to help us in the future? Or when are we even going to use them?" He looked at me blank. No answer.
The next class he called me over. "I was thinking about what you said Noa. When I was your age I wanted to work in McDonalds and never did it occur to me to be a math teacher. Maybe you don't want to study something math related but I have to teach you this and maybe through it you can find something that can help you in the future," Mr. Garbutt said to me. I smiled and sat in my usual desk.
And maybe that's what scared me, the future. I mean time is going by so quick, it seems like only yesterday I moved to Peru from Miami and started Kindergarten. I make all these promises to myself of stuff I want to do and things that I want to learn before I graduate but everything is going by so fast right before our eyes and all that is left are the memories. But what if I don't have any memories of things that I learned left? School years are flying by and if I want to learn or do something for myself the time is now. And what better time to start then during vacations when I am free?
I have always known that I have wanted to study fashion, but there are so many branches to it. Design, styling, hair, make-up, runways, merchandising, marketing, journalism, textile, sewing, fitting, shopper, and so many more. I have promised myself to try to work a bit with all of them and see which I like best but I have kept on using the excuse of not having enough time to avoid what? Failure?
I ran to the bathroom and opened my moms make-up kit, she looked at me with a puzzled look. "Mami, today I am going to learn how to work with make-up."
It takes a month for the moon to change.
It takes a month to learn something new.
It takes a month to draw a perfect painting.
It takes a month to write a short book.
It takes a month to try something new.
It takes a month to have a trial account in some apps.
And it took a month for me to realize that I am not being productive here.
It's been a month since I arrived, and only now do I realize that I haven't learned anything new. I watched award shows, gone shopping, read a book or two, but what have I really learned? Nothing. And this nothing made me feel incomplete and dumb. So today I started thinking about something that I want to learn. But not a boring Science fact that I can learn during school, or how to solve some big math problem that my teachers can later on teach me. I wanted to learn something that I could teach myself and use later on in life. In conclusion, something that I am passionate about.
I remember a few weeks ago in math class. I was sitting in my usual desk, next to my usual peers, completing the usual work. My teacher had just taught us how to find the square root of big numbers and we were doing some practice problems that were written on the board. Problem number 1 asked us to find the square root of 2042 without using a calculator. I raised my hand and asked Mr. Garbutt, my math teacher, for some help. Once he explained how to solve the problem I carried on with my work. At the end of class I stayed a while and sat next to Mr. Garbutt who was fixing some things on his desk. "Mr. Garbut, may I ask you a question?" I said in an intriguing voice. "Yes Noa," he answered. "Well, I was wondering. Today we learned how to solve the square root of all these big numbers without using a calculator. Technology is advancing every day another step and I know that in the future I want to study something not related to mathematics at all. I know that adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying are going to help us in the future. But how is learning all these complicated equations going to help us in the future? Or when are we even going to use them?" He looked at me blank. No answer.
The next class he called me over. "I was thinking about what you said Noa. When I was your age I wanted to work in McDonalds and never did it occur to me to be a math teacher. Maybe you don't want to study something math related but I have to teach you this and maybe through it you can find something that can help you in the future," Mr. Garbutt said to me. I smiled and sat in my usual desk.
And maybe that's what scared me, the future. I mean time is going by so quick, it seems like only yesterday I moved to Peru from Miami and started Kindergarten. I make all these promises to myself of stuff I want to do and things that I want to learn before I graduate but everything is going by so fast right before our eyes and all that is left are the memories. But what if I don't have any memories of things that I learned left? School years are flying by and if I want to learn or do something for myself the time is now. And what better time to start then during vacations when I am free?
I have always known that I have wanted to study fashion, but there are so many branches to it. Design, styling, hair, make-up, runways, merchandising, marketing, journalism, textile, sewing, fitting, shopper, and so many more. I have promised myself to try to work a bit with all of them and see which I like best but I have kept on using the excuse of not having enough time to avoid what? Failure?
I ran to the bathroom and opened my moms make-up kit, she looked at me with a puzzled look. "Mami, today I am going to learn how to work with make-up."
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