Dread locs and Medicine

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about how similar these two things are. Maybe not for everyone, but for me, they actually have taken me through similar journeys. If I were a poet, maybe I could have made this sound really beautiful, but I think you all will understand what I'm trying to express just fine. Here are my thoughts:
When I first started both, I was unsure of the outcome, and afraid of what people might say and think of me. I am a trail blazer in my family and close friends to do them both and LIVING outside the box is not easy. With both, there is no such thing as linear progression; just as my locs unravel every time I get my hair wet, sometimes I learn things in medicine and forget a week later, have to relearn it, and keep relearning it until it sticks, just like I have to twist and twist my locs until they are permanent. I can’t really see or feel my progress with either but when I look at my hair, it’s locked and when people ask me about medicine, I know stuff! When I look back on both, and think about where I started and how far I’ve come, I feel proud that I haven’t given up no matter how hard or hopeless I’ve felt. I know that both have required and will continue to require a lot of work in the future because neither is every done. I really love both and they are two of the things that people most remember about me... They're pretty much always part of the description people give when they describe me.

Well hope this was interesting! I love my locs, and I love medicine and hope to have them both in my life for a long time!

Pre-Nostalgia...

"A sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." That's what the google dictionary says. I wonder is it possible to feel this way BEFORE something is actually in your past?

There are so many things about Cuba that I am going to miss! I can’t even really begin to explain the impact this country, this culture, this experience has had on my life, but I am going to make a short list of things that I will truly miss and yearn for when I get back home. This will be ongoing, so keep your eyes open for new items!

- Greeting my friends with "besitos." This is when you press your cheek to your friend's cheek and make a kissing sound. And when you are really happy to see someone you hold that press and make 5 or 6 kissing sounds right in a row! Best greeting ever!

- A coming “cold front” meaning that the temperature is going to drop from 80 something to 70 something degrees... great weather!

- Street vendors passing my house singing that flowers, bread, pastries, veggies, and other things have arrived! Not having to leave my house to shop!

- Random people in the street calling at me “negrita linda” or pretty black girl.

- Someone referring to a neighborhood as bad NOT because there are drugs, gangs and gun violence but because people are too nosy, play their music too loud and let their kids play in the street with no shoes on. I love my neighborhood here for some of those very same reasons.

- Strangers inviting me to their homes, giving me free rides, holding my hand as I walk down stairs, offering me their seat on the bus, and all the other random acts of kindness here that are normal here. (Just a quick story if you all have time: one day I was taking my trash out and the bag broke and all my trash fell in the street. My "nosy" neighbor, who I don't know at all, came out of her house and gave me a new trash bag! Random act of kindness!)

- All my professors who know my name and are personally invested in my success.

- All the things I can buy with a dollar (this is also a short list):
Theater productions, plays, musicals and jazz concerts
Beach trip
A full course of antibiotics
25 scoops of ice cream
2 personal cheese pizzas
22 eggs
A taxi ride from one city to the next
2 sangrias or mojitos
72 condoms or 48 condoms and 24 packs of lubricant
A full plate of food with fried fish, rice and beans, salad, and a second side dish

- Seeing people everywhere of all ages walking (and running to mostly catch the bus)!

- Seeing Tai Chi circles all over the city!

- Urban gardens with affordable vegetables!

- Seeing doctors everywhere!

- Seeing men with their children everywhere! Just the father and the kids...

- Cuban beaches... the only water that I can actually float and sort of swim in because it is calm, warm and salty!