Welcome home! I hope you all were able to get some rest and are enjoying the special comforts of home and family as much as I am.
I wanted to write to remind you all to continue to reflect and process. Beyond seeing the sights and learning the history of the places we visited, there was also important cultural learning taking place during our trip. In the moment it is hard to put your finger on, but now home in your own culture, just how much you saw and learned will begin to emerge for you.
Continuing to discuss your experiences and journaling your thoughts and feelings will help this process.
At our last debrief at the airport, I mentioned that the deepest form of cultural learning is learning about one's self. This comes from the 4 "savoirs" of intercultural competence: "savoir comprendre", to know how to understand and interpret other cultures; "savoir faire" to know how to do/act in another culture; "savoir pourquoi"; to know why (interpret perspectives); and finally "savoir être"; to know how to be (knowledge of the self, often in relationship with a foreign culture). This last "savoir" is the most elusive and abstract, but I encourage you to think about it, and just notice what you notice about your own culture and your own self over the next few weeks/months.
If I had my way there'd be a lot more processing and debriefing! :) I have in mind one more meeting/dinner/slide show to wrap everything up, but I know everyone is very busy, so we will see if we can make it happen...in the mean time just keep writing and reflecting! I'm also envisioning some kind of writing assignment to go with it (maybe even here on this blog?), I'll keep you posted!
One last note: last night I found myself telling one your parents that you were all "so good", but really what I mean to say is what amazing and impressive young people you all are. It was such a joy to travel with you and get to know all of you, thanks for making this trip such a success!!!
Time for sleep!
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