Under the Texan Sun

Part I of a lot of catching up.

Where to start...let's see. The past couple days have been filled to the brim with excitement and adventure. 

Through careful observations and organization, I had the opportunity to complete an ELISA assay test independently at research this past Friday. This probably does not mean a lot to many of you readers, but it was a great feeling of success to be able to complete the task in front of me without the help of anyone with only a week's worth of training. It was definitely a confidence booster! And I'm all ready for what's next!

Also, I had the opportunity to see cells under a microscope. Living cells growing and repairing a wound right before my eyes! It was... unbelievable and to think that our body is composed of TRILLIONS of these units...each working constantly to maintain equilibrium in our bodies, support while we sit, stand, or kneel in prayer, breathe, or even think. It is a paradox of the "simple" and the "complex." It is the cell, the basic unit of life.

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On Saturday, I became acquainted with a little old Russian lady, Mina, who did not speak a lick of English. She came early in the morning and spent the day helping my host family clean the house. We exchanged smiles upon passing and every now and then a few words like hello, how are you? To which, she replied in very minimal broken English..."Fine, thank you." 

During lunch, she shuffled by and in Russian said,"priyatnogo appetita!" After a few repeats, I gathered through her accent the word "appetita" and realized she was saying essentially "Enjoy your meal!" Like, bon apetite or buen provecho! It was a giant leap forward as we bridged our communication gap a little further. I responded thank you and asked her how to say it in Russian. She taught me: "spasibo," thank you.

Now Mina's, face was lined with hard work, struggle, and a long life. She ached to tell me her story, but our language barrier was difficult to cross. The only Russian I know is "Privyet," meaning hello, "babushka" meaning grandmother, and "nyet," meaning "no." So, with such a tiny vocabulary in Russian, it was difficult to hold a meaningful conversation, but Mina tried nonetheless. With paper and pen in hand, she began writing the word "rabota." With the use of technology, I looked up the word and learned it meant "work." She continued to write various numbers and words down, and the conversation got harder and harder as she spoke faster and faster. I could not understand her message at all, and at one point, she had tears rolling down her face. It was time to act fast, I ran to my room, picked up the phone and called various people to help me connect with Andrey, our International student from Russia. After finally getting a hold of Andrey, I passed the phone to Mina...and her face lit up and the biggest smile appeared on her face as she spoke in her mother tongue to Andrey. It was a beautiful, unforgettable moment. After the phone call, I spoke with Andrey and he told me she basically wanted to just talk to someone.

It can be so frustrating and hard to try to speak to someone in a country where very few people speak your native language. Mina was so grateful, and she was in this happy state for the rest of the day. When her daughter came to pick her up after work, she told her how wonderful the phone call went and thankful she was. It was so kind and sweet of her. It's a small world after all.