The Man With The Snails

The other day in class, our professor told us a story about a man with snails.  She had been in the Peace Corps and had seen a man every week at the market selling snails.  She described this man.  She described his habits.  It was to make a completely unrelated point about skewed data and histograms but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about what this man would think, being spoken about in a far-away country.  Would he be proud?  Would he be embarrassed?  I also couldn’t stop thinking about the random people who have seen me do something regular or, more likely, embarrassing and who have remembered it.  Maybe a tourist will go back to their home and tell a lively story about an American girl who fell off of her bike… which I may or may not have done today.

This picture is better than one of me falling off of my bike.

 I met a German.  We spent lots of time talking and adventuring.  We took an amazing hike to see some hot springs.  Will he remember odd details about me? 

Sykes Hot Springs: Like having a baby.
When you're hiking there, you question why you ever
 signed up for somthing so crazy.  Once you get there, so worth it.

Marcus

I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful girl from Arizona.  We went to the Steinbeck Center in Salinas and took a hike in Big Sur off of Pfeiffer Beach.  Will she remember one specific conversation or maybe just our experiences together?

At the house Steinbeck was raised in

Stephanie

I will probably always have a mental image of Subway when I think of one guy in my class.  I will probably forevermore shy away from Portuguese after this year.  I will always remember my high school French teacher.  From France, I will always remember Celine for her kindness and Celia for her patience.  Qualities and first impressions stick, sometimes unfortunately.   

Something I learned from the Steinbeck Center was that John Steinbeck based most of his characters off of real people.  What characteristics will I be remembered for?  My teacher just announced in class that she is getting a book published.  Will this man with the snails be included?  Will he make an impact on hundreds or thousands of students around the world?  I hope so.