On Living in Another Language
Nicholas Chieng
2015-07-16
————-Originally written on December 26th, 2014———— Nossais a multipurpose exclamation that denotes surprise, shock or exasperation. It roughly translates to wow”.
Read More
Habits of a HÌ_spede
Nicholas Chieng
2015-07-16
Originally written on January 30th I’m inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York blog and the many other “Humans of” blogs that follow, but one person that also inspires me is my new friend Isaac, a fellow Fellow in Brazil. During in-country orientation, I alwaysremembered how some of the other Fellows and I would...
Read MoreOn Becoming Whole
Nicholas Chieng
2015-03-26
Back in the USA, weekly excursions to BostonÛªs Chinatown have always been a big part of my life. As a child, IÛªd always go to Chinatown with my parents and younger brother to get our haircuts, shop for groceries, and eat dim sum, Chinese brunch consisting of shu mai, pork buns, sticky rice, and my...
Read MoreEveryday Life: Eu no sou Japons
Nicholas Chieng
2015-02-20
You eventually start to think that you’re adapting well, picking up the language more and more, and smelling the Brazilian coffee every morning, but one instance of insecurity and self-doubt can bring all your progress down. Let’s start with defining the term micro-aggression (subtle prejudices): commonplace, dailysocial exchanges in which someone from a dominantculture says...
Read MoreAbra̤os e Beijos: From Snow to Sand
Nicholas Chieng
2015-02-18
Despite using Rosetta Stone for Portuguese and reading various travel blogs about Brazil, nothing hadprepared me for living in Brazil for seven months with a Brazilian host family. Sure, at Pre-Departure Training, speakers came to tell us about the culture shock we would face, how to possibly deal with it, physical and mental well-being, and...
Read More
Saudade: Untranslatable Yet Universal
Nicholas Chieng
2014-11-24
Originally written on October 28th, 2014 Dear Mom, Dad, and Chris, I’ve never been to so many beaches before, and don’t worry; I remember to put on sunscreen every time I go. I’ve already been to more beaches in the span of two months than my entire eighteen years of life. I wish you could...
Read More
On Embracing Change
Nicholas Chieng
2014-11-24
For me, change is intrinsic to fear. It is human nature to fear what we can’t necessarily control. It’s how we’ve been raised. I think we can all agree that being comfortable is good, right? We like familiarity. We like routine. We like relatability. It’s new things like the future, an ominous gassy sphere of...
Read More
Travel, Grow, and Keep Running
Nicholas Chieng
2014-09-17
You might have clicked the link in your email update wanting to read about my latest adventure in Brazil from trying new foods to talking to random strangers on the bus. That will come in a later blog post. For now, here’s what’s been going on internally: Today, our team leaders had all the Fellows...
Read More
Five Thousand Mile Bridge
Nicholas Chieng
2014-07-30
Hello! My name is Nick Chieng; I am 18 years old and a graduate of Franklin High School’s class of 2014. “Half of the time I couldn’t understand what he was saying because he spoke with a thick accent, but immersed in the moment of it all, that didn’t even matter. There I was walking the...
Read More