Interesting Start

I had a different beginning to my internship than everybody else. Since I landed on Terceira, my ears were completely clogged. They stayed this way for just over a week. Needless to say, it has been a particular experience being partially deaf. I had to start reading lips as people talked to me and I realized that it is harder to read the lips of someone with a different accent, like that of our English colleagues. Also, when everyone would be talking at the same time one feels sort of left out because it is impossible to focus on reading so many lips at the same time. I'm not saying I was completely deaf, but deaf enough to know that I wish to never be this way in future. Like most things in life, there was some humor along with this experience. Eating a meal was so peaceful because chewing was the loudest sound I could hear and would muffle any other sound. So I would have to stop chewing in order to attempt to listen to someone. That was always funny. I also realized how much, as human beings, we love to eavesdrop. Just passing by people who look like they are having an interesting conversation, you want to know what's going on but this was not possible for me. So now I think that when we "overhear" something it's because we were really trying to listen. All this came at a weird point of my life because I lost my sense of smell 6 months ago. I don't wish this upon anyone but it would be interesting for other people to experience this as well, if it were optional and temporary of course. I'm looking forward to listening to sounds of the island!

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