Bridging

by Penny Reid

PENNY REID found herself spanning two countries and years as she traveled to Nicaragua at Christmastime to study Spanish while leaving her own family behind. To record her progress, she wrote every day, starting in English and code switching-adding more and more Spanish-as the immersion extended. Penny journaled extensively about disparate parts of her life: comfortable with her native language/still working to learn Spanish after many years; seeing new life around her/grieving separation from her family at the holidays, including her elderly father who was then receiving hospice care; and her own material privileges/extreme poverty in Nicaragua. She also wrote poetry, attended classes daily, took photos, collected recipes, and found herself in countless unexpected situations where her skill of bridging relationships, languages and cultures was honed. In BRIDGING, Penny shares experiences of intentionally embracing myriad parts of life with energy, joy, and determination, as well as with doubt, worry, and sadness when faced with suffering. The book shows what one's mind does while learning Spanish and will encourage others to do what it takes to become conversational in another language. Penny's honesty, curiosity and courage to learn from any situation make this book relevant and inspiring for all readers.

182 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 2015

Reviews

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely, surprising book. I know the author, but after reading this I feel that I know her so much better, because she was so open in this book. This is all about vulnerability, something that most of us will be familiar with if we've ever tried to learn a language, or integrate into another culture, later in life. I love the way the author blended the Spanish with the English, more and more as the book went on (and as she was learning more and more). I'm an atheist, but I wasn't the slightest bit bothered by the religious elements here - Penny Reid is a warm, open person who embraces everyone. Delightful!