Media Lleno o Medio Vacío – Half Empty or Half Full

Today I realized that I have reached a milestone (un hito) in my time here in Santiago in that I officially made it to the halfway point of my experience.  I calculated that it would be a 150-day journey (viaje) from El Paso to Santiago and back to El Paso, and on this day, I find myself smack in the middle (en la mitad) at day 75.

A number of metaphors (metáforas) come to mind, but none more profound that asking the question, “Is the glass half empty or half full”?  I have always been a “half full” kind of person in my life (en mi vida), always trying to look on the bright side and keeping the positive in the forefront of the experience.  But when I apply this saying to my experience here, I must admit that the glass (el vaso) is both half full and half empty.

In one sense, the glass is half empty, as the time here in Santiago is moving forward (adelante), and slowly pouring out, with each day from here on out moving me closer to a return home (cerca de mi casa).   In other words, the days in Santiago are decreasing and the “glass” is in effect emptying.  Conversely, the glass is also half full, in that the unique experiences that have come as a result of this time are still happening, and there the is a lot more to do and to accomplish (hacer y lograr). As such, the “glass” is half full as all the new experiences are being added into the fold, and increasing the total day by day.

Yet, doing something (algo) halfway is not finishing anything at all or achieving anything complete in a real sense.  If you attend a class, get halfway, achieve a grade (una nota) of 50%, you fail.  Or if you fill up your gas tank to 50%, which may cost as much as you used to pay for a full tank (un tanque lleno) a few years ago, you can only get half as far as if you fill it up completely.  While I don’t feel like a failure in the least, I do recognize that I have gas still in the tank and many miles (muchas millas) left to go. 

I also know that it is more important to finish (terminar) a task than it is to start it, and that the final part (el parte final) of the journey is often the most productive and the most effortful. Anything worth doing well is worth completing and although there is still another half (una otra mitad) left to go, there remains so much to be learned and to be accomplished.