my parents separated a few times in my childhood: one time it led my father to leave his job at the community college in charleston and take a position with information associates in san juan, puerto rico . my mother and i went to visit him for two weeks . i remember everything being fun, like the beaches and the restaurants seemingly set up out of nowhere, and beautiful, like walking through old san juan . i remember everything being fundamentally different and the resultant culture shock that came with it .