Its one of those days. I thought I was all packed, but I should have known better. There is always a glasses case to find or a hat that inexplicably goes missing. The last few hours have consisted entirely of looking for everything and finding nothing. So I think a self imposed writing session will calm things down.
It seems like I was just back here in Minnesota, unpacking these zipoff pants and seriously considering burning both those shirts that I wore for 7 months. Now I'm happy that I didn't because they're going right back into the same old pack. They still smell... I keep telling myself that its all in my head but that's not the whole truth. Stinky memories could plausibly account for a fraction of that smell, but the aroma of India is seldom removable. Yep, I'm heading out again.
There are a few key differences in the preparation this time around. I've learned that all the anxiety I endured before the first big trip was pointless (although I'm sure that thought crossed my mind at the time), and that it doesn't really matter if I don't find those tweezers (I'm still looking, though). All of those worries that keep us up at night usually work themselves out on their own. So at the risk of coming off like one of those pretentious people that offer unsolicited life lessons, I ask you why do we still dwell on all these insignificant complaints? I'd be a rich man if I new.
I don't mean for this to be another long diatribe, though. Continuing to pointlessly write about my day to day life here in the states will cause me to lose what little audience I have before there is anything to report. Here is a short overview of the next 4ish months...
Do you remember the group of kids from California that met in Kenya and wrote about last July? Ok I knew that was a stretch. Here's their abbreviated story. They have started their own non-profit, One Dollar For Life, through the help of two teachers. Their mission is to start local chapters and raise funds in high schools throughout the country. If a student donates $1, they can truly have an affect on the quality of life for someone in the developing world (http://www.odfl.org/ if you are interested). Through their efforts, they raised enough money to build 5 classrooms in 5 five developing countries this Summer. Some of the kids feel so strongly about what they have done that they have chosen to forego their comfy beds for 3 weeks in order to travel to Nepal and help build one of these schools... They amaze me, and I am happy to be along for the ride.
Here's the kicker. My plane ticket was booked through a travel agency and has a layover in Hong Kong, China on the way back. I thought I was being facitious when I asked, "can I make my layover any longer?" Turns out that I can and I'll be in the area until early October... unbelievable.
The plan gets a little hazy from there. I'll have a traveling partner in my friend Jake for a month, but our plan is to have no plan. We've gotten travel visas for China and are working on ones for Vietnam. These always involve every type of bureaucratic BS that you can imagine. I'll spare you the rest of the details, but we checked and double checked the format on our TPS reports and they're still not quite right quite right. Then there is talk of living and working in Hawaii through August. We'll see.
So there you have it. A first chapter that I wasn't intending to write. Please keep in touch. I will too.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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