Resuming the blog

Hello anyone who might actually be reading this. I´ve decided to revive my blog because it gives me a good conduit to express my views in a place where others might gather some foods for thought.

So its been a while since I´ve actually written anything and much has come to pass since my last post - not the least of which was gradumicating from college on a cloudy day in Olympia (like most) which I followed with an unemployed summer of transition and reflection, not to mention plenty of cycling, hiking, and yoga.

In August, Allison and I began a new journey together as leaders for a gap-year company that takes students all over the world in an effort to help them find themselves through traveling and volunteering in the (mostly) developing world. I have to say this work has been my most powerful travel experience (though I´m aware I have also said that about Peru / Bolivia) for a variety of reasons. First and foremost it has given me a clear and meaningful goal for my purpose on this trip which makes it quite exciting and fulfilling. We have been working with 12 17-19 year old students from all over the US and I have to say I have been astounded by their collective maturity and eagerness to grow and push their comfort zones. I guess I imagined a bunch of apathetic, cynical, and precocious kids that would be constantly testing our boundaries and rebelling without a cause - not to mention complaining about the primitive conditions of our homestays. Though that has been the case for some past trips in our company´s history, our particular group has been quite different from this description. Instead they have been remarkably receptive to our travel / group dynamic wisdom and have generally sought us as authorities rather than waiting for us to build dictatorial fences that they could then cut holes in or shake violently, like so many cheap-seat soccer fans. We have encouraged this dynamic through being somewhat hands-off in terms of decision making and travel details, in which we are encouraging them to take the lead roles.

The trip itself has been fantastic as well, with a great diversity of homestay experiences including one with no water or electricity, followed by a three week stay in Quetzaltenango, a city of relative luxury for the students. The mixture of homestays, spanish classes, volunteer work, and visits to amazing tourist destinations has made the trip different every single day - leaving little room for boredom or regression to old behavioral patterns.

I´m feeling pretty great thus far about the work we are doing and look forward to the myriad experiences that await us for the remainder of the trip.