The Beginning

As the 6 week countdown begins, the thought of leaving for Africa bounces between reality and unreality. Getting ready for this is pretty complicated. What is necessary for life in Cameroon? I have no idea. Lol. Sometimes it hurts to even think about it. I've already had dreams where I have fallen asleep and almost missed my flight, then once in Africa I realized that I only grabbed what I packed, and that turned out to be nothing but a weeks worth of clothing...Luckily a friend I worked with was there to lend me the use of his cell phone to call home and have somethings sent; like I said it was dream, lol. Well, regardless of what I take, should take, don't take, or forget to take will be completely irrelevant within the next few months. However, if you really want to sneak around in my suitcase, as soon as I create the list, I will post it.

At this point in my life, living in one place and experiencing nothing else the world has to offer would be a crime. There are cultures and people that have so much, when in reality they have so little. Believe it or not, their history is part of the building blocks of this country. Few Americans realize this, or simply state the common sentence, "All Americans are immigrants", but think little of it seconds after the words leave their tongue.

I'm not sure when in my life I developed a want to venture over the boarder lines of this great country, however, I am certain it is the best decision I've made. I can remember a time when this wasn't the case; I was taking Humanities in the Western Tradition and our T.A. was an older guy that had been a principal and was retired. He and his wife had lived abroad and traveled extensively. He told the class that, "Whatever we do in life, go out and live somewhere else". My thoughts at the time, "What is this old man talking about...live in another country, ya right". After few more semesters, I remembered his advice and found myself believing he was right and he wasn't such a goofy old man. Thus, Australia was the door opener. Returning to college after that trip only strengthened my want to go abroad and also narrowed down the options for a career; Teaching English as a Second Language.

I've accomplished my goal of getting a B.A. (my only regret being that I didn't take it so seriously early on). Now, I'm on the verge of beginning the second goal, living and teaching abroad. Of course, it is going to be hard being away from family, friends, and familiar places, but that is part of it unfortunately. This blog will give me, and you, the opportunity to remove some of the distance between us, literally and figuratively.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."
Henry D. Thoreau