I depart on my Asian adventure in less than 3 weeks. This is around the time where, normally, one would begin to feel a mixture of things, from excitement to fear, nervousness to sadness. I, for some reason, feel none of these things. Perhaps it is my inability to picture what these my life will be like abroad – I had this same inability before I left for Senegal. Equally as possible is my complete inability to even fathom or comprehend the fact that I am leaving in 3 weeks, what 3 weeks feels like, and what it means for me to leave. These ideas are evidently too abstract for my mind… I do know, though, that the moment I leave my family and this comfortable home that they’ve provided me for the past few months, I will be sad. That may sound like a simple statement, and an evident one at that, but that is the only feeling I am sure I will have.
Enough of that – I am not one to stand on these kinds of limbs or focuse on these topics for too long. On to the concrete plan. For those of you who wish to know my exact itinerary, here it is:
Nov. 28 – depart for Bangkok, with a one night layover in Tokyo
Nov. 30 – spend the next 2.5 weeks checking out the central part of the country and interviewing with prospective schools
Dec. 18 – leave for Kathmandu, where I will meet my darling friend Muna; spend the next 3 weeks with her family in the valley
Mid-Jan – Muna goes back to Chicago, and I am on my own for a couple weeks to explore, well, whatever I want I guess
end of Jan – go to Pokhara, Nepal and meet my host family; begin volunteer teaching at the local school
April 1 – finish my teaching placement; HOPEFULLY go to Tibet for a few weeks
April 23 – fly from Kathmandu to Bangkok where I will (again, hopefully) have a teaching job ready and waiting for me!
Well that’s all for now. See you all in Asia!
3 weeks and countin’…
