Africa, Looking Ahead

It's hard to believe both that I've already been gone for over 3 months and that only 3 months have past; the time since leaving seems like a blur and yet I've been so many places, seen and learned so much. What's even stranger to realize is that there are still 10 months to go! So far I've, somewhat unconciously, considered my time in Europe to be more of a warm of for Africa and Asia, in the sense that it is the most like home. With that in mind I am anxious to press on to Africa in anticipation of the challenges and experiences that await.

I've given a fair amount of thought to what I want to accomplish in my time there, and will spare everyone the finer details, but wanted to share a few items in brief, I: a) want to continue to meet and interact with interesting people and b) further develop the tools used in that exercise, c) begin to quiet my mind, d) find outlets for thinking and expressing myself more creatively, e) futher open myself to new and different cultural experience while identifying and setting aside my 'americanisms'.

Rather than spend so much time city hoping and siteseeing, which I will no doubt still do to some degree, I plan to spend some time doing volunteer work. To that end my friend Emilie has recommend two great resources that are great for finding volunteer opportunities all over the place: idealist.org and escapeartist.com.