The World Changes Every Day

I've made it to Vanuatu safe and sound - minus my checked bag, but hey, what can you do.  I'm sure it will get here eventually.  The flights went just fine - on my first flight from Seattle to LA I'm pretty sure I was sitting next to the Australian James Bond.  Clean-cut man wearing cologne and an expensive looking shirt who was very friendly and talkative, interested in learning all about what I'm doing, but when I asked him what he does for a living he paused and then said "security stuff" with a smile.  On my long haul flight to Fiji I also sat next to someone interesting - a German woman who works in Tuvalu as a human rights consultant for the government!  Tuvalu - the country I was dreaming about in high school.  Maybe it's a sign I need to make a visit...got her e-mail just in case.  It's been a whirlwind of a day since getting to Vanuatu. especially given the fact that I haven't slept in a while.  I've been meeting lots of people, ...

I guess the saying in my blog post title should read "Go west, young woman/young lady/etc" instead of "young man", but it somehow doesn't have the same ring to it.  Either way, there's something exciting about setting off for the west - such journeys have great precedent.  And in all of my travels overseas, it's been pretty rare that I've headed west across the Pacific - usually everything has been via Europe.  I started my great journey west on Thursday, and spent the past several days in Olympia and Seattle, WA.  First visiting my brother Nathan, then spending time with Peace Corps Benin and Principia College people in Seattle.  I don't really have a core group of friends in a hometown like some people - but instead I have quite the diaspora, "friends in every port."  That's pretty great!   The Pacific Northwest certainly didn't disappoint.  Where else can you go to the beach, the rainforest, and the mountains for cross co...

The great trek to Vanuatu has begun - and for my send-off I got what I'm pretty sure is the best themed party I've ever had.  Only two guests - Franklin, WV is a pretty sparsely populated town.  But we all wore our best tropical garb, and there was a sand box complete with shells, ukulele and guitar music, crafts (everyone decorated fish), a platter of papaya, mango, star fruit, pineapple, kiwis, and coconut, and a hilarious, competitive couple rounds of Catchphrase.  Thanks to Mom, Dad, Christy and Kevin for the great going away party!

When I was a Sophmore at Principia High School, a giant world map that filled up an entire wall was donated to the school.  It was put up in my history classroom, and the desk where I usually sat was right next to it - next to the South Pacific, to be exact.  I was fascinated by the little countries I had never heard of, and whenever I finished a test early I'd spend the rest of the time writing down the names of islands, to research later.  Tuvalu was the country that most attracted my interest, and when we were asked in English class to give a persuasive speech about an issue of our choosing I spoke about our responsibility to do something about climate change to prevent the entire nation of Tuvalu from sinking into the sea.  As I recall, my speech was pretty different from the others in my class - which tended to be about things like the need for changes to the school dress code (an explosive topic at Principia in my day). My interest in the Pacific Islands ...