"Go west, young man, go west!"

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 country skiing all in one weekend?  Not to mention riding a giant ferris wheel and having a final american lunch of salmon empanadas and triple-berry cheesecake.  A highlight was probably staring out across the Pacific "towards Vanuatu" - roughly - and thinking about how I'd soon spend almost twelve whole hours flying over that ocean.  We certainly have a big, wonderful world. 

I'm posting this using expensive in-flight wifi, as I land in Los Angeles (on my first flight from Seattle).  Now for a mad dash across several terminals to my Fiji flight, on a very tight connection - wish me luck!  When I post my next post I'll be very, very far away.

Me and Nathan looking like we're members of a super cool band.  Thanks self timer!


Vanuatu's out there somewhere!

Nathan exploring an excellent treecosystem, as he called it. 

The last skiing I'll see in a long time

Comments

  1. Lyn BoyerJanuary 24, 2017 at 8:11 AM

    Wondrous travels and onward to more adventures! Thanks for taking time to do the great posts. Name for the Bethany Nathan rock band... the Betaters :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMarch 2, 2017 at 2:10 PM

    The dynamic duo back together! Hope there were a lot of laughs.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 23 - Dancing for Small Change in the Marketplace

  I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance And when you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.   My theme song for Peace Corps so far has been “I hope you dance” by Lee Ann Womack.   I’ve listened to it so many times on my ipod, especially when I need a little encouragement.   It doesn’t always feel easy to dance – to live all the experiences here whole-heartedly, instead of holding back and “sitting it out” every now and then.   But the rewards have been moments of amazing sweetness and inspiration. There’ve been literal chances to take this song to heart.   One of these, a favorite day in village so far, was October 23 -   the day I made about 50 francs (around ten cents) for dancing in the marketplace.   When learning about Benin, I read that although about one third of all Beni...
Read more

February 24 - What Peace Corps is Like Now

Was the last post I wrote really about Ramadan?   It’s certainly been a while.   I remember during our Peace Corps staging how we were told that you find lots of first year blogs online, about all the struggles of getting ones service started, but the writing falls off sharply once volunteers get into their second year.   I guess I’ve fallen into that trend.   So many things have happened that have made me think “what a good blog post topic!”   But that’s as far as the ideas have gotten.   So to get things going again, I’ll write about a very simple topic – what is Peace Corps like now, 4 months since I last wrote, and 6 months until the official end of my service?   1.        Peace Corps is Comfortable   It doesn't feel like a major accomplishment to get through a day now.  Sure, I have hard days - but it's sort of the same as having a hard day back in Boston, or in college - just a tough...
Read more

June 15 - Why Peace Corps is Hard

A lot of you have probably heard the “Toughest Job You’ll Ever Love” slogan about Peace Corps.   I’ve been here about a year now – one year on June 27 – and have done my best to share the experience through this blog.   I think most of my posts have confirmed the “love” part of that slogan – I do love this job.   It’s a truly amazing experience.   Whenever I leave or return to my village, I ride a motorcycle along beautiful red dirt roads, through fields that are now turning green again, past herds of white cattle and groups of brightly-dressed girls and women carrying big basins of water on their heads.   Dozens of people – the girls carrying water, men working in the fields or relaxing in the shade of trees – wave and call out my name.   “Gorado!   Gorado!”   The name I’ve been given means “One who has been sent from far away to achieve a mission, and returns with a good result.”   What a vote of confidence!   I have spent much of ...
Read more