So the obsessive googling of my last entry was, as I knew in my Logic Brain, entirely unnecessary.  Logic Brain is pretty used to being ignored, so it’s all right.  I’ll travel without a phone and be just fine.

Less than 24 hours til I’m leavin’ on a jet plane and 1. my clothes and toiletries are all packed, 2. my documents are printed, organized, and paperclipped (!) neatly (!!) in a folder (!!!), and 3. all that’s left is cleanup and packing the Machines (iPod, laptop, and Kindle) which I will do when they are all charged and ready.  [Note: the !!!!s were the insertions of Logic Brain, so surprised is she at being listened to.  There there, little buddy.]

The past few days have been a little less than enthusiastic about the trip, I confess.  When I came home to Connecticut to spend the summer I focused on appreciating the time I had here with family and as it turns out I did an excellent job of that.  After the departure date was shifted for the fourth time I realized that leaving was going to be a lot harder than I’d planned.

So I made a list detailing why I was/am/shall be excited for this trip:

  1. The Other Side of the World is magic and I get to go to there! It’s a splendid thing.
  2. International perspective. I get to be in a whole, brand new place and that is an excellent opportunity to learn a lot of new things, not just about the new culture, but about myself.  What the rest of the world, apart from my American bubble, is really like.
  3. MON-AY. Praise God for a salary.
  4. Experience.  If I am ever going to work with non-profits I had better get some experience cross-culturally and in the classroom.
  5. I have a rule (guideline?) that if I am scared of taking a step in life I have to take it. This so far has applied to grad school, missions trips, and this job. I don’t know what to expect and I’ll probably have multiple panic attacks but it will all work out, it will be okay, and I am trusting Jesus that good things will come out of it.
  6. Korean food! I love weird food.
And here’s a list (short, I promise) of why it’s hard to leave Connecticut:
  1. Have you ever been here when Summer changes to Fall? I haven’t gotten to see this in six years and I am swamped with reminders of how incredible it is.
  2. 16-month-old nephew who needs to see me daily so he can remember that I am his favorite aunt.
  3. The older I get and the more time I spend away from them the more I realize what an abnormally wonderful family I have.

But the Excitement (having been on an ebb the past three-ish days) is coming back in, and tomorrow I’ll take off for a new adventure in a new place.  I might be able to post from the plane (I’ll be in the air for a total of 17 hours) and, hopefully, set up a little bit of what future posts will cover.  So that this doesn’t turn into one of those travel blogs (in the words of my friend/fellow adventurer Leslie): the ones that “post 25 pages about how they’re not in their ‘comfort zone’ that no one wants to read.”

Deep breaths, people. Here we go.

 

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