Say cheese!

So this one's really more for me. I wanted to throw some photos together for me to look back at in case I feel homesick for Northern California. These are the things I think I will miss the most:

Freezing cold surf sessions in 50 degree sharky water!

Getting to know the trails of Sonoma County quite intimately as you can see.

Involving myself in silly hippie activities in Golden Gate Park.

Random dance experiences that can only occur on Castro St.

Scaring pigeons outside 7-11.
(notice the craptastic voyage parked on 48th Ave.)

Carving pumpkins on Halloween. I tried to carve the outlines of the continents. If you look to the bottom right I think you can find Italy.

My car "the craptastic voyage" and my home in Santa Rosa.

Flying down the driveway at my old house in Freestone. Occasionally I remembered to look both ways at the highway.

Having friends nearby that love me so much they'll dress up and take embarrasing photos.

The OG ladies crew that once in a blue moon will all be in the same room at the same time. Wait, where's Janna? crap. nevermind.

The excitement of SSU field trips.

Hugging in bars for no reason. Maybe the Redwings won or something. I wasn't paying attention.

Beach cleanups. And relay races for that matter.

Politically incorrect family Thanksgivings.

And last but not least... strolling through the redwoods and realizing how blessed I

am for having all of the above!

Prep time...

I was urged my many to create a blog so all could keep try of my adventures as I enter the next big part of my life... Peace Corps service in Panama! The bonus aspect of this is that it seems much more efficient than flooding everyone's inboxes with mass email updates for the next two years. You're welcome. So I'm 57 days away from heading to orientaion/staging, and I can't help but smile at how I wound up here, standing on a really big ledge about to jump into what will surely be the craziest, scariest, most amazing part of my life so far. So here goes...

Flashback to late January just over a year ago. I'm sitting on top of some kind of wooden tower at Tom's little resort on the Arajuno River in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I'm unsettled which in my mind is a combination of "sad" and "friggin pissed off". We visited the children of the Santa Barbara community today. Equipped with coloring books, balloons, and a soccer ball, we arrived to find a school with no teacher, a shoreline serving as a place for washing, drinking, and bathing, and the kids that turned out ot see what these gringos were up to. Following an afternoon of gift distributing and a soccer game where we were schooled by 5 year olds, we found ourselves on the other side of the river, relaxing in comfort in our lodgings that came complete with hot showers, electricity, a tree swing, and fully stocked kitchen. Sounds nice. So why was I in hell?

I left the group and climbed to the top of the tower to soak the day in. Amanda comes and sits with me and we talk about all we have experienced in South America. In the past month I have seen the impoverished coastal desert of Peru, the Quechua of the Andes, and the children in the Amazon. How many Americans do they see? Do they know what our lives are like? If they were to ask me why I should live comfortably while they struggle for survival how could I answer? This bothered me a lot. Up in that tower I told Amanda I would not be happy unless I volunteered after college.

On January 9th, 2008 I got to fulfill my map-nerd dream of standing on the equator. On January 9th, 2009 I received my invitation to serve in Panama as a Community Environmental Conservation Extension Agent. I am overwhelmed with excitement, fear, pride, insecurity and oh, every other emotion that one is capable of feeling. But I'm hopeful most of all that I after coming this far I'm on my way to accomplish what I set out to do a year ago. Feels pretty good.