Being Adventurous

Some people say I'm adventurous for living abroad but I certainly don't feel that I am. Especially after chatting with my friend Becky over dinner last night. She was recently accepted onto a summer program in Madagascar to study lemur behavior for 8 weeks and was all set to go until his she got a call with questions about her health check. It turns out she's allergic to an important medication she'd need to take in order to live there, so she's now looking for alternate programs. The most recent application she submitted is to teach art in Thailand. I'd admire her courage, as she would be doing this with just a couple other English speaking volunteers.

I would say it's Becky's young age (23) that gives her the freedom to be a world traveler, but an even more adventurous friend who's exactly my age (29) has been teaching in China for the past two years. She doesn't speak Mandarin and had never even been to China before accepting the job. I'm referring to a British girl named Claire who we met on our France and Italy tour last summer. We've kept in touch and she's told me that she's ready to move back to Europe but not the UK. So she'll continue to live in a non-English speaking country.

I, on the other hand, am most looking forward to returning home to all the familarity and comforts of the United States. Granted southern California may feel foreign at first, but I think I'll quickly adapt to the warm, sunny weather :)