Per aspera ad astra

With my upcoming months full of travel (NYC, Texas, Ireland to name a couple), of course I’m already looking ahead at summer ‘09  and what I’m going to do with the 2 months of free (though unpaid) time I get from Cornell. Unlike last year, I’ve already narrowed it down to two quite appealing options:

I applied for an intensive summer language fellowship in Russia. The two month fellowship covers all associated costs, which is great as long as I pay my summer bills (car, credit card, etc) in advance. I feel under-practiced in Russian and, as this program is the equivalent of a year of language study, it would bring me up to an advanced language level and (I think) let me stay there comfortably. Plus, I’m in love with Russia.

If I don’t get the fellowship (I applied for Arabic last year, but didn’t get one of the few slots- there were over 400 applications), I’m planning to volunteer through International Volunteer HQ’s education program in Kenya. If you’re at all interested in volunteering abroad, check them out. There are a lot of companies that charge exorbitant fees and/or are less than legit, but everything about this organization seems really positive. I’d have to do some fundraising (a month program would run me about $2k, all-inclusive), but it would be doable and more than worth it.

There are worse things to be addicted to, right?

I love writing. And once I get down to it, I become totally absorbed in my work, manipulating words until the sun comes up (usually literally). Until that particular mood strikes, though, I’m what might be considered the most easily distracted person alive. (There’s really no other rational explanation for how I plowed through the first three Twilight books last week). OCAAT was great for me for just this reason; deadlines were tangible, ruthless and always just around the corner. I’ve currently got three writing projects and a presentation on my plate:

November 14th: Critical Language Fellowship application deadline (4 essays)
November 20th: Paper (20-25p) on internationalizing curriculum at Cornell due for my independent study course
December 3rd: Group presentation on language policy & globalization in South Africa
December 10th: Final group paper (30-35p) due

And I’ve sort of started the first essay for #1. I’m not worried, though maybe I wish I were- it’s good motivation. And instead of just sucking it up and finishing my first essay, here I am blogging. Positively absurd.

I missed the bandwagon on this one, but if you haven’t read Three Cups of Tea, please go get a copy now. Like, stop reading my blog, change out of your pajamas (or not!), and go to Barnes & Noble. Or borrow it from me. I got mine on a whim wandering a mall in Fargo– and am so glad I did. It’s one of those ‘true story of inspiration!’ books that I usually despise but, several weeks after finishing the book, I’m still thinking about it and and am just in complete awe.

Long story short (spoiler alert? I don’t know if that counts with real-life events): The catalyst of the story- Greg Mortenson- is a former mountaineer who got lost coming down from K2, stumbled upon a Pakistani village and promised to build them a school. The book chronicles how he raises the money to do so, and then goes on to show how he co-founds an organization that has built dozens of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

One of the things I liked most about the story was that Mortenson isn’t an imperialist or a missionary. He doesn’t try to force Western culture on the people he meets and he doesn’t try to push his God on anyone. This is rare enough in international volunteering operations that I was pleasantly surprised to find that his motivation really is simply to educate.

The writing isn’t anything spectacular, but doesn’t have to be, given the incredible story. The particular focus the book takes at the end on women’s education (and how empowering women can directly alleviate povery, decrease infant mortality rates, and promote equality) was incredible. As was the thought that, if we spent a fraction of our military spending on organizations like Greg’s, we would go so much further in terms of stopping religious extremism (by targeting its source- the madrasas).

At any rate, the story is stunning and, yes, inspiring. For people like me, it makes you look on Kayak to see how much a plane ticket to Central Asia costs. For the less excitable/foolhardy, it makes you want to write a check ASAP. At the very minimum, it makes you think. And with so much misguided hate and misunderstanding towards Islam and this part of the world, I think that this first step- thinking- is crucial if tolerance is ever going to be possible.

If you haven’t, I’d highly recommend listening to both Obama and McCain’s speeches from last night. Very classy and eloquent. I’m not really either of those things 99% of the time, so I’ll also recommend this:

POWERTHIRST

It’s Election Day. But if you needed me to tell you that, you’re a Facebook-less hermit who is missing out on that free cup of Starbuck coffee. And if you need me to tell you to vote, whether via blog, status, or phone call– I’m sorry. That’s your call.

Of all the things I enjoy about America, the privilege to choose- in all aspects of life- is perhaps my favorite. I can choose whether to have a child. I can choose whether to carry a gun. I can choose whether to wear mismatching socks and a burqa on my head. I can choose who to vote for. I can even (*gasp*) choose not to vote. Under our political system, I was given this privilege as a right- and that’s pretty cool.

With that in mind, I would advise you to exercise your right to choose today, but it’s totally unnecessary. Whether you choose to vote McCain/Obama/Nader/Barr/Cthulu/Bill Pullman, whether you choose to be informed, whether you choose to eschew voting (for whatever reason) and spend this lovely afternoon napping in a park–making a choice is inevitable. I won’t criticize, judge, berate or guilt you into doing anything differently. If you’d be so kind as to return the favor, that would be great.

I made some goals for myself at the beginning of last month, and- for accountability’s sake- thought I’d look over them to see how well/poorly I did!

Mind:
-Read 10 books, min. I’ve been slacking and/or too busy for my 100-book goal
Made it to ten exactly! Doctor Zhivago, Address Unknown, Persepolis, Hunt for Red October, Ishmael, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Moloka’i, What Do Jews Believe?, Midnight’s Children, Three Cups of Tea
-Get cracking on grad school readings and research for my group project. Basically kick my ass back into school-mode
Have gotten through Week 5 of class readings in my detailed note-taking project. Need to get a little more serious about the two papers I should be working on, but I’m excited to do so.

Body:
-Whilst dog-sitting, take at least one hour-long walk a day.
Not quite to the hour, but 30-45 minute walks aren’t bad.
-After dog-sitting, resume work-out schedule that, since Korea, I’ve been slagging on.
Fail. Signing up with the roommate at Elliot’s Uptown Fitness tomorrow afternoon. Yay family plans
-Eat more fruits and veggies!
Went apple-picking this weekend and made veggie lasagna last week. Starting South Beach this Wednesday, which is primarily veggies and lean meat/cheese for the first part

Soul:
-Celebrate my birthday and buy myself something pretty!
Done! Celebrated with friends last Thursday and with the family over the weekend. After some debate, bought myself a pretty ring (see previous post) in lieu of travel (bad timing) or skydiving (bad location). Am actually also going to NYC in December, courtesy of AA’s great fares.
-Call my family more often
Doing well! Saw them over my birthday weekend, text my sisters a lot, talk to my mom on gchat almost everyday

And the otherstuff that seems to matter more than the aforementioned sometimes:
-Money: Put all Limolink/house-sitting money into savings and keep it there.
Well, this sort of worked out. All of the money was in savings, until my old apartment loaded a $850 charge on me. There went that.
-Work: Set up new goals for this year. Get organized on budget-stuff (work-wise, not me-wise) that I sucked at last year.
Made some awesome budget reports for the first two off-campus courses. Have a list of projects to work on this semester.

November is kind of a lame month, at least in between Halloween and Thanksgiving. The weather gets crappier, previously gorgeous trees lose their colorful spunk,and people just feel a little bleh all around. Fortunately, we have the Internet, which created NaBloPoMo, a month where bloggers are dedicated to posting one blog every day.

Well, I’ve already failed, but a gold star for effort, eh? Here’s post #1! In honor of my favorite season, here are some of my photos from October in Iowa Missing out on two Midwestern autumns has actually really made me appreciate this beautiful time of year.