Last August, I moved from New York City, where I'd lived for eleven years, back to my hometown of Pittsburgh, where I worked as an adjunct instructor of English Composition and bided my time until it was time to leave. Now that I've flown to Los Angeles and am leaving in seven hours, the past few months seem like a blur. I spent them learning a few basics of Bahasa Indonesia, the language I'll have to use on a daily basis, and taking intermittent trips to New York and elsewhere to see friends. But it seemed even a month ago that I had all the time in the world. And then one day, both suddenly and finally, I was on a plane. I arrived in LA two days ago. I spent time with friends new and old, and had an absolutely wonderful time. Today, I met a whole new group of people whom I will know very well by the time this journey is complete.
I don't really know what to expect in Indonesia. I know plenty of facts about the country, and current Peace Corps Volunteers have been really helpful. But when it comes down to it, I won't really know what it's like until I'm there. I really hope I didn't overpack or underpack, but I'll deal with it if I do. I probably didn't absolutely need a Shutterfly photo album, solar batter charger, or complete volume of Keats's poetry (also the origin of my blog title!), but I'll feel more like myself with the photos and the poems, and the batter charger might really be useful.
Because I'm exhausted, and because I had a beer at dinner, and because I volunteered to be a group leader for the two days of travel we're embarking on, I'll keep this short this evening, but I did want to get a blog started. I won't be able to post much in the beginning, especially during the ten weeks of Pre-Service Training, but I'll update when I can about what I'm up to and what things are like in Indonesia. I'm both excited and mystified by what's about to happen, and I look forward to sharing stories when I can.
Can't wait to follow you through your adventure in Indonesia, Melissa!
ReplyDeleteGood morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys travelling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favour:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Indonesia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Indonesia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez