here and there

Lately I've started reading blogs that are rather uncharacteristic for me... they're full of lovely pictures and places and things and are posted merely because they're beautiful. I see the value in recognizing beauty everywhere and taking it in. Over the past few months I've had what some people would consider a lifetime of experiences to look back on when I'm frustrated, to remind me to be calm. Above is an open highway in a part of Nevada that could only be described as deserted and serene. I'm imagining I'm there, I'm breathing deeply.

But what I really want to do is fly to Australia/the South Pacific and wreak some havoc. I heard yesterday that I'm supposed to fly to the South Pacific on Saturday.  I'm the research assistant on a project in Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu and we have been negotiating contracts since at least February.  After having team members resign several times I was committed to the project falling through or at the very least starting several weeks later. Imagine my surprise when I got an email asking me to confirm my ticket leaving in 5 days.  But as frustrating as the contract negotiations were, over the past day I've gotten more confused emails about tickets and arrivals and when and where we're going than I can imagine. No wonder people question the functionality of nonprofit organizations.

Anyhow, I'm calmer now, it looks like I'm really going, I've dug out my umbrella and found my bugspray which I hear are essential.  I'm hypothetically going to be gone from April 24 - May 21, then heading back from June 14-June 30. But as I've seen any of this could change. But the good news is that it's a really exciting project and it's the first non-programmatic research I've done. Research for the sake of research and learning more about what's happening. For everyone who has been following my blog for a while, it addresses some of the questions I brought up when visiting orphanages in Indonesia. More details to come.

I imagine this newfound patience will come in handy in the South Pacific, as I've heard things move very slowly. But then again, everywhere I go, people warn me it moves too slowly; but perhaps if everywhere is different from here, then we're going too fast, rather than the other way around? Back to my snowy Sierra town for now, and happy spring to everyone who lives somewhere with flowers! (Below is from Point Reyes National Seashore)