So it has been brought to my attention that I have been rather remiss in keeping my public abreast of my doings and goings-on. Well in truth I was well aware of the fact; in fact I have been wanting to update this blog for ages, I think about it at least every other day. But the truth is I never feel like I have the time to sit down uninterruptedly and just write all the things that need to be expressed. So I have decided to just start somewhere and work in installments. One news item at a time. So here is part one of the long overdue update.
Let’s start with my summer, because that’s one of the most exciting things in my head right now. After much deliberating and going back and forth trying to decide what to do with myself (as I am usually prone to do), it turns out that I will have the opportunity to go to India! Not only am I going to India, but I am going to go there to help start and design a school to provide high quality education for disadvantaged children! Which pretty much covers a whole bunch of the things I am interested in (and that I happen to be studying at the moment) – international, education, development, India, creating, leading, teaching… I will save the whole story on that for later, there is too much to be said about it for now. But basically I will be spending most of July and some of August helping with this school in Pune, the city where I grew up and where I still have a lot of dear friends who I get to see again. What is also good is that my parents and grandfather will also be there at the same time, which is great since it will be the first time in ages that we are all in the same city at the same time for a period longer than 5 days. And if possible I also want to travel around a little bit while in India, explore and learn from interesting transformative work that’s going on in different places, and take interesting photographs. It will also be good to get away from the New York bubble for a while (much as I am enjoying it at the moment), and get reconnected with some of the larger reality that exists in the world. So I am definitely looking forward to the trip.
Moving on from there, I also get to go to a conference to present a paper in Sarajevo! So, as I have done with many of my academic or career choices so far, I’m basically going to use that as an excuse to wander around and explore (yeah, I really only chose this career path because it gives me an excuse to travel!). Which means I’m going to take the opportunity to stop by Central/Eastern Europe on my way back, cash in on some of the friendships I’ve made this year at International House, and go visit whoever will have me, of the friends I have made who happen to live in the surrounding areas. So, anyone I know who will be in Central Europe in late August…can I come visit you? =)
Then, in the fall, I will be returning to New York to do a 3-month internship at the UN. I am actually quite excited about this, since it happens to involve working with exactly what I am interested in – I’ll be working at UNESCO doing research on the Education For All goals, currently the largest global movement to ensure that people throughout the world have access to quality basic education, which has been signed on by most governments in the world as part of the Millennium Development Goals, and is being spearheaded by UNESCO. The internship will also take place while the UN General Assembly is in session, so part of my role will be to attend some of the big meetings of some of the big leaders in suits, so that’s pretty exciting. Also it will be my first time pretending I’m a real grown up with a real job where I get to dress up for work in the morning and commute with the other thousands of disgruntled New Yorkers desperately holding on to their coffee on their subway ride to work, and having to repeat the same process in the evening only to reach home too exhausted to do anything else but go to bed and start all over again…ah, can’t wait!
Wow, so much for one news item…now that I’ve started it’s hard to stop! Another noteworthy piece of news is that in a few months any concept of ‘home’ that I have still hitherto managed to cling to will pretty much be completely dissolved, and I will be left a lone free-floating entity in this vast universe. Well basically this summer my parents are going to be moving to New Delhi for who knows how long, my brother will be moving to Tanzania for who knows how long, and I will no longer have a home in Toronto to return to. They are all moving because they feel called to go to their respective destinations in order to serve God and others in need, so I am incredibly excited for them and couldn’t wish them anywhere else. Still, the selfish part of me can’t help feeling a little unmoored; I will no longer have a ‘permanent address’ to return to on holidays, my immediate family will be scattered in four different continents (in India, Tanzania, the US, and Brazil – we will truly be a diasporic family!), and I will somehow have to fit all my worldly goods and chattels into the equivalent of two large suitcases. I’m not sure which of these will be the most unsettling.
More to come soon…keep your fingers crossed, and the comments flowing! =)
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