Are you interested in following The Nakavika Project in Fiji? Surely you're dying to know how two grads with no money and a bit of skill will tackle their own self-created humanitarian effort in the Fijian highlands. Surely you're a sucker for beautiful and engaging videos, touching pictures and articulate prose. And surely you've got a few minutes per week to check up on our project and offer us a little moral support. I'm so tempted to do a surely/Shirley joke right about now, but I'll refrain because I'm in the midst of trying to pull you into my world.
Consume & Update: Air Traffic, Hatred and Two Days To Go
Soak it in, boys and girls. This is the last dose for a while! This week's good news...
World Air Traffic in 24 Hours
Really Going Rogue
Numbers 15 and 31 on my Life List mention an inexplicable draw towards countries not easily accessible to foreigners (or just Americans). Well, maybe not so inexplicable...
Pakistan = mountains
Afghanistan = rural landscapes
Cuba = culture and salsa
Digging into the archives a bit, I found Chris Guillebeau's How to Travel to Rogue States, which of course got me salivating for Cuba again. Who knows when my next new country will be blazed and if it could be one of these massive non-trail destinations. Any plans for a trip like this in your future?
When To Put The Camera Away
Visiting orphanages for 30 minutes?
I've been checking out the Acumen Fund this week and found a compelling blurb on travel and documentation called When To Put The Camera Away. Marc Manara makes a comment on our intentions for taking photographs and how they come off to the subject of the moment.
Though the desire to snap a telling shot of reality may seem harmless for the sake of your own memories or appear a good move for the sake of informing others of what you've seen...you may be bruising someone's dignity or making them feel like a mystery species on a game drive.
There are times when I truly wish I could have secretly snapped the photo, but I also think that frequent inner turmoil - when these opportunities present themselves - has a lot of truth and validity. I think spending more time with the people/potential subject matter of the photograph(s) helps smooth over many of the worries one has with taking vulnerable photographs of others.
I get upset when people stare at me, and I get especially testy when people photograph me without my consent (e.g. in Doha, Qatar). I definitely don't want to make others feel the same way, especially when there could appear to be a socio-economic difference and a stress on personal dignity.
Travel and Hate
What has often been a companion of my culture shock is something akin to hatred, an ugly emotion that has the ability to take hold of my soul even against protest. I've come home angry at many things, and though it's not the way I actively choose to be, Joel Carrilet gives me a little comfort in knowing it's not just a massive character flaw. It happens with due cause.
Read Joel's article on How Travel Teaches Us To Hate, and let me know if you find travel's combined effects of love and hate in yourself.
Other Discoveries
Chris Guillebeau's new site for Unconventional Guides
Rolf Potts' interview with new writer and former English teacher in the Marshall Islands
Join in the conversation about Women Hitchhikers over at Vagablogging
Don't forget to have quiet time on the road
28 Things I Wish I Knew Before Traveling
Update on Nomadderwhere
In the coming months, I'm going to be a bad consumer. This will be the last weekly Consume & Update as you've know it until I return to reliable internet coverage, constant electricity and a life not centered in a remote village. However, I will still attempt to keep updates coming on a weekly basis or as often as I can.
The last steps in preparation:
Emptying out the piggy bank
1. Buy mosquito net: check. All supplies in bag: also check. Empty the piggy bank and cash in for dough: oh geez check. The village knows we're coming, and we have two days until departure! Nothing left to do but document every step and meet Garrett at LAX! Our sponsors are stacking up and sending their contributions. We're so grateful for all the people finding this project relevant.
2. I threw a Michael Jackson Dance Party in my basement to fundraise for the project. It involved Dirty Diana martinis, trivia and prizes, black and white food and a chronological ordered playlist with every great hit by MJ ever created. I also dressed up as MJ throughout the decades: the Jackson 5 era, the Bad/Thriller era...yeah, I get carried away. I'll let you know how the event went and how much was raised at a later date.
3. BJB Challenge: Remember this? I wanted to write 20,000 words in my narrative on the Big Journey. This challenge began a month ago, before I had booked the tickets for Fiji. Needless to say I was preoccupied this month to keep up with my own, self-imposed deadline for writing. It was sad, as I continue to grow away from these experiences from 2008. But among other things in Fiji, I hope to find time to write about this experience in the detail it deserves. I'll be a word machine before you know it.
Consume & Update: No Music, Sunrise and New Pages
I read. I watch. I hand it over to you. Here's what I found interesting this week.
Turn That Racket Off!
What's your reason?
Why We Climb Mountains
Those of us hoping to make a living doing what they love of an unconventional nature continue to read the works of Chris Guillebeau and hope his success rubs off from his text to our eyes to our brains to our wallets. This week Chris discussed his motivation for travel and his perspective on the fear of failure. Why do people travel? Why do people climb mountains? Why do people risk so much for experiences they don't love 100% of the time?
I appreciated his comment about the correlation between small goals and small worries. As we dive into our own project, Garrett and I will need to remember flexibility and that we won't be able to control very much of what we're able to accomplish. But our goal is fairly large, with realistic baby steps, and we'll have to find that happy medium between flexible and stubborn in order to make something [the village wants] happen.
25 Seconds of Morning Glory
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdkIwaF2ujs
Thanks to World Hum for this find.
Other Discoveries
Lego + World Landmarks = a holiday favorite
Brushing up on my packing skills and finding ways to travel lighter
Something to chew on when it comes to culture shock and being ready for the next adventure
Update on Nomadderwhere
This will be a quick update as this next week brings some frantic preparation and documentation.
The Nakavika Project
1. The Nakavika Project pages are published and ready for your lovely eyes. There are many subpages that detail various aspects of the trip, such as our objectives, our visuals and the status of our sponsors and donations thus far (which is in it's last construction phase before publishing). Next week, I'll be posting two missives on how this project came to be - entitled The Birth of The Nakavika Project, a multi-part series. If you'd like to know more and/or help out, please send me an e-mail!
2. My talk at the Honeywell Center for the Clark Gallery Photo Show went very well, and I was happy to be speaking to such a large group of passionate artists. In my short talk, I covered my three big trips and how photography has playing a documentary role with surprising effects on the memory of my experiences. I also informed another group of people of The Nakavika Project, which always feels good.
3. Remember that whole writing challenge I had for myself? 20,000 words on my Big Journey Book by November 30th? Well the status is dismal, since this whole Fiji project came underway after the announcement of this challenge. I'm still keeping it in mind for Fiji, however. The deadline will come to pass, but the challenge still draws me in while I'm up in the village scribbling words by head lamp light.
Interview a traveler: the ski-crazy humanitarian
Garrett in Nakavika, Fiji
He's conquered the slopes of Vermont and explored 23 countries across the globe. He's got the amazing ability to befriend anyone and has committed the next three years of his life to working for others. Let's check him out.
Garrett Russell is one of my favorite travel buddies and my partner on the Nakavika Project. Once again, this series of Interview a Traveler is not just an outlet for me to gab about my best friends; these people are my favorite and worth mentioning because of their amazing character and ambition that spans continents for the purpose of learning and doing something they can stand behind.
Garrett bungee jumping in Africa
His Bio: Garrett Russell hadn't left the country until he boarded the MV Explorer and embarked for a 100-day, 11 country journey with Semester at Sea. Since then he has had the opportunity to visit Europe twice and can now reminisce about his adventures in 23 countries on 4 continents.
Currently residing in Vermont, Garrett is an avid skiier and hiker with a passion for outdoor adventure. With the upcoming winter season biting at his heels, a call to service has changed his mindset and brought his attention toward Fiji.
In the very near future, Mr. Russell will be joining the Peace Corps to teach Secondary Science Education. But before this big leap, he's leaving December 1st to coordinate the Nakavika Project and immerse himself in a Fijian village for 2.5 months.
Garrett and some Nakavika boys in Fiji
Why on Earth do you travel?
When I step onto a plane or hop in my car for a long distance trip, I feel a sense of independence and courage. A lot of trips I take are low budget, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants, flip a coin to find the next location type trips. Traveling like this gives me a thrill and scares the crap out of my mom.
When you click the "submit" button for that next flight to wherever, how do you justify spending your hard-earned money to see the world?
I work in an environment where people are stuck in one mindset. The monotony of everyday life can suck you in and but also give you the comfort of stability. I want to stimulate my mind and mix things up. My entire senior year of college I saved for my trip to Europe, and everyday I think back to the crazy things I did and the knowledge that I gathered and feel proud. Being young and having a flexible (and seasonal) job is a plus. So spending my money on travel is why it's there.
What are some of your travel goals or "bucket list" entries (if you make such lists or goals)?
I have started making a bucket list, but as the years pass, things change. There are a lot of things I want to do and my mind flies a mile a minute. Most of my bucket list contains things like having a cabin in the mountains, owning a dog...more permanent things.
What was your initial motivation to study science, and what are you reasons now for pursuing this area of study?
I was exposed to the sciences my whole life and proved to be a natural. My junior year of college was a huge turning point where I had no idea what my goals were or why I was a Biology major. I really had to find out who I was first, and travel helped me to do so. Life has a way of choosing your path for you. I never thought I would be a teacher, but in the upcoming fall I will be a science teacher in East Africa. Ask me this question again in 3 years.
Tell us a little bit about the process of applying to the Peace Corps. How did you make the final decision to join, and what did you have to do in order to complete this process?
The Peace Corp was a huge defining decision for me that started out as an excuse to not continue on to grad school and for a lack of knowing what I wanted to do. It took me a year to complete the application, not because its long but because I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I feel that I made the decision because I wanted an experience to work independently and make a difference. I finished my application in February 2009 and was accepted in April. After you are accepted you are put on a list for available positions. I had to wait until July 30th to be nominated, which happened to be my birthday. I have finished my medical evaluation and am waiting to hear back. The Peace Corps involves a lot of patience and time. It will be a year and a half or more from the date I sent in my application to the day I leave for training. I hope it's worth the wait.
Where did this Nakavika Project come from? And why do you stand behind it?
This project was thrown into my lap, and within 24 hours I had bought a ticket. Whoa! I know now that I have [an affinity] for traveling and an education, so I have to be productive. This project will give me the chance to work toward a goal, to help people and to learn more about myself and my future. Am I capable of giving up my current life for others in a far off place? The Nakavika project will test me, and I believe in it 100%. It is something that anyone with an idea, a place and the means to accomplish can create for themselves. I hope that people are inspired by our trip and have the courage to travel themselves.
When you consider your future life in the Fijian village, what are you most excited about?
I'm really excited to get to know the people of the village. To play games with the kids, learn to cook and do things their way. When I have traveled before, I have not been able to immerse myself into another culture. I'm pumped!
You're going to miss being home for the holidays for the first time. Why did you allow yourself to miss out, and how do you hope to spend this time abroad?
This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and missing Christmas is not a problem. My family is super supportive and as long as I make intelligent decisions, I have their support...except for last Easter when I ditched the family to climb and ski down Mt Washington in New Hampshire, my brother was quite upset.
I thank my family, roomates and especially Lindsay for supporting me and introducing this opportunity to me.
Do you have any questions for Garrett about the Peace Corps, the Nakavika Project, or skiing? Leave a comment, and I'll have him respond!
Consume & Update: Global Citizenship and Geography
Ahh, back from Chicago and back to my armchair office. And here are the interesting tidbits for this week!
Being a Good Global Citizen
Brave New Traveler brought my attention to a website this week that barks right up the tree I'm climbing these days. Project Explorer makes free educational videos for school children as a non-for-profit organization, and a dialogue they've opened up to the world is on the topic of "global citizenship" and what it means to people everywhere.
Here are some of the well-known participants in this conversation I thought you'd find interesting.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu discusses how we can only be human together...
Andrew Zimmern refrains from chomping on scorpions and large intestines to talk about being a global citizen...
Russell Simmons talks about giving as a part of your job on this earth to be a global citizen...
Anthony Bourdain shares his thoughts on how travel can change your perspective...
Find more videos like this on ProjectExplorer.org's Good Global Citizen
Other Discoveries
The artist culture is returning to my old Florentine neighborhood: Oltrarno
Thanks, Intelligent Travel Blog, for reporting on the new fruit labeling technique, soon to sweep the nation.
Next week is Geography Awareness Week!
Update on Nomadderwhere
I've got a lot of things to cover, I tell you what!
Someone's gotta tell this guy he's in Chicago
1. I returned from my six day trip to Chicago and am thoroughly pleased with what I accomplished. My activities ranged from touristy to local favorite to rare and offbeat. I saw friends and family and ate great food. Chicago is a comfortable and dynamic city, and you can expect a few blogs and videos to come in the next couple weeks.
2. My writing challenge is off to a predictably slow start, especially since I wasn't at home this week and the Nakavika Project is just launching (and taking up all my time). I'm still on for the November 30th deadline of 20,000 additional words to my manuscript. Is anyone else pushing themselves on a challenge this month?
3. Many of you have been click on the Nakavika Project page above and presumably found disappointment in its password-protected status. These pages will soon be public as soon as plans are finalized with my travel partner. This should occur this following week, so stay tuned for the launch date of the NP!
Clark Gallery Photo Show
4. I am giving a small talk at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, Indiana on Tuesday (the 17th), which will focus on some of my better travel photos and the stories behind capturing them. If you're in the area, come check out the Clark Gallery Photo Show going on right now, and then stick around on Tuesday for the reception! I'm flattered they wanted me to talk, as I am far from even pretending to be professional, but I hope to give them something to think about. The coolest part about all this is that the gallery is named after my late grandfather.