Sunday, April 09, 2006

Headed for a New Life

I am actually headed for a NEW LIFE.
It is interesting to think how much might be new, and how much of my present self I will take with me.
According to Astrocartography, I will be more MYSELF than I have ever been.....at least since I left the longitude of my birth. But what will that be?
I imagine myself in an apartment above the street....enough above that I can see the greenery on the hills beyond town, and the volcanoes that enclose the area. I imagine it spare and light and colorful. Room to eat and sleep and write, no more.
And I imagine I will write............about making a new life, about the culture of childrearing and parenting in a new country, about finding out what parts of my career/work might be useful in this new town/country/culture. I imagine I will write a lot about HOW one finds one's life..........how serendipidy works.
I imagine, at times, that I will find ways to recreate the life I have here........not the gardening or animals, certainly, but perhaps a group of women to connect with, maybe counseling clients even, and when I am dancing to music in my living room here, I imagine I will teach Authentic Movement, or create a dance jam or class. Who knows?
I might end up working in the jungle or the mountains and living in a tent or small cottage. I might end up leaving Guatemala for another country............No se'.
And WILL I learn to be fluent in Spanish??? A lot depends on that.

No se'.

Getting closer

So it seems I've decided to go, specifically to Guatemala. I'm still waffling on Jamaica, mainly because it's an extra amount of money that might be very precious to me in the future. But I think it's important to me to know what it would be like to live and work in a community of rural poor.........whether that becomes Nicaragua, Guatemala, Africa...wherever. As opposed to my plan of more private living in Antigua and working in a project nearby.
Whatever floats your boat...........but I gravitate to both.
I am a fairly private person, however, so I'm headed for one, but going to investigate the other.

And then of course today I discover a way to get to Africa - and to Mali, my most recent choice.
For anyone who might be reading this there is: operationscrossroadsafrica.org. $3500 for 7 weeks/ and your airfare to Africa. And apparently a quality organization.
There is also www.idealist.org for anyone who wants to talk with other people interested in volunteering in the US or abroad.

Sort of a pragmatic post. I guess that's my mood today.
I'm excited to know that I'm actually going, but of course that involves many steps to extricate myself from this home of 25 years and 10 year job.................with all that means leaving.
I will most miss my connection with two groups of women, and my weekly Body Tales.
But you never know what I might be able to create.....wherever I go, and however long I'm gone.

Hasta....