Getting to the Bottom of All This

So, as many of you may already know, I will be leaving soon. Also, as many of you may already know, this trip has been a bit of an inevitability for a long time. Ever since I returned from my first big adventure to Lhasa, Tibet's capital city, I've been trying to figure out a way to get back over the ocean and up into the mountains again.

I knew that I wanted to stay for an extended amount of time, so I would either need lots of money or some kind of job. Figuring it would be impossible to get a job in Tibet proper, I decided to try to teach English in Japan. Thus, I spent my last semester of college learning Japanese and applied to the illustrious JET program. I organized and photocopied and stapled and sent my application in. I wore a tie and suit and went to the Japanese embassy on Massachusetts Avenue for an interview. And then, as my college graduation was nearing, I received notice that I was wait-listed for the program and may or may not actually get the job. They said that they would let me know.

So I was stuck. I could get my TEFL certification and try teaching in Japan through other means...but was that really what I wanted? I eventually decided, no, teaching in Japan was a means to an end. So, I decided to try another route. I contacted a professor name David Germano at my university. I knew he had many projects about Tibet, but I wanted to ask him for more details. We exchanged phone calls, he spoke to me about his vision of revolutionizing the function of the academic institution through the use of digital technology, about his brainchild, about THL <http://www.thlib.org>. We organized a meeting, he offered me a job, and I started work the next day. I've been working for him ever since.

So, half a year goes by, I meet with David and we arrange for me to go on this trip about which I will be writing. One tricky part, though, is right as I was making these plans with David, I was making some unspoken plans with a very nice girl. Long story short, now she's working in Chengdu and I will see her very soon. I continued to work hard, I learned Chinese this past summer, and now I am almost there. I am almost back.

I have taken these past few weeks to reconnect with old friends, with family, and with myself. I went with my family to my place of birth, to Northampton, MA, and saw many relatives. I went south to Charleston, Charlotte, and Roanoke to see a younger sister, an old friend, and new family. I moved out of Charlottesville and said goodbye to the place and people that I have grown to love. Now, I spend my last weeks in the house where I came of age, with the people who help(ed) make me who I am. I'm getting so close to my root. I'm almost ready to go. Now I just have to pack.