Packing (15 days)

I started packing today. I have about two weeks before I have to go to the airport but I wanted to get a jump on the packing. I got a new duffel bag in the mail for my birthday so I tryed some pre packing to get some kind of idea what I could bring along. Looks like I will be pushing the limit of my baggage allowance. I'm afraid I will be forced to do something that everyone advises aginist: packing too much

I have given some thought to this and here is the issue I can never get over. I have to weigh (no pun intended) the inconvience of carrying extra items around with the price it would cost to replace the same items in the place I am going. Now this noramlly shouldn't be a very big issue except I have two things two things to consider: I am traveling internationally and I have a very limited budget. So replacing things is more expensive or impossible and the price of everything is subject to exchange rates and transaction fees. If I were going to California for example I could pretty much guess the price of a warm blanket. You cannot do this internationally. Some things are not avaliable, high quality items could be exponintally more expensive, and american products sometimes bring double the price. So that super warm fleace blanket that is perfect for some many things is forced to take up room in your bag (or attached to it).

While I was packing my things I started to think of all the moves I have made in the past 5 to 7 years and it is really amazing. Here are a list of some of the places I have moved to and from...not to mention all the packing it took.

Warner Robins to Athens
Athens to Dorm 1, 2, 3, 4,
Valencia, Barcalona, Madrid Back to Athens
Athens to Valdosta
Valdosta to Alabama
Alabama to Fort Worh
Fort Worth to Houston
Houston to Argentina
Argentina: Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Rosario, Usuhuia, Califate
Argentina to New York
New York to Tennessee
Tennessee to Brazil

I am so tired of moving. I don't mean going to other place, I love that. I am tired of going from one place to the next with all the things I own stuffed in little boxes or in my backpack.

So....I have some settling news, A few days ago I got an e mail from the Dallas city schools about a teacher certification program I applyed for a few months ago. They have processed my application and my transcripts have been approved. So I guess this would kinda but like the pre approval phase of the process. I still have a ways to go but this is a good first step. The job, if it get it, is teaching bilingual elementry children PreK - 4 the grade. The pay is very good, full benfits, retirement the whole nine yards. Even better is if you are approved for the program and complete the training you are garenteed a job in the Dallas ISD. The down side would be that I am obligated to teach for one full school year in Dallas and I am not allowed to select my school assignment.

I'm gonna go of it if I am offered the opportunity. If only to save me from moving for one full year.

Brazil - The United States of South America

Well I wanted to write a post about the place I'm going. Not really for me, more for the people following along my little vourney so they will have an idea of the culatural backdrop.So here is a hodgepodge, a smattering, a pulpurii of facts about Brazil.Brazil is not unlike the United States in many ways. Geographically Brazil is the size of the United States (minus Alaska). Brazil is rich in natural resourses (natual gas, oil, dimods, timber, cattel, coffee). One thing to keep in mind in much the same way the US varries greatly from one region so too does Brazil. The majority of Brazil's populations is concentrated along the cost and in major cities centers. The typical imagie of people living among the tropical rainforest as subsistance farmer is simply not the case. Brazil is among the world leaders in develop economies as evidenced by the fact that Brazil was the only country that did not slip into recession during the recent economic downturn. By and large Brazil operated more independly than any other country in South America. Brazil does not depend of forgin oil. Not only is Brazil one of the world leading produces of oil - 90% of the cars in Brazil operate on biofuel. Think about that. Imagine not only an oil independent U.S. imagine producing a surplus - this is the reality in Brazil and this is a large reason Brazil has one of the most stable and productive economies in the world. Socially Brazil is a very diverse coutry. The mega city of Sao Paulo (approaching 20 million) is the economic center. Rio de Janiero the cultural/turistic center and Brazillia the administrative center. Rio recently won the 2016 olympic bid but I will save that for another post.


Rio 2016

Portal Rio 2016 | MySpace Video

Brazil is unique in its social/racial composition. Brazil truly does have influcences for all over the world. Through out its history Brazil has been influced by Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Indigious populations. All these peoples have mixed both socially and racailly to creation a population that is both tolerante and diverse. Equality remains a prolbem.

Brazilians speak Portugese. On a very basic level Spanish and Portugese are similar. However on a mico level Portugese is quite different in pornunciation, structure, vocabulary - everything. Suprisingly Portugese do not frequently learn Spanish dispite the shared Latin base. English is the most commonly studied second lanuage. Here is where I come in. There is a desperate need for English teachers in Brazil. In order to keep pace with the economic growth business frequently hire native English speakers to teach Brazilian busness people to both lanuage and culture. As Brazil becomes a growing econominc power, regionally and globally, the demad of English teachers has outpaced supply. I hope to land a job working for a company teaching exectuives on the verge of business trips. If not there are many oppertunities to teach english to students both privetly and in lanuage schools.

The amazing thing about Brazil is its uniqueness unites the country. Brazil's unique culture and lanuage and huge geographic resources serve as a base for solidarity. Brazil is distincte from the neighboring Spanish speaking countries both economically and culturally. In this way Brazil reminds me much of the idealic United States. Brazil is doing it own thing much is the same way the United States did its own thing. The results look promising. Brazil is defently on the rise and has ambitions to become what the U.S. once was - a political and economic powerhouse.

Not all who wonder are lost

Well I guess I'm just not one to stay in the same place for very long. The road is calling me, and I must have free nights and weekends b/c I have to anwser. The whole reason I started this blog over a year ago was to force me to think about the places I go and to "stop and smell the roses." Well I can say, I have learned to do that - maybe too good. I was thinking the other day about travel and I started to wonder if travel is a natural thing? Is moving from place to place something natural to humans? Is it possible that the hunter and gather's of history passed on a travel gene? I think it is possible. Travel is part of life and I think it will be forever - like food and water for the mind and soul. Let me tell a story to make the point:A couple of weeks ago I quit my job at Crackel Brarrel b/c I had earned enough to go to Brazil and I was tired of waiting tables. It is hard to be motivated after you know your only goal for a job is complete. Well I went to talk to the mamager, Janice, to tell her I wasn't coming back. We had a long conversation about travel, working in a resturant, and Brazil. Well in the middle of the conversation she said to me "I have never been anywhere." She said it like a confession. Like she was telling me she wasn't really complete - well that is how I heard it. I felt so sad at that moment. Not b/c she hasn't traveled but b/c she could never know what she was missing until she traveled. Somehow at that moment in the resturant, with all the sounds of food cooking and plates moving around the kitchen, all I heard was slience realizing how empty my life without travel would be.Travel must be innate to humans. If not the poor little cavemen would have just stayed in the same spot when all the animals, berries, and nuts dryed up.