The Next 3 Months...

As I started to write this blog, I turned on my iPad and the battery showed 61% power. For those that don't know, 61 is the football number that my brother and I shared. It is a number that has always embodied our brotherhood; that being smaller in stature did not mean we were less. Every time I see the number now, it is a sign that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. That place at this moment is Nadi, Fiji.

I have just completed two weeks traveling through the South Pacific with stops in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa. (It rained literally every single day just to remind me that I was their for work). I met with an organization doing microcredit on these small islands along with the women looking to make their lives a little better by investing in their businesses. Some women told me that they joined to share the simple enjoyment of their neighbor's company at weekly repayment meetings.



Tomorrow I depart for Indonesia where the bulk of my time will be spent working with one of our partners on executing their business plan. As well, we (Whole Planet Foundation) have hired a new Regional Director for Asia. She begins in mid February so a good chunk of my time will be spent working to transition the oversight of the projects in the region.

The following picture is a tentative map of my travel for the next three months. Although the dates are not yet fixed, it gives you a good idea of what is in store.


Sorry it is upside down; I think it adds to the craziness anyway.

In short:
1) Indonesia to Bangladesh
2) Bangladesh to Malaysia
3) Malaysia to Indonesia
4) Indonesia for a month
5) Indonesia to East Timor (Timor in the local language means East)
6) East Timor to Malaysia
7) Malaysia to Thailand
8) Thailand to Vietnam
9) Vietnam to India
10) India to home

I have found that people will look at this schedule with either complete confusion as to why someone would want to leave the comfort of home for such random places or those of the wanderlust variety look with such envy that it inspires hatred. Please don't hate; it is not healthy. There will be times that the travel will get tiresome and I will long for the Tempurpedic, but these extended trips always seem to give me the time to reconnect with the World. Here is to finding many more signs of 61 along the journey.

Peace and love,
Steve

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Asia - now, Nadi, Fiji

From Tonga: The Same Different Thing

Greetings from Tonga... Once again my "job" has brought me to a far away land that seems strangely familiar. The people are friendly, the pace of life is significantly slowed, there is the same mutual wonderment, and I will be watching the Packers play on Sunday, wait Saturday.

A few things:
1) This is my first blog post on the road using my iPad
2) Tonga is the first country to experience the new day, i.e. closest to the international dateline
3) The following are random thoughts and photos from the trip thus far

People are friendly - I left my backpack at a restaurant and the waitress ran after me holding my precious Guatemalan messenger bag that I have had for 7 years - Malo (thank you in Tonga)

The Pace is slowed - virtually everything is closed in Tonga including the airport on Sunday. The International Dateline Hotel is an apparent tourist destination and I will be able to watch the Packers beat the Falcons - Malo once again

Mutual wonderment - I am always asked where I am from to which I reply, "I live in Texas." The response has been virtually universally the same around the world, "Oh, like cowboys and John Wayne." If we get into details, I slip in the fact I am actually FROM Wisconsin.

For me, I have always been interested in the Tongan culture since the first time I played against them during my college rugby days. During the first encounter, one extremely large Tongan stepped on me so hard that the air in my lungs jumped from my body like a whoopy cushion. Of course, this was while on the field of play and totally legal on the Tongan's part. You learn in rugby, if you are on the ground, you are part of it and this particular Tongan must have really hated the ground.

This picture is of a very traditional piece in Tonga called tapa that is used for weddings, funerals and other celebrations. As you can see, she wants to make peace from my first experience with Tongan rugby.



The food has been good with a heavy emphasis on pig, fish, and coconut milk. I have two more days here before I am off to Samoa and then a few days in Fiji. Later I will write about the next 3 months of travel.

One last thought, I have always enjoyed the general carefree way people approach life in many parts of the developing world. For example, this morning I say a small child (under 1 year old) on the lap of persumably her father while he drove the car. This may not be considered "safe" but that little girl probably had a blast. Yes, there are limits to the safety and simple common sense balance, but isn't fun important too?

Another prime example (with photo) was from my trip yesterday to the small Tongan island, Panaimotou. Just off its coast, there is a sunken ship which protrudes from the water and is now heavily rusted. One might worry of dangers but not the Tongan children, it appeared they were more concerned with the exceeding amounts of fun to be had as they climbed higher and jumped farther.

Good Times.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Salote Rd,Nuku'alofa,Tonga