Thoughts.

Today I received an email from my Program Manager, a Motswana, that he sent to all of the Volunteers under Life Skills. I'm not sure exactly what about it made me smile and inclined me to post this but I know it had to do with the beauty of travel. So I'll start with that.

His email was simple and genuine. He told us about how hectic and demanding his trainings were - how much information he had to absorb in little amounts of time. Being his first time in the States, he told us he was able to see few attractions in the DC area like The White House, National Mall, and The Pentagon. He told us how he "freaked out" from all the security that he had to go through just to get into these buildings. haha He said that places like Chipotle and Subway didn't sit well in his stomach. He even told us that he was able to experience Fourth Of July Fireworks in Maryland!

This is all he told us - the simple realities of his experience in America. But what he also said was that he understood what trainees/volunteers go through. He realizes how much information we are expected to absorb during trainings and how fast we are put into a different setting and expected to integrate. About how hard it can be for some to acquire new tastes, rules, and environments.

And all of this made me think. Think about how culture and travel can really let a person understand the differences between two completely different places and appreciate what one would have never thought to take the time to think about before. And I realize how all of us, no matter where we are in the world, share more similarities than differences. We may not experience it all the same but we all feel excitement and learn in different ways. And all of this comes from the beauty of travel. The beauty of cultural exchange and understanding and learning something new for the first time. It's as great as that "aha" moment that comes from putting two and two together. That's my favorite.

I know that I have been grateful enough to experience what I have experienced no matter how far or near I am from home. There's so much beauty in such a simple thought and experience, in education and understanding. And I will always have wanderlust because of all the beauty I see when I'm in a new place, discovering and taking everything in.