Reactions

Its been about a week since I've returned home from an insane travel month and am still processing any lasting thoughts, attitudes, and perspectives from the trip to Afghanistan. Since my return, I have inevitably been asked questions from friends, family, and co-workers about "how was the trip?"

It has been difficult to come up with any quick soundbyte responses that can satisfy this question, mostly because I think I am still unsure of what my lasting impression of the visit will actually be. One of the most immediate and glaring takeaways from the trip has been a renewed vigor towards living overseas. Just after finishing graduate school in New York, the idea of living overseas did not particularly resonate. I had just finished a Masters program in American Studies and, at the time, felt that any career direction would keep me stateside. I thought that traveling would continue to be a major part of my life, but would be limited to extended holidays and vacations.

After somewhat serendipitously stumbling into this world of non-profit fundraising and program stewardship and international development, the idea of living abroad became much more tangible. Prior to this job, I didn't think I really had any specific skills that would push me into a job market outside of the US. After this experience in Kabul, along with two trips to China in 05-06, I realized that not only are there viable career opportunities for someone with my academic/professional skill set in other countries, but that I am built to succeed should an opportunity present itself.

This past January in Kabul shifted this paradigm. By about the two week mark of my stay, I started to feel really comfortable with the pace of the life there, the interactions with fellow internationals and locals (to a much lesser degree unfortunately), and realizing my capacity to work and live in such an environment for an extended period of time. I must note that while my thinking was shifting dramatically about future opportunities overseas, it was not Kabul that was specifically pulling me towards these thoughts. I think I could be ok living/working there for about 3-4 months, but after that I might want to join the insurgency movement myself.

What Kabul proved was that I had the skill set, ability, and desire to work in the developing world. Said differently, if there were a Star Search meter gauging developing world outposts, Kabul would probably only garner about "one-and-a-half stars" and I would be much more inclined to work in what I consider areas that were in the "three to four star" range (i.e. South America, Southeast Asia, some parts of Africa, Harlem).

With Michael Jordan's birthday coming next week (most people reading this should understand this reference), I am once again forced to step back and think about my own future. Time suddenly seems a bit more precious and pursuing such dreams need to happen sooner than later (MJ ain't getting any younger). Luckily, I have the necessary support and inspiration around me to hopefully make this happen.

Plus, it makes this blog much more compelling.