Right now I am sitting in the airport, gate D40, waiting for my flight to Vancouver. The airport is one of the few places I love people watching – I know, a bit peculiar but it’s fascinating to see the folks coming back from their adventures and even more fascinating to see the folks about to begin new ones. You can see the excitement in their faces; they could be travelling to a new place they have never been to before, they could be going to see family or friends they haven’t seen in a while, or they could merely be excited to experience the rush of takeoff (mind you, the latter is something I would avoid for the rest of my life if I could; takeoff is one thing I will never enjoy no matter how many times I travel by plane). Being at the airport gets me excited about Vietnam; in exactly 1 month and 1 day, I will be sitting at a gate, waiting for my flight, about to begin my adventure of working and living abroad in a foreign country for eight months. Something tells me that after Vietnam, I’m going to get addicted to travelling, especially because I never took advantage of the opportunities I had to travel while growing up. To be completely honest, I think Vietnam is going to catch me by surprise; as I've said in a previous blog post, I have a few more things to look forward to before the placement abroad, one of them being a trip to Cuba with three of my girlfriends. It’s going to be amazing to spend a week with them before I leave, and I’m definitely going to miss the heck out of them while away.
All in all, it is perplexing how quickly this term came to a close. I miss the INDEVOURS like mad but I’m excited to see my family in just a few hours. This summer has been one of the best I have experienced, and I believe I changed for the better whilst gaining new perspectives about the world (and about life in general). I made innumerable and unforgettable memories with all of the people I love, and I even scratched an item off of my bucket list – donating my hair! A couple of weeks ago, I donated about 8 inches of my hair to make wigs for cancer patients; actually 8 girls from my program decided that this would be a great way to give one last time to our community before we take off for our placements. My friend Steph pretty much summed up my feelings about the indevour (haha) in one sentence– yes we are going abroad to help small grassroots organizations in developing countries stand on their feet, but there is a lot of work to be done at home too. It takes about 6-10 ponytails to make one wig, and if us girls helped move one step closer in making someone going through a rough time even the slightest bit happier, the effort was 150% worth it. I admit, just days before the cut I was feeling extremely anxious because I had not realized at the time how much I was attached to my hair. However, I’m happy I made this decision and the short hair is really growing on me now (pun intended) J. Hopefully some of you will go on to donate your hair for cancer patients; if every healthy person donates at least once in their life, just imagine the number of wigs that can be made!  |
| The girls who donated their hair, minus Vicky |
Well, that’s all for now considering they just called all passengers to board the plane. The next time I write a post it will probably be from Vancouver J. Take care friends, and leave a comment if you like!
