Here I go again...

The countdown (and attendant nervous jitters) have begun. I am less than a week away from my arrival in the Dominican Republic where I have no idea what awaits me.  I know that I will be spending a week with a host family in Santo Domingo (the capital city) for orientation and training. From there I will be shipped off to an as-yet-undetermined rural locale where I will be expected to teach English for 40 hours a week to a group of university students.  The not-knowing bothers me a little, but is eclipsed by an eagerness to experience a new country and culture.  Hence the title of this blog, Inquietud(es), which in Spanish can mean both restlessness and intellectual curiosity. Both of these will certainly accompany me on my next international adventure. I have been blessed enough to travel widely in my lifetime both within the United States (to various national parks with my family) and in Latin America (to Costa Rica, Ecuador and Chile as a student). All of this jet-setting has taught me an important lesson: wherever you go, there you are. In spite of changes in language, culture and climate I have retained in all my travels and indelible sense of self, a character that will wrestle with and embrace the inquietudes that my new home-away-from-home will undoubtedly present. I have packed all my insecurities right in with my teaching materials and summer clothes; both my strengths and flaws will accompany me to the Dominican. I welcome and relish the challenges that this new year will bring!