Your Hand in Mine

Words of Wisdom before I begin

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive – to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.” ~Marcus Aurelius

“I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, ‘This is what it is to be happy.’” ~Sylvia Plath

"Life is wonderful. It's a gift to be alive, to see the sun and breathe the air. And there isn't really anything else." – Michael Crichton

The further that I dive into David Abram's book, the more I am becoming self-aware in different facets. It reaffirmed my belief that I need to spend more time outdoors. I try to escape the noise of the world and wander into the wilderness just to feel that overwhelming aura, for lack of a better word. Late Saturday night, as I made the journey from campus to my apartment, I saw a family of deer outside of the gym. And it made me so happy to see them, their presence is always unexpected, but much appreciated because the walk home is usually boring and filled with cars. When nature surprises me with crossing paths with a beautiful creature or finding beautiful country, it fills me with uncontrollable joy. Reading Abram, as well as Dillard, has really confirmed and cemented this feeling inside of me. Its hard in college, when we are distracted by social life and homework, to remember the importance of leaving the chains that constrain us and going out in the world and appreciated all that has been given us by Mother Earth. I really appreciate the people who are in this class appreciate the beauty of the world (I am quite aware that people who were not interested in this belief would not be in this class). But I did not know some of the people in the class before this, but I feel a connection with my peers through the bonds of nature. So few classes have I felt such a bond with the people I share them with, that I am really enjoying this rarity. So if any of yall read this, Thank You and I am excited for the rest of the journey in front of us.

Now that is out of my system , I really enjoyed what Abram said in these two chapters. He finds a way to discuss things that I would have no real interest in before hand. I never had thought about the different layers of saying the word, "Wow." Maybe on a deep sub-conscience level did I come across the idea that I am not only showing feeling of amazement but complimenting whatever that is the cause for the Wow. Abram just has a beautiful way of telling us all these different things about our nature. My eyes are more open to the world than they were previously to this book.I found it was also interesting about how living speech is through gesture. It makes sense since a lot of what we say is through our hands. I can't speak for other types of languages, but my experience with Romanic languages is that half of what is said is in the hands. So its important that when talking about languages, that he acknowledges that. Also it's important that he mentions it because when we are babies, we are not able to comprehend words so through the "living speech," we learn about food, sun, family. Our primary ideas on life come from the "living speech" that is taught to us by our family and friends. What he said about the color red was interesting. When he said it, it sounds obvious, but let's be honest, it wasn't. "It is no more true that we speak than that the things, and the animate world itself, speak within us (pg. 85)." Wow. I love this line, and up to this moment. It may be my single most favorite.

I really appreciate all the knowledge that the Leave no Trace site provided us. I try to keep a lot of this stuff in mind when I go out into the wilderness. While a lot of them were obvious tips, not all of them are ones you think so having this really awesome site helped further them into my conscientious stream. I definitely got more advice though that I plan to keep with me on future journeys into nature. I think these tips will be of great help for the trips.

On Saturday, I had my interview for the paper with a photographer/photo editor/media specialist named Maggie Soladay. I not exactly sure how I stumbled upon her portfolio, probably through this organization she is partnered with and I would love to get involved with called Salaam Garage. Anyways, she is an awesome person. Normally I am uncomfortable talking on the phone, which when I heard Sam's advice it resonated with me, but she and I talked for practically an hour and I could this flame of excitement burning and getting bigger and bigger inside of me. She told me about her journey to where she is now, and some important lessons along the way. She gave me a new name for what my dream job would be, humanitarian media.

Here comes the flood

2-19-10
My cab never came. So I ventured into the rain. The street that my hostel was on was pratically a flood. Crossing it took a great while. I tried to get a cab but he refused. Then I made it to the big street. I had fight more flooding. Then I got a cab but as I put my bag in, a woman said it was hers. My cab driver fought her off, and I jumped in. In another situation, I probably would have given it to her but I was running late and fighting floods. We got to the bus station. This was complete madness. I couldn´t find my bus on the screen. I was panicked. I kept asking. Eventually I heard it on the loudspeaker. I ran to its station. It was running late like me. I got on. It was really nice. Kind of like first class of buses. The seats recline into beds etc. Had sappy love songs on the radio. I instead listened to "explosions in the sky" to put me to sleep. I drifted in out of sleep. I made it to my hostel. Now to decide the order I want to do things, wine tasting, paragliding and horse riding.

Ciao.