Jumping

It is less than a week away from my 26th Birthday, and I must say, 25 was a year to remember. Last year at this time I hastily booked a plane ticket to Brazil, as a prelude to my quarter-century life crisis. I was reading books about joining the Peace Corps and seriously considering taking the plunge. Brazil was a test to see if I even liked being abroad. Traveling alone in a foreign country is a lot different than the trip to Europe with the family in high school. After two weeks in a world that I didn't understand (literally and figuratively), I fell in love with everything outside of my box that was waiting for me at home. It has taken me the last year to get up the nerve to finally do something about it, and the path was not exactly clearly paved. My 25th year is a memorable one due to all of the ups and downs, lefts and rights that have taken me to where I am (sitting on the floor in my office, since my desk is sold and half of my house is packed).

Korea seems like as good a place as any to start an adventure, and a year of teaching will give me time to figure out what direction I want to go in next. Over the next month I will be liquidating my life to jump into a world that I know nothing about - I can't even find a decent map of the town I'm moving to. Bottom line is that I have made the decision to go. In the bungee allegory, I have already paid for the jump and signed the waiver. Now, all I need to do is walk out across the bridge, take a deep breath and jump.

Bloukrans River Bridge (216 m), South Africa