I leave Charlotte on Monday for Fort Myers, FL where I will be spending the next year (April-April) on a 50 acre farm run by an organization called Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO). Its professed mission is 'to help those working internationally with the poor be more effective, especially in the area of agriculture.' To this end they use education, training, networking and resources in a wide spectrum approach that reaches dozens of organizations, hundreds of missionaries and thousands of volunteers. I will fit into this puzzle as one of ten interns living on the farm living out 'work/study' in its purest form. I will be involved in a number of areas, from maintaining a demonstration plot of 'rainforest-y stuff' and caring for chickens or ducks to working in the seed bank and giving farm tours. Aside from the well of knowledge that I look forward to capping with a solar powered pump and sucking dry, I am looking to this internship as a way to solidify my future path towards spreading the gospel.
So with a 12 hour (11 hours if I speed) drive ahead of me on Monday, I spend the days consolidating 12 years of accumulated files and junk from my parents' attic and repacking at least two months worth of stuff into my car. That means finally throwing away papers and notes from college, throwing away VHS tapes and donating old computers. The hoarder in me wants to keep it all in case I ever need it, but the realist questions whether that will EVER happen. My solution is the keep a representative sample of everything, which reduces bulk to a manageable level. Fortunately, most household stuff is unneeded since it already exists in Florida. I've already decided that soap is unnecessary, and that more than two pair of underwear is bulky and wasteful.
Some items that are on the list to be packed (in no particular order): Clothes (including permethrin treated pants and shirts), baseball glove, 3 cameras, laptop, knife, multi-tool, books, boots, running shoes, cell phone
Some things that won't be brought: television, rock climbing gear, cold weather gear
Some things that will be brought once all my stuff from Italy arrives: bicycle, tools
Not every minute of time in Charlotte has been spent packing. In the past weeks I've seen a play, almost gone to see Mexico play Iceland in soccer, looked at a bunch of awesome orchids and read 660 of 960 pages of a book that Nate & Janna got me for Christmas.
An orchid that looks like a chicken. Sort of.
I've been asked if I'm nervous about this major change in life and work. I always answer "Not really." I'll have a roof over my head and money for food, the rest will come out in the wash. I think I learn more about the people who ask me that question...
As always, pictures are on Facebook or Flickr.
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