I am back!

I can honestly say that when I stepped off the plane at LAX last Friday, I have never been happier to be home.

China and Mongolia were awesome and I could talk your ear off about all the experiences I had. I think the biggest thing to come out of this trip though. Aside from a little better appreciation of what's up with China. Is a little more - dare I say - direction.

After reading Michael Pollan all through Mongolia, I'm of course energized about food and food politics and agriculture and sustainability &c, but seeing Sunaree in her Peace Corps digs and chatting with her volunteer buddies from the PC and the diff programs Australia has, I'm feeling really drawn to the Peace Corps. I even went to an info session Tuesday night and man did that guy do a good marketing job. Reading through all the brochures I picked up, it just sounds more and more like doing a PC stint would make me use all my favorite things that I've done.

Working indoors attached to a computer for years dulls your memory to the awareness that there was a time when you once did things that meant something to you. That you still do some of these things. But looking through the job requirements for Peace Corps, I've been realizing that wait I Have done a lot of this stuff. I Would actually make a good volunteer. Despite typing emails for a living for years, I actually have other non-computer skills I can use to like make a difference.

I do have two years of French, I already was planning to get 6 months of agricultural experience, I've been composting for over a year, I'm trained up in CPR and First Aid and I've been dying to spend a month in Mexico learning Spanish for ages. I have been a camp counselor. I have worked with deaf kids. I haven't ever tutored for money but I help the sibs out for free on a lot of stuff and I'm not perfect, but I think I do a decent job. And I'm like a decent, capable human being.

I've managed to work a corporate job for three years without becoming evil. Two years? Two years.

Anyway, I'm telling you that I'm hoping to maybe aim for Peace Corps in 2010. Just to make me accountable.

Who knows what I'll do afterwards, but if I can feel this confident after bumming around Asia for three weeks, I could practically be a seer on the mount after farming + Peace Corps. All of this will be hard, but I think it will be hard in the best way.

ps. In case you hadn't noticed, all the travel pics I posted so far were stolen from the internet. Still working on dealing with the three cameras worth of photos I have in various formats. Processing of those will begin tomorrow. Fear not, I will plaster any good ones about as soon as I can. Maybe I'll post more trip specifics as pics become available? How does that sound?