www.highlandercenter.org

Ok, so I'd like to end up here eventually. I've been reading up on Appalachian Issues (race/women/education/economics) all day. I'm going to keep on reading. I'm 90% sure I'm going to Peru for a minimum of 6 months after I graduate. The plan is to become fluent in Spanish, come back home, and apply any skills I have to bettering communities and empowering/educating women in areas like these.

That's the plan. As of today. In some way working in a different country is less intimidating than staying in the U.S.

I was in Ramsey yesterday unlocking my bike and a woman came up to me and, in Spanish, asked if I spoke Spanish. I said no, but through a series of smiles, hand gestures, and our bad bilingual skills combines, I helped her buy a round trip ticket to Paterson.

Which is near where I grew up. Which made me think about Peru, which made me think about living in another country for the rest of my life and working. But it's in my backyard. It's in Jersey, New York, The Appalachian Mountains. It's in Ramsey,a place where rich and poor coexist, but one is much less aware of the other.

So I will travel and learn. Explore and grow stronger, but I will come back here. But I've always known that. I knew it in India. I knew it when Balbuena offered me a place to stay. I knew it yesterday.