May 24, 2009

I’m back in Seattle after three days on Fox Island. Fox Island? I’d never heard of it either. It’s across a couple of bridges from Tacoma, that other city in Washington. I first heard about FI on a plane trip from Cincinnati to Seattle.

Jill from Fox Island and I were seated next to each other, way in the back of the plane. We talked non-stop for five hours. Well, we talked—and played Trivial Pursuit on the little screen in front of our seats. (The game was great. You play against everyone else on the plane who is playing at the same time. The results are instantly tabulated, so you know, for example, that the guy in 18D is much smarter than you are!) FYI: it was a Boeing 737-800 on Delta. By the time the flight landed, Jill and I were good friends.

Several months later, I stayed in Jill’s house and gave a talk on the island. It happened last week. Almost didn’t. On the way there, my car broke down (a destroyed clutch) on I-5; and after an AAA tow, Jill had to come get me at Walker Subaru in Renton, more than an hour’s drive from FI.

There are around 3,200 people who live on FI—one store, a gas station, a Post Office, and a museum. And lots of beach.

Ralph, Jill’s husband, is a retired pilot (that’s how I know the plane specifications above) and a fabulous cook. He cooked for me and a group of friends soon after I arrived. Over dinner we shared stories and laughed a lot. I just e-mailed my “modest” new friend, Ralph, and asked him to describe the meat we ate. Here is his response:

“The only way to describe the meat. Perfection. You were served the most fantastic BBQ pork baby back ribs ever to be put on the platter. You have to admit the smoke ring had penetrated to a most desired three eighths of an inch into the very tender, but firm, meaty ribs. The other meat was the boneless cut from beef short ribs, as served by the Carnegy Deli. They were prepared with patience and love with tomatoes and an array of spices, baked and taken right up to the char. All grease was separated from the sauce, which was then reunited with the beef and baked to the point of unusual tenderness for this cheap, but flavorful cut of beef. Anyway, I liked it. The pork was prepared on a komado pot over coals and the beef was an indoor project with modern means.”

I have nothing to add. It was great!

The next day Jill and I spent several hours hunting “clay babies” on the beach. I’d never heard of clay babies either. Check out the link. I’ve got a bagful in my car.  I love them.

www.foxisland.net/historical.htm  Click on “What are Clay Babies?”

I also sneaked about 25 mussels into my clay-baby bag and we steamed them for lunch.

There were about 120 people at the talk. A great showing. I talked about my life, the joy of connecting, and my Global Learning Project, which I am planning to work on—full-time—for the next year. Yes, I'm suspending my nomadding for a year!

I believe passionately in the importance of kids’ living, studying, volunteering abroad. In today’s world, where we are all just a click away from anywhere, it’s vital that we have a population that has learned to respect and honor other cultures. I want to help create a population that has learned, across kitchen tables and volleyball courts, that we are all the same. It’s hard to support bombing other countries when we’ve lived among the people. Those foreigners, those strangers are us.

Global Learning is not a program. There are a lot of programs out there. Global Learning  is a movement to popularize the idea that taking a year off after high school to live internationally will benefit the kid, the country, and the world. Many colleges are supporting the idea. Kids who have done a Gap Year are more motivated when they get to college and the dropout rate is dramatically reduced. We’ve got to spread the word.

Check out my new blog:  www.thegapyearsite.blogspot.com

We’re hoping to raise enough money to launch the program—and we need your help. I’m hoping some in the audience at Fox Island will contribute.  (Hi, Fox Islanders. I know you’re reading this!!) And if those of you who are regulars on this site would contribute what you can, we will hopefully raise the $25,000 we need to launch the campaign. We need it as soon as possible. Please help us change the world.

Your contribution is tax-deductible.  Details at:  www.thegapyearsite.blogspot.com

I hope you’ll support the cause and join the campaign.  Thanks.

Best, Rita

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Hello Again,

It’s time, I’ve been saying for the last three weeks, to update the website.  Finally, I’m doing it.

I’m still in Barcelona, but my heart and mind are in the U.S. grappling with the Gap Year project. I’m spending a lot of time on the computer. I’m convinced that the future of the country rests on getting the next generations out there in the world to learn respect, develop understanding, and feel the joy that comes from discovering that we really are all the same. It comes from sitting together at kitchen tables, passing the ball on futbol fields, chopping vegetables, growing rice, and being a part of host families around the world.

There are programs, good ones, but most of them are for the elite. They can be extended and reworked to make them available to everyone. We don’t have to start from scratch. Why not offer many different choices? Everyone who shares the concept should be working together.

One of the problems is that the whole idea of a Gap Year after high school is totally foreign to much of the country. Kids in rural South Carolina, urban slums, and much of middle-America, and well, in most places in the country, just don’t think about spending a year in Thailand or Tanzania or Indonesia. Bosses think it’s irresponsible. Many colleges are afraid that they will lose the kids and the tuition. Parents who have never left the state they were born in are scared to send their 18-year-olds into the dangerous world out there. And kids are programmed to move on to more schooling and jobs without a break. My current mission is to change the thinking.

Some of the best colleges in the country are coming around. Harvard, Princeton, Tufts, and MIT are all encouraging their incoming freshmen to defer their entry and get out there in the world. The schools have discovered that kids who have taken that year abroad are more motivated, focused, and self-assured…and the drop-out rate is significantly lower. It’s something that every kid should have a chance to do, whatever their economic level or academic achievement.

And there is funding. Some that exists already and some that we will dig up. One of my plans is to launch a major PR blitz of the schools, the social networks, the youth organizations so that everyone is curious enough to go to the fabulous teen-oriented website that we will create. It has to have an edgy look and attitude and it has to answer all the questions the kids will have. What programs? How long? Where? How is it possible to afford it if your family has no money? What will it be like (stories from Gap Year alumni)? And it has to answer the parent-questions as well. What kind of training will the kids get? What happens if they get sick, miss their families back home, and more.

Step one is a brainstorming session in DC in June that will include delegates who are already involved in sending people, young and old, to live in homes around the world. And educators and youth organizations and funding experts and government agencies that are interested in setting something up. It’s an idea that the country is ready for. Have a look at this bill that was introduced by Russ Feingold in the Senate less than a month ago. 

Google: S.589 Global Service Fellowship Program Act of 2009 

And read the bill.  And then send a note to your congresspeople asking them to support it.

I’ll be in Colorado, Michigan, and Seattle at the end of April. Then I’m planning to sit still for a year or so (don’t know where), give up nomadding for a while to work on getting that Gap Year mentality established in the U.S. It’s such an amazing experience and it should be available to everyone!!

That’s it for now. I wrote to my listserv people about volunteering to make this happen and my list of volunteers is just past 100 enthusiastic readers who believe as strongly as I do that the kids, the country, and the world will benefit dramatically from our kids extending their education with a Gap Year experience.  Yes, we can make it happen.

Best, Rita

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March 9, 2009

Barcelona, Spain

     Newsflash!

     A Rotary Club in New Delhi has agreed to administer our program to send slum kids who graduate from high school to vocational schools. I just got the e-mail this morning. I'm hoping we can work through a U.S. Rotary group in Minneapolis.The Indian group is on board.

     The funds for this program will come from the royalties from the anthology, "Break Free, Break Rules, Break Bread." And Rotary will add its contribution as well. I'll report the details when I know more.

     Thanks to all you contributors to the book.This will change a lot of lives.

     The book is slated for publication in summer of 2010 (publishing isn't too speedy!) But the first payment will probably come from Random House/Crown this month....1/3 of the money ($55,000) minus fees. That should be enough for this year's graduates if we can get it together in time. I'm very excited!

     I'm working on the Global Learning/Gap Year project too. I will probably be seeking some money from some foundations to hire a full-time coordinator for a few months to get this off the ground.I will ask for enough money to pay the coordinator and fund the beginning steps of the project.

     I'd like to start with a focus group of people who are knowledgeable and experienced in the areas of international exchanges, youth organizations, foundation grants.....and more. Maybe some high-recognition people like Rick Steves and Oprah and Michelle Obama (those three will all be invited). I haven't completely thought it through yet. But it's moving along. A friend is working on a budget.  We will probaby be asking for $25,000 to start it all up.

     I'm thinking that the focus group should take place in DC, sometime in May. I'm open for thoughts on where to meet. A university? An international organization with offices in DC?

    And the big meeting, with hundreds of volunteers, perhaps in September. Any ideas of a camp or retreat center that would work for the big meeting? Do let me know .  I'm open to suggestions.

That's all for now.                                  Best, Rita

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March 6, 2009

Barcelona, Spain  (my new favorite city)

Hi,

     I’m sitting in my apartment here listening to the wind whistle outside and watching the leaves on my patio plants dance, violently. It’s actually pretty warm out there; the sun is shining and the sky is blue, but something must be on the way. Or maybe Barcelona is always windy. Or maybe this apartment on the fifth floor is always windy.

     Actually, the apartment is wonderfully located and very comfortable, but I still haven’t figured things out yet. My shower doesn’t want to let me luxuriously bathe with hot water; it’s more like a trickle of warm. Definitely better than bathing with orangutans in a crocodile-river in Borneo, but not what I expected in Spain. One of the reasons I’m in Europe is that, at 71, I’m not too keen on crocodile rivers in Borneo any more.

     And my telephone keeps playing a little four-note tune. Corinne (the person I’m renting from) says it means the phone is charging; but it has been sitting snuggly in its little stand for 24 hours. It can’t still be charging. I think that song means there are messages, but there is no answering machine and no number to call to get messages. Ah, life’s little mysteries.

     Then two days ago, for no reason, my internet connection (cable) went down. That has happened to me before (actually in Atlanta) and I had to unplug the modem and then turn it back on. It was fairly easy when the Comcast guy was at the other end of the phone; I could probably do it again. There’s just one little problem. The modem is inside a locked room out of which, under the door, snakes the cable that I use.

UPDATE: It’s the next day and while I slept,

The Internet crept back into my computer.

Hooray, I’m in business again!

     I’m working hard on two projects. The first one is trying to find organizations in New Delhi that are involved in helping with the education of the poor (see an earlier entry about where the money is coming from). I need to partner with a U.S. tax-exempt organization with a presence in India to administer a program that will send high school graduates from the slums (there aren’t that many) to vocational school. I have the money; I need an on-location administering group that is a 501c3, tax-deductible organization in the U.S. I have set up The Golden Fund, a donor-assisted, tax-deductible fund to park the money (it’s coming from an anthology I just produced. The book contract is being written to the fund. It’s slated for June of 2010 publication. The first third of $55,000 minus agent fee, should be in soon.)

     I’m up for any contacts or suggestions. I’ve written to a couple of Rotary people in New Delhi but haven’t heard back yet. Rotary would be good because I think it would open the doors to Rotary Clubs in the U.S. for promotion. There are several other organizations that I will be writing to this week.

     The other program I’m thinking hard about is my Global Learning idea. I’m hoping to create a movement in the US, in all the high schools, to send kids abroad for a year or so after high school. I just sent out my latest thoughts on the subject to everyone on my listserve. If you’d like to receive the still-in-the-works proposal, let me know and I’ll send it to you.

     I’m wide open to your ideas and contacts and I’m happy to add you to the volunteer list. I’m hoping to put together a big group of people over Memorial Day weekend (three months from now), somewhere in the U.S., to work on the feasibility and facts of making it happen.  If you have any ideas of a retreat center or summer camp where we can meet, please let me know.

     If you happen to be a foundation, I’d love to talk about some seed money for that meeting at the end of May. The Golden Fund could receive money specifically designated for Global Learning. It’s still in the process of getting authorized under a larger foundation. I’ll post the details of how to donate when I have them.

     I’m thinking of organizing the meeting with the structure of a “charrette.” Look up “charrette” in Wikipedia and read the part about community organization. I’m also collecting names of people who want to participate.

     Oh, and before I check out, if you are interested in some French cooking classes, maximum four students at a session (three full days of shopping, chopping, cooking, and chomping) with my charming, funny, professionally-trained chef and friend, Lars, in Nantes, France, probably in September, send a note to Nirin_Lars@hotmail.com.  They will send you the information you need. I convinced Lars to give the classes for all those people who have written me for suggestions on how they might “step out of the box.” This would be a great, safe, and fun way. There’s even a possibility that I might drop in.

                                Thanks for stopping by, Rita

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February 2, 2009

Barcelona, Spain

My five days in VaughanTown finished up on the 30th and I took a sleeper train to Barcelona . This city is gorgeous, an intriguing mix of modern and ancient. I love it. On day one I took the get-on get-off bus all over the city….for an overview. I’ll be back after a two-week trip to France, and I’ll make my way through some great museums (Picasso, Miro, Dali, anthropology, history, maritime, and more. There’s even an erotic museum which I might pass on!) It might be the most beautiful and interesting city I’ve ever been in. And I’ve barely touched the surface.

One quick announcement especially to those of you who have stories in the collaborative anthology that will benefit slum kids in India who manage to graduate from high school:  we have finally sold the book…..to Random House/Crown (the same people who published NOMAD) for an advance of $55,000. That’s a lot of kids who will be funded through vocational schools!! A year in a computer hardware program costs less than $800….and it changes life for a young man and his entire family. I’m very excited. (There might be some women, but I doubt that many will apply. It will, of course, be open to all.)

VaughanTown

I know that many of you are waiting to hear about VaughanTown. It was a lot of fun, though not altogether what I had anticipated.

First, the fun part, which more than made up for the couple of disappointments. We were 19 Anglos and fifteen Spaniards….everyone warm and friendly and eager to get to know each other. The group from Spain were all students in a ten-month intensive program to learn English; it’s called the Masters. They usually have five classroom hours a day…and five homework hours. That’s ten hours of studying every day….more time than I’ve ever put into learning anything. The results are fantastic. They are all speaking and understanding just about everything. And they have six more months to go! The course, for them or their families, or (in this group not too many) their businesses, costs 17,000 Euros, more than $20,000.  They participate in four, five-day immersion programs with us English speakers, talking non-stop. Their dedication is incredible……and their spirit is too. I have never laughed so much.

The week with us Anglos is non-stop talking and listening….from nine in the morning until after dinner (served at 9 PM). The program is tightly organized with a new one-on-one partner every hour…for six hours of the day. There is a break from around three to five. And there are lots of group meetings too……games, skits, presentations, challenges. Dade and Carmen, the two facilitators were great.  Everything went smoothly and with a light, creative spin on all the programs. I felt inspired by the young people and there were tons of hugs when we left and lots of e-mails today. All in all a great experience.

The disappointments. The online website (www.VaughanTown.com) and the newsletter promised a country setting, free internet in the room, a pool, a spa, professional and business people as our Spanish counterparts, and terrific food.

At the last minute, the setting was switched to Salamanca; a beautiful town, but definitely not country. I thought I was going to be in a country village and instead it all took place in a hotel (we also walked around the town while talking).  There was no free internet in the rooms and the hotel was asking an astronomical price to give it to us; no spa or pool either. The food was adequate, but certainly not terrific. And instead of business and professional people, our Spanish counterparts were students in what they call a “masters program,” many of them just out of college. I did love them…they were funny, creative, driven to learn and to get what they could out of the experience, and great to hang around with; but next time I’d like to experience the more mature crowd of doctors, government officials, business men and women that subscibe to the five-day program only.

I did have a terrific time, but, as I said, there were those switches. I'm addicted to the internet and I needed it in my room!

As I said, the job of the Anglos was to talk, mostly one-on-one (scheduled), and participate in whatever other activities were scheduled. Breakfast was at 9, there were six hour-long one-on-one’s in the day. There were times for presentations, games, discussions…all designed to immerse the students in English. Everyone worked hard.  And many drank hard at night (dinner was from 9 to around 10:30) in the nearby bars. I would do it again, and may before I leave Spain. Dade and Carmen, the people who ran the program, were terrific and very good at their jobs…warm, caring, funny, and exquisitely organized. The program ran seamlessly.

The Anglo participants were mostly from the UK, a number of ex-pats living in Spain, another nomad (male) like me, and several who had done numerous weeks with the program. As I said, I would do it again, happily; but next time I hope to do it with a professional and business-people group, just for some contrast. www.vaughantown.com

I did discover that there is a competitive program that is similar, set up by a former partner of Richard Vaughan. If you are interested, you might want to check that one too.  www.puebloingles.com  I’ve heard good things about them too, and I am expecting a report next week from a friend who is there now.

I do recommend the experience. I’m glad I did it. I met some wonderful people, both Spaniards and Anglos.

I fly to France to visit Lars and Nirin tomorrow, the 3rd and I’ll be back in Barcelona on the 17th.  I still don’t know if I’ll stay in Barcelona or travel around Spain. I’m thinking of staying, but I haven’t made up my mind.

That’s it for today.

Best, Rita

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January 25, 2009

I'm in Madrid...jet lagging (it's the middle of the night). I thought I slept it off yesterday, but I guess not.

Tonight was a tapas reception given by the folks at VaughanTown to the new crop of English speakers (see Dec. 17th below). We get on a bus tomorrow morning for the three-hour trip to Salamanca, their newest venue.

I do have to say that DC was amazing last week. I got to the concert on Sunday, and it was thrilling. I've never been a part of so many truly happy people, all of us reaching out to whomever was standing within touching or hugging distance.

I was staying in VA and decided not to venture the closed bridges, the shut-down metro stations, and the long walk to the mall. I had a wonderful alternative.  A house party with about thirty activist Virginia pols, most of them together since they worked in the civil rights movement back in the 60's.

The excitement and tears and cheers were fantastic. I felt honored to be a part of them (my friend, Susan, who has been a friend since we were kids in Bridgeport, CT, was my connection.) The biggest cheer went up when the wheels on the helicopter lifted off the ground.

I conclude with an e-mail I received from Wendi Rosenstein. From now on, no more looking back. With all the problems Obama has inherited, I have faith that the future will be something I can be proud of. I have never felt so great about being an American!!  

Dear World:

We, the United States of America , your top supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

The United States of America

I'll be back when I finish up in VaughanTown.      

Best, Rita

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December 29, 2008

Well, the year is almost gone. I'm still in Seattle.......working on two kids' books that I hope to carry to NY when I leave here on the 6th. It's fun to be writing a kids' book again.

In a few minutes I'm going to get back into the little world I'm writing about where the characters eat "beetles and bees and bugs and slugs." Yummm. But before I do, I just want to send you to an op ed piece from today's NY Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/opinion/30herbert.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

It's pretty powerful....lest we forget.

Happy New Year.                    Love, Rita

PS  I just got an e-mail forwarding me this article from the Washington Post. It is one of the most moving pieces of feature journalism I have ever read.  Save it for when you have about half an hour to savor it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

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December 19, 2008

The snow came to Seattle yesterday. I never left the house.  But today I ventured out, and we have about six inches of snow on top of some serious ice. I could barely walk (found a ski pole and that helped). I cleaned the car hoping to drive to the post office with a package for Cris......but I looked down my hill and decided I'd never make it back up.

Couldn't even get the car up my driveway-hill (Before they left for Phoenix yesterday, Jan and Bill opened a space in the garage, but I started to skid halfway up), so the car is back on the street, somewhat clean of snow. Given the ice under the driveway snow, that car is probably going to live on the street for the rest of my time in Seattle (until January 6th).  Not a plow or a shoveler in sight. It's beautiful....just not all that practical if you have to go places.  Even Roxy wasn't much interested in running around. I tried to get her to play, but she just wanted to sit in the car with me while it and we got warmed up. Kids are sledding, tubing, and sliding down my hill. It rarely snows this much in Seattle and they are very happy. There are almost no cars on the road.

Maybe I'll get some work done.   rg

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December 17, 2008

I made it to Seattle. Now I'm working on a new listserve letter, opening months of mail from my post office box here (most of it requests for donations), and before I leave Seattle on January 6th when I'll be flying east for two weeks (including January 20th in Washington, DC!! Hooray!!), I hope to finish a new kids' book to bring to NY. (I hope you took a deep breath before you read that last sentence.)

I fly to Spain on January 22nd.

If you are an extrovert, like talking, and haven't checked out Vaughan Town in Spain, do it now. I plan to be there the week of January 25th and probably for a second week at some point. I'll be in Spain for three months and they have new programs every week. Today I got the Vaughan Town Newsletter telling me what to expect.  Check out the newsletter, but first go to their site for on overview of what they're all about.   www.vaughantown.com   

Don't know why that didn't turn blue, but do go there first for an overall look at the program and pictures of the places; then go to the site below for details of the program.

http://www.vaughantown.com/english/newsletter3.pdf

They even sent me the e-mails of the other English-speaking guests. It really sounds like fun....and work. I can't wait. I speak some Spanish, but none is permitted on the site.

While I'm in Spain, I'm planning to fly to Nantes to visit Lars and Nirin in France (they are in the book!) and maybe to Frankfurt to visit an international school....if they want me and are willing to pay travel expenses. I'd like to visit a couple of international schools in Spain as well, but I haven't gotten around to writing to them yet. If any of you have contacts at English-medium schools in Spain, write me. I'd love some leads.

OK.  On to wrapping Christmas gifts, writing that listserve letter, and then visiting Chloe, my friend Heidi's new baby. It's freezing cold here and snow is predicted. I love snow; so bring it on!

                                     Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy New Year

                                                      Happy Kwanza and Solstice too.

                                                                     Love, Rita

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December 3, 2008

I'm in the process of closing up shop in Atlanta where I rented an apartment next to my son and grandson for three months. One minute it was unfurnished....then the rental stuff arrived. Couch, bed, tables, chairs, lamps, chest and all the other stuff a person needs, like blankets, sheets, towels, shower curtain, dishes, pots and pans, dish towels, silverware....it was amazing. I got it all in one place (Aaron's), one package...and on the 11th, it all goes back. I fly to Seattle on the 12th. 

I'm still meeting readers wherever I go........and I love it. My world is constantly expanding. I'm so glad I included my e-mail in the book.

In Seattle I'll have some time with my daughter, take charge of grand-dog Roxy over Christmas, and on Jan. 6th I'll fly to NY, CT, MD, and DC. I'll also visit several elementary schools when I'm in Washington state.

I'm working on a couple of kids-book projects. I'm hoping they will be finished by the time I leave Seattle. I'll be happy to let you know when the books are settled into a publisher.

Then, finally, I'll be headed out of the US again. For Spain. My first week will be spent in Vaughan Town.  The Vaughan Town people have two country villages in Spain where only English may be spoken!!!  Spanish professionals and business people pay a lot of money to go there for English immersion! Like all the other foreign English-speaking guests, I have to get myself to Madrid.....then I will be picked up and delivered to a four-star hotel and fed three meals a day.  My job?  To talk English.  Several readers wrote me about the program and I couldn't resist. Google:  Vaughan Town.

I'll hang out in Spain for three months. I'm open to house-sitting opportunities there....and up for any invitations that might come my way. At the moment I'm writing to some international schools to see about teaching visits. And I hope to do some Servas visits as well (www.usservas.org).

I'm also planning to visit Lars and Nirin in Nantes, France. They're my friends, a chef and a doctor, who gave me that wonderful birthday dinner in Seattle. And there's a possibility of a visit to the international school in Frankfort, Germany.

I'm back on the trail of the collaborative story/cookbook. It's sitting on someone's desk at Crown/Random House.  When I know more, I'll write more.

Hmmm.  During the campaign it was much easier to fill this space with interesting stuff. I'll be back again when I have something else to say.

I plan to be in DC with politically active friends for the inauguration. I know Obama is going to call on us all to participate in a very active way in his administration. I'm waiting for the call and I'm very willing to help. We're a country in a lot of trouble!

After the last listserve letter one of my enthusiastic readers, Tiurlan Sitompul, wrote to say he wished I had set something up where readers could talk to each other. I told him I wasn't up to it, but then he volunteered. He has just started an interactive blog for those of you who want to share stories and "talk" to each other. If it interests you, send him a note.

                                                      talesoftravel@yahoogroups.com

Happy Holidays.                Love, Rita

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I posted this on October 1, 2008. Peru and Mexico were my last out-of-the-country trips.

OK. It's time to talk a bit about my summer trip to Peru.

.

Peru was wonderful. There were six of us in the forest village of Pamashto, helping to build a lunch room in the school, working alongside parents, teachers, even the principal, whom we all loved.  Preparing holes, cutting wires, twisting them around rebar posts (those tall iron posts that reinforce the cement)), carting cement, pouring it, and more.  

The village was in the forest, in the northeast mountains of Peru. Waterfalls, rivers, trees, fields of corn and beans and oranges, but mostly trees. There were moments when I would stand on a hill and look out at the mountains, at a sky that was bluer than any I had ever seen and clouds that were puffier and whiter. And the night sky was breathtaking. That “I’m-so-lucky-to-be-here” emotion surged through me throughout most of our one-week visit.

Each of us lived with a family, and we all felt blessed, both guests and families. There were hugs and tears when we left.

I turned 71 during our visit and I definitely felt my age. I’d spent most of the last year in the Seattle area and hadn’t taken on any physical challenges. I did discuss this with the Global Citizens Network (www.globalcitizens.org), the people who sponsored our volunteer trip (and lots more all over the world. Check them out and pick a trip. It was great!)

Before I signed up, I was worried that I might not be up to the physical labor. They assured me that I could work at my pace and capacity.  I did. I wasn’t up to shoveling cement or digging pits or carting pails up ladders. I cut wires, twisted them, watered cement pillars, taught an English class.  But I definitely didn’t contribute one/sixth of the work. (It’s not fun to face the facts of aging…and I was disappointed in my weakness. The group was understanding. It was my problem, not theirs.)

When our trip was over, we spent a couple of days in Lima. We all went para-gliding off a cliff, over the ocean. It was awesome!!! I loved feeling like a bird and I’d go up every day if I could. It was tandem....which made me a passenger. All I had to do was fly!!

And then we all went in different directions.

I spent ten more days hanging around Peru…I visited the northern coast and stayed with Maribel’s family in Chiclayo. Mari is a nurse whom I had met in the village (when I met her she was helping to start a library in Pamashto). We had time to visit some fascinating ruins….uncovered in archeological digs. Peru is loaded with fascinating ruins. (I didn’t go to Machu Pichu. I decided that I wasn’t up to summer crowds.)

Finally I spent four days with two wonderful Servas families (www.servas.org) in Lima. 

After Peru, I took off for Mexico to spend a couple of weeks with my grandson, Cris, his mom, Melissa, and two friends of mine, Renee Nicolo (her son, Daniel, was working as a “manny” for Cris) and Billie Letts (author of “Where the Heart Is”) who just finished a book tour for her latest, “Made in the USA”). I met Renee when I was hanging out in Reliance, Tennessee; and I met Billie, Renee’s friend, when we got together in Mexico. We all had a great time in Todos Santos, Baja Sur.

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September 13, 2008

Telluride and Ridgway, Colorado, were gorgeous; and my talks (four to kids, two to adults) went well.

It snowed in the distant mountains, first of the season. Yesterday morning the sky was blue, the clouds were glowingly white, the trees were still green, and the distant mountains matched the clouds. Absolutely spectacular.

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From my August 30th entry:

I apologize to all of you whose e-mails have been sitting in my Inbox for a few months. I intend to answer you all....don't despair or disappear!!     

The story/cookbook has not been abandoned. There's a new proposal (thanks to Maria who assembled it while I was in Peru) on my agent's desk. Hopefully she will do something with it.

Love, Rita

(I didn't do anything with my computer when I was in Mexico and Peru....thus the huge gap in entries.)

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June, 2008

I'm still in Reliance, Tennessee...for another nine days. Then I'll be in Texas until I go to Peru. My niece lives in Houston, and my brother and sister-in-law have just moved down.

Yesterday I made balloon animals at the Athens' Fisher Library Festival- launching the kids' summer reading program. We went through more than 300 balloons! Hats and dogs. I decided not to make swords, which can turn a peaceful event into dozens of sword fights. Balloon-swords don’t hurt anyone, but they are symbolic.

It's easy to learn to make balloon animals; there are books and online lessons too. I learned how to do it when I was at clown school in Minnesota several years ago. You can order balloons (260's) and a pump online. Go for it. It’s a fun skill to have.

I’ll be going to Peru on the 27th, and I'm trying to figure out how I can limit my Peruvian baggage to one large book bag. While I was in Athens yesterday, I bought a maroon duvet cover at Goodwill, and today I cut it in half and turned it into a lightweight sleeping bag with the help of my friend Renee and her sewing machine. I also bought a thin towel, the well-worn kind most people give away, to add to my travel pack. Three pair of pants, five tops, a sweatshirt, a flashlight, a small toiletries bag, sandals, sneakers, a cap, and hopefully not much more. I'm just starting to think about what to take. Traveling is so much easier if you don't have to carry a lot of stuff.

Tarapoto, Peru, is in the mountains and I promised myself that I would walk and get in shape before I left. But once again, I am failing in the physical fitness department. This time I'm using the weather as my excuse. It's very hot here in Tennessee and I don’t feel like exercising.

My garden isn't doing very well either. It's sort of a grass forest at this point. I'm too lazy and it’s too hot to weed.

Last night I wrote to Maria in Mexico and she is having a go at shortening the proposal for the collaborative story/cookbook so we can sent it out again.

That's all for now.  More later. Thanks for coming by.

Rita

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

I have another three weeks and then I’m off again…to Texas. For now, I’m loving Tennessee and all my new friends here. And the trees and the birds and the river and the garden, all pretty much in my backyard.

The peas and beans are more than six inches tall; I have to get out there and string up something for them to climb. The corn is nearly to my knees. And there are tomatoes on the four big plants (the smaller plants aren’t doing anything). And the millions of tiny lettuces are almost ready to be thinned. The last garden I planted was in Massachusetts more than forty years ago and we couldn’t even put the seeds in until after Memorial Day. Yesterday I went out to visit the garden and a rabbit hopped away! Not a good sign.

A few miles from my house here in Reliance, Tennessee, is a Mennonite community. They have a farm market where they sell wonderful vegetables which they grow and I’ve been going there since I arrived. The people who work in the market are all men from the community, bearded and clothed in dark colors. I’ve never seen a woman except occasionally in horse-drawn buggies on their way to town. Then, last week, I was walking on a beautiful trail along Gee Creek when I stopped to rest near a small waterfall. After about ten minutes, six beautiful women in long blue dresses and white caps were walking toward me. It was a scene that could have been out of a fairy tale. A mother, four daughters, and a friend. The five girls were all under twenty two.

We talked for about fifteen minutes and I asked them if outsiders were permitted to visit the community. They said yes and we made a date. A few days ago I visited Michelle’s house. She and three of her five brothers spent an hour or so chatting with me. They live without electricity or phones or machines of any sort.

There was a ton of laundry in their yard, literally hundreds of shirts, pants, and dresses all strung up on multiple clothes lines. I asked if they did all that laundry by hand and they said no; they do it with horse-power; horses turn the paddles that wash the clothes in a huge tub!!  They could teach us a lot about living naturally in a world that is choking with pollution and going to war over oil. I plan to go back next week to learn more; Michelle promised me a buggy ride around the community.

Yesterday I had lunch with Rozetta Mowery whose book I was given when I arrived here in Tennessee. Her memoir (TRAGEDY IN TIN CAN HOLLER) is absolutely horrifying. Her grandmother was a beautiful serial killer who lured men into her home and killed them. Grandma Grace also had babies she didn’t want, so she chopped them up and fed them to the hogs. Rozetta’s father battered her mother to death. And Rozetta and five siblings were shipped off to a home for children that placed them in foster homes, some of them homes from hell. All of Rozetta’s siblings experienced abuse in their marriages, and a number of their children are carrying on the tradition. Rozetta is now in her fifties, beautiful, charming, and not the least bit crazy, which amazes me. She does a lot of speaking; her mission is to tell the world her story and to educate people about abuse and its consequences….child, spousal, elderly….even animal abuse.

Her website is:  www.tragedyintincanholler.com

PS There are about 12 migrating goldfinches crunching seeds on my porch at this moment. They’re actually flying around kicking each other off the perches. The goldfinches all take off when the red-winged blackbirds come along. They’re a lot bigger and more aggressive.

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Reliance, Tennessee

OK, OK. It’s time to talk about southeastern Tennessee where I have been for the past three weeks. (I’ve had two letters in the last couple of days asking me if I’m all right. Yes, I’m fine. Just having too much fun to write.)

Reliance is in the Cherokee National Forest on the Hiwassee River. It’s beautiful. Spring is exploding in these here mountains: newborn leaves, blossoming red-bud trees, white and pink dogwoods, lots yellow and purple flowers along the roads, gorgeous rivers, and warm sunny days.

Two days ago I filled the bird feeders and yellow, blue, red, black and white, and other not-so-colorful birds are constantly chirping and eating outside my living room windows. Only two hummingbirds have discovered the sugar-water, but I’m hoping they’ll tell their friends.

The cabin I’m in belongs to Rebekah Williams Cessna, a friend whom I stayed with in India a few years ago. She’s from here, and I used to tell her I’d love to get to know Appalachia. She wrote a few months ago and invited me to hang out in Reliance for a while. She’ll be here in two weeks. Her father, my new friend, Baptist preacher Jimmy Williams and his friend, Martha, took me for a drive along the Tellico River a week ago….waterfalls, rapids, fly fishermen, a trout hatchery, all tucked into mountains that are turning greener by the minute. It was spectacular.

My first community event, just a few days after my arrival, was a graduation ceremony at Miracle Lake, a rehab center that focuses on helping newly released prisoners to accept Jesus in their lives. The celebration and ceremony were deeply moving. The three graduates gave “testimony” to the dramatic change in their outlook on life and their new hope for the future. The parents, grandparents, kids, siblings, and friends of the three graduates spoke, and we all cried. Then there was more than an hour of fabulous Gospel singing….groups, soloists (including my friend, Jimmy), and those of us in the pews. It was a joyous evening. I love singing.

A week ago I delivered four of Rebekah’s antique quilts to the committee preparing a show at the Appalachian Heritage Museum in Athens. Rebekah is a collector and there are dozens of quilts in this house. I spent more than an hour at the museum learning about quilts from real quilters. I have a lot to learn, not only about quilts, but about faith and food and family values.

I’ve scheduled a couple of talks and school visits, thanks to Marilyn Joiner (a reader who e-mailed me when she discovered two months ago that I was headed her way) and Renee Nicolo, who runs a Young Authors’ Conference for local kids. I’m too late to be a visiting author at the conference, but I will be going as a guest.

Both Marilyn and Renee have been introducing me to local events and culture. I played Bunco for the first time the other afternoon in the Senior Center of Athens; I had breakfast at a local hangout; participated in two book club discussions in Knoxville and another at the library in Athens; I visited an amazing used-book store (McKays) in Athens). I’ve also been to two schools and am scheduled to talk in two more…first, second, third, and fifth grades. And I have two adult talks set up in May: the Etowah Arts Commission on the 15th at seven PM, and the Athens’ Fischer Library at one PM on the 20th.

And that’s not all. I’ve been busy. Rebekah’s brother-in-law plowed and planted a garden in my yard that will ripen when they are here over the summer. Corn, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers. I’m planning to add spinach and lettuce and peas. I’ve been to church, shopped at Piggly Wiggly, gotten a membership card to Bi-Lo, and had family and new friends over for dinner several times.

Everyone I’ve met has been welcoming and warm. I get my e-mail down the road about a mile at the Fly and Tackle store. I can sit in my car and use their unsecured wireless. Jerry (most people pronounce it Jury) and Sharon, the owners, are another part of my education. Yesterday, I spent more than an hour in the store, talking, answering e-mails, listening to the fly-fishing guys in those rubber pants that go all the way to their chests. They buy lures, eat lunch (I had a hamburger), and pile up on bags and bags of chips. Jerry says mornings people buy stuff for fishing, mid-day, they buy lunch, and late in the day, it’s beer. (No liquor or wine in this county.)

My next door neighbor, Dane Law, leads fly-fishing trips in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia. In the winter he guides groups in Pategonia, where it's summer. (www.southeasternanglers.com.

The other two neighbors that I’ve met aren’t technically local, they’re weekend- summer people from Chattanooga and Knoxville. And there’s a family across the street that I haven’t met from Atlanta, two-and-a-half hours away. The good news about the Atlanta family is that there are kids and they have two swings in their yard. Rebekah’s niece, Andie, has seven-year-old triplets, cute, smart red-headed boys who love that tire swing.

I knew when I chose to hang out here that I would be meeting lots of people whose views about the world we live in would differ from mine. That was one of the reasons I decided to come to Appalachia. I'm here to learn about a culture within a culture, not teach or get upset, but to learn. A sort of personal challenge. So far I’ve been able to listen and learn about other people's beliefs regarding faith, politics, patriotism, the War, immigration, states’ rights and lots of other things.I'm determined to bring the same "participant-observer" role here as I do when I'm in other countries. The questions I'm asking myself are: How do we develop our beliefs? What is it in our environment and upbringing and life-choices that determine our belief system? Does it ever make sense to think we have the only answer?

I'm enjoying the language and the sounds of Tennessee. My friend, Martha, says she likes to listen to me talk because of my accent. And I’m having fun with the local accent as well. The biggest difference is the long “i.” It’s “ah”  as in  naht,  or simple “ah” as in “I.”  Nahse, kahnd, Hah. One of these days ah’ll sit down with a friend and make a long list to put here. Ah’ll include some phrases too. Rebekah sent me the following a couple of months ago:

"You'ns" means You all and "Y'oun" means You in the singular. You might could get by with Y'all too as they have gotten used to that. Reckon and Yonder are not archaic there and "Tendin To" means Taking care of. As in "I reckon you'n is tendin to your grandbaby, then?" They are also extremely polite most of the time.

I’ll try to add to the list next week..

OK. Enough for today.    rg

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A special request if you are planning to e-mail me:  please put your city or country in the subject line. That way I can write to you when I'm in the area and perhaps we can have coffee. I've met some great readers along the way and I love the contact.

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Oh, and I have to tell anyone who wants to know, that I recently had a computer tech guy, Stan, over to help me with a couple of problems, and he convinced me that I should gradually wean my e-mailers off Hotmail and back to my webmail address (femalenomad@ritagoldengelman.com).  It’s the address that is in the book but I haven’t been able to access it for several years.  The Hotmail address is the one that has been on my website and most writers go to my website, get the new address, and write to me at Hotmail.  

While Stan was doing what tech people do to make things happen, he reactivated the above address, and 546 e-mails, which I never received, popped up, all of them written during the last year. (I guess they save them for a year.) If you are one of those people whom I never answered, I’m sorry. I wonder how many others were written in the years before that, when I couldn’t get to those either.

I’m going to try to answer them all….. but it won’t happen in a day. I apologize if you are one of the unanswered readers….but if I didn’t answer you, you probably aren’t reading this. If you are one of the ones from previous years, please write again….your earlier e-mail is floating somewhere in cyberspace, never to be read.

And for those of you who are using my Hotmail address……I will get your e-mails. Stan has had those letters “aliased” to my webmail account (don’t know if I’m using the word correctly)…..but it will be more direct if you write to me from now on at:  femalenomad@ritagoldengelman.com.

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For people looking for ways to live and work in another country

Have a look at the website, www.TransitionsAbroad.com. There’s stuff on teaching English, on cultural trips, on other jobs, and tons more. 

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Attention:  Book clubs

If you are part of a book club…..I hope you will suggest NOMAD as a choice…….and tell other book clubs how the discussion went. It’s usually a pretty lively evening.    E-mail and if I can, I'll "visit" your meeting on speaker-phone.  
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Click here for some suggestions for topics to discuss.

At this point, book clubs are the answer to keeping the book in print, so any help is appreciated.

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Some interesting links:

As part of my new PR mode, I am inviting fellow writers with websites to exchange links. Here are the first five.

This is commercial but interesting and a fit with my passion about "connecting." Maura Cassidy has created cards with questions for family people to ask each other. I see it as especially useful if there are teen agers in the house. www.goaskanyone.com

Kelly Hayes-Raitt has shelved her political career to travel to countries that have difficult relations with the US.  Her blog, www.PeacePATHFoundation.org, carries her personal stories of the people she's met in pre- and post-invasion Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, and more.  She intends to travel to North Korea, Nigeria and Iran soon, putting a human face on US foreign policies.

Heather Hapeta is another passionate nomad. She ran away from her New Zealand home when she was fifty. She then reinvented herself as a freelance writer and wrote, Naked in Budapest. You have to buy it from her directly.

www.kiwitravelwriter.com

Beth Whitman is a veteran traveler. She has motorcycled, climbed, and wandered all over the world. Her book, Wanderlust and Lipstick, has some great advice for women who want to travel alone.: www.WanderlustAndLipstick.com  Her travel blog at the Seattle PI: :http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/travel

Meg Noble Peterson has traveled off the beaten track for the past twenty-five years. In her memoir, Madam, Have You Ever Really Been Happy? An Intimate Journey Through Africa and Asia, she writes about her first solo backpacking trip around the world--across four continents and twelve countries--from Cairo to contentious apartheid South Africa, to India, to the Himalayas. Approaching sixty, the newly divorced mother of five grown children takes off, armed with an open ticket, a backpack, a camera, and empty journals. www.megnoblepeterson.com

  (Watch for more.  rg)

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Promoting NOMAD

I’m trying promote TALES OF A FEMALE NOMAD to keep it alive.

If you are part of an organization that has a budget for speakers, I’d be happy to come and talk.

I do get a fee and travel expenses, unless you are a small book club and I happen to be around the corner.

Know any Women’s Study programs at universities or Rotary Clubs or travel organizations or AAUW meetings or Wild Women groups, or even not-so-wild women's groups? Whatever. If they have a budget for speakers, I’m up for the trip and the talk…and when I’m in town, I’ll throw in some free visits to classrooms to talk about and read some of my kids’ books. Second grade is my favorite age group.

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Calling all Nomads

I’m still looking for other long-term nomads so I can pitch talk-show hosts for a program on an “alternative” way to live. Nomad candidates should have already spent a few years "nomadding." They can’t have a home

somewhere….or lots of stuff in storage. If this show is to have an impact, we all have to be committed to the nomad way of life. I suspect we’d all probably have to do a short home video so the producers know what they're getting. I'm hoping to get to this after the cookbook is ready.

What's driving me is that I have lots of letters from people who say they read the nomad book and felt inspired to revisit their own dreams. Some took off….and they've "never been so happy."  Most of them are not nomads, but they have discovered that there is more to life than living it in a box. I’d like to reach millions . There is such joy in connecting!!!

I've also had a lot of mail from current and former Peace Corps volunteers.........and I just want to pass on the news to you alumni that a friend of mine, Jane Albritton, is working on a book about the first 50 years of the Peace Corps. If you think you might have something to contribute, check the website, www.PeaceCorpsat50.com.    

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Attention AAUW Book club members

I learned recently that AAUW recommends a monthly book to its Adelante book clubs. If you're a member, and if you think NOMAD would be a good choice for your club, I'd appreciate your recommending it. Apparently it's too late to get into the 2008 list.....but I'd take 2009! Thanks. Here's how to do it:

Download the ¡Adelante! recommendation sheet and fill it in.

The copyright date of Tales of a Female Nomad is 2001.

ISBN 0-609-80954-7

Publisher--- Three Rivers Press/Random House

Audience--- Adults

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