The Realization

So last night I was online until 6:45 AM. And honestly, I wasn't doing what you'd think a teenage boy would be doing when he's online til that time of the morning. I was looking at volunteer opportunities in a bunch of different countries.

I found a website a while back while I was planning my trek to Europe called GoAbroad.com. While I was on there last night, I found the volunteer section of the site which had a handy little search feature. This search feature let you pick a region, an exact country, what kind of work you want to do and how long you want to be there. This made me really excited, as I now know how I'm going to get around Asia and the Middle East in a way that will let me meet the locals instead of just hanging out with the other tourists the entire time.

Sure, it totally throws off my travel plans, unless I happen volunteer some places for just a few weeks, which is kind of pointless to me. I've spent the past two summers working at a YMCA summer camp in Missouri and have realized I love working with kids. One of the downsides to camp is the kids are only there for a week in most cases. This can also be a good thing at times, but it's usually sad because just as you get attached to your kids, they all go back home and you never hear from them again. Maybe they'll send you a package full of candy, but after that, unless you're both at camp again the following page, that's the end. If I'm going to be volunteering somewhere overseas working with kids, I don't want to just start getting attached and saying 'Peace out. It's been awesome.' I'd at least want to be there for a few months.

And while a lot of these programs cost a bit of money, it really isn't much if you do it for the long haul. I could go from New Zealand to Cambodia and volunteer there off money I saved from working in New Zealand. Then I could go down to Australia on a work visa and save up enough money to go to China and work there and then go somewhere else and work until I can afford to volunteer somewhere else. Right now it seems the ideal way to spend the next many years.

Anyone care to join?