Bored bored bored bored bored bored.

I wouldn't be bored if I didn't have a job (the American Red Cross thing), or a billion books to read, or a presentation to give on Wednesday morning on how to implement the new Red Cross commuter disaster preparedness initiative in El Paso.

Yours truly is not just heading up the ARC International social services program in El Paso, but is now tasked with getting another program into action before he leaves in August.

I get to network with the local emergency response and management agencies (police, fire, health, etc.) plus the Border Patrol, local Texas National Guard, the El Paso Sun Metro city bus system, and even the Texas Department of Homeland Security. By the end of this, I will know every inch of what happens on the road in the event of a major disaster here and in Juarez, Mexico. Or at least, what is planned to happen.

I'm really enjoying my time at the Red Cross. Crossers are interesting people, usually, but some volunteers are crusty, old, and/or slow. I'm thinking I will stay on and volunteer in Sarasota, and when I get my IHL/IS instructor status, they might even offer me a paid job wherever my parents are (50/50 chance that it could be DC). That would mean something to do for a year or so until I go to grad school.

So, the pieces are falling into place. I've started a Spanish program (a real one, not involving stupid narratives, lame characters, or "immersion" techniques... this one designed by the Foreign Service Institute), and I'm picking it back up rather quickly.

I don't know why I shouldn't be learning Mandarin, seeing as I'm studying Sino-American relations for a thesis, and will probably end up doing the same in grad school and actually working in or about China. But, of course, Latin America is still a happening place in the world, and it is right here in our own backyard.

Besides, the food's better. Salted fish and rice is great, but I like tropical things like whole roasted guinea pig with plantanos.

Anyway.

I need to work on my Spanish.

~Halcyondream~

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