Pack, Get on Plane, Go

I like a plan.  I need a plan.  I always have a plan.  The plan changes frequently.  I thoroughly enjoy when it does.  It means something better, more exciting, even tastier has come along.  But there is still a plan, just a new, more excellent plan.

I am nervous about my move to Papua New Guinea because my plan includes very little:  pack, get on  plane,  go.  I have no idea what to expect - either personally or professionally.  Reading and researching only gets a person so far.  There is only a small amount of information (repeated by many, many sources) about the life of an expatriate in the city of Port Moresby.  What little I know about the school comes solely from the principal and it's limited website.  I am diving deep into a life of unknown.  I know I need to buy a car; not having done this in my native country, how I will accomplish it in a foreign one, I do not know.  I know I will have a furnished home provided to me; what it's like, I have very little idea.  I know as a woman in an under developed country I will loose many of the daily freedoms I take for granted; how this will effect me personally, I can not even begin to fathom.  I am afraid no amount of research will be able to prepare me for my new home and my new life.  This both excites me and frightens me.

I am not one to step outside of my comfort zone without good reason - and a push.  I like to know where I am and who I am with.  I stayed in St Augustine after college because I already knew I loved it there; there was no reason to chance not loving another city or town.  I held out for a job at the elementary school where I did my internship and in the process turned down what could have been potentially wonderful working situations.  Why start at a new school when I already knew how this one operated and enjoyed the people who made it do so?  The need to be forced out of my comfort zone probably seems odd being paired with my love of travel.  I have learned to force myself out of my comfort zone in order to fuel my love of exploration - reading about adventure in books is not nearly as exciting as partaking in it first hand.

I bought my ticket to Europe less than three weeks before I flew, despite having planned and talked about my trip for nearly my entire first year of teaching.  Even after finding my "Travel Feet" in Europe, I still needed a reason to push myself to try new things and go to new places.  I had to tell everyone I knew that I had applied to teach internationally in order to force myself to do it.  I told three people I quit my job in Florida before I actually had the guts to pick up the phone and do it.  I have learned that the most effective way to force myself to do something that falls outside of my comfort zone is to ensure that I will be completely and utterly humiliated if I do not do whatever it is (generally by making public my desire to attempt whatever it may be).

My best memories, my most exciting experiences, the moments when I have grown the most can all be traced back to times when I have forced myself outside of my comfort zone and made myself change the plan drastically.  Like when I convinced my sister we were completely capable of kayaking a river in the Amazon.  I did not believe we were, but I told friends about it and then we had to do it and we did!  I have never felt more physically accomplished.  Or the time in Costa Rica when I rented a car and drove across the country.  A friend had done it.  It would be embarrassing if I wasn't capable as well.  Do you know how liberating and independence building it is to navigate and transport yourself (and your sister) across an foreign nation?

In an effort to force myself out of my comfort zone and into possibly the greatest adventures and experiences of my life while living in Papua New Guinea, I am going to tell you about a few of the exciting things after doing some research I have decided I must do.

• Hike the Kakoda Trail.  It is a 60 mile hike and takes serious hikers 3-4 days and most travelers 10-12 days.  My goal is to do it somewhere in the middle.  People spend up to a year training for this hike.
• Dive the Great Barrier Reef.  First I will have to get certified.  I will not enjoy it.  I'm nearly positive of this.  The whole concept terrifies me.  It's unnatural for humans to breathe underwater.  But, this is why I am telling you about it.  Now I have to.  How can I live across from the most amazing reef in the world and not dive in? (That was horribly cheesy; I apologize.)
• Observe tree kangaroos in their natural habitat.  The first book I read about Papua New Guinea was written by a teacher who had accompanied scientists into the rainforests in search of these amazing creatures.  They worked with local tribes to keep them from extinction. 

There it is.  That is all I am publicly committing myself to for now.  I must accomplish the above or else I will be forced to suffer complete and utter humiliation when someone wants to hear all about these adventures!  Breathing under water can't be as awful as the embarrassment that would ensue for not doing it because I chickened out - can it?!