Pre-Adventure Jitters

Well then, in about eight hours I should be on a transatlantic flight bound for Doha, Qatar, the first leg in a day long journey which should find me in Kathmandu, Nepal by the end of the month of August. Before I arrive in the Himalayan foothills in which Kathmandu is nestled, I have two pressing concerns: learn the Tibetan Alphabet and write a paper. Both easier said than done. I have decided that somehow, I will accomplish each whilst at a cruising altitude of 30,000ft. Here's to procrastination. Since I got back home from my summer in another strange and foreign land, the Midwest, I have been involved in a long sequence of activities which I guess is what you might call my pre-adventure ritual. This ritual has taken the form of a number of arduous hikes on and off the Billy Goat Trail, DVR-ing and watching every show that I could find searching for "Nepal", "Tibet", "Bhutan", "Buddha", Buddhism", "Himalayas", "China", watching two BBC nature documentaries on Tibet and the River Ganges, and re-watching the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender some six times by my last count. The final element of this ritual has been to hang up a new strand of Tibetan prayer flags for a safe journey, a safe return, and so that I may direct my time and experiences while abroad towards the benefit of all sentient beings. Well that's it for now. Goodbye USA, well meet again another day.

The Frequency is Courage (I'll explain what that means in a future blogpost)
- Doug B.