Afternoon all,
I had started this post almost a week ago, and wound up getting sidetracked with some . . . bit . . . of . . . something. The last couple of weeks flew by, so much so that I'm not quite sure where the time went. But I got all of the final items done at the firm and successfully closed that chapter of my life. And I was able to more or less get the apartment in order for the subtenants to arrive (Kevin, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry that it wasn’t my typical ‘Virgo clean’!), plus I was able to make some headway with SAME TRAIN and the new reading of the show that’s scheduled at the Dwyer Cultural Center in Harlem for Wednesday, October 13, 2010, and with getting my life back in order.
So, finally, as I sit in the hotel here at the Frankfurt airport (or ‘flughafen’ in German – why is it that I find that particular German word particularly fun to say?) waiting for the connecting South African Airways flight to Johannesburg, I’m able to get this quick post together and up. I realize now that I’ve been increasing anxious to get started with the Cross-Cultural Solutions (CCS) program and to experience whatever is going to come along with it. And I do mean ‘anxious,’ not ‘nervous’. It honestly wasn’t until I boarded the Lufthansa flight out of JFK yesterday afternoon, and was sitting on the plane waiting to take off, that I had an ‘OMG!’ moment (and a quick, passing moment at that) at the thought of going to Cape Town – a place pretty much halfway around the world, where I don’t know a soul – for a couple of months. Which, for me, isn’t a normal thing; usually, I’m having repetitious ‘OMG!’ thoughts before anything has actually happened . . . and these moments often tend to linger for a bit.
As I sat on the plane last night and they closed the cabin door, it suddenly made sense why a number of friends had inquired as to how I was feeling about this pending adventure. Absent from my preparation has been any hesitation or second guessing about the wisdom behind my decisions or my motivations in doing so. Also absent has been worries about the ‘what ifs’ (my only concern for this trip has been about the logistics of getting several months worth of insulin/syringes through airport security, and even that wasn’t a nagging concern – I thought about it, I asked CCS’ staff some questions, I took a few precautionary steps, and that was that). So, for my dear friends who have witnessed the torturous mental route that I can take to make a ‘big’ decision, the absence of that internal Willitt devil’s advocate was likely very noticeable.
A close friend told me “you have no idea what to expect” as we sat down to dinner last week and started talking about the CCS program (yes, Sherrick, I’m talking about you . . . LOL!). He was, and is, correct; I have no idea of what to expect and I think that’s a good thing. This is the first time in years where I haven’t been focused on expectations, rather I’ve been focused on the fact that this is a welcome, joyous and long-desired change and that, regardless of what has happened before or of what will come next, this is an experience that I will embrace fully and completely.
And, with that, I will close this quick pre-start date posting. I will post again at some point next week, with some initial thoughts on the program orientation, my first few days at the Scalabrini Centre, and my introduction to Cape Town and the Western Cape.
All the best,
Troy
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