Free Gap Year Guide & Starter Kit
Posted On
06/17/20
Author
Dragons HQ
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ARE YOU CONSIDERING A GAP YEAR?
If you're between the ages of 17-22 and are weighing the pros and cons of taking a break between high school and college, we've developed a free Gap Year Guide & Starter Kit to help you understand whether a Gap Year is right for you.
Download for Free
HOW WILL THE DRAGONS GAP YEAR GUIDE & STARTER KIT HELP ME?
If your Gap Year ambitions include gaining experience in wilderness exploration, language study, community engagement, activism, and/or cultural immersion, this guide highlights how a custom-crafted Dragons semester in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, can support your educational goals.
It’s also equipped with statistics, guiding questions, student testimonials, links to resources, and interactive activities that will help you determine if taking time off the typical academic path will better prepare you for your future.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INTERACTIVE PLANNING ACTIVITIES?
Download the PDF to engage with the following interactive features:
- Guiding Questions
- Links to relevant blogs and resources
- Goal Setting Visioning Activity
- Average Perfect Day + Best Day Ever (Ad Lib)
- Timeline Activity
- How to Choose a Dragons Program
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => Free Gap Year Guide & Starter Kit
[post_excerpt] => Committing to a Gap Year is a big decision. We developed the Gap Year Guide & Starter Kit to help you understand whether a Gap Year is right for you. The guide comes equipped with statistics, guiding questions, quotes from students, links to resources, and interactive activities. You can download it and view it in a PDF viewer to get started.
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[post_content] => Building Sustainable Relationships With Land & Water in the Western United States
Catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dragons is excited to facilitate new low-impact domestic programs closer to home. Our Colorado River Basin Semester continues to advance our mission to offer immersive and responsible travel by exploring the history, culture, and environments of the North American West. Taking health risks into account, we are initially prioritizing programs that remain in-line with public health recommendations and which do not pose a greater risk to vulnerable populations.
Coming September 1st, 2020, 10 Gap Year students will travel slowly by foot, train, and boat to connect the Colorado River's ecosystems from alpine peaks to desert canyons.
Participants will backpack to the source of the Colorado River. Get their hands dirty studying permaculture and sustainability on local farms. Float through the desert canyons of Utah and sleep under a blanket of endless stars. Forge lasting friendships and connect to landscapes that will call you back for many years to come.
Program Highlights:
[caption id="attachment_157040" align="alignleft" width="356"]
Photo by Tim Hare, Instructor.[/caption]
- Engage with movements for food justice and food sovereignty
- Meet with scientists, activists, ranching families, Native American communities, and recreational groups to gain a deeper understanding of the demands on land and water
- Study permaculture with sustainable farmers and learn about practical solutions for climate change
- Develop a complex understanding of the human history and a deeper connection with the natural environment in the high mountains and winding desert canyons
- 2-week backpacking expedition along the Continental Divide including possible summits of 13,000 and 14,000+ foot peaks
- Float the red rock canyons of the Colorado River Basin while you learn about complicated demands on this precious resource and how water has carved the magnificent natural beauty of the Southwest
- Study controversial land use issues and natural resource extraction practices in the Bears Ears National monument and other public lands
- Learn how communities of the Southwest carve out their existence amidst the greatest drought in centuries and strike a delicate balance in a competition for scarce natural resources
Learn more about the semester on the program page.
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Announcing Dragons Domestic Fall Gap Year Program: The Colorado River Basin Semester
Posted On
06/15/20
Author
Dragons HQ
Description
Coming September 1st, 2020, 10 Gap Year students will travel slowly by foot, train, and boat to connect the Colorado River's ecosystems from alpine peaks to desert canyons. Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_date] => 2020-06-12 10:18:08
[post_date_gmt] => 2020-06-12 16:18:08
[post_content] => Julianne Chandler, Dragons Latin America Program Director, shares how a community is undeterred in their endless commitment to each other...
It’s Friday morning and I’m up early, the crisp early winter cold biting through the mountain air. Only in the Andes can you awake to frost on the grass and find yourself battling blistering rays of sunlight by 11 am, with temperatures jumping over 40 degrees F in a few hours. I sneak out of my gate before the kids are awake, stuffing my hand-sewn mask into a pocket as I roll my rusted old cruiser onto the dirt road. I’m still taken by the striking calm that fills the air in the absence of motor vehicles, and our little road is deserted save for a flock of sheep as I head towards the main avenue. When I reach the corner I pause to take in the morning stillness, and my gaze stretches into a horizon that is crisper than ever before: Tiquipayaya lays spread out below, a patchwork of urban sprawl interspersed by large expanses of agricultural fields that predominate farther to the west. To the southeast the city of Cochabamba takes shape, crowned by Cristo de la Concordia, allegedly the largest christ statue in the world. In the far distance I can even make out the lomas of the Zona Sur, Cochabamba’s sprawling working class sector, where trouble is brewing. Bumping down the Montecillo hillside I pass neighbors and families making their way home by foot, their weekly provisions in tow. Technically only one adult member of each family is permitted to leave the house each week, for a 4-hour window designated according to your national ID number, but I see couples and mothers toting children on their backs, stopping to eat a salteña or sip a glass of mocochinchi on the side of the road.
I am reassured by these simple acts of normalcy in the midst of pandemic, by small gestures of disobedience in our little Bolivian town.
I find it uncomfortable to ride with my mask, but slip it over my face as the cobblestone gives way to potholes and clouds of dirt, the abandoned remnants of a paving project that was paused way back in September, just before national elections threw the country into its last crisis. In Bolivia, there are layers to our state of emergency, one overshadowing the next until you can't tell where one was left off and the other begins. As I roll into downtown Tiquipaya I find the streets lively but also eerily quiet. Lines snake their way out of shops with some semblance of social distancing, and a truckload of military men look serious but a bit aimless on the corner of Pablo Jaimes and Avenida Reducto. I know that in some communities thought to be “undisciplined,” such as the Zona Sur, the security presence is not so passive. They stare down the loan gringa as my bike squeaks past, but fortunately don’t ask to see my ID; it’s not my designated day and I’m breaking quarantine regulations by being out of the house. In some pockets of the country protests are stirring as we head into month three of draconian quarantine measures, and images on the news show violent repression by members of the armed forces in K’ara K’ara, El Alto, Yapacaní. In a country with the largest informal economy in the world, people are starting to go hungry and need to work to survive.
On Avenida Cochabamba I slip into the ATM amidst a line that stretches three city blocks all the way to the central plaza. People are seated on lawn chairs and perched on the curb at a scattered distance from one another, peering out over masked faces as they wait to collect a measly government bonus of 500 Bs. (less than $75). In El Alto there are reports of people spending all night in line to retrieve their bonus, wrapped in blankets to protect against the biting cold at 13,000 feet. These are our elderly, our sick, our most vulnerable. Our transition president Jeanine Añez, who increasingly governs as if she has actually been elected for office, likes to group these people in with the “undisciplined” protesters, as if reprimanding children for staying up past their bedtime. Lately language of “obedience” and “discipline” are pervasive in the news and incessant TV propaganda, revealing coming from a regime that has no legitimate claim to office. Under Añez’s newest decree, you can be imprisoned for spreading “disinformation” - even in the form of art - as a threat against public health. If only the same enthusiasm were being directed to testing and medical supplies.
Coming out of the ATM I recognize the eyes of a friend on the corner donning a colorful mask, and we both light up in recognition. Facing each other we pause and hesitate under the watchful stare of the police, and then both decide in the same moment to embrace each other because we haven’t been able to properly greet a friend in weeks. Our kids are in the same class at Kusi, and we lament the fact that they haven’t been out of the house in more than 60 days. Caro gives me a squeeze on the shoulder as I jump back on the cruiser, and my heart shines a bit brighter as I head for the countryside.
I reach the shaded bench across from Hotel Regina 10 minutes early but see that Valentina and two of our homestay mamas are already there. I embrace Doña Leti instantly because she’s like family, but Doña Pilar is nervous about being out of the house and we greet each other at a distance.
Instantly we are laughing and exchanging community gossip, and we are all wrapped up in the absolute joy and simplicity of sitting on a bench with women friends.
Doña Pilar tells us about the recent loss of her corn crop, her primary source of income this time of year, which collapsed after the abrupt end of the rainy season. Soon Paola and her mother Doña Elsa join us as well, with stories about the grandchildren and farm animals and how they’re faring without the essential weekly income they bring in selling chicharrón in the cancha every weekend. Leti is the last to join us, who came from Villa Oruro by foot with the news that her uncle passed away the day before, leaving 9 young children orphaned on the altiplano outside of La Paz (his death was not COVID-related). Her parents, Doña Carlota and Don Abdon, had rushed to La Paz in the cover of night, risking bribes or fines or worse at security checkpoints, to reach a mourning family in need that could not be accessed by Bolivia’s precarious medical system.
Before bidding farewell to our Collpapampa neighborhood families, Valentina and I hand over the modest donation from Dragons that had brought us together. We explain that while we won’t be able to receive students for an indefinite future, Dragons has started a fund to support our key host communities during this time of uncertainty and economic scarcity. They are deeply moved that Dragons has thought of them, and share with us what they’ll be able to do for their families with this support: a quintal de arroz (220 pounds of rice), much needed medication, stores of potatoes, flour, cooking oil, beans, and other staples to weather the certain precarity ahead.
Jumping back on our bikes, Valentina and I continue on to visit the homes of other families. As we ride through open fields and down tree-lined lanes, I am again taken by the sweet liberty of this moment, another small act of rebellion in a time of masks and security checkpoints and social distancing enforced for some at gunpoint. Nearly 10 years have gone by since Valentina and I walked these same roads together for the first time, stopping in at the homes of farmer families and single mamas and Aymara weavers to gauge their thoughts on receiving young Dragons students into their homes. They were so shy and skeptical at first, with young children peeking out wide-eyed from pleated skirts at the idea of a gringita or gringito sharing their homes. “But here, in the campo, where we have dirt floors and chickens roam free? Why would an American student want to live here?” And why not here, Valentina exclaimed, with the authority of someone who raised her sons free on these same country roads.
Here where we mark our days by the agricultural cycle, where the sweet cadence of Quechua hangs in the air, where the protective gaze of Mt. Tunari peers down at us from a height of 16,400 feet along the eastern flank of the longest mountain chain on earth.
Those children who peered up at me all those years ago are grown up now. They’re studying medicine at the public university or working at factories or helping in the fields. These women have been there through my pregnancies, they grew the flowers at my wedding, their younger kids climb trees and play hide and seek with my own daughter on the program house farm. By now they have received countless Dragons hijitas y hijitos into their homes, encouraging their Spanish, nursing their illnesses, laughing across seemingly impossible distances - cultural, economic, spiritual - that fall away in an adobe kitchen over a warm meal.
Riding past the Program House farm, we make our way to the farming communities of Apote and Totorkawa. Doña Marta lets out her deep and infectious laugh when we appear at her store front, beaming as she tells us about her granddaughter who is still managing to bring income in for the family at a meat factory as the public health crisis unfolds. She complains that her braids are untidy when I ask for a photo, and gives me a firm hug when we head on our way. Doña Marta has seen plenty of other crises unfold, she has survived dictatorships and the loss of children, and she’s unphased by COVID-19. We’ll get through this, she says, que mas podemos hacer pues?
Heading further down the road we stop at the homes of Sandra, Doña Eugenia, Susana, Doña Mari and her sister María. They invite us in, offer tea and mandarinas and fresh pacay from the tree. They share stories of past students and inquire about our kids and send their surprised and dignified thanks for the support more with their eyes and gestures than with their words.
All of these families depend on informal labor to make a living, much like most Bolivians. They sell produce and hot meals at the weekly farmer’s market, they are gardeners and carpenters and gifted weavers. They run dental offices out of their homes, and serve as local leaders in neighborhood associations. They look out for each other, just as they worry when students aren’t home as night falls on Tiquipaya. Last fall they saw their sources of income run dry after the political crisis took hold, when a predominately middle and upper class popular uprising paralyzed the country for 21 days. Bolivia was still contending with the effects of political turmoil when the public health emergency descended, snaking its way into corrupt political systems and the embers of recent massacres and the halls of deficient medical centers. Now our homestay mamas face the loss of Dragons income as well, which has provided a steady supplement to their income these past years.
I ride up the hillside back to Montecillo just before curfew kicks in at noon, and am filled to the brim with the presence of these strong women, laughter in their eyes as they face increasingly tenuous circumstances.
Without their generosity, their kindness, their patience, the work we do of connecting young people to a landscape and slice of life different from the one they’ve always known would not be possible.
A donation from the Dragons fund will provide a small boost to their livelihoods in the coming weeks, but we will never be able to repay them properly for what they’ve offered us all these years. How can you even start to place value on the memories, the stories, the intimate folds of their lives that they’ve shared with our students?
I’ve been in this work for a long time and honor the effort that Where There Be Dragons has made to extend support to our host communities in a time of global crisis. In my years as an international educator, I have never come across another organization that seeks opportunities for extended homestays in communities like Tiquipaya or El Alto, locations that would not be on the radar for your average traveler. International travel programming is rife with inequities, both in terms of access to a carefully crafted intercultural experience, but also with regard to recipient communities and the many layers of power and privilege that subtly or overtly shape the exchange. As the travel industry faces an unprecedented global crisis, I am grateful that Dragons has paused to acknowledge the disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities and populations around the world. As far as I know, no other student travel organizations are directing fundraising efforts directly to communities in need.
When I slip back into my gate, my girls are frantic to see me and I realize it’s the longest time we’ve been apart in two months. Inara is eager to hear all about Tía Vale and the mamas I’ve visited, and I wrap my arms around my daughters who have not left our land since March. As I get back to work that afternoon, there’s an update from Ana on the community grant we’ve sent to her in El Alto. “Lxs chicxs are mobilizing” she says, talking to me from the front lines of Jeanine Añez’s assault on Bolivia’s indigenous and poor. “The situation is serious.” They are militarizing El Alto and residents have to get more creative about transporting emergency provisions to the families that have been hardest hit on the barren fringes of the city.
'They have created human chains to transport goods by foot to more remote areas,' she explains.
“Lxs chicxs” - referring to the youth activists and artists that make up Teatro Trono, one of our strongest partner organizations - take turns moving goods on their designated days as the security presence closes in. “We have three brigades getting supplies to the wounded in Senkata, to distrito 11, to families in more remote neighborhoods.” My heart chills at the mention of Senkata, the site of a government-orchestrated massacre that left 9 people dead and dozens wounded in November of last year. “We’re calling it the Cadena de Abrazos que Alimentan.” The chain of hugs that feeds…
Dragons Fund is a program of the COMMON Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
All donations are tax-deductible as permitted by U.S. tax law.
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[post_title] => A Chain of Hugs That Feeds—Dragons Community Relief Fund in Action
[post_excerpt] => Residents have to get more creative about transporting emergency provisions to the families that have been hardest hit on the barren fringes of the city. They have created human chains to transport goods by foot to more remote areas. “Lxs chicxs” - referring to the youth activists and artists that make up Teatro Trono, one of our strongest partner organizations - take turns moving goods on their designated days. We’re calling it the Cadena de Abrazos que Alimentan.” The chain of hugs that feeds…
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A Chain of Hugs That Feeds—Dragons Community Relief Fund in Action
Posted On
06/12/20
Author
Julianne Chandler, Latin America Program Director
Description
Residents have to get more creative about transporting emergency provisions to the families that have been hardest hit on the barren fringes of the city. They have created human chains… Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_date] => 2020-05-28 12:03:20
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[post_content] => As the world battles the spread of COVID-19, many people, communities, and nonprofits are facing immense hardship. In response, the Dragons Fund, our nonprofit partner organization, created the Community Relief Fund to support communities that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 during this unprecedented pause of travel and tourism.
Loading...
Hover over the interactive map to view grant locations.
In just two months the Community Relief Fund has raised $15,000+ which has been distributed through small grants mostly aimed at providing food and essential supplies such as personal protective equipment to vulnerable households. Some examples of how these funds have been mobilized:
- Indonesia: A $525 grant in Yogyakarta provided essential meal kits to 39 families, provided 25 hazmat suits to public health workers, and built a public handwashing station
- India: A $1000 grant to Aajeevika Bureau, an Indian nonprofit working on the front lines of the migrant crisis
- Senegal: A $700 grant provided food supplies to vulnerable households in seven communities (Dene, Ndioukhane, Yoff, Mouit, Temanto Samba, Dindefelo, and Niodior) and a $500 grant to purchase personal protective equipment for medical workers
- Bolivia: Two grants totaling $1,300 to provide critical food supplies to households in El Alto, Tiquipaya, and Cochabamba
- Cambodia: A $500 grant to Women's Resource Center, a local organization providing emergency food, hygiene products, and medicine to those in need of support
- Nepal: A $500 grant provided essential food packages to 26 families in Panauti (rice, lentils, oil, sugar, tea, soap, beaten rice, fried lentils, soy nuggets, salt)
- Peru: A $500 grant to Sacred Valley Health, a local organization that supports and trains community health workers
Additional project proposals are underway.
Learn more about the Community Grant Fund!
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[post_title] => DRAGONS FUND COMMUNITY RELIEF FUND UPDATE
[post_excerpt] => In just two months the Community Relief Fund has raised $15,000+ which has been distributed through small grants mostly aimed at providing food and essential supplies such as personal protective equipment to vulnerable households.
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DRAGONS FUND COMMUNITY RELIEF FUND UPDATE
Posted On
05/28/20
Author
Dragons HQ
Description
In just two months the Community Relief Fund has raised $15,000+ which has been distributed through small grants mostly aimed at providing food and essential supplies such as personal protective equipment to… Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_date] => 2020-05-26 11:49:52
[post_date_gmt] => 2020-05-26 17:49:52
[post_content] => Director of Student Programming, Aaron Slosberg, was interviewed on Dr. Heidi Forbes Öste's podcast, Global Nomad Hacks.
In the interview, Aaron and Heidi Discuss:
- How Aaron’s love of learning has brought him to over 30 countries around the globe as a student, teacher, and traveler.
- His experience as the Program Coordinator for UCLA Outdoor Adventures.
- His experiences in Guatemala and Indonesia that led him to get involved with Dragons.
- Dragons travel philosophy and immersive programming.
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => DRAGONS FEATURED ON GLOBAL NOMAD HACKS PODCAST [post_excerpt] => Dragons Director of Student Programming, Aaron Slosberg, was interviewed on Dr. Heidi Forbes Öeste's podcast, Global Nomad Hacks. [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => dragons-featured-on-global-nomad-hacks-podcast [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2020-05-26 12:03:07 [post_modified_gmt] => 2020-05-26 18:03:07 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/ [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw [categories] => Array ( [0] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 653 [name] => Global Community [slug] => global_community [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 653 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Featured International People, Places, Projects. [parent] => 0 [count] => 48 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 6 [cat_ID] => 653 [category_count] => 48 [category_description] => Featured International People, Places, Projects. [cat_name] => Global Community [category_nicename] => global_community [category_parent] => 0 [link] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/category/global_community/ ) [1] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 641 [name] => About Dragons [slug] => about_dragons [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 641 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Press, Essays from Admin, and Behind-the-Scenes HQ. [parent] => 0 [count] => 53 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 9 [cat_ID] => 641 [category_count] => 53 [category_description] => Press, Essays from Admin, and Behind-the-Scenes HQ. [cat_name] => About Dragons [category_nicename] => about_dragons [category_parent] => 0 [link] => https://www.wheretherebedragons.com/news/category/about_dragons/ ) [2] => WP_Term Object ( [term_id] => 654 [name] => Mixed Media [slug] => mixed_media [term_group] => 0 [term_taxonomy_id] => 654 [taxonomy] => category [description] => Featured Photography, Videos, Podcasts, Photo Contest Winners, Films & Art [parent] => 0 [count] => 52 [filter] => raw [term_order] => 12 [cat_ID] => 654 [category_count] => 52 [category_description] => Featured Photography, Videos, Podcasts, Photo Contest Winners, Films & Art [cat_name] => Mixed Media [category_nicename] => mixed_media [category_parent] => 0 ) ) [category_links] => Global Community, About Dragons ... )
DRAGONS FEATURED ON GLOBAL NOMAD HACKS PODCAST
Posted On
05/26/20
Author
Dragons HQ
Description
Dragons Director of Student Programming, Aaron Slosberg, was interviewed on Dr. Heidi Forbes Öeste's podcast, Global Nomad Hacks. Read MoreWP_Post Object
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[post_date] => 2020-05-21 12:23:06
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[post_content] => I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention,
How to fall down into the grass,
How to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed,
How to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
-Excerpt from The Summer Day, by Mary Oliver.
[caption id="attachment_131040" align="aligncenter" width="676"]
Photo by Eva Ramey, Student.[/caption]
We had just finished dinner in my homestay, and were still sitting on the mat in the center of the main room. The communal bowl of sticky rice had been returned to the kitchen, as well as the bowls of delicately cooked mushrooms and vegetables, and the chicken stew. As I sat, eating a banana and attempting to chat with my host mother, I noticed the two little boys – my host nephews – running around outside with large headlamps flopping up and down on their heads. My host sister seemed to be wandering the house collecting empty water bottles, and her husband, too, seemed to be up to something. I made some hand gestures to my host mom, attempting to gather what they might be up to, and she responded in turn with hand gestures of her own – a motion with her hands and arms, as if to catch something, and a finger pointed in the direction of the rice fields. Kaohi bpai dai boah? Can I go? I asked. She nodded, shooing me towards my host sister, who was now standing outside of the door with a headlamp around her head, her two boys by her side. I hurried to find my own headlamp.
* * *
My host sister, her husband, and her two boys, Alek, 8 years old, and Alak, 3 years old, take the lead on this evening expedition; they are joined by my host cousin, a sullen 16-year old, two local girls, both 10 or 12 years old, and me. Each of us is equipped with a headlamp and an empty plastic water bottle. We emerge from a narrow path between houses onto the rice fields, and disperse, headlamps trained to the ground. I follow my sister, trying to figure out what we are looking for.
The rice fields are dry this time of year, the mud and earth cracked and the rice grasses chopped short, golden, flat and bent. The dry paddies are still marked by their mounded earth boundaries, roughly delineated squares of varying size. I see tiny frogs, smaller than the size of my pinky nail, leaping among the dry grasses, and spiders whose green eyes glisten in the light of my headlamp. But no one seems to pay any attention to these creatures. What are they looking for instead? I watch my sister’s circle of light rather than my own, trying to see what she sees.
Finally, she points, squats, deftly and silently snaps her hand over a flash of black. A cricket. She squeezes it from the earth and into the palm of her hand, slides open the cap of her water bottle, and tips it inside. We are hunting for crickets.
Equipped with the knowledge of what I should be looking for, I spread out. The swell of the uncaught cricket’s chatter fills the night, accompanied by the lilting babble of little Alak, my 3-year old nephew. The evening sky glows purple in the light from neighboring Thailand as our small circles of headlamp light spread across the cracked fields. Orion hangs in the sky above us.
The crickets are nimble and wily. They prance among the grasses, and nestle into the cracks that have spread across the earth, or delve into holes in the paddy mounds, carved by other insects and animals. I know what a cricket looks like by daylight, but that’s not what I’m looking for – in the dim light of a headlamp at night, a cricket looks black, a black dash glinting among the dry mud and grass. I catch one, and then another. My host cousin’s water bottle is half-full already, the crickets piled atop one another, squirming and chattering. But I am learning to look. I follow the low mounds that delineate the paddy borders, and catch a few more. I pluck them by their hind legs, and slide them into Alek’s water bottle, or Alak’s, sharing my goodies; they share theirs, too. I’m learning, from Alek and Alak, from the young girls, and from my once-sullen, now lively 16-year old cousin, how to pay attention – to the night, to the earth, to the grasses, to the crickets, to each other. Tell me, what else should I have done?
Over the course of our travels along the Mekong, I’ve been reminded, as I hope my students have also been reminded, how to pay attention. How to notice the small and curious details in the world around us – the black crickets in the grass; the white porcelain Virgin Mary statue perched atop a red and gold Buddhist shrine; my host father’s arm, tenderly wrapped around his grandson as they watch cartoons together.
How to pay attention to one another – to notice each person in their sorrow, and in joy. How to care for each other. And how to care for ourselves: paying attention to our minds, noticing our thoughts. These are things that no classroom, professor, or textbook can teach us. These are things we learn from a host mother, brother, or nephew, or from the earth, the grass, and the crickets. They are things we learn from each other, and from the world around us. If the Mekong River, if Cambodia, Laos, and China, if the communities that host us, love us, teach us, can leave us with anything, I hope that it might be this –
How to fall down into the grass,
How to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed,
How to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
PS. WANT DRAGONS BLOG UPDATES SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX? ONE EMAIL A WEEK. NOTHING MARKETY. UNSUBSCRIBE ANY TIME. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAGONS BLOG AND STAY CONNECTED TO THE COMMUNITY. ❤️
[post_title] => FEATURED YAK: HOW TO PAY ATTENTION
[post_excerpt] => Dragons Instructor, Angelica Calabrese, wrote this yak while leading a Mekong Gap Year semester. Over the course of our travels along the Mekong, I’ve been reminded, as I hope my students have also been reminded, how to pay attention. How to notice the small and curious details in the world around us – the black crickets in the grass; the white porcelain Virgin Mary statue perched atop a red and gold Buddhist shrine; my host father’s arm, tenderly wrapped around his grandson as they watch cartoons together.
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FEATURED YAK: HOW TO PAY ATTENTION
Posted On
05/21/20
Author
Angelica Calabrese, Mekong Semester Instructor
