Saturday, February 25, 2012

Settling In


2/25/12

It is strange being so isolated from the world around me. While biking, I was passing through towns and cities, sometimes a dozen a day, taking in billboards and bus advertisements, passing TVs in bars and retail stores, chatting with people plugged into an ever more electronically connected world. I am now living in a camp in the woods, which I have left only a handful of times in 2 weeks, and even then, only to purchase essentials or hang out in some other remote, isolated place. More than 50% of Americans now live in cities, and this number is predicted only to rise.

There is a line somewhere between isolation and overpopulation, and I haven't quite figured out my place on that spectrum. The times when I've felt most like I belonged somewhere, it had almost entirely to do with the people I've been with, and not necessarily with the place. I like a tight knit social community, accessible when necessary, but not always sharing the same space. I did not expect to feel as anxious as I do when I am alone here. I like being alone outside, but not inside. Instead of feeling at peace, and one with the world as I do when I'm camping, I instead feel trapped and disconnected and shut off from what is going on elsewhere. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever with the cold weather too, due to the fact that I have to keep my windows and door shut most of the time to keep the heat in.

My room has blank walls. I am the only one of my colleagues who arrived without a car, and thus, without things to hang on the walls of my room. I'm not particularly interested in buying things to hang on my wall, either. I should, instead, make some art. Make the inside look more like the outside.

2/21/12

Training for Mountain Trail Outdoor School officially ended today, and we welcome our first group of children tomorrow. For the end of training, we went on a staff “expedition,” which usually means backpacking in the woods somewhere for a couple of days, but we got a more cushy experience. To cover the last few serious topics, to bond as staff and to have a fun learning experience, we went to a camp outside of Charleston, SC. From there, we took a bicycle tour around Kiawah Island with a very knowledgeable naturalist, visited 2 nature centers and a tiny aquarium, and went sea kayaking to another barrier island scattered with countless seashells. Highlights included holding 2 young alligators at the nature centers, watching dolphins play in the surf less than 20 feet away from us, and hanging out on the beach with a wonderful group of co-workers.

In the last couple of weeks, I have had a chance to ride almost all of the trails around camp on my mountain bike (there are about 20 miles of trails total), practice archery with my co-workers, and we have started training for the Warrior Dash by doing hang-board workouts on the porch of our house. I also attended my first contra dance, which was an amazingly fun, sweaty and fabulous experience.

1 comment:

  1. Don't know if you know this but I was a naturalist at Kiawah running their kayaking programs, bird walks and nature center classes for 6 years. Glad you got to visit. It's beautiful there, huh?

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