The blogspot is set up. The latest new experience is lurking right around the corner.
There are four days left until we leave. Things are coming together but I am not really gone.
I was watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" while acquiring this blog. I remember going to see it with my dad and brother J, hearing the rustling bags and smelling popcorn as Richard Dreyfus rounded the curve of the Devil's Tower to witness the landing of the spaceship that would take him away. As a child, this was the first time I had seen anything portrayed on screen appearing different from me...the aliens with their long arms, pale skin, and large, black eyes still give me goose-bumps even today. As I prepare for my journey to the other side of the world, Cambodia calls to me in the notes of our common humanity - D, E, C, C, G.
Not everyone is curious about the world we haven't seen, but the film is a good example of how we embrace the unknown. Sometimes we fear it, sometimes we face it head on, drawn to it for reasons beyond our understanding. I am the latter: curious, sensitive, compassionate. I see palm trees, feel warm breezes, sense smiling children hustling the streets trying to coax the single dollar bills out of my pocket.
We, the 15 students of George Mason, along with our fearless leader, Dr. Al Fuertes, are preparing for a two and a half week journey to Cambodia. We will fly through Seoul, Korea to Phnom Penh where we will explore the city, travel to Battambang to study spirituality and mindfulness with Buddhist monks, then prospect the grounds of Angkor Wat, the 12th Century Temple built by King Suryavarman II, known as the world's largest religious building.
This is my first time around the block with the blogspot. My goal is to try and capture a bit of the culture I will soon be a part of. Music, art, speech, and all the little things we see on a daily basis, I will try to convey for my own purposes, and hopefully it will impart a sense of belonging to our larger community. As I arrive, I may appear as the tall, long limbed stranger, but I ascribe to rise above our differences and share and taste life in all it's little things.
See you soon.
.cjr
