Welcome to the Adventure!

Dear Adventure Enthusiast,

This is my first post on the blog, about one month prior to our leaving day!!!! And I would like to share the story behind this trip :)

So, everything started last year when I got my teaching certificate. The director of the school that I got the certificate from was amazing and she gave me my first job out of college, teaching and doing activities at an english language summer camp (www.stgiles-usa.com). This was a really difficult job, but I learned a lot about running summer camps and about how I think in a work environment.

Then I was able to secure a teaching and administrative position at this company and have been working there for the past year. In the beginning I liked everything, I was learning new things and figuring out how to work in an office with many other people in positions above me. In the winter the administrative position became very difficult for me to continue for one main reason: the work stopped inspiring me. I got really hot headed and almost quit but thankfully my boss gave me a second chance and let me stay on as a teacher.

That was definitely better. I love teaching ESL. I hold classes about everything from aromatherapy to comparing theocracy and democracy. I can bring in articles from the newspaper and talk with my students about them. I can have them cut pictures out of magazines and have them tell stories with them. I have seen people come to this country terrified of failing at English and leave being able to communicate their ideas, wants and needs. Its been amazing!

During this year I also found out that I have the ability to make a down payment on a small house. But sadly the houses in this area of the country are too expensive, and I really cannot afford to live here much longer without making a major career change, and that's not really something I want to do because I do love to teach.

However, there are things about San Francisco that make it a city I can no longer live in. Foremost is how crowded it is. Second, how long it takes me to do simple things like get to work (45 mins for a 4 mile journey) or go to the Pharmacy (20 minutes for a 1 mile journey). Third is that the mood in the city has dramatically shifted in the past year. People are less happy, many people that I know are out of work, the cost of everything is going up and nobody can pay. I find that I cannot get myself out of a sedated mood when I am there. This I didn't realize until I came home from a trip to Big Sur the week before Father's Day. While there my dad, mom, Margaux and I were able to take a hike down to a beach and the beach had a stream that lead out to the ocean. I immersed myself in the freezing cold stream and as I did all of the sedation and depression left my body and I felt totally alive for the first time in a long time. It was then that I realized that I needed a shift in space.

Presently I am in Hayward, CA working at the summer camp again, this time as head teacher. The position is much better for me because it uses my talents and when I look outside I no longer see gray houses but a brown hill and trees! I have as my coworker one of my best friends Jeda Higgs. She is an amazing person and I'm so glad to have her in my life! Doing this job is also allowing me to take the trip: it comprises my half of our budget. I have been to San Francisco twice since I moved to Hayward and each time the anxiety that I felt before quickly returns and I become more and more sure of this trip. Plus. . . and as you all know me well, you know this happens from time to time. . . I have and itch to wander again :)

Also, I have met my boyfriend and now pretty much best friend Alex. He is an amazing person, albeit a little quirky (which I am sure you will have a chance to experience). We can literally do anything together from watching the sun set from the top of a mountain in peace and silence to hanging out in bars and meeting people, to sitting by a fire and discussing politics and religion. And it just so happens that we both need a change a the same time, and we have the chance to grow together in this.

Just so that you know, we have a very different relationship from most: we are two very separate people who happen to be moving down the path together at this time. We love each other, we love being around each other, we have similar interests in that we are both interested in everything, and we think in the same way. We both don't know if that will continue in the future or if things will take us down different paths, but we are open to both of those possibilities. Now, today we're happy with each other and that is exactly what we want.

Our goal is to get to know this land, this great wide varying country that is America. We want to meet and live with people from all walks of life in order to understand their paths; and in a greater sense to understand the American people. For me, this drive comes from the new wave of understanding that has swept through this nation since the last election and from my travels. I have spent some time understanding the people of other nations and thinking about what is best for their countries, now I think it is better to think about my own. Knowing the people is the first step toward real, practical, useful change for future generations.

We also want to see the gorgeous and disgusting pieces of land that that have been stitched together over this continent so that when we are in a place we know how it connects to everywhere else. We will be traveling around the United States for 6+ months mostly camping, staying with friends and new acquintances, taking jobs when we need them and just generally being rolling stones :) We are not expecting an easy, extremely safe or comfortable journey, but we are expecting and immensely rewarding one.

Much Love,

Candice