India

           It's been a week since I've been back in the States and I reflect on my time there...

           My time spent in India was nothing of what I really expected.  I was expecting to show up and visit a school, teach, work on some lesson planning, really do anything that had to do with education.  But instead I spent the first week and a half learning myself...learning about education, business, food, art, culture, and spirituality.  At first this was frustrating - I just wanted to serve!  I then began to understand a concept I had already kind of known...you cannot fully serve someone, a group, or a community until you understand them and their ways.

           So, needless to say, I think I ended up taking away more than I actually gave (which seems to be a reoccurring trend with my travels).  I think about some of my past service trips, like those in Thailand and Brazil, where I went to build a home; yes, I helped someone in some way, but those deeds are not ones that will be continuing - a house is built and that is that. Yes, I also learned a lot and grew a great deal as an individual.  But there was something about this trip that was different...I continued to learn about myself, but I learned a lot about life, and different ways of living it, I also learned a great deal about education.

           The things I learned on this trip will allow me to better serve others, my community, and my world in a continuing and lasting way.  It has given me a gift that will keep on giving.  I can only hope that this experience will, in the end, make me a better teacher, and will allow me to to serve my future students, both here and abroad, in ways that I wouldn't have otherwise been able to.