28 July 2010

The First

Because Twitter, Facebook, email, that myspace that I never used, msn (passé, no?), cell phones, landlines, and the countless other ways of communicating (Oh! actual talking, almost forgot that one) are not enough, I am now the proud publisher of my very own BLOG. Bear with me as I learn the ins and outs of blogging, perfect my prose, and hopefully learn to type with more accuracy than my other frenzied, typo-filled, exclamation punctuated (!!!) communication devices.

Because blogs, I understand, can be literature, or at least more so than twitter. (hence the ability to change the font, color of text, and put a word in italics or bold. Where's your word art, facebook?) Using a twitter account to document the life of someone who, in one month's time (hopefully. Please, visa, please go through) will be on a new continent, with a multitude of new experiences and possibly limited internet access, would be frenzied, ridiculously abrupt, and pathetically narrowed. I mean, you only get 140 characters! How can I accurately describe anything with such constraints?! And, worse yet, what if, to cut down on characters, I started abbreviating to "text talk". A perfectly normal sentence such as:

I find myself completely overwhelmed with the amount of things to do in the short space of time before I leave, as I attempt to earn money, stay connected with my friends and family, and pack my worldly possessions into something I can take on a plane with me to Ecuador in a MONTH.

Could be tragically shortened, mutilated, and transformed into:

Yikes way 2 busy 2think hafta leave 4 ECU soon but need $ and <3 fam/friends g2g pack ah!!!

So, I think you can see my rationale.

Anyways, this is my life. I am Valerie. I live in Alaska, but am moving to Ecuador to serve at a Bahai school in Otavalo, Ecuador (and I'm still working on pronunciation of Otavalo, so don't ask me yet) for the next 10 months. This blog will document, on a somewhat regular basis, my travels and experiences. Right now, my experience hasn't completely started, and the preparation for it has frustrated me beyond words. When I am calmer, I will describe the terrors of bureaucracy, deadlines, and the US postal service. I will also describe Otavalo (although I'm no expert, I've been meaning to check out the Globe Trotter for Ecuador from the library in the free time I don't have) and my summer so far. In the meantime, goodbye and goodnight.