March

I read somewhere that March feels like the longest month of the year. January feels alright because you're fresh off a Christmas break, and February is a shortened month. And thus March is a month that seemingly lasts forever.

Earlier this month I was in a rut. It's not that I don't feel that way anymore -- I still do -- but not as strongly. I was feeling bored at work, at church, just bored with life in general. I felt like I needed to make a change. I felt like my life was too comfortable.

At first, I thought of very drastic things, like quitting my job. Moving into the wilderness and living in a hut. Giving away everything I owned and travelling to a poor country and living there for the rest of my life. I thought about going back to school, and even took some time looking over what courses I might take. I thought about moving, and where I could move.

I just wanted to get away.

I held off on posting any of this because I figured that over time these feelings would pass over and I would be back to normal. But I was wrong, the feelings remained over a 3 week span. I prayed about it daily. I talked about it with close friends, and with my parents.

Final verdict: I need a vacation.

My plan is to go on a vacation but not just any vacation. I plan to go for an entire month. And I don't want to be lying on some beach getting a sun tan, or doing water sports. I don't want to be sipping a cocktail or wining and dining in some classy restaurant. I don't want to sleep in a nice hotel or a cozy bed.

So that pretty much eliminates 90% of vacation spots.

There's a lot of specific things I want to see -- I'd like to go to visit the following people's churches: Chris Tomlin, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, Erwin McManus, David Crowder, Jason Morant, MercyMe, Hillsongs.

But most of those places I'll be able to see 20 years from now. I'd rather go see something that I can only see right *now*, as a 26 year old, single person, with no major responsibilities, no dependants, and no debt. And I don't want to see "modern" places, I think that would be a waste of my time.

I've basically narrowed down my list of countries to visit to: Africa, India, China. Africa, because there's so many different cultures I can see. The idea of safari's, seeing the pyramids, those types of things are exciting to me. India, because it is one of the few places that I would ever consider doing any kind of missionary work. And China -- well, because it's home.

My friend and I have talked on a few occasions about going to China. We'd go to the north western regions, and the purpose would be to experience their way of life and the culture. We would try go find a relief organization or underground church that has set up shop there and find a means to voluntarily join the cause. Such an endeavour would require a few things fall in our favor. My friend would need to have another job lined up for when we returned, because he'd have to quit his current job in order to go. For me, either I'd still be working for the City and would be using my 29 days of vacation, or I'd be unemployed as well. I'd still go either way.

As for Africa, since my french is limited, there's just no way I could do a backpacking type of thing unless I had a friend or two with me. I was joking with a friend that I should try to catch malaria, so that I could get the "full" Africa experience. That's probably not a very good thing to joke about.

I've checked out a few tours of Africa (main focus being the pyramids) and they all cost quite a bit. I've concluded that I need a travel buddy or two to come with me if I go to Africa.

I have not even started looking at India yet.

camping

I am going camping between August 14-20 this year, which is great because I won't be here for my birthday. I've never been camping for more than 3 nights, so 6 will be interesting. I think it'll be in either Utah or Arizona.