Iron Man part three- The Quest for Peace

With my decision to quit grad school prematurely, I saw free time opening up ahead of me in which I could do some serious work on my language skills rather than just puttering around with my old textbook and muttering to myself. It occurred to me that if I’m gonna go, why not go all out, baby? So I started looking at Spanish immersion programs in South America. (I would’ve looked at Spain too but I don’t like sounding like I have a lithp when I thpeak Thpanish.)

At first I was interested in training only, but then I started to look at longer-term volunteer programs where I’d be immersed in the language and culture, get some Spanish training, but also be doing some good. I finally found a program that seemed to suit me right down to the ground. It’s 2 ½ months in Ecuador working in a mental health clinic and actually getting some degree of clinical experience rather than doing construction or baby-sitting or whatever. I was stoked when I found it and I pretty much still am. Here was a way for me to work on my Spanish while not losing my clinical skills and actually adding relevant work (volunteer) experience to my C.V.!

The down side of the program is that it’s unfunded, so I have to pay them for my room and board and sundries. But the up side is that most programs are like that, only twice as expensive as this one! Woo-hoo for me, y’all. Initially, I thought I’d be doing this some time in the Summer of 2011, but with one thing and another my plans got changed and the date is moved up to Fall 2010.

Now, I am not without qualms about this whole plan. For one thing I have mixed feelings about eco-tourism and philanthro-tourism (if I can call it that) because I always suspect that more could be done with money that I donate than with money that I spend to visit myself. However, I rationalized that through volunteering abroad in this way, I was not only helping the organization where I worked, I was also preparing myself to do important work back here in the US. I am aware of some of the needs the Spanish-speaking community in Waco has with regards to mental healthcare. I suspect that the need is present in most other American communities as well. So if this 2 ½ months volunteer work helps me to meet needs back at home, that balances out the fact that, strictly speaking, the money I spend could go further if I used it in other ways.

There is still a lot of planning I need to do, but this really makes it feel as if my Iron Man goal is within reach. I don’t expect to become fluent exactly, but I believe I’ll reach a level of proficiency that will serve me well and *possibly* allow me to look for work as a bilingual therapist at the first of the year.

Well, anyhoo. That’s what I’ve decided to do this fall. I’m planning tentatively to go from September to November. In the mean time I’m continuing to work on getting my Spanish up to par and figuring out how to pay for it all. But more on that next time.