Teach, Pray, Love: Begin at the beginning

"The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. 'Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?' he asked.
'Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, 'and go on till you come to the end: then stop.'"

- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland

My travels began with a cross-country trip from California to North Carolina for a little vacation...
...with some good friends of mine just outside Charlotte. What's a little NC vacation look like? It starts with a southern cookout, then moves you downriver on some class III and IV rapids at the US National Whitewater Center; it starts Friday morning out with a massage and then the evening is spent at a poetry reading in an art gallery in the NoDa district of Charlotte. Por fin, take a hike up in the South Mountains to a cascading waterfall, then come home and bake some brownies in preparation for the utter lack of dessert in Ecuador.

"We don't barbecue here. BBQ is food. Cookout is what you do." - Sue Darling, North Carolina resident of five years (and the best godmother a girl could ask for)

As I type this, my godmother is filling me in on the three seasons of Army Wives that I've missed since I stopped watching the show, and a last load of laundry tosses in the washing machine. (How far can two pairs of underwear take you?) I am going to sorely miss my American Hulu access that grants me weekly Bachelorette and Covert Affairs updates, and to everyone that makes it to the Harry Potter finale premiere, eat some popcorn for me!

Tomorrow morning I part ways with my sweet southern family (yes Morgan, that includes you) at the Charlotte airport and head to UIO Quito, Ecuador, via Miami. I'm nervous for the unknown, but I'm determined to kick some a** as an international language teacher, taking every new opportunity for fun and excitement along the way. Nervous? Unsure? ...Why be? I already have family there waiting for me :)