And So It Begins...Again

And so it begins...again!  As of right now I am traveling to Ecuador on the 4th of August for two weeks with a group of teenage volunteers traveling with an organization called ME TO WE TRIPS to build a school!!!! I am soooo excited and nervous. 

This will be my first ever trip out of the country without a family member, which is a HUGE leap.  I am so much more nervous about Ecuador than I was about Africa.  Actually I really wasn't nervous at all about Africa.  But I guess once you take my mom out of the equation I become scared.  But hey its South America and that is another first.  I have never been to South America.  Nor have I ever built a school or traveled with a volunteer group.  So many firsts.  

I will be posting the pictures and stories for Ecuador on The Green Backpack.  However there is one little change...I will be posting after the trip.  Since no computers are aloud on the trip and even if I smuggled one to South America (which I am not going to attempt) there is no internet so the stories would still be published when I get home.

I will be keeping a good old paper journal and taking thousands and thousands of extroirdanary photos.  And when I return in two weeks I will be uploading them in an orderly fashion once a day (just to keep the suspense factor)  I like to think of it as reading a book, but only being aloud to read the book a chapter at a time.  Also I will be swamped with starting school in the fall plus closing down my Cafe/summer job and only having to write a story a day will keep me relatively sane while organizing two weeks of stories, pictures, and a kaleidoscope of feelings into orderly posts.   

With that said don't go away for too long.  At least come back for the end of August for some great stories!!  And I am sure something will happen...It always does.

-Z

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Me and my mother have done around 5 presentations in the last 2 months and we have 2 more booked.  My stage fright has surprisingly gotten much much better.  I no longer shake, however when I start a speech I talk really fast but that wears off quickly.  The best part for me is that I don't have a written speech.  I have a slideshow which gives me a suggestion of what I should be talking about but I have mainly been winging it. Which is so much more comfortable than having a written speech.

When we did our first speech my mother talked the whole time, and not because she wanted to but because I made her.  Now she is a part of the audience. Except for when I look at her with a look of panic when I have talked myself into a hole and need saving.  Which happens quite a lot which is not surprising at all.

Another thing that has happened recently is that two lovely papers (The Guardian and The Buzz) published our trip to Africa!  I am so thankful to both of them for taking interest in our trip and helping me pursue my dreams by showcasing my writing and our trip.  I am so grateful for their support and interest.  A lot of people have contacted my mother and I because they found out about our trip through either of the papers asking if we could do a presentation for them.  Which is fantastic being able to talk to people and show pictures and laugh at the stories is so enjoyable and lovely. 

There are a lot of important messages that the trip to Africa taught me and so much I want to tell people about.  By doing presentations I get to tell the stories on a more personal level. I think telling the stories in person something that people can relate to and that they can absorb easier.  I also enjoy the instant feed back.  I find it so fascinating hearing people's reactions to the stories and hearing their opinions.  

And I am so thankful to The Buzz and The Guardian for getting the word out that I am here and talking and have stories to tell.  Everyone has something to tell the world and I am so so so so very thankful that I am supported by so many amazing people to tell my stories and crazy adventures and the messages they have taught me.  

So thank you for supporting this crazy 15 year old who wants to share her stories.

-Z

Follow Up

Christmas is right around the corner.  To be exact Christmas Eve is tomorrow, and right after Christmas is the New Year.  Now I am probably not going to be running to get a gym membership, or go soul searching, although there is nothing wrong with that.  Instead this year I am planning more trips, more soap, and a lot more blogging.  My ultimate dream is to set up an organisation, along with my mother, that follows in the direction that our last trip started.  They say to not count your chickens before they hatch, but it is good to have dreams, and it is superb to have goals, and even better to have a plan.

Although I am getting way too far ahead of myself.  So far we have had an outstanding response to the trip, and this blog.  A Church has reached out to us, and offered to donate for our next trip, this is absolutely amazing.  I am so grateful for the support we are receiving. Also a lady and customer of ours has spoke up that she would be interested in traveling with us.  I have no idea where this is going but perhaps one day we will have group trips, if it works out that is.  Soap is dangerous, and the places we plan on going to are VERY dangerous.  So the security of our safety is never fully insured.

My mother and I will be doing presentations all over the Island.  I don't know where exactly yet, but there will be a lot, and I will defiantly be mentioning the whereabouts of the presentations if any of you would like to come watch a live display of stage fright.  The presentation is neat to see (if I do say so myself) because it has quite a few pictures and even stories that didn't get mentioned on the blog for the lengthiness of them.  I will be terrified most likely, as public speaking is not something I do in large groups all that often, but it is a skill I would love to learn.

Now, the biggest hit, that I did not think would gain such attention, is in fact this blog.  Yes The Green Backpack has been viewed more times than I wish to mention.  It is an odd feeling when you know that a LOT of people have read about you crying in the Heathrow airport and having milkshakes for supper.  Although I like it, I like knowing that I experienced the trip with so many people.

I have been asked a couple times if I am going to write a book.  About this trip, or my previous trips, that trust me have some great stories like walking the Great Wall of China in severe heat and getting stranded on a mountain in Alberta, but honestly I am not ready to write a book.  And I also have some other trips that I would like to embark on before I write a book, so that I could include them.  You might be curious about the next trip, but some things are better kept a secret.  But soon, I hope I will be packing my backpack again.

-Z

Goodbye Wonderland

The flights home all went well.  I might have hit someone in the eye with catapulted coffee-stir-stick....sorry random Cyclops stranger.  I have been home for a few days.  The snow is blanketing the world outside.  I don't normally mind the cold, but I have to adjust fast now for my own survival in this Canadian wasteland.  I will greatly miss the African sun. 

I have jet lag.  My bedtime is 3 pm and I wake up around 1 am, by 5 am I am fully awake and go have brunch.  Yesterday I went to bed at 7 and woke up at 5 AGAIN. I am so tired and my body is confused. This results in migraines that are so strong they make me nauseous.  But I wouldn't trade it for anything.  I am so blessed to have been able to go on this trip.  My life has been so touched.  

 I have to go back to reality now, face the world at home.  When I got back familiarity was in everything though something glossed the world that I call home.  Everything looks so small now.  What was once my everything is now only a fraction.

It was magical being reunited with my family and friends.  I have missed those hugs and smiles dearly.  

My Green Backpack is in the closet once again, waiting for another adventure.  As I settle into the routine of home I always hold a spot in myself for travel, for the unknown, for adventure.  Who knows where the Green Backpack will go next, time will tell.  So to that moment where I opened the window of the plane only to set my eyes on Africa, on wonderland, I hold this promise.  I will return, one day, somehow.  Have it be in another life or another time.  I. Will. Return.

To Wonderland.
To Travel.
And
To the next Adventure
For my Green Backpack
Goodbye...For Now.

-Z

Day 21

It is the 12th hour, the last day.  It is morning here, and my day has yet to unfold.  I have had my sweet, black, iced coffee (it is too hot to have hot coffee) and I have uploaded yesterday.  Funny how blogging has become a part of my every day.  Even if I don't write that day, I take the pictures and think about my blog.

Now this might be a little self centered but I am terrible at consistency. I do things in spurts of crazy excitement and then chill out until I decide to go nuts about something else again.  What I am trying to say is I am the inventor of the every-two-month-diary-entree,  I am the queen of the inconsistent. So I am giving myself this paragraph for achieving to document this entire trip, and not have this blog become another victim of my inconsistent pulses.  Basically Good Job Katie.

Today we are going to a herbal farm, were they grow plants to make essential oils. Then we are heading to the airport, And I plane to Heathrow leaves at 8:50 PM. I might be able to upload the pictures or even write about it in the airport, but if not, this is the one time you are getting to know what the next post's subject is before I write it.  Well for the most part anyways.  I don't like saying what I am doing before I do it.  I feel like suspense is the whole point of this blog.  But who knows maybe today will hold something I didn't mention...like grand-theft-auto or maybe I will run away with the circus.  Never mind...too late, been there done that.

So my Green Backpack is packed and this is when I get sentimental and mushy.  I will miss the African air, and the people that I have learned have no limit of care,  I have learned to love, and learned to say things through a hug, I have seen things I didn't want to see, and felt things I didn't know I could, I have thanked the skies above, luck, stars, fate, and serendipity for this trip.  For that call a year ago.  For my mother, for that book that I read when I was 5 that started it all. That started the love of adventure, and the feeling, that feeling that makes me get on a plane and put myself out of my comfort zone, that feeling I like to call, Travel.

Oh the places you'll go:
You're off to great places
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting
So...Get on your way!

-Z

Day 20 (Nails And Smiles)

Day 20

We went to the bank at around 10 to exchange money.  At 11:00 Paul drove me and Josh to a "place". I can't say what it was, because Josh is planning on surprising his parents with this "thing".  Paul drops my mom off around 12 and at about 2 PM the thing is over.  We have lunch at a cafe.  Around 3 PM Paul picks us up.

We drive 30 minutes out of town to visit a couple, Audrey and Ron, who has adopted 7 kids.  Their farm is beautiful they have puppies, goats, chickens, geese, and gorgeous gardens.  We stay for about 2 hours.  Josh plays soccer with the boys, and I paint all the girls toenails.  After we give out toys and scribblers for the kids.  Lots of laughs and hugs were had.

We drive home just as it is getting dark.  We shower and me and Josh watch Friends.  Around 10 I crash.

-Z