Reflections on exchange

A Chilean dude came a delivered a package in the office this afternoon. A resulting five minute conversation in Spanish sent me in a tailspin for the rest of the day. It brings up a certain level of nostalgia, memories of my trips to the continent, the people I have met in my life and the philosophies that have shaped my outlook in the last 18 months. Lately I have been dwelling on my last trip, back in 2005 after the MC elections. The more I look back on that one trip the more importance I place on it. That trip fundamentally changed the way I perceive patience, time, situational analysis, emotions, self empowerment, optimism, thought space, meditation, cross cultural human relations, sympathy, reflection, tolerance, fate, history and fortune...

Lately we have spent some time reflecting on our year as the Australian MC. The more I look back on it, the more I see elements of that South American trip scattered throughout the last year. I see it in our team meetings, I see it in coaching, I see it in endurance conference preparation and most of all I see it in my friends.

Today I saw it again in a single five minute conversation with a delivery man.

It has taken me an hour to write this post. I have struggled to capture the base level connection I feel with the spanish language, the intense nostalgia it brings up and the desire to return to the continent that it invokes. I consider these thoughts, events and ideas to be ongoing aftershocks of an exchange experience over four years ago. It is for this reason that I am still so involved with the notion of providing people international development experiences. Next Tuesday I am guest speaking at my local rotary club lunch, I am thanking them for the experiences they provided me and remind them of the power they have to positively influence youth.