I'm a Freshman again. Where's the dining hall?

I’m starting to realize the painful pattern in life of Rise-and-Reset. This can most easily be pointed out when it happens in high school, at which point one begins as a lowly Freshmen and spends four long years clawing their way to the top of the food chain, only to be knocked down to Freshman status all over again in college. Soaring confidence and a sure-footed strut are swiftly replaced with all too familiar insecurities, and fresh ignorance. Rise-and-Reset.

Now, this has happened to me a few times - Grade School, Middle School, High School, College, my Agency in Michigan and my Agency in Boston to name a few...but who’s counting. What I’m getting at though, is that the reset button just got hit hard, harder than ever, and I didn’t even see it coming.

Now that I’m in India, nearly everything needs to be relearned. I’ve had the supple carpet of confidence snatched from under my feet once again, and am now stuck with more cluelessness than I know what to do with. Not only do I not know where anything is, or who anyone is, I now can’t understand what people are saying, can’t read any signs, and a few days ago I had to ask my Mentor how to wash my clothes and go to the bathroom. Please read that last part again - I had to ask someone “how” to go to the bathroom here, not “where”; I’ll just say that things are done differently around here and leave it at that.

But now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, let me get to the parts that actually do matter, and I mean that in all sincerity. The people in my organization (Grassroots Development Laboratory) are all interesting, honest and good people; I’m seeing the world for all of its scars and jewels; and I’m doing something in which I have immense pride. Those are the things that great experiences are made of.

Stories about my actual happenings are coming soon. Just wanted to get that off my chest though. Stay tuned...