"Chip the glasses and crack the plates..."

One member of the Flock who just finished her Master's degree is now teaching in China for a year. Another Flocker who just finished her Bachelor's degrees is now headed off to Jordan to learn Arabic. A member of the cyberflock has actually been living in Albania for a while now. Three other Flockers, current inmates of Flock Hall 2.0, also just graduated, and this weekend they are all moving to Washington D.C. to start new phases of their lives and educations.

All of these intrepid souls are women. I am, once again, amazed by the women who surround me. They have a willingness to face change and the discomforts it brings that is astounding to me. I get irritated when the grocery store doesn't have my vegan cream cheese; I literally cringe at the kinds of upheaval that these ladies are taking on. They inspire me and challenge me, and to be honest, they shame me more than a little bit. I would love to say, "I'm also moving - to Kerplokistan to learn the lost martial art of the Kerplokistani Masters!" or something equally exotic, but I can't.

Truth is, I have become the world's tallest hobbit. I like my house and my schedule and my things just so. I prefer no interruptions to my self-involved pursuit of good workouts and tasty vegan food and educational reading material. A good friend (also a woman) once told me that as men grow older, they behave like bears with furniture. I scoffed at the time, but now, 10 years later, I am noticing certain growly territorial behaviors in myself that are decidedly bear-like (not THAT kind of bear, Jim).

And yet, I am restless. I want to wander, but I like my big kingsize bed and my monogrammed bathrobe. I feel the need to be more adventurous, but I dread the homesickness and strangeness of anywhere else. Could it be that despite my incessant bitching about Black Vatican City, I actually LIKE it here [shudder]? I just saw UP (which is a highly recommended flick, by the way - I give it 4 and a half Papal Mitres out of 5) and unfortunately, I saw myself in the main character. He had always meant to go to South America, but he just never got around to it.

I wish I could say that I have come to some momentous decision on this. I can only tell you that I have finally reached the point where I am seriously looking for some kind of foreign adventure. Not a vacation, but an extended stay with a job to do while I'm there. Once my Master's is done, teaching abroad seems like a good place to start. My PhD can wait a bit - I need to hurry before the Kerplokistani Masters all die off...