Why couldn't my crazy gutsy daughter just take up skydiving or climbing Mt. Everest as a hobby?

[DFW]

I just heard from our younger daughter in West Africa. With a
girlfriend she met there, she took a week off from the UN war
crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone, and took Gambia Airways (?!?)
over to Senegal for a week. She rode in transports
consisting of 35 year old VW microbuses crammed with 35
passengers, went (by camel) out into a desert and slept in a
tent, grilling a (something) over a fire for dinner, took a
boat out to some island 20 miles out in to the Atlantic from
Dakar for a reggae festival and got serious food poisoning
the day before she was to go back to Sierra Leone, got to
visit a hospital in Dakar ("much cleaner" than the hospital in
Sierra Leone, I wisely didn't ask the difference) and didn't
know if she was well enough to take a hydrofoil back across
the strait that separates the Freetown airport from the city.

But other than THAT, the trip over to Senegal was just great,
and she would love to go back some time.

Umm, yes, OK

I guess you had to have been there, and 23 years old, too.

[Kali]

1. that is EXCELLENT

good for her. These kinds of people may actually be able (and willing) to try and fix some real problems.

DO NOT discourage her.

[DFW]

2. She certainly intends to try to fix some problems

She grew up in Germany, German friends, German native language, German schools.
She then decided to try something new, went to Hawaii for 2 years, then on to
GWU in Washington, cum laude in Political Science/Public policy and now, after
first year of law school (15th in a class of 185, made Law Review) decides on
this wild thing with the UN for zero pay instead of some cushy high-paying
internship with a fancy law firm in the USA. It's funny--she was rejected by
some of the more prestigious law schools because her LSATs weren't high enough.
She just didn't know enough of the fancy English words on it to understand it all.
She knows them now, and now has some of those fancy law schools begging her to
transfer over to them (she isn't interested any more).

We have NEVER discouraged her from anything, and in her high school graduation
book, she actually thanked me for believing in her and allowing her to become
anything she thought she could, and supporting her in doing anything she tried
and anywhere in the world she wanted to try it. As long as I'm still alive and
have a nickel in my pocket, I'll continue to support her (and her sister), have
no fear. Every parent wants to think their kid is special. I don't think so.

I KNOW it.

[WinkyDink]

8. You are the polar opposite of my parents. I can't begin to tell you of my envy of your children.

[DFW]

11. Thanks, I think!

We just did what we thought was right, messed up no doubt plenty of times
along the way, but always with good (we thought) intentions. That's probably
as close as any parents will get to "getting it right," whatever that may
finally turn out to mean.

[Heidi]

3. I think this is wonderful!

I was in my early 30s before I had the courage to experience the world on my own. Good for your daughter, and good for you and Mrs. DFW for the role you've played in her development. :thumbsup:

[DFW]

4. I think most people start out on stuff like this a little later in life.

This was a special case because I am American and my wife is German,
and we raised our girls to understand that they were citizens of two
very different countries and cultures. They both got it early on.
Our younger one (the one in Africa) went for her high school year
abroad to Hawai'i and suddenly had friends from China, Japan, Thailand
and Korea. Back home in Germany, she already grew up with kids from
France, Poland, Russia and Turkey, as well as Germans. When visiting
my family back home, she got to know plenty of people from America,
and now she has new friends from India, Africa, and probably other places
I haven't found out about yet.

We know that whatever country/countries they settle in, they'll leave
the place/places better off for their having been there, and that's the best
my wife and I can hope to have accomplished--that and their being happy about
being who they are.

So far, so good :-)

on edit: one of those rare occasions when we are all together on the same continent:

[Schema Thing]

6. I can see the lump in your throat when you tell these stories

from here, DFW. The pride you feel is justified.

My 16 yo is living an unconventional life filled with music, job, and overseas boyfriend, and I couldn't be happier for her.


All that and beautiful to boot! (your daughter and mine)

[DFW]

10. At the moment, more apprehension than anything

She just sent us an email from the UN compound that her food poisoning has not
abated, and that she hasn't been able to keep anything down since last Thursday.
I don't know where the nearest competent medical care is, either Málaga or
Johannesburg, but it is nowhere near where she is now. We will be VERY happy
to hear that this has subsided--if and when.

[alphafemale]

14. Hope she's feeling better soon.

It's really awful to feel the urge to nurture and they are so far away.

[DFW]

19. I know, even though it's no farther away than New York

The trouble is, we can jump on a plane and be in New York any day of the week.
It's an 8 hour flight for us--less long than it takes to fly from Brussels to
Sierra Leone. But you can't just decide one evening to fly to Sierra Leone, and
run down there the next day. The necessary innoculations and medical preparation
alone take weeks, plus you have to apply for a visa, etc. etc.

[spinbaby]

5. Oh, to be young again

When we didn't mind sleeping outside on the ground and strange food didn't give us terminal heartburn and we didn't need to take four different prescriptions meds every day to stay alive. I miss those days. I wish I'd gone to Africa.

[alphafemale]

7. My daughter is an adventurer too. Read this. Count the times my heart about stopped.

It's about time for another update. A few people have asked what "building trails" actually entails. My crew of 13 is constructing a reroute up Petersburg Mountain, because the current trail is very difficult and not very safe. We use logs, plank, and rocks to build different types of walking surfaces and are making a less slippery and steep path up the mountain. Sometimes we literally have to move entire fallen trees-- for this we use something called a griphoist, which is a 70-pound hunk of metal attached to a strong metal coil that is then attached to the log and puts an incredible amount of force that drags logs. It's slow work--the logs only move a few inches at a time, but nevertheless it's very impressive when you consider the thing weighs at least several tons. It's also quite something to be working below one of those 20-ton logs and see it cut loose and come plowing down the hill towards you. This happened to another member of the crew and I--we just dropped the griphoist and hauled ass out of the way. Fortunately it stopped short, but I still see it in my mind's eye. Trail building can be immensely hard work, but it's the kind of job I've always wanted--to finish the day tired, filthy, and sore and be paid for it, paid to live amongst the trees.

We work for 10 days and come back to town for 4 days at a time. It's always somewhat bewildering to return to asphalt and washing machines, but nice to see the other crews (there are several other work crews employed by the Forest Service that all live together when in town) and enjoy the nightlife and hot showers. While in the field we camp in bunk tents (raised platforms covered by canvas and tarps), cook our meals in a yurt (we actually have an oven and refrigerator powered by propane!), and have a wooden throne and toilet seat over a giant barrel for our "business." Patterson Glacier is visible from our campsite on clear days. On Tuesday morning we awoke to wolves howling, and we often see wolf scat and moose prints and such around our trail. I haven't seen any big wildlife yet; the most exciting thing was a BIG porcupine in a tree. It had been sleeping, and the guy I was hiking with started poking around the trunk of the tree, which irritated the animal so that it bristled up its spines--we took the hint and moved on. There have been lots of grizzly sightings further inland, which is unusual and may mean that the food supply closer to the island's edge is running low. The fishing season was closed early here due to low numbers too. Scary.

The 4th of July is fantastic fun in Petersburg. It's a big holiday, and virtually the entire town of 3,000 comes out for street games (such as giant tricycle races, slow bike races, and egg tossing) all day. There is a log rolling competition in the evening (they float a big log in the harbor, and two people at a time balance on it and try to roll the other off into the frigid water), and a fireworks show that features exploding propane tanks. I had a bit of a near-death experience that night: at house party some guys were blowing up stuff, I don't even know what. I was standing under a food tent when there was a tremendous boom followed by lots of scared faces and "Heads up, heads up!" A few seconds later a piece of steel shrapnel the size of my head landed two feet away from me. I couldn't have seen it coming, and if I had gotten out from under the tent to try to see, I probably would have been exactly where it landed when it landed. I was pretty jittery the rest of the night; even though I typically enjoy pyrotechnics, something as small as a kid walking by with a sparkler made me jump. It didn't help that as I began to recover from the incident and was leaning on the edge of the patio with a friend a rocket shot out right under our feet. I nearly cried.

That's about it; the friend whose computer I'm borrowing needs it back. Next time around I'll try to attach pictures of the trail and griphoists and fuzzy critters and such.

Big love to all,
J

[DFW]

9. Wow, pretty hairy! Where is that?

[alphafemale]

12. She's near Petersburg Alaska and doing the trail work at Denali National Park.

She did her Fall Junior Semester in Tanzania last year.

[DFW]

20. Sounds like spectacular scenery in both places!

I'll bet she loves every minute of it.

[Radical Activist]

13. Is she single?

I'm kidding, but it sounds like she must be having a great time.

[DFW]

16. She is single in a legal sense only

She has been very much attached to a great guy from Düsseldorf for 3 years now,
and that is still quite solid. Her sister (the blonde in the lower left corner
of the photo) is free at the moment if you want to try your luck.

[lizziegrace]

15. Wow...

:wow:

she's amazing. I know she's shortened your life by a few years, but wow...

[Xipe Totec]

17. She has more balls than I do

and I mean that, sincerely, as a compliment.

[arcadian]

18. Goree Island? Weird place for a reggae fest.

It was a slavers stronghold and shipment point.

[Haole Girl]

21. She is truly living life

:-)