I have begun this blog to chronicle my daughter & my adventures on the road. First, I want to address the title that I have chosen, as it may seem insensitive to some more politically correct readers. I want to be clear that I am not a Roma, whom this term is offensive to. The Roma are an ethnic group who resent the name "gypsies" given them. I am, however, a gypsy in the definition that the non-Roma identify with - I travel the globe without a clear home, and I have been doing so since birth. Therefore, I use the term gypsy to refer to the nomadic lifestyle my daughter & I have.
Now a little about us. My daughter and I are Global Nomads or "TCKs". We have both lived the majority of our lives outside our passport countries. I was born in Pakistan to an American father & Swiss mother, therefore I am lucky enough to have both these passports. My daughter was born in China, where I adopted her at 10.5 months old. She inherited these passports, too. At 2 years old, she & I moved to Bangkok, Thailand. I currently teach in a Swiss international school here where she is in the 3rd grade.
We've been in Thailand for 6.5 years, and are planning on leaving this summer on a great adventure! My plan is to travel around the world stopping at various places to volunteer. In different countries we'll do different projects. I hope to do something with organic farming (through WWOOF), environment, wildlife & marine conservation, clean water, women & children in need (hopefully refugees), and any other interesting opportunities that come along, but each volunteer project costs a pretty penny, and finding projects that allow a 9-year-old are few & far between, so I'm not sure how many we'll actually be able to do.
While traveling, I’ll have to WORLD SCHOOL my daughter. As a teacher with 20+ years of experience, I'm excited about getting out of the classroom and bringing education to my daughter in the setting that is most conducive to learning: the real world!
I took a COETAIL course (Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy) which required me to keep a professional blog. Although I can't claim that this class prepared me for doing this trip, it did inspire me as I was compelled to dig deep and explore my true feelings about education and what experience has shown me about what works best when teaching. And my experience tells me that travel is the best teacher, hence my plan to World School my daughter was born.
Computer technology will be a big part of our lives!! I won’t be able to fit books into our backpacks, so we will have to rely on e-friendly projects and tools which she can access on her iPad. I want to go paperless, but there will be some assignments that I will have a workbook or print-outs for (math, for example). But honestly, I want her main focus to be on EXPERIENCING her "lessons". Whether it's cleaning animal cages, planting seeds, or simply setting eyes on a historical site, I want her to witness it first-hand and not rely on reading about it alone.
Growing up in Developing Countries taught me that people don't appreciate what they have unless they experience not having it. Therefore, as part of my educational style, my daughter & I will be volunteering for 2 months in a remote village in Ladakh where there is no electricity or running water. I have lived like this before (Peace Corps Eritrea), and it gave me a greater appreciation for these modern miracles, so I want this to be one of my daughter's lessons early on in the trip.
It will be an interesting adventure & I hope to keep a personal blog (this one) & a professional one (this one). So, stay tuned!
Any thoughts or suggestions are very much appreciated!
Latcho drom!