Let’s talk about travel. I myself am a traveler, I took off two years in the middle of my career to travel the world. And I came back a new person. But even before that, there was some more traveling to be had. And my biggest adventure, before traveling for two years, was Zimbabwe. Jen and Grant and their baby, Aaron (who is now 11!) lived there for three years. I just finished law school and had taken the bar, and I was waiting to hear back about whether I passed or not. So I thought about it a little bit and then I made the decision to go to Zimbabwe for three or four months. Javi and I were together in our apartment. I talked to him, and we both agreed that it’s a blip in the grand scheme of things, and he’ll stay there in the apartment and I’ll go to Zimbabwe. And I did. And it was awesome. I wish I could remember every single little thing. Or that I had a blog that chronicled every day, but alas, I do not. I am not a blogger, but there are a few things that I remember about this trip.
First of all, I loved the house and Jennifer and Grant and their friends. They are teachers and all of their friends are teachers. They are still friends with some of them. They let me meet all the people and I am grateful for that. And the restaurants, which aren’t that many, but are incredible. We went on some trips, including one to South Africa to the Safari with a sister and a cousin, and we got to see all of the animals, including leopards, zebra, giraffe, elephants, lions, you name it. Although I did not see the honey badger, to my chagrin.
My second favorite thing was my job and the people there, they were all local people, and I got a glimpse of how they do their jobs with very little money. Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association is the name of the organization, and I was a legal fellow there. I did a few different things. For example, I read about conservation in Zimbabwe and I helped another lawyer write a brief about how conservation and the economy both advance together in certain ways. We went around the country in the bush to talk about promoting sustainable resource governance. It was one of the best things, I'll never forget it. I learned when I was in Zimbabwe that I passed the bar, so I started to figure out what's next. I went home in December filled with gratitude and love for Jennifer and Grant and their friends, and Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association.