Another way to go is to investigate government grants.
I met more than one person abroad on a government grant.
Check out one of these two below.
New Direction Three
Author: leekierdorf
New Direction Two
There are organizations that help with volunteer work.
Here are some you can check out:
New Direction One
See if your local church supports mission work. The larger the church, the more chance they do.
There are missions that focus on spreading the gospel. But there are also ones the focus on building something or providing a service.
How do expenses work? In many cases, you ask others to help finance your trip. You divide up the expense into smaller amounts and ask family members or other church members to help cover the cost.
What do you get out of it? You get to travel to another country and see what it’s like. You learn how to work on a project with others. The church may have done this before and has a preparation class to educate you.
New Direction – One
Not quite ready yet. Come back soon.
New Direction
Have you been anywhere?
Seriously, have you been out of your home country?
Now, sure, you have been to Florida.
But what about the country north of you. What? You live in Greenland? Okay, south of you.
I know, I know. It’s too expensive. What if I told you someone else will pay. Really. If you go and do something helpful or even something interesting, You can get funding. You can get a grant.
It’s true.
I will give you information that could help you realize your dream.
I met people in other countries that had a dream to do something. They were doing it.
Here are three ways to begin a cultural journey and help others:
Mind if I sit here?
Mind if I sit here?
Yes.
Why?
You asked me if I minded if you sat there. I told you I did. Now, you ask me why. Does my reason have to be acceptable by you? Maybe I just heard of a death in my family.
There was a recent death in your family? I’m sorry to hear it.
No, I have a reason that I would rather not share with you. You know, if you just sat down there, I would have said nothing.
Really. You want me to move?
No, you don’t have to move.
So, you don’t mind.
Yes, I do mind because I didn’t want to talk to anyone.
So, that’s your reason.
No. Listen, just don’t talk to me anymore and it will fine.
Okay.
Silence.
How long do you plan to sit on this bench?
Now, you’re talking to me.
Yes.
Well, I don’t know. It’s a very nice bench. The sun is not too hot. I don’t see any other benches around.
Silence.
I sit here every day. At this time.
Sit as long as you like. I won’t bother you.
But I feel obligated to talk to you now that you’re here.
Don’t.
Now, who is being rude?
I’m just reading my book. What? Do you think I’m a spy or something? That I’m waiting for a drug deal? I’m just sitting here reading my book, lady.
Well, you don’t have to shout. Go ahead. Read your book. But you might be good company, you know.
Fine. I’m sorry I raised my voice. Thanks for letting me share your bench.
Silence.
It’s not MY bench.
I know.
Silence.
Do you think it will rain?
Now, that is a conversation starter, isn’t it? I thought you didn’t want to talk?
I didn’t bring an umbrella.
I can see that.
I usually do. Just in case.
Hm. That’s wise.
You never can tell this time of year.
I suppose not.
Silence.
You’re not much of a conversationalist, are you?
Actually, I’m a great conversationalist. You said you didn’t WANT to converse.
Silence.
Do you have any pets?
No.
I have two cats.
Two, you say?
Yes, they keep each other company. Bitsy and Rhubarb are great pals.
That’s nice.
Do you think those are strange names?
No.
Some people do.
Not me.
Silence.
What is the name of your book?
It’s called I’ve Read the Same Paragraph Seven Times.
Ah, you have a sense of humor.
Don’t we all?
I never try to be humorous. I do appreciate it though.
That’s nice. Lady, are you trying to make make me leave?
No, it’s fine. You reading your book. Me, just sitting here like I usually do.
Silence.
That cloud looks menacing.
Silence.
The birds know when it’s going to rain.
Do they? Maybe they read the weather report.
Ah, there’s that sense of humor again.
The weather report said nothing about rain.
They’re not always right.
No, and they never apologize if they are wrong about yesterday. They just go on predicting.
I suppose it’s not an exact science.
No, I guess not.
Silence.
I can see the title now. Atlas Shrugged. Is it good?
No, not really. It’s famous but it’s long and I’m giving it one more chapter. It’s not a page turner. Atlas hasn’t shown up, yet.
Maybe it’s a metaphor. Like Atlas is holding up the world and he shrugs for some reason.
Maybe he read this book. I’m ready to shrug about now.
Good thing you aren’t holding up the world, then.
Now, that is funny.
Really? How?
You took the metaphor and applied it to me. I’m really AM done with this book. My lunch hour is over, too.
Will you be back tomorrow?
Doctor Fury
“I need a new place to work.”
“What about the house on Bleak Hill?”
“It does have the right ambience.”
“It’s for sale. But they say it’s haunted.”
“Does that lower the price?”
“Yes, quite a bit.”
“I’ll need a loan.”
“The bank will want to know what you’re working on.”
“Oh, this and that.”
“Explosives? Viruses??”
“No, no, nothing like that. Transplants.”
“What kind?”
“All kinds. Human to animal. Animal to human. Human to human.”
“Animal to animal?”
“There’s no market for that.”
“We’ll call it “medical innovations.”
“Can we see the property?”
“No realtor will go there now. Too many bad experiences.”
“Like what?”
“Bats flying around – strange noises – ghosts in the hallways.”
“That’s nothing. The last place had all that and more.”
“Until you blew it up.”
“No more explosives, I said. I’m done with all that.”
“You know, your scars are starting to fade.”
“People like me have nine lives.”
“Well, you’ve used up six by my count.”
“Is there a road we can get a truck up? Or a hearse?”
“A hearse?”
“For transporting patients who need new parts.”
“Have you ever considered normal science?”
“That’s for wimps! I’m the cutting edge of science!”
“We’re banned from Florida. I think they passed a special law.”
“That was just bad wiring.”
“That’s not what the Fire Marshall said…”
“I work miracles! What about that saber-tooth tiger I resurrected?”
“They hunted it for three weeks.”
“But they never found out we did it.”
“We?”
“I consider you my trusted assistant, Igor.”
“Don’t call me that!”
“A nickname, that’s all.”
“Okay, I’ll get this typed up and run it by the bank”
“If they don’t come around, threaten their family.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Okay, tell them they might meet with an accident.”
“I’m sorry I broke you out of the asylum.”
“They didn’t understand.”
“They wanted to hang you. You were being evaluated for trial.”
“That’s all in the past …”
“Okay, we’ll talk next week.”
Iceland Escape
I heard some friends of mine were going to Iceland. I had been sitting in a comfy chair for too long. I managed to reach out to push a button that booked a flight.
My action caused me some difficulty amid great adventure. You must bring a large amount of money with you. I did not.
I found a reasonably priced place to stay. The breakfast was $15 for all you could eat. My friend found me there. He, too, was trying to save money. He rented a car and slept in it.
He wanted to go around the island nation while I decided to stay in town. When he returned, we went to a couple places close by.
There was a waterfall and a geiser. There is a tourist place with hot blue water that we visited called the Blue Lagoon.
The water was blue but the cost was high. We saw rocks that filled a field close by. I could believe they were thrown from the nearby volcano. More later.
My friend was going back to the USA and I went to the airport with him. I thought I would try to return early. My return flight was two days off. My ticket would not allow change! Since I had little money, I ended up sleeping at the airport for two nights.
I found a place close by that offered hot tub soaking. Taking the bus, I found it cheap to enter. The outdoor pools are of different temperatures. The experience is what I remember of Iceland. Families would come and enjoy the hot water in large warm pools with bubbling jets around you.
In the morning, older men would meet and talk in a smaller tub. I spent hours there during the two days in limbo. One afternoon, a cold rain came down. Sitting in hot water with cold rain coming down on my head was a unique experience.
As you can see, I had good and bad experiences. I spent a lot of time walking around the city. You left the ocean behind and walked for blocks only to arrive at the ocean. The capital is on a peninsula.
After returning to the US. I saw a story about Iceland. The very city I walked about in was rocked by earthquakes that opened cracks in the streets. The volcano near the resort pushed out lava that covered the road we had driven on. The expensive Blue Lagoon was closed after an alert about the volcano that sent tourists running.
Iceland is tapping into geothermal energy to produce electricity. The steam spins a turbine. One of these was damaged by the lave flow. They have a more ambitious plan to use underground magma to produce energy.
Iceland counts the Vikings as their ancestors. An exciting land with interesting history.
Alien 2
I heard Blyg was talking slap about me. Just because I adopted some of your jingo.
I was assigned to monitor your TV. I was in big trouble because I was not getting it.
There was network. There was cable. There was podcasts. There was streaming. There was CNN, NBC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC, and there was more. And more. It was 24/7. It was LIVE. It was Breaking News. It was weather. It was sports. It was news. It was real. It was fake.
I watched a weather channel. It was weather all day, all night, all over. There was a pregnant lady weatherperson. She blocked out your whole east coast when she turned sideways. Lady! Get off your feet and take a break.
The best part was about this Trump guy. He was a monster. He was going to be arrested. I kept waiting for this orange jumping suit. He was crazy. I kept waiting for this white coat with long sleeves. I was watching every night.
But now he’s gone. Story over.
We should run somebody from our mother ship for your president.
That’s right. Mother Ship! We got one. We’re hiding it. I can’t tell you where. But it’s there all right.
Well, I’m being reassigned to another planet. I haven’t checked it out yet. I’ll be in charge of monitoring Mars, as you call it. A whole planet!
Well, bye, Xthyg
Natuna Island’s Slow Loris
Sunda slow loris, refers to the Sunda Islands, is a strepsirrhine primate. Yeah, that’s right, strepsirrhine. The word ‘Loris’ is derived from the old Dutch ‘Loeris’ which means clown!
It is commonly known as malu-malu, meaning “shy” in Indonesian. I see you, little loris! It is sometimes called kuskus, because local people do not distinguish between the slow loris and cuscus, a group of Australasian possums. They say, “Possum, loris, who cares?” In Thailand, it is called ling lom, which translates as “wind monkey”. Wind monkey? Really?
When Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire defined the genus Nycticebus, he made the Sunda slow loris the type species. But, later, British zoologist Oldfield Thomas, said the type specimen should be the Bengal slow loris, damn it. Further confusion resulted when Boddaert’s Tardigradus coucang was routinely mistaken for Carl Linnaeus’ Lemur tardigradus. An easy mistake in poor light. The fact was that Lemur tardigradus was actually a slender loris. Mammalogist Witmer Stone finally cleared things up by getting the slender loris off its strict diet.
The Sunda slow loris has dark rings around its large eyes and a white nose with a whitish strip that extends to the forehead. The dark eye rings may be from looking out for predators all night.
One major distinguishing feature between all loris species is locomotion: the Sunda slow loris moves slowly through trees using all four limbs, quadrupedally, as it were, typically, with three limbs holding on to a branch. You can’t be too careful in the trees, you know. They have a special network of capillaries in their hands and feet which helps them cling to branches for hours, without their digits going numb. Pretty cool, huh?
They sometimes feed on molluscs, like the giant snail which moves even slower than the slow loris. During estrus, females make whistle calls when in visual contact with a male. They will sometimes also call out, “Hey, Big Boy, over here.”
The Natuna Island slow loris is an arboreal and nocturnal primate, resting by day in the forks of trees. They sleep in a ball in the branches but are known to spoon with others at night.
We now leave the slow loris as the sun sets off Big Natuna Island.
Traveling Your Dream 