From Weed Wacking to Fuji Peaking Nakagomi Orchard was my ultimate reason for beelining for Japan in April 2019, right there and then. I found the Workaway page several years back and fell in love. Obsessive love. Cherries, peaches, grapes, countryside, home-cooked Japanese meals, a well-built dorm with wifi and tatami rooms—could a project be more ideal? Volunteers were promised bike… Read More
Orchard Observations: The Counterintuitive Way Life Works Hidden away in a corner of Japan’s fruitiest prefecture, I was volunteering on one of the best farms that ever happened to me. I wove my bike through rice fields and greenhouses of cherry trees. On clearer days, I soaked up a splendid view of Mount Fuji. One morning, I even found myself at the… Read More
Lisinia: The Lavender Farm That Turned Me Into A Crazy Cat Lady There are four words that sum up why I love Turks. “Are you happy here?” At Lisinia, this was always the first question I got asked. Not “do you like it here” or “are you okay?” The truth is, my seventeen days without sight of a traffic light or even a convenience store, at my… Read More
The Spiritual Journey I Accidentally Started Landed Me At The Mindfulness Project By spending half of my Thai days volunteering at my third Workaway project, I confirmed my theory that the more popular a destination was, the less interested I am. I couldn’t bring myself to go for the beach parties and elephant sanctuaries. Instead I went to a dusty unknown village to learn more about Buddhism… Read More
Barefoot Begging And Patient Caring At ThaBarWa Meditation Center Life was hard and it was what I needed. During my week with the 3,000 residents (1,000 of which are patients) of this donations-run sanctuary for all, I focused on self discipline and awareness of the present. I woke at five to meditate, ate two meals a day, and meditated once more in the evenings.… Read More
A Lengthy Thought On Donations Southeast Asian Summer Day 32 Yangon, Myanmar Three days of medical experience were done. I finally got to sleep in, so naturally I felt the need to draft a Go Fund Me from my phone in bed and unexpectedly raise enough for not one, but two refrigerators over the course of breakfast because even… Read More
Clinical Volunteering In Yangon: Finding Truth In My Intentions In Burmese, Yangon means void of danger. After nearly a month of sightseeing, I was ready to volunteer and connect with a local community of medical staff to take away the dangers that patients in the rural jungle villages might suffer from. Nothing felt more reaffirming of “Yes, I want to be a doctor” than seeking a presence… Read More
Why Workaway Has A Permanent Role In My Life Story Workaway is an organization allowing travelers to choose from 26,000 active work exchanges from more than 155 countries around the world. This is the perfect tool for volunteers to find hosts who need help, and vice versa. It is standard for students to pay companies to work and volunteer abroad as a safe way to experience a new cultures.… Read More
Workaway: My Two Weeks Living With A Spiritual Community Yoga classes, my own room in a house shared with seven other volunteers from around the world, plus bread made from scratch still warm from the oven for breakfast? Yes please! In a village so remote that Brazilians themselves haven’t even heard of, I was introduced to meditation, awareness, and an alternate way of living.… Read More
Medical Volunteering In The Esmeraldas Province I joined my university’s MEDLIFE chapter for our first South American visit over my freshman spring break. Each day we set up a mobile clinic at different sites around the underprivileged local community. Together, our group benefitted 1,578 patients in one week. One of the coolest things was that the doctors were Ecuadorean, removing any culture gap and… Read More