Dust off the Lamb Saddle

Since the trials, travails and travels of Summer 2008, I have been on a new journey: a return to academia, including my first foray into serious graduate scholarship; a renewed dedication to my long-time passion for swing dancing; a painfully decreased involvement in non-commercial radio; a new life of wonders and annoyances living in New York City; and new employment challenges and connections.

In August 2008 I sat in a yet another pleasant, but generic, airport and pondered what the journey before me would entail, if I could maintain my stary-eyed wonder once my nomadic wanderings were over.  In short, if I had come to see life as one exciting voyage, or if I was simply in the endorphin bliss of being away from home.

Was "the Lamb" to which I so often referred, a state of mind or a state of motion?

I'm not sure I've really answered any of this - life in New York providing me with no shortage of bizarre experiences and the occasional chance to reflect upon them - but it quickly became clear that those experiences were in some way different than my exploratory cross-continental ventures.

So I started a new blog, (lametexpatriot.blogspot.com) and left "the Lamb" to pasture while I settled into more sedentary roots.

Since then, I have made one cross-country dash back to my beloved TX and nostalgic OKC homes, and spent 2 delightful weekends in Vermont, which I now firmly believe to be as close in climate and society to Northern Europe as is possible in the New World.

But I never really got back on the Lamb.  Short trips, a brief respite - more rest than adventure; connecting with old friends rather than seeking out new ones.

Now, thanks to the archaic conventions of the academic calendar, and the peculiarities of my graduate program by which summer sessions won't avail me in the slightest, I found myself with a few months spare time, and no particular way to spend it.

Having embarked on a program loosely circumscribed by its title, "Islamic Studies," I found my interests drawn to a large chunk of the world with which I had little previous engagement - Central Asia, or more specifically the Muslim contingents of the Post-Soviet (2nd) world.

These two coincidents - free time and curiousity - intersected, and as they often have in my life resulted in a most fortunate outcome.  After what I must admit was only the most casual of conversations with a professor, I found myself in contact with a representative of the Radio Free Europe Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan) office, interested in my services as an intern/advisor for the summer.

Radio.  Islamic world.  Youth training.  Journalism.  Non-Profit (ok, Gov).

It's not quite like they made the internship program just for me (but given that almost all RFE interns spend the summer in DC or Prague office, they sort of did)...

Anyway, the ridiculousness of my continuing lucky streak aside, it looks like I will soon be back into unfamiliar territory.  On my own, or largely so, in a country I do not know, with people I do not (yet) know, and engaged in a variety of languages, cultures, and social knowledge of which I haven't the faintest clue.

And I am REVELING in it.

The Lamb's had a quiet winter, but this summer I take it back out of the pen and see how we both fare.

Bishkek.  Pishpek.  Frunze.

I'm so excited I think I might wet myself.

Weber (back on the Lamb)