Keeping Up On What Is Going On...

Action #2

Another school year, another blog post... This year has proven to be very busy thus far and I often struggle to find a balance between homework, personal time and my social life. I am observing/teaching at a local middle school, juggling three jobs, and attempting to learn a new language! Needless to say, my days get pretty hectic. At times, it seems as though I know nothing of the outside world except what is going on here on campus. I can tell you what the next all campus event is or who won first place at Kick-Off last night, but perhaps could not tell you much about the flooding in Manila. This lack of connectedness to the outside world frustrates me, so I decided early on during my freshman year to read up on new - both local and international - whenever I got the chance.

Working at the library made fairly easy to keep myself informed about the daily happenings in Elkhart county since one of my jobs consisted of me stamping every page in the local newspapers with a "Good Library" stamp and putting the papers on the shelf. Of course, I read the headlines and many of the articles (probably doubling the time it should have taken me to get the job done...) and felt pretty informed. I frequently told my friends random tidbits of local news.

Still, I felt like I lacked a connection with the wider world and the little PAX club tri-folds placed on the cafeteria tables - while very informative - just did not satisfy my craving to know what is going on. Thus, I make it a goal to check the news online at least daily. My online news source of choice is BBC news. Someone once commented on how this was rather odd - why not CNN? I suppose I sometimes harbor an inward desire to remove myself as far away from the smallness of Goshen, Indiana, and the USA in general, and using an international news source to keep up on world news gives me that option (this may also explain why I even turn to Al - Jazeera sometimes, too.) I am really glad that I am able to check a reliable news site like this whenever I so desire - it reminds that a world much larger than myself and Goshen exists out there!

I'll admit that I often focus almost exclusively on South American news. I suppose I can't be blamed - my family and many of my loved ones are still in Bolivia! It goes without saying, however, that Bolivia seldom makes international headlines (which is probably good thing), so to satisfy my craving for news from my adopted country, I frequently check the El Deber website, the local Santa Cruz newspaper my dad always buys. This keeps me informed on what is going on in that little country and makes me more connected to Bolivia. I am so thankful that internet provides a way for me to do things like this!

Thus, though it admittedly takes an effort (albeit a very small one) to keep up on what is going on in the world, it can be done and is well worth it!