What is "El Ritmo de Cambio"?

I spent several days thinking of what to name this blog. How could I pick something now that still represented me and my perspective in two years? Let alone, in another country?

As many of you already know, I have been accepted to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. I leave on February 22, 2011 for Tegucigalpa, the capital, where I will spend 3 months in language, cultural, and technical training. Sometime during training, I will be given my assignment - that is, the village that will become my new home for the next two years. With all the uncertainty this transition brings, it's odd how it will be one of the most stable times in my life since high school. Even in college, people were constantly coming and going, and I moved to a different building/house/room/bed every year, not to mention spending every summer in a different place.

So what does this have to do with the name of my blog? As I said, I tried to find something that represented the 'me' now, and the 'me' in the future. In Spanish, el ritmo de cambio typically refers to the "rate of exchange" (currently 18.89 Honduran Lempiras to the US Dollar) which says a lot about me and my interests in finance, specifically microfinance, and currency and the role I will serve in business development. The other meaning for el ritmo de cambio is "the rhythm of change" which I feel encapsulates the next several years of my life, if not the rest of it. Life is always changing, but there is something to be said for the rhythm of those changes. Sometimes we're ready for change and sometimes we resist change. But change certainly comes whether internally - in our ability to adapt to circumstances, or externally - the circumstances themselves changing. The aspirations I have to serve in the Peace Corps inherently hold a hope for a change - a positive change in Honduras that will undoubtedly be shadowed by the internal changes I will experience. Nonetheless, the ritmo catracho (Honduran lifestyle) is notoriously slow; the same implications for my ritmo de cambio.

My hope is that this blog will chronicle my thoughts, feelings, and experiences and provide y'all (you guys) some insight into my life. Please feel free to ask me questions and comment as we go through these next 27 months together.

I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.


Adam