It's 2015. That happened quickly!

Aloha!

My niece and I were supposed to go pet some stingrays at the aquarium today. But the icy New England roads have us housebound. Stingrays, penguins, and turtles will have to wait. Instead, I am writing to you, and marveling about how it seems like just yesterday and at the same time forever ago that Ahila asked me to be the G12 January 2015 blogger.

Alas, here we are. And Happy New Year! I’m sipping coffee at my kitchen table in Cambridge (Massachusetts), slowly conjuring up the past two years. My gray-and-white cat, Mini, is looking out the window at the dreary winter scene. The heaters are clicking away softly in the background. Days like this, I sure do miss Hawaii!

As you may know, I actually do get to spend quite a bit of my time in Hawaii. That happened quite unexpectedly. After APLP and GIST, I worked for EarthWatch, an organization that brings people on science expeditions around the globe. As their corporate educator, I traveled on expeditions to the Arctic, the Brazilian rainforest, Arabian riverbeds, and urban watersheds. I saw polar bears, caught and tagged songbirds, and traveled in houseboats on Oxford canals. It was all great fun, until the organization re-organized and there was no space for me.

That’s when the APLP team invited me to come to Hawaii for a few weeks. The leadership programs there keep multiplying, so extra hands were helpful. Eventually, “helping out” became a job, and now I divide my time between Hawaii and Cambridge (which is a very long commute). I still get some consultant gigs with EarthWatch, and I am also designing and teaching on-line courses for humanitarian relief workers. So, life is full, and interesting, and good.

Being in Hawaii and being on the “other side” of the APLP has been fun. I get to see the cohorts go through their own learning and (for some) transformation. I also get to see APLP alumni – including some of you! Working with the APLP team has been great. I didn’t quite realize while in the program myself just how much fun the team has together. I feel pretty lucky.

You're basically caught up on my last couple of years, at least work-wise. I turned 40 recently (!!) and celebrated in Hawaii with a skydiving adventure (with Nina!) and then celebrated again in Boston – with Alisha and Megan. I’m exciting about the new decade and what it will bring. And while January seems to be the month for planning, with everyone making resolutions, I just have one new goal for 2015: to learn to do a headstand.

Maybe I’ll have made some progress on this by the next time I write.

Mahalo nui loa,

G

(This photo of me with my delicious Laksa Penang was taken in Penang, last April, when I escaped a training for a night on the town.)