Month: March 2009

vacation, volunteer

My Year of Hopefulness – Cross-Cultural Solutions

Christa Avampato

With everyone tightening their money belts these days, the idea of a vacation, especially a vacation aboard can seem indulgent. But what if you could vacation with a purpose? Could we begin to see money spent on vacations with a purpose as an investment rather than a luxury?

I volunteered for two weeks in France right before I started business school. I worked with La Sabranenque, a nonprofit dedicated to rebuilding ancient architecture in Provence in an effort preserve history and increase tourism. It was an incredible experience – I can say with confidence that it was the most satisfying vacation I ever took. And I’m looking to repeat it.

I began doing some research on-line to see what was out there in the volunteer vacation world. After some searching I found my way to Cross-Cultural Solutions, an organization with well-established volunteer programs in Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. I am really impressed by the detail on their website, their on-line community of volunteers vacationers, and their personal one-on-one service.

With some experience in this type of vacation, here are some tips that I have found helpful:

1.) Look for well-established programs that have strong relationships in the communities they serve.

2.) Programs that are flexible are usually best: flexible lengths and dates of stay, a flexible number of locations, and flexible kinds of work. I got very lucky with La Sabranenque though in general I’ve found that the more flexibility you have, the more organized the programs are.

3.) Find programs that have past participant testimonials. These are the equivalent of customer reviews. You want to be able to connect with members, past, present, and future to help prepare you for your experience and to connect with once you return. It’s all about building bridges with others in this collective experience.

4.) Different programs have different costs and a variety of different services included with their fees. I have found that the best ones include meals and housing. You also want to be careful of how much time you’ll spend volunteering and how much time you’ll have to explore the country, get to know people in the community, and partake in cultural activities. In France, we volunteered for 4 hours a day and then had the rest of the time to ourselves. For me, this was the perfect combination of meaningful work and downtime.

At this point it sounds like I’ll be heading to Salvador, Brazil some time in the Fall with Cross-Cultural Solutions working with kids. “Salvador has a reputation for enthusiasm and optimism widely known throughout Brazil and the world.” Sounds like the perfect vacation for my year of hopefulness.

China, entrepreneurship, Examiner

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Advice for Western Entrepreneurs in China

Christa Avampato

Today I read a terrific story about entrepreneurship in Fast Company. The author, Andrew Collins, talks about his experience of being a Australian-born entrepreneur in China. He is the CEO of Mailman China.

To read the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m3d2-A-stranger-in-a-strange-land-Western-entrepreneurs-in-China

This photo appears courtesy of Scott Write, Limelight Studio (Shanghai)

books, child, childhood, children

My Year of Hopefulness – Dr. Seuss’s Birthday

Christa Avampato

Today 105 years ago, the world received the gift of Dr. Seuss. His work has been a part of nearly every American childhood since World War II. Through his furry, colorful creatures and rhyming prose, he has inspired us, taught us, and given us clarity during the hazy, difficult transitions of childhood. I have several Dr. Seuss books and every once in a while when I have had a really tough day, I take them down from my bookshelves and flip through the pages.

His creativity and ability to be poignant without being preachy or intimidating has won him fans the world over. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a holiday tradition in my family. We can recite the entire movie, sing the songs, and even do impressions of the characters. Though I never met Dr. Seuss, he was an influential part of my childhood and continues to be an influential part of my adult years. A copy of Oh, The Places You’ll Go! was my favorite graduation gift and I’m not ashamed to admit that there are times when I have gone back and re-read it because I felt disappointed by some part of my life. Dr. Seuss helped me keep my head up, even when my morale was down.

So dear Dr. Seuss, happy, happy 105th birthday and thank you for creating timeless tales that have kept us feeling hopeful even during bleak and uncertain times. We need you now more than ever.

The image above appears courtesy of Google and Dr. Seuss Enterprises.

books

Drood by Dan Simmons

Christa Avampato

It’s hard to get historic fiction right, keep it believable, and be entertaining. Dan Simmons gets it right in his latest novel, Drood, while also bringing in an element of the fantastic. What I love about London is its magic – around every corner you think there might be some sort of wizardry happening. Call it the Harry Potter effect. Simmons uses that sense of magic to finish the tale of Charles Dickens and his last piece, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a book he never completed.

Not knowing a good deal about Charles Dickens life, I wasn’t able to discern which events in the book are factual and which are created by Simmons. For me, that is part of his genius. In much of the historical fiction I’ve read, you can clearly see the line between what we know happened from a historical perspective and what is invented by the author. Even when something in Dan Simmons takes us down into the underground world of London and I was certain that these events could not have happened given their magical component, I found myself being pulled even deeper into the story, able to completely put aside reality so I could follow Charles Dickens, and his friend, Wilkie Collins (the narrator of the book), on their dark adventure.

On occasion, I find English literature a bit difficult to trudge through. The language and turn of phrase can be difficult to follow. I didn’t find that at all with Drood. Though it is certainly written in the English style, I found that it was very easy for me to visualize the action of the book.

To be sure, Drood is a commitment. At 771 pages it is not a quick read. I also found that the language was so beautiful that I wanted to enjoy it. It was one of those books that I enjoyed so much that I was a little reluctant to get to the end, perhaps because I know how the ending goes. I know Charles Dickens, and Wilkie Collins, are no longer with us. And after following them on their wild ride, albeit one that ends tragically, I was sad to see both of them reach their end.

Drood is masterfully written. Just by reading his work, I was made into a better writer. His construction and ability to use history without letting it overtake the narrative are impressive and to be applauded.

entrepreneurship, Examiner

NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Are You Ready For the Start-up Life?

Christa Avampato

The Wall Street Journal ran a special entrepreneurship section that serves as a guide to help us determine if the start-up lifestyle is the right one for us. I enjoyed reading the article that asks us a set of questions to help us get our arms around what it means to be an entrepreneur. The article is a little bit negative so I wanted to highlight the questions below and add some commentary on them that shines a more positive light on the opportunity to be an entrepreneur.

To view the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m3d1-The-WSJ-puts-you-to-the-test-are-you-cut-out-to-be-an-entrepreneur

Fast Company, happiness

My Year of Hopefulness – Creative Confidence

Christa Avampato

“I really do believe I was put on the planet to help people have creative confidence. I don’t have 27 agendas. I’m not the sustainability guy, or the developing-world guy. My contribution is to teach as many people as I can to use both sides of their brain, so that for every problem, every decision in their lives, they consider creative as well as analytical solutions.”
~ David Kelley, founder of IDEO

David Kelley is one of my creative idols. He forges ahead so confidently not only with faith in his own creativity; he also has great faith in the creativity of others. There are a lot of people out in the world who think of themselves as “idea people” or “great strategic thinkers”. What’s so inspiring about David Kelley is that he believes all people are creative, that we are all strategic thinkers. His goal is to help us make the most of the creativity that we have, and integrate our creativity with out others skills and interests.

There was a great profile of him in Fast Company in January. He could have toiled away as a mildly successful corporate cubicle worker. For some people, that’s the life they want because it helps them live a good life with plenty of energy left for their families, hobbies, outside interests. Their work isn’t their life and they found a way to make that lifestyle work for them. David wasn’t happy in that role and he wanted to create a career that was different than the typical path of many people who work in large corporations.

My point is that we must consider what’s most important to us in order to figure out how best to construct our lives. Is it our work? Our families, friends, hobbies. Do we just want to have time to take advantage of opportunities that come our way. And all of these answers, any of these answers, are correct. The meaning we imbue on our lives, and the priorities we set are our business, not anyone else’s.

I appreciate that David says he doesn’t have 27 agendas – he just has one, clear concise agenda. He might have a number of ways to push it forward, though he really just has one goal: “teach as many people as I can to use both sides of their brain.” What if we could all figure out exactly what our lives are about, state it in one clean sentence, and then relate everything we do back to that focus? Would that lead us to greater happiness and fulfillment? It’s worth a shot.