Update from Nicole

Hello again,

I have returned to the States from my recent travel and had a great time meeting the team earlier this month! I wanted to post an update since I am no longer an alternate, and am officially a team member at this time. I'm getting prepared along with the rest of the team to go on the trip in February. I'm enjoying the work we're doing together to get ready, and am excited to contribute.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell everyone a little more about myself. Right now I'm exploring work with local and national non-profits, including two human/civil rights and anti-discrimination organizations in Michigan. I hope to bring my experience with the legal system to the non-profit sector where I can really make a difference working for cross-cultural understanding, tolerance and equality. In college I worked with several social action organizations. Some of my relevant coursework includes comparative politics, world religions, international economics, and philosophy. Most of my travel has been in Europe and North and South America, but I'm looking for opportunities to travel to less familiar locations. I am scheduled to study beginning Arabic at the University of Cairo (Egypt) in 2007. In the last few years I've been privileged to attend services at christian churches of a half-dozen dominations, at a Muslim mosque, zen temple, and Buddhist center. I've also walked labyrinths dedicated to the sacred feminine, attended an African-inspired spiritual drum circle, and participated in a Native American cleansing sweat lodge ceremony honoring our ancestors. This year I have been studying Buddhism and meditation at the Jewel Heart Center in Ann Arbor, where I live. I hope these cultural experiences will make me all the more prepared for our trip, and that I will get the chance to deepen my understanding of both Buddhism and Islam while we are in Thailand.