Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
 
After leaving Olympia last spring, and then Alaska, I was blessed with time and amazing, loving friends who welcomed me into the comfort of their homes in Walla Walla, Wa.; Corvallis, Or; St. George, Utah; and L.A - where I got to re-unite with my long lost limbs. It was so crucial to have the connectedness I did. Now I'm with my brother's family in Minneapolis, experiencing the "home" of my natal grounds before departing on an adventure toward Home. I am joyous with my Self and my Life. Reaching out into a new community of friends. Half alone, half hanging-out; perfect. Preparing. On top of feeling On Top of the World, I’m amazed to be awarded with the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship - congressional money for Study Abroad Programs. I applied with an essay describing my Independent Learning Contract through Evergreen College to practice Natural Building Abroad: “I wish to immerse myself in the Spanish language in order to achieve a level of fluency; both Mexico and Spain hold a familiarity that calls to me. Each country has beckoned repeatedly throughout my personal quest to understand my relationship to the concept of Home. I yearn to delve further into the lands, the culture, the language, the people, and their relation to the concept and reality of Home. “It’s to achieve this end that I’ve written my final faculty-sponsored Independent Learning Contract through Evergreen College. Having already earned my Permaculture Design Certification, begun practicing plant medicine, and studied sustainable design, I'm ready to learn and practice the natural building skills and methods that will enable me to build my own home.” For the upcoming winter and spring quarters, in Mexico and then in Spain, I will take one or more natural building courses, work out design drawings real and imagined, read texts, work with the local communities on construction projects, examine traditional villages and eco-villages, and talk with locals about the construction methods and materials of the region. My Itinerary, currently, looks like this: The first week of January I travel to Zipolite, Oaxaca, Mexico. I will undertake a design/build course offered by the Natural Building Institute of Ontario to build an entire cob home for a Mexican Family. From the southern coast I’ll travel inland to Chalma. There I get to learn to build a Thatch house at the healing center Yolitia. At the beginning of April, and the beginning of spring quarter, I’ll travel to the Andalusian region of southern Spain. To La Molina, a holiday place for women and lesbians, and Valle de Sensaciones, a community of artists working on amazing projects. Then, on the island of Ibiza, to an organic farm and hotel, Can Jondal. The Gilman Scholarship, in order to promote International Education, will help with the cost of travel, food, and the security of a place to study and rest. In exchange, I wish to provide one source through which those of us with limited means can pursue natural and regionally appropriate building. Hopefully we’ll all come to a better understanding of what can be expected as I track the process, and what it takes to begin down the path ourselves. Following this multi-faceted journey, internally as it plays out externally, will yield an ability to build a home for myself, quelling some part of a need for which I’ve been searching my entire life. Natural Building: Abroad Wednesday, December 12, 2007