back on the caballo

Thanks guys for your nice emails and posts about my nasty bout with homesickness - its so nice to be reminded how supportive you are even when i feel like im floating out here. I realized i should end the pity party and after new years I attempted to rally out of my pink striped pajama pants and back into my routine and to my "normal" self. I'm still not quite there but trying to keep busy and aware of the opportunities ahead of me.

There have been some good distractions including the Love Parade in my last posting (crazy!) and a very busy NESsT life. I am finally starting to see the results of my contribution to NESsT, which makes me feel less like I'm struggling to keep up and more like I'm actually doing good work. Last week we had a team of NESsTERS from the MBA progam at Columbia University in the office to present a project they have been working on for the last couple of months. They were a dynamic group with some diverse backgrounds and about 4 or 5 years older than me so it was cool to pick their brains not only about school but about the different paths they took to get there. Heres a photo of a couple of friends from work and Columbia out at a fun tapas bar called Barcelona. Giselle, Stream, Loic, JuanJo, me, and Lauren.


We are also in the middle of the annual board meeting, so all of the NESsT board members are here for a week of meetings and site visits. They range from a social-issue documentary film maker who moved his family to Zimbabwe to a big wig investor from JP Morgan in NYC. Quite interesting to see them all standing in the office in an array of Chacos and button down shirts. But another opportunity to meet some great people and get some perspective on the work we do and - well - life in general. We travel to Valparaiso tomorrow to visit an organization that works to rehabilitate and integrate people with mental disabilities into their communities. Their social enterprise is a pottery and jewlery workshop where they provide on-the-job training and employ some of their patients. I'm looking forward to seeing the organization in action after working on their investment briefs and translating miles of power point presentations.

I guided a trip this week which got me out of the city and reminded me how much exploring there is to be done. It was a last minute call on Thursday night, my boss asked if I wanted to guide "a bunch of guys that are here filming a Budweiser commercial". Oh sure! It ended up not being the crazy party i anticipated but still fun and nice to revisit a favorite place in the mountains as the snow continues to melt. I really enjoy being able to watch something in a transformation process - in this case a glacial valley moving from spring to summer. As we walked along I was making little notes in my head of the new flowers that werent there a month ago or how much faster the water was running, the parts of the trail you could access now that the snow is receding, finally being able to see the lake...

Laguna Morado