CRESTVIEW — Nick Belvin is searching for spiritual fulfillment and professional preparation.
In October, he will hike the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal to achieve both goals.
The Crestview resident intends to do the 230-kilometer circuit — which rises to 5,400 meters (17,716 feet) high — in about 20 days.
Afterward, Belvin will return to Chiang Mia, Thailand, for a second year as an English-as-a-foreign language teacher at the private Pongpikul School.
The trek will “rev me up and get me ready to start teaching,” he said.
BACK TO SCHOOL
“I miss my school,” Belvin said of the stimulating 500-student environment, where art covers the walls and American pop music plays from the speakers.
“The owner likes Creedence Clearwater Revival and Elvis,” Belvin said. “Every morning they call the students to attention with Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You,’ with the kids clapping along.”
Plenty of progress has been made since Belvin's first days of teaching, he said.
“They didn’t know what I was saying and I didn’t know what they were saying,” he said. “I thought, ‘This is never going to work’ and wrote my resignation letter the first week. But I sat on it.”
Soon, Belvin realized something.
Full story in the June 21-24, 2014 edition, on racks here>>
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: FEATURED: Crestview's 'Teecha Nick' returns to Southeast Asia