Leif's blog

Wow. Where to begin? The whole trip still seems like a dream to me and I am still waiting for all of it to sink in. On the mountain, I thought it was so amazing to see what determination and courage was hiding within all of us. The most memorable moment for me was not the summit, but rather about 300 yards shy of the summit when we all stopped to regroup and charge for the summit together. At that moment, we all realized that we were going to make it, we were all goint to make it, and everyone just started crying. That moment was truly remarkable.
Once we got off of the mountain and started moving around the country a bit through Nalchik, 'Min Vody,' and Moscow is where a lot of the fun started. For me; this trip was more than just the climb and what it represented, it was also an opportunity to see how other people in different countries live thier lives and make due with what they have. Working with the Chechan kids was really a blessing. Seeing all of them in their struggle still able to smile and have fun and play around like kids should was really moving; it made me take a second look at how apprach adversity in my life. To be honest, after seeing the way people in Nalchik live, not just the Chechan kids, made me almost ashamed of how much I take for granted in my life.
Overall, this trip was not only life changing in that I was able to see what I can overcome and accomplish, but also because I was able to see that many people have had to overcome much more than I have and accomplish more with much less than I have. That is what really changed my life.

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