Traveling is tough not only physically but emotionally. It is tough on your friends and is even worst on your family. It has been almost two weeks since I called home. Is not because I don’t miss my family but I have been so caught up with so many things that I just forgot to make that call. I will call home soon but for now let me just write a little about what has been going on for the last two weeks that has kept me so occupied.
The reason I have been occupied is because my school is preparing for summer sessions. The sessions are 9-10 hour work days and preparing for them is just as bad. We don’t work on weekends but I have found myself preparing and reading material for class on the weekends. The summer session lasts for 18-20 days during which the public schools here in Korea are on their 3 months summer vacation. We have been preparing books like “Stuart Little,” “Frindle” “The Tale of Despereaux ” among others and many grammar and videos like “The Toy Story” “Kungfu Panda” and many Pixar classics for the kids to use as listening exercises during the session. It has kept us pretty busy.
Business
This is one of the worst things about traveling. You travel and get so busy exploring and experiencing a different country or state that you sometimes forget to touch base with home. The problem with getting busy is not that you are busy, it is when you get so busy that you get lonely, that is the problem. What I mean is that, when you get so busy, the moments of breather that you get take a toll on you because your mind wonders. You start to think of home, friends, family, food and all the things that made home what it was before you left. You even start to appreciate the things you didn’t like about home. Although staying busy is a good thing when traveling because you spend your time sightseeing, exploring and experiencing, it is also a bad thing because when you are done doing those things, you start to get lonely.
The best thing to do is to keep in contact with home but not too much otherwise it takes away from your experience. But also make time to reach those at home when you want so that you will not get that feeling of loneliness frequently.
Loneliness
When your mind wonders and you start to think of home, it usually rests in a very lonely place. You suddenly realize that you are alone. Your eyes open and this feeling can be overwhelming if you are not ready for it. If you panic, it can be a very bad journey. So, brace yourself if you get that feeling and breath, call home or find a friend if you have made some where you are and talk to them. It helps a lot.
Although we get lonely even at home sometimes, you know you are not alone deep inside. But being half way around the world from home is a different story. But I have always been that person who can get up and leave a place and start anew elsewhere without thinking much about the previous place. But loneliness is not only because of location, you can get lonely mentally too.
So, how do you deal with this? Find something you like to do and go do it. Find people with similar interests and befriend them. For instance, not too long ago I met a few gentlemen, from Ireland, from Chicago, from North Carolina, and Vietnam. Guess what they all have in common? No, not because they are foreigners like me in South Korea or that we are all English teachers. They all write poetry and I like to write poetry. The gentleman from Ireland is a writer; he writes books. We decided to meet at a nice wine bar called Vin79 that has a huge collection of wines from all over the world. And they also have my favorite, Panul Reserve 2005 from Chile. We brought our notepads, sipped on wine and shared poetry. It helps when you make friends who share similar interests. It changes your experience in another country.
Finance
This is a big one. If you are not careful with how you manage your money when you are traveling you could end up between a hard place and quick sand. You could sink yourself into debt if you don’t tuck that credit card away and budget everything. I miscalculated when I was coming to Korea because I did not estimate moving cost. I ended up dipping into my savings. Don’t make the same mistake I did; calculate everything and have extra cash on hand if you have it but DO NOT splurge just because you have it. Just because a country’s currency is less than you country’s does not mean you have more money. Although it may seem that way at first, you really don’t have much more money because when you start sending money home like I have to do sometimes, the exchange rate bites you right in the kisser. So, be wise with your spending. I will talk more about this topic on the money section that is coming soon with the new updated layout of the pages on this site. I will talk more in detail about my investments and how you can do the same just by knowing some key information. If you manage your spending well, you could have the best traveling experience but if you don’t, you could have the worst.
Packing
Pack lightly when you are traveling. Contact your destination or do some research online about the country you are visiting or both. Before I left the U.S for Korea, I read several books about Korea. Although, the books were outdated, I got some pertinent information from reading them. For instance, Koreans do not sweat a lot and thus deodorant is scarce. So I packed a yearsÂ’ worth because to buy it here if you find it is very expensive. So, do your research before you board that plane. Other than deodorant, I can find almost anything else I want in Korea other than jelly. I have peanut butter but no jelly; it really “grinds my gears.” But all in all, know where you are going. Also learn a few phrases like how to say “hello,” “bye,” “my name is,” “thank you,” “how do you say,” “excuse me,” I learned these before coming to Korea and they have served me well.
There are other factors that affect you when you are traveling but these are the once I dealt and deal with more often than not. I have experienced all of these so, don’t be a stranger; ask me if you have any questions.
{ 2 comments }
Funny, I have no problem finding jelly in Suwon. Its a must for PB&J sandwiches!
I made it a point when I arrived to never get too busy to call home. I keep in touch with fam and friends via FB and Skype, and usually talk to my mom several times a week. I've found it keeps the homesickness down!
You are doing all the right things Maisha; I took a job in a much smaller town where things like jelly are giving the response – molao lol. I hope you are having a fantastic time.
Comments on this entry are closed.