I do not like air-conditioned coach buses in a developing country. I do not like what they imply, what they look like.
I do not like the word "developing." It feels like it discounts everything that is already there, the culture, the beauty. It connotes that there is a higher thing to aspire to. In some cases, I get it - better economy, more jobs. In some cases I don't - it implies a Western monoculture - that the only way for a country to succeed is to develop to Western standards.
Travel broadens your mind. But too much travel when you get there hinders your understanding, comfort level, and integration.
This is a friendly country. I need to learn to trust that a bit more - to greet the woman selling plantains, to politely wave off a taxi, instead of ignoring them. I learned to look up and out, and smile.
Once I walk around a bit, I am 100x more comfortable. The other day I walked at noon to get a pineapple for lunch. It was the first time I felt that I was getting the hang of this place.
Being in a class unrelated to the people is perhaps not the best way for me to learn about a culture.
Activities are good, and I saw perspectives and places I wouldn't have otherwise, but nothing beats wandering.
I had very little, if any, homesickness. Either I am getting immune, or I knew it would be for a short time, and so homesickness didn't hit.
There is a reason I don't bring my computer when traveling. It is too easy to use it as a distraction and a crutch.
I failed at staying present through the whole trip.
But I also realized that I have to be kind to myself.
Photographs are perhaps not the best way to portray the feeling of a place. They are static, and inherently very very biased. Here, at least, people are suspicious of cameras because of how they have been portrayed to the world.
I had writers block. More than normal when I travel. That threw me. I accepted the
When I travel, I expect to learn big picture things. But here, I didn't. I began to see how I can be a more engaged visitor, what things I need to work on, what comes easy, what is a challenge. I started to see how I want to interact with the world, as a person, a scholar, and as an artist.
I learned lessons I can bring with me.
<3
I do not like the word "developing." It feels like it discounts everything that is already there, the culture, the beauty. It connotes that there is a higher thing to aspire to. In some cases, I get it - better economy, more jobs. In some cases I don't - it implies a Western monoculture - that the only way for a country to succeed is to develop to Western standards.
Travel broadens your mind. But too much travel when you get there hinders your understanding, comfort level, and integration.
This is a friendly country. I need to learn to trust that a bit more - to greet the woman selling plantains, to politely wave off a taxi, instead of ignoring them. I learned to look up and out, and smile.
Once I walk around a bit, I am 100x more comfortable. The other day I walked at noon to get a pineapple for lunch. It was the first time I felt that I was getting the hang of this place.
Being in a class unrelated to the people is perhaps not the best way for me to learn about a culture.
Activities are good, and I saw perspectives and places I wouldn't have otherwise, but nothing beats wandering.
I had very little, if any, homesickness. Either I am getting immune, or I knew it would be for a short time, and so homesickness didn't hit.
There is a reason I don't bring my computer when traveling. It is too easy to use it as a distraction and a crutch.
I failed at staying present through the whole trip.
But I also realized that I have to be kind to myself.
Photographs are perhaps not the best way to portray the feeling of a place. They are static, and inherently very very biased. Here, at least, people are suspicious of cameras because of how they have been portrayed to the world.
I had writers block. More than normal when I travel. That threw me. I accepted the
When I travel, I expect to learn big picture things. But here, I didn't. I began to see how I can be a more engaged visitor, what things I need to work on, what comes easy, what is a challenge. I started to see how I want to interact with the world, as a person, a scholar, and as an artist.
I learned lessons I can bring with me.
<3
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