on travel
so i`ve been at this gig here for about 2 months now...and while it has been incredibly enjoyable, refreshing and awesome there are a few downsides.
free time. this is obvious but it is worth saying. im not working or studying. therefore, i have loooots of free time, lots of time to do whatever i want. and now this may seem like a complete liberty, and it is to an extent, but it is also a burden. not since i was 16 have i gone so long without work or school, something to strive for, something to work at. meanwhile everyone around you has job, school, friends, significant others, etc. that keep them busy. its just an odd place to be really, trying to soak in everything you can from a different land while not being drowned by the massive amounts of time you have to do so....
communication. while i do speak spanish fairly well there is still a communication gap, one that nags at me. so often people talk about local things. who`s going out with who, what the price of bread means to the family, what the latest scandal is in local politics...and so on. it is difficult for a foreigner to have much to say, sure you can have some input, but its not like dynamic interaction. and i love to have dynamic interaction, discussing politics, God, relationships, men/women, etc. on such a deep level, having real give and take. it is possible for me to have that here but only on a generic scale, not on a local scale and that`s a bit tough. it makes one feel a little bit on the outside. not intentionally so in the sense that the people are putting you there, but just because they are taking about something that you have no idea about and have nothing to say and therefore nothing to contribute.
i think good solutions to both issues are staying in one place longer, studying, getting a job, developing a social network, and learning about every-day life. until then, you`ll just be a wandering gringo......not that that`s a terrible thing. ;-)
love
free time. this is obvious but it is worth saying. im not working or studying. therefore, i have loooots of free time, lots of time to do whatever i want. and now this may seem like a complete liberty, and it is to an extent, but it is also a burden. not since i was 16 have i gone so long without work or school, something to strive for, something to work at. meanwhile everyone around you has job, school, friends, significant others, etc. that keep them busy. its just an odd place to be really, trying to soak in everything you can from a different land while not being drowned by the massive amounts of time you have to do so....
communication. while i do speak spanish fairly well there is still a communication gap, one that nags at me. so often people talk about local things. who`s going out with who, what the price of bread means to the family, what the latest scandal is in local politics...and so on. it is difficult for a foreigner to have much to say, sure you can have some input, but its not like dynamic interaction. and i love to have dynamic interaction, discussing politics, God, relationships, men/women, etc. on such a deep level, having real give and take. it is possible for me to have that here but only on a generic scale, not on a local scale and that`s a bit tough. it makes one feel a little bit on the outside. not intentionally so in the sense that the people are putting you there, but just because they are taking about something that you have no idea about and have nothing to say and therefore nothing to contribute.
i think good solutions to both issues are staying in one place longer, studying, getting a job, developing a social network, and learning about every-day life. until then, you`ll just be a wandering gringo......not that that`s a terrible thing. ;-)
love
posted by dk at 3:27 PM
1 Comments:
i lost track of you. sorry. school swallowed me up. surprised? yeah, i thought so.
agreed on this account: this is also what i realized when i traveled to Bolivia. while i'm attracted to the idea of wandering, which i do plenty of mentally, i like depth more. i like integration, staying in one place, becoming part of a culture.
on the other hand, i always have in the back of my mind, that i will never be like a native-speaker, not matter how well i speak it. it simply is not my culture, it's not my family, it's not the traditions i'm used to, it's not what i was raised with, i only have 3 years of linguistic history in me as opposed to the 22 years i have with english. i will never be like a native.
for me, who desires so much to be native-like (who knows why), i must force myself to accept this. and yes, as a wanderer you are just passing temporarily passing through the fixed lives of others. there's only so much that you can contribute to, and only so much that will be opened up to you.
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