A Year and a Half Away From HomeBy Shanda Stefanson [Travel]
|
||
What’s the one thing you should leave at home when you’re travelling? Shanda Stefanson regales you with some of the lessons she’s learned.  I’ve been living and teaching in South Korea for nearly a year and a half now, and as my time here draws to a close, I find myself thinking about a lot of the things I’ve done and the changes I’ve seen in the last 18 months. No matter where you go or how long you’re away, travel will always teach you something. The lessons aren’t always huge and life changing, but even the little things you learn will stick with you for the rest of your life. In my current state of preparing for a big change in my life and waxing nostalgic about the last 18 months, I would like to share some of the personal lessons I have learned while being a resident of Suwon, Korea.The Quickest Way to Dry Clothes Is to Wear Them This may not seem like a very important lesson, but in a land without dryers it’s a handy thing to know. It’s just an example of some of the little things you pick up when you’re travelling. This one is particularly handy when you’re camping in the rain and all your clothes are damp. Put on as many as you can at once (when you’re somewhere out of the rain) and soon you’ll have dry clothes! Some other little lessons I’ve learned are: go to the bathroom before you go through the turnstiles to get to the subway tracks, you need half as many clothes as you think you will, buying a good pair of walking shoes will never be money wasted and sundae in Korea is not ice cream with chocolate sauce on it. The Pleasure Is Worth the Pain The life of an English teacher in Korea is one of many hellos and goodbyes. In general, people only spend a year or two here before moving on to “real life.” This makes it difficult to make friends sometimes and when you do, there’s always the knowledge that the relationship will be short-lived. Some people deal with it by never allowing themselves to get close to anyone, thus eliminating the tearful goodbye and sadness when you part ways with your friends. I personally cannot imagine living my life like that. I’m an emotional person by nature, and I believe that part of the joy of travel is being able to make a connection with people you wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to know. Being thrown into the strange situation of being far from home and away from your usual friends and normal life makes it very easy to get attached to people. I can’t imagine surviving the ups and downs of life away from home without sturdy friendships to help me through it. For me, the pain of saying goodbye is worth the joy of having such amazing friends. |
||
| NEXTContinued on next page... | ||
|
||
|
||
