Teaching English means contracts. It also means starting new adventures and ultimately ending them. With three short weeks left, my thoughts have been tumbling like the setting on a washing machine on hyperdrive. It's almost time to pack up my bags and start all over, again, with all its good and bad.
Looking back on this past year and the one before, the chapters have been unique and strange. For you, for me, I'm going to attempt to condense it to a readable form so I don't forget how great its been.
Novelties&Negatives.
1. Off-beat experiences: Meeting the world's tallest man, riding an ostrich, attending several Chinese banquets (code for drink-a-thons with baijiu, a strong alcohol that tastes terrible, but according to one Chinese Communist Party Secretary, makes you more beautiful and live longer, I could say the opposite), hiking China's famed Tiger Leaping Gorge, swimming across the Li River, having a paella party with my Spanish co-workers, listening to readings of Antonio Machado's* poetry by my students, various and very authentic Spanish lunches (tests of your ability to consume nonstop courses of food and drinks at two in the afternoon), joining the "American Show" of Malaga, waking up to a gift from Santa in Spain, running through the olive trees, and so on.
Sometimes the year becomes one big blur ---------#-----------%---^^-------- and you forget all that happened. I've had more than one Skype conversation where I said aloud,"What have I been up to?" Then after I hang up I remember what that #pound symbol was supposed be. Another story.
2. Daily life: Not simply passing through a city, a town, a booming metropolis, but becoming a part of the fabric. Learning about a country and its culture by interacting day and day out. To me, this is the essence of traveling. It's not to check off a place from a list, but become a part of a place.
3. Maturing: While developing my self-confidence has been a big focus of the year and still a work in progress, just like my Spanish, it's also simply learning about oneself. Moreover, confronting tough, weird and/or awkward situations and learning to battle them with flair along the way.
4. Relationships: Leaving friends. Making new friends.
Repeat.
5. Travel: Hiking the rice terraces of China & Vietnam, Melbourne bar hopping with Ingrid, rock climbing in the limestone towers of Thailand, hiking to Everest Base Camp, soaking up the quirk of Portugal, riding camels to the Sahara in Morocco, eating, eating, eating in Italy, and runing through Paris (26.2 miles of it, to be exact), roadtripping with two Germans from southern France to southern Spain, "camping" (or squatting) in the car during Las Fallas festival in Valencia.
Awash with the phantoms of my past, the fantasies of adventures to come, and the possibilities just around the corner, I'm also trying to remember one of my missions that I set for this year. That is to live in the moment and not overthink tomorrow or the day before. To relax, to quell that anxiousness, and think simply, TODAY.
Still, it's hard, especially knowing that next year I'll be moving to MADRID!
*Machado is one of Spain's most famous poets and somewhat of a legend in Baeza, where he taught literature for seven years and wrote of the olive trees and the people of the land. You can find his face or entire body near the scenic paseo (walkway) and the Casino (first Casino of Baeza, it's no longer that but a historic place turned restaurant), his name is found everywhere inbetween, especially in the tourist shops.
Looking back on this past year and the one before, the chapters have been unique and strange. For you, for me, I'm going to attempt to condense it to a readable form so I don't forget how great its been.
Novelties&Negatives.
1. Off-beat experiences: Meeting the world's tallest man, riding an ostrich, attending several Chinese banquets (code for drink-a-thons with baijiu, a strong alcohol that tastes terrible, but according to one Chinese Communist Party Secretary, makes you more beautiful and live longer, I could say the opposite), hiking China's famed Tiger Leaping Gorge, swimming across the Li River, having a paella party with my Spanish co-workers, listening to readings of Antonio Machado's* poetry by my students, various and very authentic Spanish lunches (tests of your ability to consume nonstop courses of food and drinks at two in the afternoon), joining the "American Show" of Malaga, waking up to a gift from Santa in Spain, running through the olive trees, and so on.
Sometimes the year becomes one big blur ---------#-----------%---^^-------- and you forget all that happened. I've had more than one Skype conversation where I said aloud,"What have I been up to?" Then after I hang up I remember what that #pound symbol was supposed be. Another story.
(Banquet and the aforementioned baijiu)
(Christmas party in China--surprise performance by my students)
(Flamenco in Baeza)
(Air quality between Zhengzhou and Andalucía)
(Confronting the weird, tough and awkward, but clearly not fighting with flair)
(In Paris, that tower is a dead giveaway, I know)
4. Relationships: Leaving friends. Making new friends.
Repeat.
(Friends in China)
(Friends in Spain, but pictured in Portugal)
(Island life in Thailand)
(Desert life in Morocco)
(Castle life in Spain)
Still, it's hard, especially knowing that next year I'll be moving to MADRID!
*Machado is one of Spain's most famous poets and somewhat of a legend in Baeza, where he taught literature for seven years and wrote of the olive trees and the people of the land. You can find his face or entire body near the scenic paseo (walkway) and the Casino (first Casino of Baeza, it's no longer that but a historic place turned restaurant), his name is found everywhere inbetween, especially in the tourist shops.
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