The second time I traveled to Thailand, I went to attend a traditional wedding ceremony in the rural Thai village of Ubon, near the border with Laos. We traveled for most of the night by bus from Bangkok, arriving at 4 am and then passing out on pallets in the loft of the bride's family home, while her extended family partied and continued preparations below. After a two hour nap, I was advised that the shower was available. Now, I had traveled in Thailand before and considered myself pretty open minded, but if my friend hadn't stopped me on the way downstairs and said, "You do know it's a traditional shower, right," I would have been confused and probably embarrassed myself by returning unshowered to our hostess. "Shower" in my experience has always denoted an overhead faucet with water running down; never has it conjured pictures of a dripping mid-waist high pipe filling a large garbage can with a smaller bucket and pail beside it. A traditional shower means that you stand close to a hole in the bathroom floor, pour water over yourself with a pail, soap up, and then rinse off with another few pailfuls of water, all the while attempting to keep your dirty water from getting in the large garbage can. Incidentally, the same pail is used to pour water into the toilet for flushing--no handles.
Consider some experiences you have faced while traveling, either in the US or abroad, in which you found yourself forced to expand outside of your normal experience. How do such circumstances affect us, both short term and long term? Why are they valuable for both ourselves and the people that we meet along the way? What advice can you offer your classmates for how to enjoy, rather than feel intimidated by such experiences?
One of the things I'm most excited for in china is trying exotic foods. I plan on trying some dog and other strange foods. I'm dead serious. Hopefully my stomach can handle all the big changes, but if not, I have a big bottle of pep to bismo ready to go to keep me occupied. Anybody else plan on trying some exotic foods?
ReplyDeleteOne of my experiences while I am traveling was paying tips. I have never heard this word in my country which means we don’t need to pay tips after getting some services. So my first experience in the US was paying tips. Taking a taxi and eating in a restaurant needed to pay tips. Therefore, the servicers were usually nice to me and asked me how I felt about their services or food. Inversely, in my country, we don’t need to pay tips. Sometimes a few servicers may not be nice to me because I order a little food. However, I can save more money.
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ReplyDelete@Brandon
ReplyDeleteActually, you can eat everything wherever you are. it doesnt mean you only can eat strange foods in China, and most of us don't always eat strange foods. because the stronger kills the weaker in the world, human kills a lot of animals by technology for food. however, the world always has protectors who want to save the weaker's lives. Last week China's news, a group of animal protectors just saved 500 dogs' lives before they got killed. if no one want to eat them, how they will get killed?
My first big trip was when I left home, China to study abroad my last two years of high school in a small island called Palau. This was my first time traveling alone to an unknown country to live and to study for two years. During my two years in Palau, I faced different situations that affected me in some ways but also helped me to become a better person. First, People from Palau saw me as a foreigner from a rare country who didn't know english at all, so they started to make fun of me. I remember once, we needed to wait for the school bus to take us home, and some guys were sitting on the front row of the bus just to stop my way in on the bus and not letting me sit.I heard them saying “look at that Chinese girl who doesn’t even know English.” I was very upset and mad at that moment. Thus, I decided to walk back home with seven heavy books on my hands, and it took me like three hours to get back home. Day by day, I became stronger and more independent. I started to talk to my classmates about China. After a while, they started to understand my situation and that if they were in China by themselves they would be passing through the same experience that I was passing through. Finally, I got to have some friends and they were always asking me for help in math. Up to this day I am still talking with my Palau friends in Facebook. After all, I learned Palau’s culture and people, at the same time; I shared my culture with them too. In Palau, I also had the opportunity meet many Christians who taught me about God and helped me a lot in that two years. I really believe this was God’s plan for me to go to Palau. This trip helped me a lot to grow and to know about God. Every bad experience that you face in live, see it as a challenge for you to become a better person.If we do what God does, people will learn about God from us.
ReplyDeleteP.S. The good thing about the fast food restaurants in China is guests don’t have to take dishes or to clean the table which they used. Almost all the fast food restaurants have delivery but no drive through.
@Kevin
ReplyDeleteI remember when we first got in Unite States, we were so not use to pay tips in restaurants, and we always forgot to leave tips. i am really enjoying learning different cultures, because its so fun.
Kevin,
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting that pay tips was so new. Here in the US it's just something we are so use to doing. I guess it goes to show how different cultures can be. I am sure once we go to China there will be lots of things that seem very weird to us but normal for Chinese. Looking forward to experiencing the culture there in China.
When I travelled to Rio I didn't feel that there were specific things that really stood out to me as odd. It was more just the overall culture of another country. I think that along with being in a forgone place can just make it interesting. I remember that Rio isn't the greatest city and we had to be careful about going out at night. It just means you have to be careful in foriegn places who knows what can happen.
ReplyDeleteI've been to quite a few different countries. I can say that out-of-the-ordinary experiences are often times what make a journey fun. Although I have had my fair share of bad experiences in foreign countries—let's just say I've experienced the Peruvian hospital system first hand, and the USA has got a leg up on it—I think that the things that we experience in foreign places, the experiences that we would normally cringe at or be disgusted by in the US, really only affect us short-term. Like Ms. Wurstle's experience, although she may look back on it and think, "I can't believe I did that." we can realize that it is just an experience. It isn't like we have to live in China's culture, which we may find to be opposite and awkward to us at first, for the rest of our lives. We can allow ourselves to experience many different things while in China with out putting too much emphasis on cultural differences!
ReplyDelete@ Sunshine:
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting how we can grow so much from experiences like that. I've often wondered what it will be like in China. Like what will the Chinese think when a group of 30 Americans are roaming around in their matching polos? I can only imagine. I guess they are pretty used to seeing Americans there, but I'm sure they will stereotype—sort of how you were in your experience. It will be an interesting trip to say the least. Should be fun, though!
I think my experience as a student missionary in Chad Africa definitely made me stretch out of my box in every way. I lived with a local family and thus got to experience life their way ($4 a day for a family of 7). It was really hard at first lacking every material comfort we have in the U.S. But in the end I found it really liberating that I could adapt and have nothing, and still be able to function like normal as they do. And that has helped take away a lot of the fear I have about being in strange/awkward/difficult situations.
ReplyDeleteAnd plus I got to see a lot more miracles in that state. I've come away knowing that if ever I am really really in need of something then it will be provided by God somehow. There is no foreign situation that God cannot handle.
I think we can apply that to our trip to China. A lot of things will be different and new. But some of the things we think we "need" we will have to be flexible on. And that will help us to have a more positive mindset about the whole experience.
@ Warren
ReplyDeleteI think what you said is true. The physical effects of the things we'd like to shy away from (like eating dog for example ;-) ) normally only last for a short time (if that's what you were meaning). So, to a certain extent, we can feel free to jump into different circumstances and not force ourselves to worry about the consequences so much. I think by doing that we'll be able to at least come home from China with more stories than we otherwise would. And it's really the stories, rather than the stomach aches, that we'll remember longer.
• When ever one makes the decision to travel, one is accepting the fact that we are leaving our comfort zone and going to explore. Life takes you on a journey that you never know what’s coming up next. When you travel you are forcing yourself to expand your view point on the world. The more one travels the more your horizon will expand. Sometimes its good to look at our bubble from an outside point of view so we can understand and be more knowledgeable. Since you stepped out your comfort zone you will experience things that you would of never experiences in your little bubble of life if you never stepped out of it. The key thing to remember is to be a little opened minded. Stepping into a different culture and not being open minded will only hurt you because you had an opportunity to learn something new but never took the chance. When exploring, one needs to be a little daring or else our world will never change. Of course in the short term there might be some dangers, but as long as we're cautions and reasonable you'll be ok. If you never take that opportunity to try and learn something new, in the long run you will kick yourself for not trying it. One doesn't know what life will bring and will never know if any opportunity will come around again. Everything we do in life will effect us, the relationships we make, the experiences we share, no one will be able to take that away from us, so I challenge you to be a darling and take advantage of the opportunities we have to learn more about the world around us.
ReplyDelete@brandon, Some exotic foods sounds like an interesting adventure. We'll see what kind things we can eat over there. Hopefully we just don't get sick.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in China 11 years ago I have to take taxi all the time, because of my sister. The taxi in China and in the USA are similar, but very different from the ones in Panama.
ReplyDeleteAt home, Panama, taxi are always in the street and they are seldom parked in the company waiting for people to call. The taxi in Panama are not require to be under a company in which people can call. They also do not have the fare meter where it shows the amount of time and money you have to pay. The taxi driver tells you the amount they charge you for taking you to a location and you can even bargain for the amount!
The major difference between China and USA taxi from Panama taxi is that in Panama you can get a taxi that is already taken with passenger inside. So basically you can share the taxi with 4 different strangers! And fares are as low as 50 cents!
So when I was in China I tried stopping taxis that have already passengers and my Aunt asked me what was I doing, trying to get a taxi that was already taken, which I found a very strange question at that moment.
@ Brandon
ReplyDeleteWell you better start training your stomach to eat. I do plan to eat lots of different food but I don't think that I am strong enough to eat dog or other type of super fancy food but who knows...
Britain is the first country that I traveled oversea. I was arrived at night, and I expected a traditional wellcome dinner from the host family. However, they only supplied some potatoes and beans for me which could not fill up my stomach. Thus I beared the hungry feeling until the next morning. Finally it came to the breakfast time, and I got cereal for breakfast whcih is fair, but I knew that cereal would not keep me full very long. When the time came closed to noon, the host family told me that British do not have lunch usually. I was shock because I have three meals a day in China.
ReplyDeleteAfter this experience I learn that we have to adopt the local culture where we visist as soon as possible. We should have a brave to try new things because we do not know what is going to happen later on. Once we get used to it, we will not feel intimidated any more.
@ Diana:
ReplyDeleteYour experience sounds interesting to me. I had never heard that sharing taxi with some other strangers. I think having a taxi with a group of people you know is safer and better than sharing with some people that you do not know.
I've encountered a lot of weird situations in the various places I've traveled to. However, one that comes to mind now is when I went to Morocco with my parents to visit my brother. Their meals are presented in a very different way (a way that I thought was unsanitary at the time haha). They have several table cloths on the table - according to the number of courses in the meal. And then a large dish is placed in the center of the table, out of which everyone eats out of with their hands. I thought this was weird and I wasn't used to it, but my brother taught me the tricks of how to eat certain kinds of food (like couscous) with my hands, which was fun to learn and made eating a lot more fun.
ReplyDeleteThe food was delicious and had so many wonderful flavors. Although their way of eating was strange to me, I adapted quickly and was able to enjoy every aspect of their culture instead of constantly thinking about how "I" do things where "I" am from.
@ He Jiang:
ReplyDeleteI've been to the UK several times because my mum is from there. I thought some of their ways were a bit strange too, but learning about all aspects of a culture is what makes traveling so much fun! It's true that in most places around the world (other than the US) meals are a sized a lot smaller, and many don't eat as many meals as we do here. I guess if we research about the culture ahead of time, we can be aware of these cultural ways and get adjusted faster.
For myself, the most adverse transitions were in Barcelona, Spain and Paris, France. In both of these countries the lifestyle and culture is very different than here in the United States. For example in Spain, most of the restaurants did not open until 7pm or later. The night life is very extensive and lasts all night. There is rich culture and to an extent a higher class of living. Sexuality is also expressed more freely and openly in both of these countries. Once you are able to embrace the people and the country side, the experiences will never be forgotten. I do not believe personally that there should be any intimidation when travelling, but to just enjoy the experience!
ReplyDeleteI went to Mexico one time for a mission trip, and we got water from this big tank. The water was gross and nasty at the bottom but luckily water from the top of the tank. We used that to bath with and that was different to me. It was a different culture, and a lot of them used cactus as fences and did not have much electricity.
ReplyDeleteWinston - I agree, i think we should explore and have a lot of fun, but be careful. You never know what can happen when your in a different country and outside your element.
ReplyDeleteI was born in Nicaragua and my grandmother has a farm in the middle of no where. I remember all the fun experience that I had every time we would go visit her. The house is made of plain wood and its very rustic and the toilet is out in the boondocks where you have to walk like 50 feet in the out doors to reach it, and the shower is like 30 feet outside in the open with cold water. It was always interesting having the urges to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and having to walk in the pitch black all the way to the bathroom to reach the facility, it was almost easier to just go right outside. As for the shower oh man, it was so scary taking a shower in the open (it has a curtain) because anyone could easily just come and rip the curtain open; also, when the wind blew it would blow the curtain open haha so much fun!
ReplyDeleteI would advice people that are going through random out of our comfort zone experiences to embrace them and enjoy them. Its all about what you make of it! If you laugh about it you'll most likely end up having a blast just like I did!
@ sunshine :)
ReplyDeleteLet me just first say that I LOVE PALAU! I can understand what you mean about having a hard time in Palau. My first few months while I was teaching my 7th graders they use to hate me because they thought I was too strict and they used to make fun of me behind my back. It was really hard and at times I felt like a horrible teacher. But throughout time things changed and I ended up connecting with my students in such an awesome way, they became my kids, my best friends. I too believe that it was God's will for me to go to Palau as a student missionary. There was so many things that I needed to learn and there were kids that God needed to use me to help, it was such an amazing experience. I too also keep in contact with them! Palau has a beautiful culture and people, one day I will go back!
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