Category Archives: Travel

04/21/14

Next Stop: Indonesia!

This May, I won’t be walking across the stage of the Chan Centre with degree in hand. Rather, I will be walking through the forests of Indonesia for some evaluation work with Dr. Chris Bennett and my fellow UBC colleagues.

I wouldn’t have ended my undergraduate career any other way.

I don’t think the notion of flying to the other side of the world for six weeks has hit me just yet. Perhaps it’s due to the frenzy of finals and tying up loose strings, but I feel rather calm about leaving for what used to seem like a long period of time. I guess I’ve gotten used to travelling. The timing couldn’t be better: I’ve been feeling rather blasé about pure academics this last semester and I’m pretty strained both mentally and physically. I’m quite due for a change of scenery at least before the Vancouver summer begins.

“So what now?” This question lingers at the back of my mind as I go about my daily routine. I’ve overthought all the possibilities, so much that it makes my head hurt. A break in a new country – a new climate – a new perspective – is just what I need to refresh myself before I decide on my next steps. If anything, I’m looking forward to this trip as a period to embrace the fact that I don’t know what I’m doing next. And that’s it’s okay to be like that.

Next stop: Indonesia. Next stop: the unknown. My adventure awaits.

12/21/12

Like Alice.

So it has been just over 3 weeks since I have returned back home to Vancouver. I still wake up each morning in a sort of daze, as if I’m still not sure where I am this time around.  It’s as if I got up and was whisked away down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, and in true Alice-fashion, I woke up from dreaming. Except it’s not. The last 10 months really did happen. All I have to do is stare at the tattoo on my left foot and up at all the photos of my adventures abroad pasted on my bedroom wall to confirm it. Wonderland was a real place.

But as all adventures go, coming back home is the most difficult part of the journey. It certainly was for me. It took me a while to stop walking around the streets I knew well in a sort of strange awe; I half-expected someone to greet me in Norwegian or an Indian cow to pass me on the sidewalk. My bed felt like a nostalgic yet foreign marshmallow to sleep compared to the dorm and hostel beds I was now used to. It’s a sort of paradox, really: everything feels familiar but it’s not.

But reverse culture shock aside, it was seeing old faces that caused me the most distress. I didn’t know what to say when they asked me where I had been.

“So where have you been all this time?”

Sixteen countries. “…A lot of places.”

“Oh wow, which was your favourite place?”

In what way? “I don’t really know right now.”

“Are you happy that you’re back?”

Yes and no. “I’m not sure.”

Really, I didn’t know what to say. How could I talk about my trip without seeming like I was bragging? How could I talk about the stories I had – of which I could talk about for hours – to people at work where small talk was more appropriate? There was only so much I could say before the polite nodding would make me understand that there was no real way to bridge a gap between someone who just had not been there with me. Who weren’t completely interested because they had their own busy lives to live. There would always be things left unsaid.

For a long time, I struggled with that. I began to jokingly think that maybe I had just dreamed the whole thing. It’s a bit better now – my family and a few friends are quite understanding. But there’s only so much we can talk about my year. More often than not, the conversation always drifts back to the present and future.

The last 3 weeks for me have been a period of transition. I left Canada in January 2012 in order to step outside the small bubble called my life. Now that I’ve returned, I find myself in inside the thin membrane between these two worlds: my old life at home and the world outside.

But if I’ve realized anything this year, it’s that I can’t go back inside the bubble. I have to pop it. Travelling abroad – studying in Norway, backpacking Europe, and working in India – this has been my life for the past year. The extent of impact these experiences have had on me as a person are not crystal clear yet, but I do know that I have been shaped by them. I can’t discount them because I have trouble talking about these experiences with others. 2013 is fast approaching and with it comes my final semester at UBC. It’s the next chapter in this journey I call my life. And that’s what I’m choosing to see it as: a journey. Another destination. Another adventure.

See Vancouver is not in a bubble for me any more. The places I’ve been have shown me how to explore and Vancouver is no different. It is local but ultimately part of the global that I’ve only grazed the surface on. I want to see this city of mine with the eyes of a traveller. To marvel at all of the exquisite qualities it has to offer me. This semester, I’m discovering Vancouver.

Somehow, by still identifying myself as a traveller, my anxieties have been eased. The magic of the Wonderland I’ve discovered are waiting to be found here in this new place.

Down the rabbit hole I go again.

10/7/12

Trials & Revelations in the Field

Field Work is a whole different terrain… even more so in an entirely foreign country where you are considered an alien. It’s been around 3-4 weeks since I have arrived to work at Seva Mandir, a local Indian NGO based in the district of Udaipur. I arrived (as always) bright-eyed, ready to take on whatever challenges would await me during the next 2.5 months. 4 weeks later and I wonder if I’ve even begun.

Here’s the thing about doing field work in an NGO: no one arranges anything for you. You’re on your own. It’s the real deal. Do with it what you will. I thought I had known about this reality long before arriving in my new internship. I really did. It’s only now that I have realized that although I was fully aware of working dynamic at Seva Mandir, I hadn’t really accepted it. I was still stuck in that academic setting where I had so comfortably settled in the last 16 years. In school, you do your homework, study for your tests, get good grades and eventually get praised for all of your hard work. Classes start at 8 and end at 3. There’s a structure to your day. Here in India, I’ve been thrown into the polar opposite. I never have a structured 9 to 5 day – I could be up at 7 in the morning one day and sleep in until 10am another day. There are no set deadlines – except perhaps the looming departure date back home on the other side of the world. No one gives you a set assignment or test. As for praise – you go without. You learn to motivate yourself without reassurance from anyone else.

In short, even 10 years in university could never have prepared me for any of this.

Let me back up and explain just what I’m doing here at Seva Mandir. I’m currently working in the Education Department looking at the NGO’s Youth Resource Center (YRC) program. These YRCs are placed in villages all over the Udaipur district, with the main goal of ‘youth empowerment’ at its core mandate. YRC Facilitators at each YRC organize various activities, discussions, and training programs to teach youth about important government policies, provide a space to talk about social issues, and provide youth with vocational skills in order to better sustain their livelihoods. Such a program aims to shape youth as confident, responsible citizens for future generations. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. In reality, many YRCs are popularly seen as Youth Recreation Centers – attracting small children rather than the large 14-25 age group.

So why isn’t the program working? Many studies and evaluations were conducted, which revealed that there is a clear lack of structure in the YRC program, which makes it difficult to manage and coordinate the countless number of stakeholders involved with YRCs. Hence the main message is often lost and everyone pretty much does whatever they see fit without any effective results. This is when I come in. My goal is to formulate a study to design an effective monitoring and mentoring system between all of the program stakeholders. Basically, create a backbone for the YRCs. It’s a big job, let me tell you.

So I did what I could. I thought long and hard about my research design. I thought about what I would have to do to get the data from the field. I made a plan and countless interview guidelines for all of the stakeholders I would speak with.

Now, I have a Reporting Officer. He’s pretty much my go-to person for this entire project. He’s the current YRC Coordinator and very much dedicated to his work. He even helped all of the interns in getting oriented in Udaipur in his free time. So I go to him and show him everything I have designed and get a thumbs up. Cool. We discuss the arrangements for getting interviews and focus group discussions going in the villages.

And then I wait. And I keep waiting.

Responses from villages are slow. I can’t actually speak with anyone directly because I don’t know Hindi. So I rely on my Reporting Officer and he makes some calls. Any trips I go on are usually arranged by him. But things are still slow and a week or two goes by. The lack of quality translators that can work with me for interviews are frustrating and it takes me a good week to get used to calling potential translators, conducting interviews together as a team, and actually getting some quality data. It’s basically a huge learning process.

Today, I returned from the field with my Reporting Officer, with only one out of three interviews done for the day. Since I hadn’t been feeling well, we had to postpone the discussion to my dismay. So on the way back to Udaipur City, I thought I would have to go back to playing the waiting game when my Reporting Officer asked me what my plans were for tomorrow (Monday). I shrugged and told him I would type up some field notes and wait. Immediately, he made very constructive suggestions for me to take on for the week. Visit the villages you haven’t gone to speak with the YRC Facilitators directly. Go to a village every single day. Get them to understand the importance of your study to the YRC program and have them arrange interview dates for you.

I told him that I couldn’t speak with most of the stakeholders and that I needed help.

He told me get a translator and also added that I should have worked with a translator to make phone calls on my own.

I had to blink. I had not thought to do that. The phone calls, anyway. I never once thought I could take the project into my own hands like that. Faced with the giant language barrier, I had accepted that I had to get a green light from the people around me to get anything done.

Thinking on it now – why? Why didn’t I do exactly as my Reporting Officer said? More importantly, why hadn’t I taken the initiative to think of the solution on my own? I realized on the ride home that I had somehow made myself believe that I couldn’t do anything in such a foreign environment. I had hesitated and resigned to doing really nothing for a good 2 weeks. This wasn’t the ‘me’ that got shit done back home. And by straying from my usual determination, I felt like I had let my Reporting Officer down. See, it’s not his job to tell me exactly what to do. The reason he called me into conducting this study was to get an objective perspective on the YRC Program. This, as the YRC Coordinator, he could not do. In this respect, I was a colleague rather than a subordinate. For me subconsciously, I saw my Reporting Officer as my teacher rather than my mentor. I was writing notes and staring at the blackboard instead of taking the initiative to see him as an advisor to see now and again as I conducted my own study. Instead of asking him to arrange interviews for me, I should have been asking how I could arrange the interviews myself.

So 4 weeks in, and I’ve had a revelation. Enough playing at the drawing board. I want to show my Reporting Officer that he picked the right person for this enormous task. Seven weeks left. Eight villages and numerous stakeholders to speak with. I’ve barely begun. It’s time to hit the ground running.

 

09/1/12

First Step.

Today is September 1st, 2012. I am sitting alone in the guest house canteen in Jaipur, India waiting for my breakfast. An omelette, two pieces of toast, and a fresh plate of mangoes and bananas. The weather outside is hot and sunny – a complete 180 degrees from when the monsoons hit the city only a few days ago.

Sometimes, I can’t believe I’m here.

I began my journey abroad on January 26th, 2012 when I drove down to Seattle, USA with my mother to catch a solo flight to Oslo, Norway. I left behind everything I knew – my family, my friends, my job and school – in my home of Vancouver, British Columbia. To this day, the most terrifying and heart-wrenching experience I’ve had has been the moment when I left my mother through the airport security check in Seattle. From that point on, my life changed entirely. In the span of eight months, I have been to sixteen countries on three separate continents – witnessing the wondrous Northern Lights in Tromso, Norway to weaving through the dusty ancient streets of Marrakech, Morocco. Never in my dreams would I have imagined that I have would have done so much this year. And I’m still not done yet!

To commemorate the memory of surreal life this year, I got a tattoo on my left foot: Wanderlust.  My favourite word. I had wanted to get this done for a long time. The pain I went through to get this inked into my skin is something I hold sacred. The faces of all of the people I had met and the things I had experienced came rushing back to me and all I could do was smile (I’m pretty sure my friend and the tattoo artist thought I was crazy). It was as if at that moment, it was not ink but all of these precious memories that were being etched into my skin. It is a permanent memento of this amazing year and for many more travels to come.

So today is September 1st – at least 12.5 hours ahead of Vancouver that is. People are heading back home from their summer jobs and trips, ready to roll into a new school year. It’s surreal knowing that I won’t be joining them.  A year ago, I was in my old room wondering just what 2012 would hold for me. Now I’m in my room in India pondering the same thing.

So I look at my foot.

02/7/12

I'm officially off to Poland! :D

It’s funny how a simple conversation can spark an entire trip out of the country. I had just sat down in front of my computer with a hot cup of tea, defrosting from my time spent around a camp fire in the snow, when my Colombian friend starts chatting with me on Facebook (she had gone back from the camp fire early because she was too cold). We had a pleasant chat and when I mentioned how much I wanted to travel around this semester, she invited me to come to Poland with her and her friends next Thursday (16th) for the weekend. Excitedly, I said yes and immediately started looking to book my flight ticket so we would all fly together. To my dismay, there was a flight out of Oslo to Wroclaw (apparently known as the Venice of Poland) but the return flight was full. My friend cheered me up by proposing a trip to Belgium for her birthday in March that we could plan for together (and of course I agreed). But I wasn’t giving up yet. I started looking for other flights out of Poland back to Norway on Sunday (19th).

I managed to find one flying late out of Krakow, Poland – which is about 4-5 hours south of Wroclaw by train. I debated if it even would be worth it to go to Poland and take the train down on my own to Krakow. After a little internet research, I was convinced to go to Krakow – both for the city as well as for the fact that Auschwitz was only a little ways away. I must go to Auschwitz if I go to Poland. There isn’t even a doubt in my mind about that.

So now I’m figuring out train schedules and debating when I should part ways from my friends in Wroclaw to head off to Krakow on my own. I’ll probably take night train to Krakow Friday night/Saturday morning – sleep on the train – and arrive in Krakow ready for a free city tour (which I found) and explore the rest of the city on my own for the rest of the day. Auschwitz would be my last destination on Sunday before I fly back to Oslo in the early evening. A sombre note to end my weekend trip, but a crucial one nonetheless.

My first real trip on my own (well, at least for half of it)! It’s great to know that I’ll have company in a strange new country for the first two days at least. And also to know that I have future trips with friends to look forward to. Bought my tickets and ready to lock and load. Must start planning! 😀 SO EXCITE.

And all it took was a simple invitation to spark the start of a new adventure. 🙂

01/28/12

Of Dinner Parties and Good Company.

So I was invited to a dinner party in the flat across from mine tonight, and it was really nice to meet people and have fun. 🙂 Three of them were straight from China, my friend Natalie from Singapore, a Sri-Lankan girl, and a Russian guy. It was surreal to hear so many foreign languages being spoken around the table: Natalie would often translate Mandarin into English for us when our Chinese friends couldn’t find the right words in English. I said a couple things in Korean and Japanese. Our Russian mate taught us a bit of Russian and Norwegian because he could speak it. Cantonese. A bit of French. It was great because everyone mainly used English to make sure everyone was included and understood at the very root of the dinner conversation. Plus the food was delicious. I was given a lot of different Chinese treats that I had never tried before.

image

(ASIAN FOOD. There was more than this – I should have taken more photos! Next time.)

The people themselves – all studying for their master’s degrees – were all very friendly and great to talk to. I’m finding the international students a lot easier to connect with than Norwegian first years for sure. I can’t wait until next week where I’ll be able to meet with more people from the international community. Plus swing dancing on Monday! 😀

There will be more dinner (and baking parties) for sure as the weeks go on. As my Norwegian room-mate told me, in Aas, since there isn’t much to do, it is the people that bring life to the town and campus life.

01/26/12

Guess who has internet access?

THIS GIRL. With a day and a half gone since I arrived in Aas, I have a lot to write about. But where to begin? I don’t usually like to word vomit onto a page without a clear direction, but in this case, I think I just need to get the gist of everything out. Look forward to posts that are much more focused on one subject at a time as I continue my adventures in Norway. 😀

Well, for starters, my flights to Iceland (7.5 hours) and to Norway (~3 hours) went very smoothly. I had an entire row of seats to myself for the longer one, which was nice. Meals weren’t provided but I didn’t mind – I brought enough food and I can’t handle airplane food anyway.

(First look at Norway!)

Then there was arrival in Oslo Airport – bag check went very quickly, with my luggage all in one piece. There was a bit of time dawdling on exchanging currencies and debating if I should get a 30-day transit pass for ~$160 CAD. I got it in the end and fully intend to make best use of it. 😐 About 5 round trips to and from Oslo should do it.

Train ride to Aas was absolutely brutal. Correction: taking my heavy luggage on and off the train was brutal. My arms were falling off and my hands were raw from holding onto the bags tightly for a long time.

After the train ride, I got really lucky when the very person I saw literally seconds after getting off the train happened to be the other girl from my program back at UBC, S, who had arrived a few days before me. She graciously offered to help lug my heavy bags to where I was staying and we almost died walking across snow and ice doing it. But I saved a bit of money by not calling a taxi.

It was around 4-5PM when I reached the rez I was staying in. My roommates: two Norwegian guys, one Norwegian girl, and one guy from Nepal. The two Norwegian guys are very nice and helpful (one’s social, the other quite shy). I’m on nodding terms with Nepal and the girl I haven’t had the chance to talking to just yet. They all seem quite nice though… and the place is clean enough for me not to complain.

I spend the rest of the night unpacking (still lots to do) and arranging my room.

(Desk and a window looking out to the other residences)

(Couldn’t sleep so I put up the photos + postcards I brought with me)

(All five of us share a bathroom, but we each have our own sink in our room. :D)

(Ice rink! One of three on campus… on frozen concrete for beginners not ready for frozen ponds.)

(Colourful buildings really pop because of the snow)

(Main UMB buildings)

(My faculty [Noragric] building! 😀 So excite!)

Jetlag prevented me from having adequate sleep, so I started today off quite late. Since I didn’t have internet access at all, I made a visit to the IT building and they set everything up for me quite easily. The IT guy kindly printed out a campus map and directed me to SiT (Student Information Centre) where they helped me get set up for courses, etc. AND I made a new friend, Natalie, a masters student from Singapore. Such an amazing girl – she showed me around campus AND the town of Aas, as well as took me shopping at the best places. Sheer luck again. 😀

I spent waaay too much on groceries (for first time grocery shopping, I guess to be expected) – I’ll be going over my receipt and seeing how I can manage for future visits. Norway is much too expensive (oh my poor bank account) – but the shopping went smoothly because Natalie was there with me to help.

With some help, I got back home. Cooked for myself for the first time since I arrived, making enough pasta to last me tomorrow and probably the next day. Tried out my new internet connection and skyped with my family, which was really lovely. A lot of firsts today. I’m looking forward to experiencing a lot more (and trying not to cry over my bank account).

So what’s scheduled for tomorrow? More on-campus logistics, VISA stuff in Ski, and a visit to Oslo’s IKEA if I have the time! 😀 Have to make use that pricey transit pass somehow.

01/24/12

BRB, crying my heart out in front of Gate S-12.

So I’ve arrived in Seattle quite ahead of schedule, with stops to eat and shop at an outlet mall (I needed a folding shoulder bag and found a beautiful one on sale) with my wonderful mother. The last couple of hours we had together calmed me down after the freak-out I had earlier in the morning. I felt good. Excited with butterflies in my tummy.

I was ready and bag check went smoothly, thankfully (hooray for early bird no lines!). But as soon as I turned to say good-bye to my mom in front of the security check, I saw her start to tear up, which triggered my own tears. I smiled and said farewell with lots of hugs, kisses, and tears as I walked towards security. Mom waited on the other side of the rope watching me as I drew farther away from her. Each second a part was painful and I felt like a 5-year-old lost alone in the mall. I couldn’t stop crying – still can’t really. I’m probably going to bawl on the entire plane ride to Iceland. And then to Norway. The full 10 hours. Nearby passengers are going to hate me.

I usually love wandering around on my own, but walking through the airport to find my gate was absolutely terrifying. I became Paranoid Parrot x 10000000000000000% as my brain kept believing that I had forgotten something important – which I hadn’t (at least I don’t think so).

So here I am, killing the 2-hour wait before I board the plane, ingraining the images of farewells and last looks I had with my family only this morning: my brother getting up at 6AM to say goodbye with a hug. My dog curiously watching me close the front door as I left the house. My dad surprising me by hoisting me up into the air for an enormous bear hug and never losing sight of the car as my mom and I drove away from home. My mom’s tear-stained smile as she finished hugging me gently for the third time.

Having a computer with internet access helps. Supportive FB messages and Tumblr replies (and even the cute tweet from my dad) keep me smiling. Yes, this is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to deal with so far in my life. Yes, I am bawling my eyes out. Yes, I still firmly believe that I’m on the right path I’ve chosen for myself. This is it – my first step into the world. I will come back to Vancouver one day, but as of now let me call you… Home.

01/20/12

The Roller-Coaster Effect

I’m freaking out because I don’t feel at all prepared for this exchange. But the point is that I can never be prepared for something like this. I don’t know what it’s going to be like in Norway, or anywhere else I might find myself. I can’t plan out every detail to the T – all I can do is prepare for the worst. But I still feel like I don’t know anything – like a small child being thrust into the deep end of the pool when she doesn’t know how to float yet. When I went shopping today with my mom, I felt even smaller when she would mention important things that I had gone over but had forgotten, or even things that I didn’t even think about. In her spare time, she had read travel blogs and located places where I could cash in traveller’s cheques, etc. and here I was, still unable to quite remember what classes I had listed to take. When I told her how I would pack something, she would point out something I didn’t consider and give a better alternative and all I could do was sheepishly pout. I’m such a child around my mother.

But that’s the whole point of this trip, isn’t it? To leave my comfort zone. To stop being coddled and take care of myself. To take the leap into the deep end of the pool willingly and not drown. That means not knowing what I’m really getting myself into. That means being brave even though I’m exci-terrified. I’m finally taking flight with my own two wings.

I am sitting alone in the first car of a roller-coaster, the heavy clinking of the track chain pulling me up towards the top of the hill. I’m nearly at the top now, and every day that passes is another clink uphill. In four days, I will be at the top of the tracks, about to take the first plunge.

What will await me?

I hold my breath. I don’t know. The truth is, I won’t until gravity pulls me downward. I won’t know until I finish the roller-coaster ride and get off. What I am confident in is the fact that I chose to ride this particular ride and that with every roller-coaster I’ve ridden in my life, I’ve always said at the end:

“Let’s do that again!”

01/2/12

Hello and Goodbye

It’s the start of a new year, which calls for a moment of reflection of who I am and how far I’ve come – especially with the advent of my departure to Norway drawing closer every day. The fact that I’ve been planning this adventure for over a year and that I’m about to embark on it all on my own in just a couple of weeks is surreal. Classes in Norway. Backpacking through Europe. Field Research in Tanzania. I’m about to leave everything I know behind to explore what is unknown all on my own. The idea is exciting and terrifying at the same time. But if I think about it, anything worthwhile I have ever done or accomplished in my life has felt the same way: exciting and terrifying. This year-long exchange is no different.

When you know that you’re going to be leaving home, you start to appreciate everything that you have so much more. For me, it was a number of things: my favourite pair of shoes, being woken up to my parents chatting downstairs during breakfast, the jingling of my dog’s collar – even my brother’s tendency to tell me interesting facts and tidbits at inconvenient times. Even the routine of transiting to UBC or heading off the work and taking in the soothing smell of pool chlorine seemed all the more precious to me. I started to count ‘lasts’ in the latter months of 2011: last Imagine Day, last day of teaching swimming lessons, last Halloween, last day of classes, last time I’ll see my friends until next year. All of these little things in my ordinary life seemed extraordinary and I realized just how much everyone I’ve met and everything I’ve experienced have shaped me to be the person I am today. And as this person, I will grow to change even more with this new adventure.

I have never left home on my own for so long in my life. Two weeks were the longest I’ve been away just from my family. I feel like nothing more than a coddled child if I had to be perfectly honest. This exchange, if anything, will force me to grow up very quickly. I have had days where I would curl myself up under my bed covers because I was afraid of taking such a big leap out of the comforts of bubble called home. Often I feel like I know nothing and would have nothing to offer when I would have the opportunity to meet and work with people abroad. But then I stop myself to think about what I do know and what I have experienced. I think about the place that has shaped me and the wonderful people that I have met. And then I realize that I have nothing to be afraid of. Every person has different experiences that have shaped their identities and I have mine. No, I have not travelled extensively. But I’m about to. All I can do is offer the best of myself and that’s nothing to feel inadequate about – I should in fact be proud of it.

This coming year will not always be easy – even more so because I will be mostly on my own. And yes, I will feel small and ignorant at times. But I am willing to trip and fall over and over again in order to listen, observe, and learn. If I lose confidence in myself, I will remember that I chose to step outside my bubble and to take part in this exchange. By the end of this journey, I will have left behind new friends and new places I would have once called home. I will be a different person when I come back home to everything and everyone I know and love. So even though I might be scared of such a drastic change, I welcome it with open arms. I will be brave and step outside my bubble. I will get on that plane on my own. I will remember that I am following my dreams and living my passion. And then I will smile with my head held high.