Kew Gardens, London, England; July 10, 2013
Where in the World Wednesday
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Monthly Archives: July 2013
Normal in Toronto
I’ve lived in Chicago for five years, and I’ve been to New York, LA, London, Sydney, Tokyo, and Paris. All have their own vibrant queer scenes, of course, but it was the subway in Toronto that actually showed how normalized the LGBT experience might be in that city. While waiting for a train I saw an ad for the personals:
And when I got off a couple stations later, I saw an ad for HIV medication, showing a gay couple discussing whether to use single tablet drugs to manage the virus:
I don’t know what the daily life situation is like for LGBT folks in Toronto, but seeing those two ads made me think that at least the first hurdle of being seen, and being seen as normal humans at that, has been crossed. Other cities, take note.
Culture Clashes
Couchsurfing can make people nervous for various reasons, but questioning what it might do for your reputation or job security is not usually something that comes up. Janet at Journalist on the Run published a letter her friend received after hosting CSers at her flat in Korea. In it, her supervisor warns that her neighbors have filed a complaint about her because several strange men have been seen exiting her apartment over the past month.
Basically, her supervisor says, “I know you’re doing Couchsurfing, but you look like a slut, which is not the image we want for teachers in Korea, and you’re hired by the government of Korea, so you gotta change your ways or risk being fired.” Janet and the commenters discuss whether the supervisor should have supported the employee or whether the employee should have taken a cue from CS and adjusted to the new culture she finds herself in.
It’s a fine line between respecting cultural norms that are different from yours, and standing up for your own beliefs and way of life. This particular issue is made trickier because it involves her job. I guess for me, knowing that my job protection as an American in Korea is basically nil, I’d err on the side of caution and keeping my job. Then engage in conversation with other teachers and parents over the course of the year, with the goal of gently encouraging alternate points of view. Actually, if you’re a teacher in the States, your job security is pretty bad too, so that’s probably the tactic to take here as well.
Now, if it didn’t involve employment, I might act differently. Living in an apartment in Rome and my landlady disapproves of my nighttime visitors? Too bad, lady, I pay you each month and my bedroom is my business. Miming trying on a skirt at the night market in Chiang Mai and the merchant just laughs and says “too big! too big!”? Okay, that’s blunter than I’d hear at home, but you know your product better than I, so I’ll move on.
It can get a lot more serious, of course. A woman visiting Saudi Arabia? Cover your head. A lesbian couple visiting South Africa? Don’t hold hands. A Sikh man visiting rural Alabama? Bring a white friend. These aren’t matters of cultural misunderstanding so much as basic personal safety. How do we integrate respecting other cultures and respecting our own integrity? A question for the 21st century, and one that can only be answered by including the voices of people from the countries we visit as outsiders.
There’s a lot more to say on the topic, but I find myself posting later than expected today. Weigh in, dearest fellow travelers. What would you do if you were the teacher in question? What changes do you make in deference to cultural differences when you travels? What changes do you refuse to make?
Sunrise, Sunset
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Sunset, Duck Lake, Michigan
Laos by the Numbers
New friends made over a big do-it-yourself hot pot meal: 3
Pick-up badminton games observed: 8
Laotian wedding karaoke performances stumbled upon: 1
Meals that made me cry from the spice level: 1
Bears seen playing in the bear rescue center: 2
Bears seen napping through the heat in the bear rescue center: 4
Monks and novices spotted: 56
Conversations with novices: 3
Boats used for transportation: 4
Buddha statues seen: 4,034
Total days spent in Laos: 10
Total money spent: $562.79
Average per day: $56.28
Total money spent, minus gifts: $341.04
Average per day, minus gifts: $34.10
Shifts volunteered at Big Brother Mouse: 3
Meals shared with students from Big Brother Mouse: 1
Total days I could easily have spent in Laos, given more time: 40
Good morning!
Where in the World Wednesday
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Toronto, Canada; July 12, 2013
Now What? The Short-Term Goals After Nearly a Year Around the World
I’ve been back in the States for a week, and I’m just now starting to settle in. It’s been a whirlwind of cleaning and organizing the stuff I carried around in a backpack for the better part of a year, meeting up with friends I haven’t seen in as long, going to one of my favorite weddings ever, and dragging my family along to my most-missed eating spots in town. But now it’s the second week here, the jet lag is behind me, and it’s time to think about what’s next.
Lots of this in my future
As I’ve mentioned before, my long-term goals involve more travel and finding the money to make that happen. I will definitely be in the States through the end of September, and possibly through Christmas, depending on what kind of employment I find. But I’d like to skip winter again this year if I can, so in the new year (if not sooner) I’ll be heading off to Africa or Latin America.
In the short term, I’m readjusting to suburban America, which takes some doing–the politics, the modes of transportation, the distances from place to place, the foods, they’re all different. I’m also living with my parents again for the first time since I graduated college 8 years ago. That takes adjustment on both sides! We’re figuring out how to make it work for everyone; they’re quite content with their lives and I don’t want to get in the way of that, and they want me to be happy but also productive. Which sounds about right.
Here are my goals for the next few months:
1) Get short-term health insurance. This is easily the biggest difference between where I’ve been and where I am now. I’ve had health insurance through my various employers ever since I graduated college, and before that I was covered under my parents’ plan. If I were in the UK, I’d show the National Health Service (NHS) proof of residency and they’d assign me a doctor (who I could change if I wanted), and that would be that, no fuss. But as we know, it’s a very big fuss in the States. It’s scary to be without insurance here, so I’m shopping around to find a short-term plan that won’t charge a huge deductible or monthly fee. If you have any leads, let me know!
2) Find employment. If I stay through the end of the year, I’d like something stable, but I also don’t want to feel bad ditching after just a few months. I’ll be signing up with temp agencies, which will hopefully provide me with admin or data entry work, or something that will put some money in my pocket. Of course, I’m always on the lookout for freelance editing work, so I’ll keep that search up, and I might try pitching some pieces of my own to online magazines and such as well. Be sure to tell your friends and neighbors they can hire me for odd jobs, housesitting, babysitting–just about anything!
3) Focus on the writing. I’ve been cranking out blog posts for y’all Monday through Friday for all of 2013, as promised, and I’m happy I challenged myself to do that. I’ll continue to make that a goal, but I’m also going to try my hand at more in-depth essays and pieces that someone other than me might want to publish.
4) Keep within a budget. It’s easy to simultaneously feel like I’m still traveling about and should experience everything at least once and the extra dollar or two isn’t that much, AND to feel like I’m back on familiar ground so all the old spending habits can come back. But I do not have the steady job I used to, and the whole point of this interlude is to save up for the next adventure. I have to keep that in mind.
Of course, there are other things I want to do, too: visit my friends in Chicago, make the playlist for my sibling’s wedding, learn new songs to sing with my dad, take walks with my mom, enjoy the beauty of a Michigan summer, read new books, and finally watch the new season of Arrested Development.
It’s going to be a good few months.
Pure Michigan: Still the Best
A few years ago, the tourism board of Michigan changed its slogan from “Say Yes to Michigan!” (the exclamation point was crucial) to “Pure Michigan.” Yes! was hokey, but Pure is way too much in the other direction. You could put together a medley of Pottery Barn, Lexus, Ann Taylor, and Pure Michigan commercials and not be sure which was which (except that to my knowledge, Tim Allen only narrates one of those). Still, it seems to be a successful campaign, and I’m all for boosting the economy of my beloved home state. Also, it ain’t a lie: this place is beautiful.
View from Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive, post 9.
I spent this past weekend up north, in the small town I remember so well from summer vacations with my family. This time, I was up there for a friend’s wedding. My closest friends came in from around the country (and a couple of us crossed international waters) to witness the wedding of two of the best people we know. Despite all predictions to the contrary, the weather was lovely, and everything about the ceremony and reception was heartfelt and beautiful.
With the bride and groom
We spent some time on the beach, and we went up to the bluffs to take in the view of Lake Michigan shimmering into the horizon. I have been around the world and seen a lot of amazing views, but I can tell you this is still in the top five. It’s good to be here.
Sunset on Lake Michigan
Sunrise, Sunset
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Sunset, Somewhere between Ljubljana and Vienna
A Day in the Gardens of Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are almost as large as their name is long. They run along the River Thames in the southwest of London, taking up about a half mile square (121 hectares, in case the hectare is a unit of measurement that means something to you). They’re on the World Heritage list because they’ve maintained their size and purpose for over two centuries; they do a lot of plant research here, and have one of the best orchid collections in the world, for example. When my friend Sessily and I met up in London, we decided to pack a picnic and make a day of it at Kew. We spent a lovely day in the warm sunshine, admiring the trees and flowers, gazing out over the pond, having an ice cream, watching kids run around excitedly, listening to the sound check for the Human League concert taking place there later that night… You know, normal gardens stuff.
I don’t know the names of plants, and a lot of plants didn’t have labels (or none that we could find), so I can’t name most of these for you. Feel free to educate me in the comments!
They have their own tube stop.
The oldest tree in Kew, planted in the early 18th century. It’s a sweet chestnut–that name I did find out!
We bought sandwich fixings from a Portuguese deli. This was a very good sandwich.
Treetop walk
The treetop walk featured hilarious plaques noting plant facts. We loved this one because the artist decided to put in the male and female symbols (see where our fingers point), just in case you missed it in the text.
Palm tree in the Temperate House
I think this was a rhododendron–cool star pattern
Giant Japanese pagoda. The gardens also contain a small wooden house, called a minka, which was transferred piece by piece from Japan in 2000.
Pink and blue
I was really into this plant. It’s so airy! It looks like something the fairies might live in.
Kew Palace, the smallest royal residence in Britain. George III lived here during one of his bouts of madness.
They’ve restored the inside of the house.
Do do do, it’s a chair in the house. What’s that little placard say? Ahh! It’s the chair Queen Charlotte DIED in, back in 1818. I jumped away from that chair like the dead woman was still in it.
They make their own ice cream here. This mint chocolate chip was fantastic.
Orchids
In the Princess of Wales Conservatory
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