I know: What an ignorant title for a blog, but it’s true. I was thinking about it the other day as I thought of ways to try and change up the post and entries on my blog. I spent a total of two years of my life in Asia, but there are definitely things I didn’t learn while traveling and living in Asia
I spent three months in the summer of 2009 living and working in Beijing, China; one year living in Korea and nearly ten months backpacking around Asia.
When I first moved to China, I had no idea how to use chopsticks, so eating proved a difficult task. A few weeks of hard work and determination soon saw me using chopsticks like I’d grown up with them.
But I didn’t acquire every skill so quickly and easily, and some of them I never learned at all.
I never learned how to sit in a squatting position. Asians squat in their every day activities, whether its having a chat on their cell phones in the middle of the side walk or waiting for the train or just taking a mid-day break. I had tried numerous, numerous times and learned that one of the easiest ways to take a rest and squat is to wear heels, but technically that’s completely cheating.
I never learned how to be around dried fish without gagging. My co-workers in Korea once threw me a dried fish party after work, and I was certain my stomach was going to run itself right out of my body. The stench of the room instantly made me gag, and yet they didn’t quite get the picture. I felt like dried fish was everywhere I turned in Asia: a snack at the movies or a quick fix at the markets. It’s like poison to me.
I never learned how to fall instantly into the deepest sleep of my life in under a minute. I swear there is something ingrained in the blood of every Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Cambodia, Indian, Nepalese, Indonesian, Singaporean and Malaysian out there. Whether it’s a train, standing up on a bus, sitting at their desks or where ever they are – they instantly know how to fall into the deepest sleep of their lives in a matter of seconds.
I never learned how to ride or drive a scooter. Scooters and I are just so far from a match made in heaven. Molly would zip around like she grew up in Europe where as I would drive into fences, speed out of control in open fields, get lost on the roads and cry from start to finish. I once in Vietnam rode into a group of people on my scooter tour (why would I do a scooter tour?!) yet continued to scoot my way around the highands. I ended up travelling Thailand with two other girls named Alison and Allie, and we decided to rent scooters one day. I bore the responsibility of someone else’s life in my hands. We ended up getting a flat tire in the middle of no where on this island, and I had to drive downhill with the metal rims on my scooter basically starting a fire of sparks on the road.
Driving scooters around Asia was not my area of expertise.
I never learned how to decipher the Indian head bobble. I could spend the rest of my life travelling around and living in India, and I am certain that I would never understand what it means. Sometimes it was just a little dip of the head, a flash of sincerity in their eyes, and this gentleness that Molly and I would be certain meant a yes only to find out minutes later the bob, in fact, meant no. I think it will just forever remain a mystery to me.
I never learned any of the local languages. Having lived in Korea for a year, my Korean abilities are astoundingly atrocious. And granted, I didn’t expect just a month in Vietnam would have me coming home fluent in Vietnamese, but I never really absorbed the language or soaked up the language. Looking back now, I wish I had picked up a little bit more than “hello”; “thank you”; “please”; “good bye” and a few other key words that, along with hand gestures, helped me survive.
I never learned how to say no. This proved to be both good and bad, Often times, when living in Korea and while traveling, I came across friendly people who extended warm and open hearted invitations, some of which involved experiences that I am so grateful to have had and other of which involved experiences I wasn’t too keen to participate in, like attending the above mentioned dried fish party held in my honour while gagging uncontrollably the whole time. Sometimes, my inability to say no also led to becoming the victim of a scam. Even a girl from Brooklyn can lack street smarts every so often.
I never learned how to use Twitter or Instagram. As a travel blogger, I knew that social media would play a huge part in helping to extend the reach of my blog audience, but I just never forced or pushed myself enough to be active enough on social media channels other than Facebook. Instagram sort of came about I think toward the end of my backpacking trip, and Twitter had always been there, but I didn’t learn how to incorporate them into my blog until now.
I never learned how to meditate. I attempted and tried this little lifestyle of Zen living out, and again – meditation isn’t something that can be achieve overnight, but it wasn’t something that I found myself gravitating toward and feeling a passion for. I gave it a go by staying at an ashram in India for a few weeks, but after about thirty seconds into each meditation session, I’d quickly lose interest and my mind would wander off on bigger and better things.
I never learned how to slurp up my food or drinks. Most Westerners are totally turned off by the slurping that occurs when eating with Asians, especially Koreans and Chinese. The sheer volume of it sends waves of irritation up some people’s spines. I learned to accept it as a part of their culture, as I was told it is to signify that a meal was delicious, but I never learned how to do it. In Japan, you can enhance the experience of eating Sobu noodles by slurping while you eat the noodles (I learned this fact while watching Anthony Bourdain).
I never learned about current movies or popular songs or trends. We were always a few months behind if at all in touch with what was going on in the outside world. My friends would always find it amusing how I caught onto fads much later than they all did, whether it was a song or a popular Tumblr website or something that was so last year to them.
I never learned how to whistle. I still don’t know how to do this.
I never learned how to cook. Again, I still don’t know how to do this. I took cooking courses in Thailand, and I lived on my own in Korea for a year, and I’m still about as domesticated as a stray cat. (I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad analogy.)
And last, but not least, I never learned not to drink 2 litres of water before getting on any form of transport. More often than not I found myself a bus that would ride over every pothole on the road while my bladder strangled the rest of my body in pain and horror. The amount of tears Molly put up with through my fits of small bladder issues – she deserves an award.
Not all of these are specific to Asia, as some of them could have been learned – or I guess not learned – anywhere in the world.
I have dreams of one day owning a Vespa, so hopefully I outgrow the whole scooter scenario, but at the end of the day, we can’t do it all. We do our best to make the most out of our trips in a way that tests us to our limits while still enjoying every minute.
