as seen through a blog
In 2010 I didn’t live in, or visit, New Zealand. Since my first trip in 2002, I have been there for a least part of the year five out of the last eight years. However, I did do a bit of traveling around to different places. And by those numbers, this was 2010:
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If “[t]he sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room” (Pascal) I don’t know if I want to be happy: because I want to keep traveling. I can’t imagine contentedness equalling being happy sitting in a room of one’s own.
“Excuse me, could you watch my computer for me?”
“Sure thing.”
I watched as she walked from her window-side seat to the restroom on the other side of the coffee shop and glanced at her laptop sitting on the small table.
We had not spoken prior to this exchange. Apparently by sitting alone in an armchair with my philosophy book I was deemed trustworthy.
We had not spoken prior, but I wondered that maybe we would if I took the laptop and ran from the store only to return it a minute later, as she was returning, breathing hard as if I had just chased a would-be thief and rescued her computer.
It’s interesting: I have been in the same boat – not trusting anyone new who may walk in to the store, but trusting my possessions to the perfect stranger who has been sitting inside since I arrived. It’s curious: I wonder what I gives us this sense of instinctive fear and simultaneous trust.
This is something I’ve been meaning to do for quite some time. I actually had a bunch of it written while I was in Mongolia, but it was saved on my iPod which crashed.
At the beginning of the summer I knew of several friends who were about to embark on some pretty big adventures overseas. For some of them, this was to be their first time traveling outside of America. I wanted to write a list of little tips that I’ve learned after years of traveling: things that have helped me or that I find important. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get it done before they left, but hopefully it will still be beneficial to them and others in the future.
So here at last is a non-finite list of lessons I’ve learned while traveling that may help you on your next trip. If you have anything you’ve learned as well, please share in the comments here.
Big decisions are curious things. I have one; I find it odd. They take a long time to decide, they are hard to make. But hard decisions are always good ones, right? Think about it, the only decisions that are bad are ones with bad options, and those are the easiest to decide. You go with the right and good choice. Even if that option means hard work and sacrifice, the decision is easy. Whether we want to take it or not, we know what it should be. As Frodo says, “I know what I must do, it’s just that I’m afraid to do it.”
But what about those decisions with no wrong choice? Those are the big ones. Those are the tough ones. When I step back from this choice before me I find it simultaneously of both the absolute and least importance. What is the bigger decision, that I decide love my neighbor when I walk out of my house or in which fashion to exercise the skills God has given me to bless people and honor him? And yet choosing between two goods is so difficult. It’s like a trick question: neither is wrong, but is one better? Does it matter if both are good?
Sometimes I wish my decisions were between following my heart by using my God-given skills and killing some poor homeless man. No contest, easy choice: homeless man lives. But no, I’m deciding between two great lifestyles.
As so often happens when I travel, opportunities arise for me to choose from and decide about. This tour is the same. I have a few options ahead of me that require both careful thought and prayer. I don’t like to openly and publically talk about this sort of thing because often nothing comes of the opportunities and then I’ve just built up something for nothing. So I won’t give any specifics, but they do have to do with what I will be doing to keep myself busy for the next year or more. I would like to ask you to pray for me to, through God’s leading, make a wise decision. I am going to directly contact a few friends with more details – if you would like to know more, please email me. In either case, thank you very much.
Along with losing two posts of stories of my time here in the Philippines when my iPod gave me issues, I found out I also lost a long page I was preparing of travel tips to help myself and others when we go abroad. I’ll have to start again, but it included reminders like always carry some US dollars (or major currency like Pounds or Euros), pack lighter, and meet people in the airports.
Well, I had two updates and stories about my first week and a half written on my iPod Touch when my blog application decided to fail me so I think I’ve lost them. Without my computer or a decent Internet connection it’s very difficult to try to salvage them. So unfortunately you get the distilled quick version. [...read more...]
I was about to write “of Mongolia” but decided that wasn’t exactly accurate and sounded rather doomsdayish. Tomorrow I will take a taxi on a five hour drive to UB as I begin the next part of my overseas work for this trip: working as an A/V tech and crew for Impact World Tour. Before I go, I want to just rapid fire some impressions and photos of my past few weeks here in Erdenet.
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Please excuse the mess while I scramble to change my blog over to a better system, to make it easier for me to post.