FINAL BLOG – WHAT I’VE LEARNED AND WHAT I’M GRATEFUL FOR:
WHAT I’VE LEARNED:
I’m not sure if I can put into words all that I have learned in a concise way, but I’ll do my best. This world has become much, much smaller to me. I realize that I can go pretty much anywhere in the world that I want to. I don’t see any limitations now, and I probably will discriminate less as to where I might go in the future. I have just traveled to four countries: Kenya, South Africa, India, and South Korea – all of which I’ve honestly never had a desire to visit. (Even though I have felt compelled since 2001 to teach in Africa, I’ve never actually had a desire to go there.)
Last night, I was watching a program on television where a woman went into an Indian reservation here in the USA and helped elderly women in the tribe who had no food or water for three days, and they weren’t able to help themselves in getting any. Some of the things she discovered in helping them were similar to what I discovered in Kenya and India. My mind suddenly thought, "I wonder if that is something I should look into in the future?" I’ve NEVER thought like that before! I feel I’m suddenly open to all kinds of new things I would never have thought about or dreamed would be possible before. I’ve had a few people tell me I have changed. I think they are right on more counts than even they realize. I also think, as time goes on, I will continue to discover more and more how this trip has affected me forever.
I’ve learned that, as an American, I have SO MUCH more than most of the people in the world. Now, more than ever, I understand why people all over the world want to come to the United States to live and/or be educated. I’ve traveled to nine other countries besides the USA before going on this trip, but I’ve never felt as strongly about this thought as I do now. Maybe that’s because, aside from a few places in Mexico that were somewhat similar to what I’ve seen, I’ve never traveled to a third world country before. What a difference! Even as I tell people about certain things that go on in Kenya or India, I’m still taken aback by it all. It’s almost more than a person can comprehend if you’ve never experienced it first-hand. Even having experienced it first-hand, I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around what goes on there and how it could really be the way it is!
I’ve also learned that there are good people all over the world who have the same needs as I do. Families go on, people want to take care of their families, people care for one another, and they laugh and cry just like I do. Children are beautiful and loving and enthusiastic about life no matter where they live. I LOVED THE CHILDREN IN KENYA AND INDIA!!!
I’ve been saying or thinking a certain phrase quite a bit the past few days since I’ve been home – “Because I can!” Tayler and I had toast the night I got home “because we could”. I had a toaster for the first time in five months, (except for one week in India), and he hasn’t had one since February. I got dressed a little nicer than normal the next day, wearing nothing that I’ve worn for the past five months. Tayler asked me why I was so dressed up. I replied, “Because I can be.” Thursday morning I put perfume on which I haven’t had with me for five months. Even though I wasn’t going anywhere, I did it just “because I could.” I also overheard Tayler say to a friend he was drinking a lot of diet Coke, "just because he could". (I think he's had some of the same feelings as I have had.) I drove around with no real place to go, just “because I could”.
My life’s pace has slowed down almost to a screeching halt by my normal standards just “because I can”. I haven’t even fully unpacked yet, which is unheard of for me, and it doesn’t even matter. Wow, what has happened to me?!? I don’t feel in a hurry to do much of anything – also not “normal” for me. I haven’t just been sitting around staring at the walls, it’s just that there’s no pressure on me to do anything right now. It’s actually a very freeing feeling. I don’t have a daily calendar that I’m scheduling my life out for five months ahead in like I usually do. In fact, I don’t even have one yet. My life here won’t let me get away with not having one for much longer, but I feel it may have stepped back a notch or two in importance. And guess what? That feels okay to me!
There are a lot of other things I’ve learned that I’ve mentioned throughout my blog, so I won’t repeat myself on those.
I’ve decided to break this down into two separate blogs so you can stop reading and take a break. I really hope you will join me for the rest of this blog as these two blogs, to me, constitute what the full impact of my traveling around the world for five months has had on me.
Please join me one last time!
Thanks,
Kadi
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