The Dream Refreshed

Blogging the Dream. Blogging the Dream. Blogging the Dream.

What is the dream? What is this dream that I should be blogging?

For most of us who made it to the CoolWorks website the dream is about adventure. About taking a chance and letting ourselves be challenged in a new environment, with new responsibilities and new people. About not being afraid to change our own worlds for new ones, where the opportunities to learn are abundant. It’s about taking control of our own destinies and changing the course of our lives. About saying, “yes, I can, I will, I’ll try, and why not”.

Many of us fulfill this dream traveling. As a student of tourism I studied and learned about all the benefits and drawbacks of the tourism industry. Tourism can take on many forms and faces. Experiences can range from a simple escape in the sun all the way to an engaging and educational cultural experience depending on what the traveler is looking for.

In addition to studying tourism I’ve had the opportunity to be a tourist many times and my travels always take on some aspects of education, of relaxation, and of adventure. As a tourist I am also often rewarded with a sense of self-empowerment that comes from taking control of my path and deciding where I want to go today and tomorrow.

There are, however, limitations to traveling as a tourist. One of the biggest limitations is economic. We can’t maintain a tourist attitude forever, unless we have unlimited resources to sustain that lifestyle without working. So eventually many of us have to submit and return to the familiarity of our daily lives, often times saddened that our experience had to end, back to work and back to normal.

Where is this leading? Well, back to the dream of course: adventure, new challenges, taking control. How can we make it so that the vacation feelings, the adventures and the new experiences don’t end?

By living abroad or living in a different State, Province, City or Town. Here is where we can extend our adventure into a genuine learning experience. Genuine is the key word here. As tourists we often see only a part of the reality of a destination. We get a quick look at the way other people live, a glimpse of life in a different environment, a peek at the social or political reality of a new place; maybe we learn a few new words in a different language. Many of us are motivated by these new findings but we only wade knee-deep into our explorations. To dive head first into these experiences we need to LIVE the new life, create a life in the new setting.

Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking that this is no longer tourism if you must work. You think, if I’m working it is not relaxing, and it is not a vacation. True. Living and working in new place is not tourism and it is also not a way to replace tourism and travel. Yet, imagine now that you find a job in a different country or even in the next town. It is as if you are bringing your tourism destination to you. You are instantly immersed in three great activities that provide some of the same stimulations as tourism and travel: meeting new people, taking on new challenges and opening your eyes to a new and changed environment.

When you meet a new person you are given the chance to see a different perspective on life. Sometimes when we are traveling we meet someone who is very interesting and we are able to quickly open up and share ourselves with the other person. This is ideal, but not usually the reality of the situation. The majority of people do not open up the first time you meet them. Trust must be established and then sharing can begin. That sharing is an amazing educational tool. It is like a window into another world, a new perspective. In order to access this tool we need time to establish relationships. This, of course, doesn’t happen during a weeklong holiday, but in a month or three months or a year people begin to share their outlooks and knowledge. You can begin to take note of attitudes, personalities and even the social contexts of the lives around you directly from the people who live there. This knowledge you absorb may be drastic and intriguing or subtle and guarded. Where people are more guarded the trust needed to open up sharing is even more important. This is especially true in many foreign societies where people aren’t as open as in the Occidental parts of the World. Sometimes customs create situations where we feel uncomfortable with new people. For example, when I was in China many foreigners told me they felt strange when a group of Chinese people would watch quietly as the foreigner shopped or merely walked by. This seems strange to you and me, but after living in China for a time I learned that for a Chinese person quiet observation is an excellent way to curb curiosity. Instead of hiding curiosity, they explore it. Many of customs and social mannerisms can be explained once you establish relationships in the community. Over time we, as outsiders, learn to accept and even respect these new customs, and that acceptance only grows with time and understanding.

When living away from home we are sure to encounter more trials since we are unfamiliar with the new place and its workings. Some challenges can be enormous and others minimal, but when you meet the challenge, big or small, and face it successfully you are sure to be filled with a sense of accomplishment. Imagine your first day learning the Metro lines or bus routes in a new city. When you arrive at your destination you are rewarded with a burst of confidence knowing that you can and you did. This may seem simple, but daily successes like this can fill you with a sense of accomplishment. Now imagine you are in a country where you cannot read, write or speak the language. After one week you can say where you live, hello, how are you, goodbye, yes and no. After two weeks you can tell someone what you do, ask how much something costs, say excuse me, and maybe even count to five. This learning is so fulfilling. The focus on the advances rather than the difficulties allows you to see each new achievement as a big step forward in understanding your new surroundings. In my experience, the longer you stay, the more you realize there is to learn, especially when traveling outside of your native country.

Once you begin to understand some of the ways to move or communicate or enjoy your new surroundings your eyes begin to open up to all the possibilities around you. Your new environment begins to make sense. You want to explore a little farther each time you go out. You begin to take advantage of the possibilities that exist in your surroundings. If you are an outdoor lover you will begin to investigate new hiking routes or tourism attractions near your new home. If you are a City lover then you will find new museums, theatres, shows and parks to explore. If you love culture you will notice the way people are living around you, their mannerisms, teachings and social protocol. You are surrounded by new experiences at work, after work or on the weekends when you have free time. You are constantly growing and learning and this advancement leaves you fulfilled and satisfied.

Many people have commented that it must be difficult to live and work in different places. I know that this is true for some people. This type of life is for those who have a longing to discover and explore. These are the people who will thrive and blossom in changing environments.

Every now and then it is important to clarify what you are doing and why you are doing it. This blog is a step back to look at my life with a little more clarity and recall why it is that I love this life that I have chosen and furthermore, why I would recommend it to others.

My dream is to be able to work around the world, be compensated fairly, explore new cultures and provide a home for my family, with the additional possibility of creating my own business to meet the aforementioned goals. Well, my dream becomes both easier and harder to accomplish all the time. It becomes easier and easier to travel, to accept new work and new situations, to set up new homes. It becomes harder to decide where to go next, which offers too accept and which ones to leave behind. I have my own motivations and dreams that I hope to achieve. At the same time as I begin to put some of those dreams into concrete plans I am distracted with amazing offers to work around the world.

In the past month I have given yoga classes and Chinese Paper Cutting workshops at a Spring Break Outdoor Camp near Mexico City, I’ve been offered a job teaching young children at an International School in Bangkok, Thailand, I’ve been asked to think about setting up an Adventure Tourism Company here in Mexico with a focus on Canadian and American travelers, I’ve been offered a job as an activities planner at the Camp I mentioned above and I’ve been sent a request to audition for a part in a Chinese/American Television Program being produced out of Beijing, China for airing in North America. Not only are the offers interesting and stimulating, but there all over the place and quite random in their focus.

If you are willing to travel and try new things the world will open up for you. Many of us are lucky to have been born in First World Nations where we have been provided the education and preparation necessary to be able to grab on to the amazing possibilities of moving and working freely.

So this is the dream that we are blogging. My fellow bloggers and I are travelers, ready to meet the world and all its challenges with chins up and chests out. I say let’s go get that dream.

Zai Zhen Beijing, Hola Distrito Federal

We’re back in Mexico. And we came right into the middle of the big yuck… Mexico City. Okay, okay, there are really great things about Mexico City too and actually I’ve been having a good time. My husband, Pancho, and I have decided to stick with the Beijing Bicycle lifestyle. The main difference is that here we’ve traded in our Chinese one-speed heavy metal bikes for titanium rockets complete with shocks, borrowed from my two brothers-in-law! The shocks are for the topes (speed bumps), the coladeras (drainage holes), and the cobblestones. The rockets (leg-powered) are for escaping from the crazy drivers on Tlalpan Avenue! There is plenty of traffic to deal with here, like in Beijing, but what’s missing are the mandatory bike lanes where cyclists ride free and without the impending threat of being squashed. We also have no one riding at our sides. The millions and millions of cyclists in Beijing created a biker bond and it is tough not to think longingly back to taking over intersections with fifty other cyclists even when we didn’t have the right of way! In exchange for an army of cyclists, Mexico City has an army of small buses that circulate called ‘peseros’. These buses are known for their speed, their disregard for any other vehicle or person on the road, and for their inability to use any type of signal or brake light, although their horns seem to work. We have been polishing our ducking, weaving and dodging abilities to deal with these mini bus monsters. Since they always run in the outside lane we are constantly in battle with them. I usually ride behind Pancho since I don’t know the routes yet and several times we’ve had to pull over beside a stopped pesero so Pancho could (calmly and respectfully… Mexican style) explain to the driver that he had just brutally cut us off or rubbed us so close to the curb that we were about to jump off our bikes. Pesero drivers are never open to someone telling them their driving skills aren’t up to par and so the conversation often ends in blunt remarks by both parties followed by several blocks of steaming solo commentaries as Pancho rides away. The days of peacefully riding with our heads in the clouds, content in our bike lanes are over.

There are, however, cyclist similarities between Mexico City and Beijing. Every time we tell our friends we arrived on bikes they ask us where we came from and then can’t believe it. A twenty block ride is considered far and sometimes even causes gasps among less-active acquaintances. My Beijing friends were the same, always shocked at our bike outings, especially because bike riding in Beijing is usually reserved for those people who can’t afford cars. It seems that people in both cities prefer sitting in their stopped vehicles to riding with the wind in their hair, passing traffic jammed cars.

In addition to being a quick mode of transport and a great way to keep fit, family outings are a blast with bicycles. Unfortunately, we haven’t put a baby seat on either of the bikes yet. I especially miss having Denya, my two-year-old on board, poking me from behind, but I am more comfortable leaving her with her grandma then trying to manage this traffic with her safety in mind. She doesn’t agree though and when we go out on bikes she gets upset and I’m sure she’s reminiscing back to her little green seat in Beijing where she spent many a happy hour checking out her surroundings from the back of mama’s bike.

All this and I have yet to mention the extreme temperature difference between riding in Beijing and Mexico City. When we left I was wearing gloves, a scarf and a toque (Canadian word for winter hat) and Denya was wearing four, five and sometimes six layers of clothing to combat the cold. Pancho, being Mexican sometimes wore up to seven layers of winter clothing. Here we go out in sleeveless shirts and shorts and enjoy the sun beating down on our backs.

In addition to the pleasant change in weather there is also a significant decrease in smog here in Mexico City, at least the visible kind of smog. I can’t say that I understand this change because I am sure that there has to be as much pollution here in the biggest city in the world as there is in Beijing. Regardless, when I climb up to the rooftop here in the morning and look into the distance I am filled with joy that I can see farther than the next two buildings. This feeling of happiness at the lack of visible smog is probably a good indication that we need to get out of all cities for a while.

What else is good? If I get lost I can easily ask for directions. The first few days I couldn’t believe everyone could understand what I was saying. When they would open their mouths I was also shocked that everything they said registered and made perfect sense. I found myself saying, “xie xie,” “due” and “mai she” in response but no one seemed to notice my Chinese responses.

If you remember, I was teaching small children in a Montessori School in Beijing over the last year and a half. I’m temporarily retired from that career and I’m now working free lance. I’m an English (ESL) teacher, Ashtanga Yoga Instructor, Fire and Stilts Performer, Chinese Paper Cutting Artist and Instructor, International Importer (specializing in China), performance agent and blog writer! He he.

I have also been helping Pancho out with his performance jobs and the workshops he has been giving here. The other night at 1:30am I was laughing to myself as I did some reparations to a Spider Man costume. I thought how strange to be sewing a Spider Man costume for my full grown husband, something that many moms do for their little ones around Halloween time, but not usually for a show where their husband comes out as Spider Man climbing and jumping from pole to pole and fighting off his colleagues, who were dressed as luchadores (Mexican Wrestlers). If only I had some video footage to post for your pleasure!

My daughter has been adjusting to things here in Mexico too. She is constantly trying to convince me to take her into the streets to search for street dogs. Way back in a previous blog I mentioned that the dogs in Beijing were all little Pugs and Pekinese (surprise surprise) on tight leashes with big yaps. Here in Mexico there are loads of street dogs all with their own dread locks behind the ears. Denya loves these Rastafarian dogs and she sits in her stroller saying ‘dog’ over and over again until she gets the urge to pet her new friend. That is always my clue to slowly push her away with promise of another dog just around the corner. I can always be sure to find another one around the corner, just as dirty. As I often say, Mexico is dog Heaven on Earth, where even the mangiest can roam free, surviving off of scraps and finding refuge in the faces of other liberated dogs.

China, only three weeks, and forever ago, is with us daily. Everyone we meet is curious about our experiences in Beijing and we can talk about China for hours because only now that we’ve left have we realized all the amazing differences we took for granted while we were there. Talks about the food leave my mouth watering and I’m reminded that when we were there how talks of tortillas and fresh fruit water left me longing for Mexico. It’s the differences in worlds that make traveling so interesting and wonderful. Each place has its own magic. I thrive off of this magic and it always leaves me longing for more.