A year in the life

You can read this one in chunks too...

Alrighty. So it was about one year ago that I first left the usofa. Direct flight, Chicago to Delhi. One year later all that has happened in between is finally starting to make sense, and I think I will write about it.

When I first went to India I went to study Buddhism. Program specifics being what they were, english language sessions with a Tibetan refugee, I still knew my spare time would be spent in temples, gleaming whatever knowledge or practice I could. I had and have revolted against popular American culture for quite a while. At that particular point, I also revolted against alcohol. Perhaps it was the influence of a certain abstinent man I had been seeing who had the lowest opinion of drunks, perhaps is was the undesired effect of working part time for an alcoholic, perhaps it was just my perogative. Either way, I didn't go to India to drink or go out at night. Indians don't really drink- and I pretty much only wanted to do as Indians did. I wanted to shed my culture and completely absorb another. I gave to beggars and couldn't understand the callousness of those who used the easy excuse that it's all merely a racket. I didn't believe it then and I still don't.

When I returned to the states I first noticed two things: we're fat, and we have a lot of excess infrastructure. I wanted to get rid of all of it. I fasted for a week and didn't really call anyone. I spent my week at home out in the country listening to meditation cds and preparing for semester at sea. I felt calm. Or- I felt overwhelmed by paperwork and school and money- "illusions" I hadn't had to deal with up in the mountains.

So, at my height of "fuck pop culture, fuck consumerism, etc" I climbed aboard a giant cruise ship ready to sail around the world. No fucking wonder I had so many problems. This wasn't the basic americanism I was fleeing- this was an extremely wealthy lifestyle and had never even seen. I recall a specific image: We are sailing through the Red Sea. It is the skinny part where you can see Saudi Arabi or Yemen (not sure) to your right and Djibouti to your left. Total oil rigs in this tiny stretch numbered perhaps twenty and helicopters occasionally circled. And then I looked around me. From the top deck JayZ blasted from the poolside bar as fake blondes sunbathed- next to Saudi Arabi- on our gas guzzling ocean liner. Just think about that for a minute. I sure did.

When we docked in countries I ran away. I didn't want to travel with a hoard of people in khaki shorts. I wanted immersion. I often got it. I was thoughtful, observant, reflective, and considerate of the people and places we visited. Most of all, I'm sure no surprise to anyone who knows me, I sought out religion. I went to temples in Asia, mosques in Turkey, and cathedrals in Spain. I was constantly overwhelmed.
As much as I learned from these places, however, I also had to deal with my reaction to America. Because, lets face it, I was floating on a big bowl of pop America. Thank sweet God I had some professors who understood this as well. There were, of course, many students who were amazing and deep and insightful on the ship. I would apologize to them all if I could for not being more open. There was nothing I could do. Sometimes, when we are dealing with and analyzing so very much internally, it just becomes very difficult to stay open and expend any more energy. As much as I tried I had significant trouble connected with a lot of my friends on the ship.

I realize now that I was incredibly hard on myself which caused me to be hard on others. I couldn't sit down and watch TV or a movie without thinking that it was a worthless waste of time that rotted my brain and fed me pop culture. If I drank a coke I thought about high fructose corn syrup and the evils of giant corporations. India was the culmination of several years of distancing myself from so much of what is common in our country. After India, I realize I didn't just leave my comfort zone, I had abolished it. I visited countries and wanted to learn all I could about people there. I felt I was a Buddhist, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, a Burmese, an Indian, a Turk. I felt an amazing connection to everything- the oversoul as Emerson best put it. But this connection, as deep as it can be, is also very abstract. In the immediate, I am not Croatian, Japanese, etc. I am an American. The longer I am here the more I am realizing this.
So that is what happened to me: I destroyed the option of falling back on American identity and threw myself at others. But you don't sink into a place in five days- and so I threw myself into the air. And I spent quite a few months twisting around up there trying to figure out how and where to land. That was a great portion of my spring- and perhaps why my Carnival season in new orleans was so outlandish and foolish and dramatic.

So now I'm in Vietnam. On this stint so far I have visited Cambodia and Thailand as well. I believe this is the longest time I've really spent out of the country. I feel good- I feel I'm learning a tremendous amount, both from other travelers, and now from the business students I'm working with here at FESR. I feel comfortable connecting to America. As we have joked here, America does not equal a dollar sign. It does not equal giant corporations or George Bush. It often does, but it doesn't always. It also means an incredibly diverse, often tolerant group of people. Granted, if I walk into Zotz in a Tulane hoodie, I don't get the best reception, but still comprably- there is no stereotypical american. We are all diverse. In Vietnam, everyone is Vietnamese. If I walk into a coffeeshop an entire crowd will point and laugh at my funny crocs- which I saw fit to draw all over in color sharpie. They are quite beautiful really, and at least I am amusing someone. But hey, in the states, people don't (typically) point and laugh because you are different. I realize I'm not in the states, so I'll deal with it, but I am appreciating our diversity more and more. Same goes for New Orleans. I like that Chris Owens can have a hat parade on easter sunday while all the Catholics sit in the cathedral. I like that you can get in a costume and be completely outrageous and its okay. I like that you can be different. I don't have to like giant corporations, or starbucks, or george bush, and I'll always be in good company with someone.
--OR, I can be in no company. The phenomenon of being alone hasn't yet hit the Vietnamese. "Only one?" "Why don't you do it together?" "Where are your friends?" I'm with the big group right now, but this is one country that just gets sort of bothersome in that regard. I am quite aware when I am alone, and I'm okay with it. Relax. Go be collective. It's good for you, but its not always good for me.

So theres the thing- just realizing I don't have to like everything about the places I visit. Just because they are other doesn't always make them better. Rest assured, do not expect me to return some kind of raging patriot- just because the US is familiar, doesn't make it better either. I feel that I have just learned to be open to ALL of it- not only other cultures, but my own. They are all beginning to blend anyway. (Remembering a group of Tibetan monks watching Men in Black II in a tiny tea shack. "Will Smith?" "Yes, yes, that's will smith") Same same but different.

So aside from occasional frustrations, I'm feeling pretty great. I look at the woman I am now compared to the young girl who took off a year ago and I am in awe. Even in the past three months- so much has happened and changed and so much the better.

For now- I am back off to the nunnery for chanting, dinner, and english lessons. I love you all. mwah.