I've begun to plan a new life, free of the old American way of thinking, with the whole career, house, thing. In fact, I can't imagine a life in which a permanent career would satisfy me. I don't like working, to be honest.
I'm a lazy bastard like that. But neither am I still infatuated with the backpacking life. The most rewarding kind of traveling I've found is when you stay in one place for awhile, build a bit of a life, make connections, learn about the language and culture, and then move on when you feel that itch to go.
Also, my life is all about experience. I want to learn things, I want to do things. I don't just want to see or go, but get right into it.
To that end, I'm currently learning Hungarian, learning the guitar (while I live a somewhat stable existence,) am improving my ESL teaching skills, studying everything I can get my hands on at the Foreign Languages library here in the city, and am finding everything I can about ways to live an unconventional life that's full of great experiences, people, and learning opportunities.
For instance, I'm going to use my vacation time at work to do a trainee sail on a tall ship in the UK sometime this summer/fall, and hopefully everything will go well and I'll get the opportunity to come back as a volunteer. Also, if anyone knows anything about youth charity organizations or some kind of funding or anything about tall ships, really, I'd be super interested to hear about it.
After my contract is up in December here in Budapest, I'd like to either volunteer on a tall ship or else do some WWOOFing somewhere in the Europe/Western Russia/North Africa part of the world. If anyone knows anything about opportunities for WWOOFing in the winter, I'd also be super psyched to hear about that!
And after that I don't know. I do have an opportunity to go teach English in Sri Lanka for a year, but that also starts in December and I'm not decided yet if I want to teach for another year. Sri Lanka would be an amazing experience, but there's no money there and I really want to build the measly backup fund I have, not destroy it. Ugh.
I like the internet and everything, but I'm not focused or dedicated enough to either make money off of my own blog, or else learn web design. I've dabbled in both and neither of them are right for me. It just turns the place you're living/traveling into the background of your work, for me. Id rather do some kind of job where I got to experience the local culture all the time. That is why I like teaching, because you get to talk to and make friends with natives in a different way than if you were just passing through or had no professional reason for meeting them.
I'm rambling. I'm not really sure what I'm getting at here. Ok. I know the kind of life I want to lead, and I know the things I want to do. The problem is achieving all these things, and no my problem isn't with how to actually contact and network and do my research, it's all about the money (as usual.) Right now I'm doing alright. I'm just worried that once my stable (albeit boring) job is finished, I won't be able to maintain momentum and will wind up back in the States, depressed without a penny to my name. I want reassurances from someone who's been there. Someone who has done this kind of bizarre skipping-about-the-world life and can tell me that it will all be okay. Hahaha. Tell me I'm not insane and this is possible and I will be able to do it! Grr. I feel so young and inexperienced and at the same time a lot older and very cut off from all my friends from school. I barely talk to them anymore, in fact. Bleh.
Anyways, I really don't know what I'm getting at. Maybe you'll be able to tell better than I.
Koszonom szepen for reading my drivel!
