The Future

For the past week I have put much thought into two issues of particular interest:

1.  Since my return to Taipei, I have dined at Lutetia, La Maison, Wendell's Biergarten, Gordon Biersch, and Eddie's Cantina. 
2.  For my vacations this year, I am going to build houses in Cambodia, scuba dive in Thailand, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and go on a safari on the Serengeti.

These two truths have forced me to realize two things:

1.  I am living on the wrong continent.
2.  I prefer adventure travel.

In light of these revelations, I have decided to make some serious decisions regarding my future.  Two things are certain.  First, in the fall of 2012, I will conduct another job search where I will target Eastern Europe (primarily Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Istanbul).  Secondly, it is time to begin making a bucket list (much to my sister's chagrin).

In regards to the first point, I would like to make it clear that I love Asia.  Really, I do.  I wanted to go someplace that would feel completely foreign, where most people I know would never go, and where every single thing I did would be a challenge...and I did it!  I like living here, but I do not love it.  I do, on the other hand, love traveling here, and I fully intend to take advantage of living in close proximity to such exciting countries.  But Asia is not where I want to settle down for an extended amount of time.  Clearly I am not so fond of Chinese food, and while the people are kind and generous, I cannot endure the work ethic and pedagogical philosophies at the core of their culture.  And no matter what, I will never, ever fit in here.  Still, I am not ready for Western Europe quite yet; I want something at least a little more foreign than that.  True, there is still a voice whispering "Brazil...Chile."  But it grows fainter day by day.

So, now that issue #1 is solved, it is time to begin my bucket list.  This is by no means complete...just a beginning.  I will revise it as I come to know the world and myself better.  These are in no particular order:

• Climb the following mountains:  Kilimanjaro, Mt. Olympus, and Machu Picchu.  I will also climb Yushan (Jade Mountain, the tallest mountain in northern Asia, located in central Taiwan).
• Go to New Zealand:  see where they filmed Lord of the Rings, do that cool thing my cousin Billy did where you repel into a cavern and dive the river at the bottom to get out...
• Work at a United World College, preferably the one in England, when I'm ready to be in seclusion for a little while (they are all located in remote areas).
• Dive in the Galapagos Islands
• See the sunset at Petra in Jordan
• Take the same pilgrimage as Santiago in The Alchemist
• Spend a summer or Christmas in Paris
• See a live production of every Shakespeare play (so far I've seen 20 of the 37)
• Publish at least one piece of writing (most likely an article in a magazine)
• Never own a car ever again
• Do one service trip or project every year
• Fall in love with a man with an accent (sadly, this is the only one I cannot control)
• Become moderately proficient in the language of a country where I live 
• Take Alice on a trip anywhere she and her parents decide she wants to go when she turns 13, and take her on a service trip anywhere in the world she wants to go when she turns 18
• Take a year off sometime in my mid to late 40s
• Read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pillars of the Earth, the Confessions of St. Augustine, Inferno, and Paradise Lost.  I would also like to choose one author - like Hemingway, Steinbeck, Dumas, Dostoyevsky, Allende, Austen, or Rushdie - and read every single work he or she wrote.

Suggestions for my bucket list are eagerly accepted!  For now, however, I must leave the list of future plans in safekeeping and focus on the present.  School starts tomorrow!