Well I’d say that if you know me AT ALL you’d know the answer to the subject line of this blog……..DUH!!!!
Growing up I honestly never thought I’d leave South Africa, heck I was 17 before I ever sat in a plane and went anywhere. We always drove to our vacations be it Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Cape Town and of course Trekkersrus in Phalaborwa, who can ever forget Trekkersrus ;).
But at the age of 17, I flew to the Czech Republic with the South African National team, I still remember crying on the plane leaving my parents. What’s that you say? You’re asking if I was 17 right? YUP sure was…….17, leaving home for the first time alone (as alone as you can be with 20 teammates, some of which you’d ‘grown up’ with playing this game), and I was crying!!
Turns out I had the time of my life. The experience, the hockey, the country, all of it…..memories I’ll cherish forever!!
After that I travelled…..a lot!! I was really blessed to visit the countries I did to play a sport I love!!! Hungary (twice), Slovenia, Romania (twice), Austria, London and most recently Iceland. I had filled up every page of my passport with Visa’s within a few years of that first trip at the end of 1997 (for those of us who do not possess an American passport we need visa’s to visit just about every country out there).
To return to the subject line, however, have you ever lived outside the country you were born in……..I have and I still do. I have not lived in my country of birth for almost twelve years. Before I know it I will be living here longer then I lived there!!
Here of course is Minnesota, USA, there is Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Johannesburg Skyline
I often say I am not sure if I was brave or stupid, I mean me coming to live here was all my OWN doing!! I pursued it, I wanted to play hockey, back then that’s all I thought of, it was life!!!!
So speaking to been brave vs stupid……well the jury is still out. I CANNOT go back, I CANNOT undo the decisions that have been made, therefore really considering it is kind of pointless if you ask me.
I am most definitely happy I have travelled, I feel that those who have not travelled are missing out on a part of life that only seeing other cultures, other ways of life, can provide.
Travelling opened my eyes to the world, to how other people live, to what others consider ‘normal’……and I think I am a better person for it!!
So how about you? have you ever lived outside the country you were born in???
Yep sure have! Lived in Germany. Twice 🙂
Ahhhh one place I haven’t made it to but want to see super bad!!!
yep, and still do. Canada is considerably closer and probably a bit less culture shock, but there is differences that I still marvel at. 5 years and I’ll be here for as long as I was there.
yeah any change is change…….I think I’ll marvel at certain things forever!!! 🙂
yep.. born is spain, raised in the US, so not quite the same as growing up in another country… But travel back to Spain every few years to visit family. And you are right about traveling, i’ve been to Lima P eru, San Pedro Sula Honduras, Hawaii (does that count?? it is like another country there!), Punta Cana Dominican Repuiblic, various cities in Mexico and of course Spain. I love visiting other countries, not only to meet new people and learn about other ways of life, but just the food alone is usually the highlight of my trips abroad!! sometimes I think to supplement our education system we should also invest in sending students abroad, even making a requirement of it. If you haven’t traveled, you dont know what you are missing, and if you have you know of all the wonderful things that are out there to explore and learn about, it really is an education in and of itself! thanks for posting this blog debbie, you are so lucky to have gone all those places!!
still applies! hehe!!! and now stuck in frigid cold IA 🙂