Wednesday. Taught my yoga class this morning. Now I’m having a coffee, watching AJE, and writing. Looking forward to the day I get to go to work. I’m so tired of staring down an empty calendar and trying to fill the hours.

Yesterday I decided to research this history of the Gulf States in the Middle East, which I knew very little about. Something, something, men and war, the British showed up, pulled the classic Divide & Conquer, effed stuff up so the locals rose up and kicked them out, then the locals found the oil, and now it’s all profit. Enjoy our serene, fabulous beach vacations! Who knew there were so many options! I saw a hotel that looked like a literal pirate ship. Like, what? Hell yes I want to stay there!

“Is the Middle East safe for solo female travel?”

Gee, I don’t know. I guess I’ll let you know when I’m posting on my Instagram Story about eating at the Cheesecake Factory after shopping at the world’s largest indoor mall. Would you like this update before or after I take a ride in a Ferrari back to my 5-star luxury hotel with first class amenities?

This what happens when you grow up in Northern Virginia. You’re around everyone from everywhere all the time. You learn most people are just normal, every day people and that what you see on the news about the other side of the world is intentionally put there to scare you into staying in your comfort zone.

So, yeah, still gotta wait awhile before my trips. I’ll just be chillin’ out here, learning Portuguese, which has taken me to so many new and exciting places like Brazil and Goa and Macau and now Oman, which has a whole fascinating history that I somehow never pieced together even though I’ve spent a lot of time studying East Africa. Looks like Ye Olde Divide and Conquer worked well on my Classical Western Education. The moment I made the connection, I was just like, “Oh. Yeah. That makes sense. That makes sense! Yep! And that’s how that is connected to that and how that person knows that person and yup, yeah, the lights are definitely coming back on inside this brain.”

Who knew I would learn so much about Yemen without trying to learn about Yemen? Before today all I knew about Yemen was the memoir “I am Noojood” about a 9-year-old girl forced into marriage who succeeds in getting a divorce. I wonder where she is now? I would like to hear from her again. Her story has stuck with me for a long time now.

I love learning something new about the world every day. Love it, truly. But I also want a job, lol. I’ll stick with teaching for awhile now that I know my dream job at the Foreign Service Office will no longer exist. So what? I’m gonna pass that test anyway. Just because I’ve already spent so long working towards it that it’s become more of a personal standard of knowledge I would like to achieve.

In the meantime, I will be vacationing exclusively in Ye Olde Pirate Colony Towns. I had no idea how much learning Portuguese would open up the world to me. Now I know why the first word they teach us in Duolingo is “a chave.” The key! They to opening up the world! I feel like I’ve been taken on a journey across the world through time and space, meeting so many new characters along the way, hearing the stories of Arabian Nights, and meeting travelers from the Silk Road, crossing through Hindustan, and fighting pirates along the coastal waters all the way from Oman to Hong Kong.

In a way, I prefer it to French. In French I always have to be so perfect. In Portuguese, I can just let loose, dance, and explore the world. Meet new people, make new friends, learn new languages, enjoy new foods, explore new cultures. I feel I am a better person for studying Portuguese, even though the history of the Portuguese Empire itself is problematic. No one is out here defending the Slave Trade! Still, there is beauty in the culture, the language, the mixing of everyone and everything from all over the world, finding life in death, being reborn, and of course, dancing to the music all night long.

So, about those Chinese lessons! Let’s get to it! I’ve just been doing passive absorption on it. Right now I am stopping to look at the characters whenever I see something written in Chinese, even though I don’t understand it. Right now I just want to get familiar with what the characters look like. Get to know them as individuals first.

I still feel like I don’t want to do too much research on China and Hong Kong before I go. I’ve done the survey of history course and I’m watching some TV shows, but I don’t want to form any judgments before I’m actually there. I want to be someone who says yes to everything. I will try whatever kind of food they put in front of me. I want to be open to the culture. I want to live the way people live. Just be as open as possible. I might be there to teach, but I’m also there to learn. This is a unique opportunity for a cultural exchange. I feel pretty lucky to go on this adventure.

I’ve already planned a trip across the mainland on the bullet train. And trips to all the surrounding countries and islands. And then an epic safari across the African continent spanning 11 countries. And then a trip around the Mediterranean! And then we’ll hop on a motorcycle and go all the way around South America! And then…

Lol, I’ve been trapped in this prison for so long. All I want is to get those stamps on my passport. It’s like Folsom Prison Blues over here. I’m sick of sitting in this dumpy little jail cell. I want to get out there and see the world!

Let’s GOA!

Off now. I have a whole closet of clothes that are scheduled to be dumped in a landfill somewhere off the coast of Ghana. Worst piece of information I’ve ever learned about the world. Ugh.

I hope someday I can take all of the knowledge I’ve acquired and put it to good use. I hope I can come together with others worldwide to build a positive collective aimed at building a sustainable future for the next 7 generations and beyond…