upcoming travel plans
From May 19th to August 12th of this year I will be living and studying in Osaka, Japan, with a best friend from Rice University. As part graduation present, part bribe, I convinced him to go with me by purchasing his airfare from the United States to Japan and back. That’s a small price to pay for having the opportunity to spend ten weeks in a brand new location with a friend; after all, it’s already been close to one year that I have been living in Viet Nam, and solid relationships don’t happen overnight here.
I’m excited about Japan; I really am. But at the same time I’m quite nervous, given the fact that I only have one semester of college-level Japanese under my belt and two months left to prepare for intensive Japanese immersion. A part of me wishes that I still had the youth, naivete, and false confidence that I once had before coming to Viet Nam for the first time. Maybe then I would not be filled with so much anxiety about living in Japan as a mute, language-less and clueless of local norms, idioms, and overall swagger. Then again those are gained only by leaping head first into the fire. I’ve done it once; surely I can do it again.
Ultimately, I don’t think I will ever be the kind of traveler who is completely satisfied with short visits to foreign lands. Only during long term stays or study is one able to pick up on the nuances of a society. So I’m treating this trip to Osaka as a trial run for a longer return to Japan in 2010, which since last year has always been the plan. Viet Nam is home; it is definitely where my heart is. But day by day I am growing lazy to change or to dream of learning new languages and forging new friendships, and that’s precisely the reason I originally began traveling.
After Japan I will be going to the United States for a visit with family, friends, colleagues, and clients. I wish I could say for how long I will be in America, but as is always the case, there’s a tension — and compromise to be made — between my schedule, the schedule of those who I am closest to, and my state of mind. I know that I will not at all be comfortable drifting around Texas for several months while my pursuits in Asia are put on pause, but I also realize that by the time I see my loved ones this year, it will have been a full 18 months since I last met them face to face.
Houston is no longer home, and the minute that I left its city limits, Longview forever ceased to be my home. My closest friends are all in educational transition phases, and my family members are dispersed throughout Texas, juggling their nine-to-fives, personal lives, and future plans. I’m awfully proud of everyone in my life who seems to be doing something with the short amount of time that he or she has on this tiny blue planet, but equally confused as how best to manage my time in the States for visits.
That said, I will definitely be in the following locations during my visit to the States:
- Dallas, Texas
- Houston, Texas
- Kilgore, Texas
And I will tentatively be in the following locations:
- Okmulgee, Oklahoma
- San Antonio, Texas
- Arlington, Texas
As soon as I finish my time in the United States, I will return to Asia, most likely Viet Nam for the first half of 2010 and Japan for the second half of the year, depending on how my trip to Osaka, Japan, goes.
Singapore was amazing. In my next entry I will write about my short week there, and the lasting impact that my trip to the beautiful city-state had on me.