10 Things About Living Abroad: No Turning Back by Rachel Rae

kokorowashinjin

Texto @ http://thoughtcatalog.com e abaixo transcrito.

Moving around the world teaches you many things. It isn’t for everyone. It takes a special type of person to be able to do what we do. Packing up all your things into two carry-on bags and two checked pieces of luggage is struggles in itself, and to generalize imagine being a woman! I could only bring 10 pairs of shoes! Your mother will go through that luggage and make you narrow it down to seven cardigans instead of 17 and she will remind you that those shorts still don’t fit and haven’t fit for 3 years, you should probably just let them go. Along with letting those shorts go you are also letting go of friendships, relationships, comfort.

A wise man told me that the reason we move to new countries is because we are either running from or running to something. I laughed and thought he was crazy. I just wanted a change; there was no rationale to my choice. The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. I wasn’t just running from something, I was sprinting as far as I could. What I didn’t realize was that this choice has now started the foundation of my future. Just like a tattoo, that first little taste and you want more and more. No turning back.

1. Freedom. A new sense of freedom. Freedom to do and go as I please. Freedom to travel. Freedom to make choices without a safety net. Freedom to be yourself.

2. Watching your life at home pass by. Birthdays come and go. Marriages. Deaths. Life doesn’t stop and wait for you.

3. Math skills strengthen as you are always trying to convert your local currency to your home country. You know it is even better when you convert your new currency to your previous country. Everything is still in pesos for me.

4. Communication. Responding to someone in any language but the language they are speaking.

5. Stories. The stories you will have to tell for the rest of your life are so unbelievable most people will think you are exaggerating. Hospitals. Airports. Dentists. You try getting your point across in any means possible. And do I mean ANY means possible.

6. You realize little holidays and moments you didn’t think mattered are the ones that make you the most homesick.

7. Growth. As much as you hate to admit it with each move you grow. You learn the best ways to pack, meet new friends, get around, and survive.

8. Adrenaline. Those thrill seekers jumping off canyons and out of airplanes have nothing compared to boarding a plane and traveling to an unknown place. Not knowing anyone. Not knowing your surroundings. Not knowing the language. Now that is a real adrenaline rush.

9. Patience. Realizing no one understands you. No one cares. Ordering food, getting in a taxi and normal every day tasks take patience. Nothing is ever easy. A 10-minute task at home will take you 60 minutes. Accept it.

10. Having to say hello for the first time and having to say goodbye for the final time. Not many people get to experience this, but I have perfected it. This could quite possibly be the hardest and most dreaded part of my life.

Start slow, go to a new place. Alone. Go to a city by yourself. Go on a vacation, alone. Throw yourself out there. Your own sink or swim. When you begin to panic and want to go home that is when your fight or flight will kick in. That true inner strength will shine through. You will fight it out and you will thank yourself later. I know I did.

Um pouco de mim... (updated)

Publiquei este post em 23 de Novembro de 2008. Decidi atualiza-lo... Updates em azul!

"Eu sou uma borboleta, pequenina, feiticeira, vivo no meio das flores..."

No meio de tantas mudanças é bom recordar quem sou. (Quase) Nada é no singular...

• Amo: Conhecer lugares e pessoas
• Acredito: No poder do universo e do tempo (haha!)
• Odeio: Mentira, falsidade
• Não vivo sem: Internet e telefone celular
• Extravagância necessária: Sapatos, jóias e tecnologia
• Defeito: preguiça, teimosia
• Qualidade: minha curiosidade (mas jamais invasiva!)
• Em uma palavra: desassossegada
• Inesquecível: meu salto de pára-quedas; Veneza; Firenze; sobrevoar a Costa da Italia, de sul a norte; sobrevoar Dubai; a Hahia Sofia em Istambul; Seoul, Taipei; Thailand; Malaysia; Singapore
• Hipnotizante: o mar, a lua, a neve
• Sonho de consumo: Um amor e uma cabana
• Flor: Orquídea, rosas, cravos, hortênsias, tulipas. Adoro flores!
• Animais: Adoro as aves!!!! Arara azul, tucano, etc
• Cores: Preto, lilás, azul, rosa
• Comidinhas prediletas: Peixe (de qualquer maneira), sopa, arroz com frutos do mar, maranho desde que seja com a receita da minha family (é uma comida típica da minha cidade em Portugal), arroz com qualquer coisa (frango, vegetais, hortelã e vinho), batata frita, omelete com pão, pão de queijo, pão, presunto, queijo, crepe com nutella, croissant com geléia e ultimamente, ando descobrindo descobri os sabores do oriente, cozinha asiatica, rosti
• Não como, nem por decreto: miúdos e sangue de qualquer animal; insetos; repteis; cavalo; etc
• Frutas: Banana, cereja, pêssego, manga, morango, clementine, maracujá, framboesa (= o mais novo vicio)
• Bebidas prediletas: Café, Coca Cola Zero, Vinho, Champagne, Vodka
• Cheiros bons: Vanilla, tília e lavanda
• Filmes: Marie Antoinette, La Vita è Bella (Life is beautiful), Invasions Barbares, Forrest Gump, The man who cried, Moulin Rouge, Fahrenheit 9/11, Good Will Hunting, The Sound of Music, Dancer in the Dark, Schindler´s List, Finding Neverland, Peter Pan, The Dreamers, Mona Lisa Smile, Edukators, El Hijo de la Novia, Mi Vida sin Mí, Hable con Ella, Lost in Translation, The last Samurai, City of Angels, Practical Magic, Chocolat, The Sixth Sense, The Motorcycle Diaries, The Hours, Under the Tuscan Sun, Devil´s Avocate, Shrek, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, The Holidays, A Beautiful mind,The wizard of Oz, The Green Mile, The Godfather, Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, American Beauty, The silence of the lambs, Eternal sunshine of spotless mind, Singing in the rain, The pianist, Lawrence of Arabia, Cidade de Deus, The Truman show, Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Spirited away, Seven, The Sixth sense, Gladiator, Big Fish, Ratatuille, Blindeness,  The curious case of Benjamin Button, Changeling, Australia, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine, Kill Bill, Inception, The tree of life, Inglorious Bastards, Avatar, The artist, Como agua para chocolate, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Un Cuento Chino, O Palhaço, Volver, La piel que habito, Alice in Wonderland, Julie & Julia, Match Point, Scoop, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Whatever Works e  Midnight in Paris, To Rome with Love, Biutiful, Black Swan, The King's Speech, Invictus, Empire of the sun, 2 Days in Paris, 2 Days in NY, Intouchables, Beast of the Southern Wild, No, Argo, Amour, Life of Pi, etc, etc, etc
• Atrizes: Kate Winslet, Merryl Strip
• Atores: Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Matt Damon (amo desde que vi Gênio Indomável, a long time ago), Leonardo di Caprio, Jude Law, Gael Garcia Bernal
• Livros (que me fizeram delirar!): O perfume, Hell, Moça com brinco de pérola, O Cheiro de Deus, Cem anos de solidão, Le Petit Prince, Paris France, Travessuras de Menina Ma, Conversa na catedral, Os Pilares da Terra, Queda de Gigantes, O inverno do Mundo, Big Breast and Wide Hips, Inventing the Enemy, Amores em Tempo de Colera, O livro do desassossego, The Black Book, Snow, Memorial do Convento, Trilogia Millenium, Anna Karenina
• Música: I say a little prayer, Canção do Mar
• Cantoras: Shakira, Madonna, Marisa Monte, Dulce Pontes, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Jamis Joplin, Amy Winehouse,
• Cantores: vários, Franck Sinatra, Jim Morison
• Bandas: várias, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Doors
• TV shows: Sex and the city, Gilmore Girls, Grey´s Anatomy, Clara Sheller, Revenge (genial!), Girls, Mad Men, Downton Abbey (so British, adorable!) e Homeland
• Lugares preferidos: vários, incluindo, mas não se limitando a: Castelo Branco, Lisboa, Paraty, Ilha Bela, Jericoacoara, Madrid, Punta Arenas, Santiago, Paris, Londres, São Paulo, Patagônia, Atacama, Salzburg, Quebec, Montreal, Istambul, Veneza, Firenze, Cinque Terre, Toscana, St Moritz, St Tropez, Cassis, Hvar, New York, Porto, Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Roma, Barcelona, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur
• Lugares mágicos: Oleiros, Stonehenge, Punta Arenas, Torres Del Paine, Praia do Espelho, Veneza, Firenze
• Preciso conhecer: Singapore (done), Índia, China, Bali, Bora Bora, Maiorca, Cambodja, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia (done), Hawai, Marrocos, Toscana  (done), Barcelona  (done), Escócia, Islândia, Morro de São Paulo, Fernando de Noronha, Galápagos, África do Sul, Kenya, etc, etc, etc...