Stereotypically American

January 19, 2016

At 41,000 feet over The Pacific Ocean

Somewhere between Honolulu and Los Angeles

Since I began putting myself 'out there' in blog land, I have shared some unique travel episodes. Starting with El Camino then to the Middle East and Greece and then off to the Arctic circle and the Alaska Highway, I've been writing. And sharing. Sharing the things that I see and my feelings, emotions and insights of these experiences. This seems to have taken me to some kind of a greater understanding of myself. I feel like the roadmap of my life just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Walking El Camino, being with people of many different nations, I realized, to my disgust, that I am a stereotypical American. I speak one language. In Europe, traveling from one country to another is as involved as our driving from Kansas to Colorado. Crossing country borders is no big thing. Traveling like this from a very early age, it seems that most Europeans can speak at least one language other than their native tongue. Perhaps that extra language isn't fluent, but it is certainly enough to accomplish communication.

To remedy this lack of education, I'm off to Antigua, Guatemala for three weeks to be immersed in Spanish. I will be attending the Academy of Spanish Language, 4 hours per day, 5 days a week. I will be living with a Guatemalan family. During the evenings I will be doing homework, learning about the Guatemalan history and culture, and soaking in as much as I can of the Spanish language. The school offers cultural tours and classes as part of their curriculum. Weekends will be spent exploring Mayan ruins and touring the countryside. And speaking Spanish. At least that is my vision and my hope.

And I am scared. Scared of failure. I've been listening to Spanish language lessons recently and I need to hear, and repeat, phrases and words over and over and over. It just seems like it takes an inordinate amount of time and repetition for this to sink in. With one-on-one instruction, I am afraid that I will make my instructor wonder how on earth this 60 year old woman expects to learn a new language.

One thing I am NOT scared of is seeing this through to the end. Having pushed through those 500 miles in Spain I feel confident in myself. Completion is in my regular course of life now. Even if I come home with only a smattering of Spanish, I will be better equipped for my travels. Perhaps I can connect with the Spanish speaking population of Hilo, which I've recently learned, is growing every year.

Do I wish I had taken this challenge a bit earlier in life? Sure I do. So why didn't I? I can easily say because I was busy raising a family, being in relationships, working, or any of a plethora of reasons. As my old friend Gil McNabb used to say, 'Excuses are like as*ho*les. Everybody has one and uses it regularly'. The biggest reason for my not pursuing this kind of opportunity earlier in life is because I didn't give myself permission. Permission to do something that wasn't expected of me. Permission to even consider the possibilities. While some women gave themselves permission at a very young age, I just didn't. The happy news is that I'm there now.

In the past few weeks many of my women friends have said they travel vicariously through me. So ladies, let's go. My writing will most certainly cover the joys, and sometimes trials, of our travels. As I have been in a rather reflective mood since the first of the year, I am certain my thoughts will spill over to this venue.

Naturally my fearless travel companion, my beautiful John, will be sharing with me in these adventures. I'm so blessed to have him in my life and to have opportunities like this. We are both enjoying seeing more and more of the world but, more importantly, absorbing the cultures and meeting the people in our travels. Life is so very good to us.

A long layover at LAX. Isn't it nap time yet?

As Mark Twain said, 'Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

Go in peace.