Working & Traveling... Although you only want to be traveling.

A means to an end? or a means to an end? Most teachers language teachers in Latin America don't take the job to put their paychecks into savings for their dream house or car they've dreamed about since they were 12 years old (unless maybe your working at an American/German/French/British school). They are here to gain experience living and working in another country. People are here for many different reasons but the majority being to learn Spanish, make new friends, PARTY, live cheaply, take a hiatus from their own countries, fall in love, etc, etc. But one thing is for sure, we are all here to TRAVEL! Yes, we all share that commonality. We want to work so when we are free we can head outside of the city to the countryside full of more culture, beauty and fresh air. However, dreaming about this at home or on the airplane ride over is a little different than the reality of it might be. Some language schools here only have Sundays off (yes, you have to work on saturdays). Working on weekends should be illegal. One of my commandments. If this is the case for you, then you better be damn near to a place and have your bags packed to leave after class on Saturday and return on Sunday night. With any travelers this is always the problem. You need more time in one place or your hear about another place once your on the road. Sparking more ideas and thinking of heading down new roads to new destinations with new friends (or by yourself). Letting the wind take your from place to place and staying as long or as short as your spirt desires. However, having class to get back to on Monday morning or afternoon leaves you no time to let the wind blow you around the traveling world.

Once you have done a backpacking trip it is impossible to live normally again. It is one of the most stand out experiences of your life, but you always want to be on the road without any guidelines or restrictions except some ideas of places your want to visit and your budget, which is never quite enough.

This brings me to the questions I've been pondering. Is it better to work in a country with a good salary and then travel when time permits (will it permit?) OR work abroad as a language teacher and not make that much but have the weekends to travel.

I really like my job here in Arequipa, Peru and have been enjoying my time here so far, I don't want anyone to get the impression that I haven't. However, it is more working than I want to be doing and not as much traveling as I would like to be doing. But, I think that would always be the case. Even if I only had to teach two classes per week. Time is never enough and its precious. So take the time when you have it and enjoy it while you have it. Be ready to go. Be ready to rough it incase of anything and most of all have an open attitude. Even if the trip didn't end up like you planned or you it wasn't what you were hoping for/expecting, now you know!

For me, a means to an end and that end is traveling.

A house full of...?

What's the line between awesome and a loser?

Living in your parents house until your 35? Or living by yourself since you were 18?

Living independently and supporting yourself? Having your parents support you?

Living, working, volunteering or studying abroad? Or having never left the country?

Travelling the world? Meeting people from around the world?

Making millions or just enough to get by?

Living by yourself or living with others (strangers or friends)?

My current living situation right now keeps me wondering these things. Am I living with a bunch of cool people? A bunch of losers? Or something in between.

Our house, called casa Soul is made of 3 separate small buildings. As you enter through a giant rounded wooden door off of a narrow stone streets with the walls made of cillar (white volcanic ash) you enter casa soul. You enter into a little courtyard, the first part big enough to park your car (sometimes there is one parked) and beyond that a little green space with one tree that I found out the other day is Iwaska. To the right is the building where the house manager, from South Africa lives. He is a photographer who has been living in Peru for 6 years. He is a nightclub photographer so he is an owl in a way. As his work forces him to be. However, he also photographs private parties, cultural events and he even used to work for the newspaper here. He must be in his early to mid thirties but he still acts like a young buck. But im sure he's tamer than he used to be. Because he goes to so many events he know most od the city.  Its seems like a fun job, but at the same time taking photographs of drunk people dancing doesn't seem the most rewarding to me. Although his hours are flexible and he's always where the party is at.

Our next victim's name is Patience. I say her name because her parents named her it for a reason... not because she has a lot of patience,  (as we've found out from her telling us to be quiet every night) but for the people who interact with her. You sure need a high level of patience to listen to her complaints, and they're more than a dime a dozen. The first day I interacted with her I found this out as I has my 30lbs backpack on ans just wanted to leave but I suffered "patiently" through a never ending conversation with her. Next week when I came back to move into the house she didn't even remember who I was! I remember the suffering and she remembered nothing!  Never again I told myseld, never again. When I moved into the house she was sick and she made sure to tell EVERYONE about it. About her stomach problems and all, that nobody wanted to hear and I mean nobody. We've all heard about her kidney stones, her hurt back even down to the mosquito (I dont even think we have mosquitoes here) in her room that bites her every night and keeps her from sleeping. She's 60 years old and mostly everyone she's livong with could be here kids or grandkids. At first I thought "who how cool, travelling ans living in another country when you 60!" Now I think how sad it must be. To be by yourself in a country where you dont speak the language and volunteering without any real objectives,  just trying to pass time for cheap. I hope when im that age I have it a little more together. Thanks for inspiration.

This brings us to our next contestant, another 60 year old from California! Welcome, welcome. After college instead of working to pay baxk her student debt she ran away into the remote Guatemalan jungle. Thinking the government would forget or she could run away forever. Until the day came where she received a letter from the government telling her she needed to start paying back her student loans NOW!!! What a shock that must have been to receive in the remote jungle of another country! You gotta face your problems/reality at some point right? She has now been on a similar voyage, leaving the states to live cheaper and she has been doing it for 2 years now! Alone! I give her a lot of props and at the same time I feel bad at times. But she seems happy doing it and doesn't plan on going back anytime soon. Her original plan was to do the whole continent up until the states in 2 years. Its been 2 years and she's only made it to Peru! The only thing that annoys here more than the government and price of living in the US is when patience complains. She has told her off twice now, both times ending in tears.

I then live with 2 other teachers from my institute. One from Long Island and one from Cleveland. I guess the sayings true, you can never fully get away from beautiful Ohio.

Then I live with a couple, one from England and the other from Germany. One works out of the house and acts as young as we are, by going out every opportunity he gets and hitting on the young girls. While the other is always working and not around often.

To round up the crew are 2 girls. One from Peru studying biology who isn't around often and a physical therapist from Uruguay. And last but not least, their bunny Joaquin who has been now restricted to the yard because he was biting everybody.

Haha overall I've decided its a house full of people. Of weird people, fun people, people who are struggling, people who are thriving and people who are just living.

People.

Your life according to pants

How has your life transformed depending on the pants you wear?

Surely your mood, feeling, stage in life and personality can be reflected by the pants your wear.

Recently my life has taking a drastic change. How do I know this? Its because the pants I'm wearing. For my job I was told that I couldn't wear jeans unless I had a tie/blazer. If I only wanted to wear a shirt (button up) I had to wear...... yes you guessed it, big boy pants. This was heart breaking news and I knew this change in pants reflected a new period of my life, if having a job didn't already do that.

Some people don't even need to go shopping once they land a job because their closet mimics that of a working person. Ties, shoes, pants, shirts, f-bags etc. I was not one of those people.

My pants reflect outdoor activity, comfort and all colors of the rainbow.

When I was a little boy I had a hard time dealing with pants at all, just ask my family what I did right after coming back from school :) As Chicago isn't suitable for shorts year round I was forced into wearing pants, my choice: sweatpants. Man did I wear everyone of those pairs into the ground and I sure had a lot of pairs, you know for all kinds of situations. Formal sweatpants, hanging out sweatpants, school sweatpants, holiday party sweatpants. All the categories of pants one would need for life, all in sweatpants.

In middle school as hormones just started to ramp up and zits started appearing on faces all of a sudden people began having interest in girls. But girls know who has style and who doesn't and sweatpants aren't exactly staring fashion shows. So I tried to make the switch, but I couldn't.

Finally as junior high rolled around I began to add a pair or 2 of jeans in my repertoire, only when I wanted to look good but feel horrible.

When I finally entered high school I knew I had to step up to the big leagues and strap on some jeans. However any day shorts were an option they would be on, and I still had my fair share of sweatpants. But social pressures call especially if you ever want a girlfriend, who doesn't only wear sweatpants that is.
By the end of HS I had got used to wearing jeans and could now stand them. Although everyone one of my pairs had to pass all kinds of tests in the dressing rooms.

When college began I was fine with jeans. I could wear them in public but whenever I was in my dorm or hanging out low key with friends, you could bet your arm I was wearing shorts or comfy pants.

In college I began to like my pants and actually think they were comfortable but still I would choose my comfy pants any day of the week, especially in casa.

When I was travelling I would wear my travel pants with pockets to keep my things safe. I woild also wear the balloon pants that everybody would wear in Asia, letting the breeze in and the comfort in full stride.

However my life has changed drastically. I'm in a bit of a crisis. Now im wearing big boy pants (only 4 hrs a day) and jeans are my comfy pants.  What has happened to my life?

Should I be proud or disappointed? Accept it or fight it? Feel like an adult or a kid? To say the least im having an existential crisis. Am I being geenweeno?

How have the pants you wear affect your life?