Time for another reason that traveling is good for you!
I've found (repeatedly) that while traveling you just start to appreciate a lot of things that you either took for granted or just showed absolutely no interest in before. (And I'm not even going to mention the food I miss).
While I've been on the road, I've been washing my clothes by hand. After repeated hand washings during which I have to wring out the water, everything stretches. Do you have any idea how annoying it is when your shirt collars hang loose and your socks get too long for your feet? No bueno. Plus, you have to take longer showers because that's the best time to do your laundry. I really appreciate laundry machines and I'll be more than happy to do my laundry when I get home.
Another thing that I miss wholeheartedly is the standard American keyboard. In South America, it wasn't too bad but Europe has some weird keyboards. Germany had a few switched around keys (the Z and Y and some of the punctuation), but I got used to it by the time we left. Now we're in France and I'm so confused. The A and Q are switched; along with the M and W and every single punctuation mark. It takes me about a minute to type one sentence, so this post required a lot of work. And if you see some typos I overlooked, you know why. I miss you, Qwerty.
While I was a student back at the good 'ol US of A, I hated history. It was just so boring and not very applicable (or so I thought). Learning about dates and events that held little or no meaning to me just seemed pointless. My dad always complained that I had no appreciation for history and always tried to convince me it was awesome, but he never managed to get me interested. While in Peru, though, Machu Picchu sparked a bit of interest in history and I could actually find myself wondering about ancient civilizations and other stuff that I found so boring before. Once I saw the huge ruins, I had to wonder how people made such awesome stuff so long ago (how did they do it?!). Berlin got me even more interested, and seeing so much history during my stay there really makes me wonder how I could have been so ignorant. I walked along the Berlin Wall, stood under the last remaining sniper tower, walked by buildings with bullet holes from some of the big battles of World War II, stood above Hitler's bunker, and then went back in time and walked through the Ishtar Gates from Babylon in the Pergamon Museum. History overload. And now I appreciate it a lot more. In fact, I might even kinda sorta like it now. Just maybe.
Last but not least, I appreciate people. Not just people in general, but the ones I actually like. Lucky for me, Matty here keeps me from getting ronery (not a typo) but he is going home in mid-December. But even with a good travel companion, I really miss a lot of people. That, along with the many hours where I'm stuck in a train or plane or car, makes me think about my friends and family and value them so much more. I don't know what it is about traveling, but it makes me nostalgic and I miss everyone. Even my dog, and I hardly ever play with her (sorry Mimi).
I've started appreciating so many things that I underappreciated before, and this post doesn't even begin to cover it all. Also, I know that if someone else were to travel, they definitely wouldn't appreciate the same things I have learned to appreciate. It's probably different for everybody, and you don't know what you're underappreciating until you start appreciating it! So go travel!
Traveling is Good for You
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Oftentimes, I write about things that honestly don't matter. Most of my blog posts talk about food or something cool that I saw. My parents probably read this and suspect that I'm wasting money or not becoming mature or responsible. Luckily, it's not really like that (I promise, Umma). In order to show them that this year out of school is not in vain and also to share with readers what I am learning, I have decided to explain why traveling is good to you (at least how I see it now that I'm on the road).
I'm only going to share one reason at a time (you don't learn a billion lessons a day, you know), and today's reason for traveling deals with patience.
In South America, I got annoyed easily. When I got sick, people in the hostel would just walk in and be noisy, turn on the lights, and then leave the room. I was sick and frail and it required way too much energy to go turn the light off but I couldn't sleep with it on! I ended up getting up and turning the light off and hating the people who did that to me. And I complained quite a bit (sorry Yoontae) about all the people that annoyed me and the little discrepancies in our trip that irked me. It's not like I was unhappy, I just was impatient with people and obviously that's not a good thing.
Now that we're in Germany, there are even more things that annoy us. Little things, but annoying nonetheless. You know those lights that turn green and red for pedestrian crossings? Well, NOBODY here jaywalks (I loved how in South America we basically ran across freeways and it was normal). Even when there are no cars at all. Matt and I hate the feeling of being judged here in Germany so if the light is red we have to stay put too and it kinda sucks because we're so impatient. We want to walk, even if it only makes us get there 5 seconds faster because we're big fans of instant gratification.
Another thing about Germans is that their understanding of personal space is drastically different from that of an American. Here, people standing behind you in line will breathe on the back of your neck and be so close that you wouldn't be able to fit a book in between your bodies. It's really not fun. Matt hates this oh so much (it's one of his biggest pet peeves, worse than scratching fingernails on a chalkboard) and he was so annoyed by people touching him every three seconds all over his back. He said he even wanted to start yelling and breaking free of the crowd like a monster would do in the movies. Maybe like The Incredible Hulk.
So why am I describing all the annoying things we have to put up with? While traveling, different people have different ideas of what's normal and polite and what's not. Sadly, Matt and I have grown a bit too accustomed to our group of friends and our culture and we don't have the patience to put up with what we're not used to. I mean, it even annoys us that the drinks are so small (or maybe that's just 'cause we're fat). But honestly the longer I spend traveling, the more I become open to little differences in etiquette and the more it takes for me to get annoyed when people don't abide by the rules I live by. I don't think you can just sit at home and expect to become open to new lifestyles and cultures. As amazing as traveling is, there are definitely times when you experience annoyances that you wouldn't encounter at home (like not being able to find a bag of hot cheetos), and learning to put up with all kinds of new things generally helps our patience to grow.
So if you have a problem with patience, maybe it's time to book a flight to Germany and stand in line.
I'm only going to share one reason at a time (you don't learn a billion lessons a day, you know), and today's reason for traveling deals with patience.
In South America, I got annoyed easily. When I got sick, people in the hostel would just walk in and be noisy, turn on the lights, and then leave the room. I was sick and frail and it required way too much energy to go turn the light off but I couldn't sleep with it on! I ended up getting up and turning the light off and hating the people who did that to me. And I complained quite a bit (sorry Yoontae) about all the people that annoyed me and the little discrepancies in our trip that irked me. It's not like I was unhappy, I just was impatient with people and obviously that's not a good thing.
Now that we're in Germany, there are even more things that annoy us. Little things, but annoying nonetheless. You know those lights that turn green and red for pedestrian crossings? Well, NOBODY here jaywalks (I loved how in South America we basically ran across freeways and it was normal). Even when there are no cars at all. Matt and I hate the feeling of being judged here in Germany so if the light is red we have to stay put too and it kinda sucks because we're so impatient. We want to walk, even if it only makes us get there 5 seconds faster because we're big fans of instant gratification.
Another thing about Germans is that their understanding of personal space is drastically different from that of an American. Here, people standing behind you in line will breathe on the back of your neck and be so close that you wouldn't be able to fit a book in between your bodies. It's really not fun. Matt hates this oh so much (it's one of his biggest pet peeves, worse than scratching fingernails on a chalkboard) and he was so annoyed by people touching him every three seconds all over his back. He said he even wanted to start yelling and breaking free of the crowd like a monster would do in the movies. Maybe like The Incredible Hulk.
So why am I describing all the annoying things we have to put up with? While traveling, different people have different ideas of what's normal and polite and what's not. Sadly, Matt and I have grown a bit too accustomed to our group of friends and our culture and we don't have the patience to put up with what we're not used to. I mean, it even annoys us that the drinks are so small (or maybe that's just 'cause we're fat). But honestly the longer I spend traveling, the more I become open to little differences in etiquette and the more it takes for me to get annoyed when people don't abide by the rules I live by. I don't think you can just sit at home and expect to become open to new lifestyles and cultures. As amazing as traveling is, there are definitely times when you experience annoyances that you wouldn't encounter at home (like not being able to find a bag of hot cheetos), and learning to put up with all kinds of new things generally helps our patience to grow.
So if you have a problem with patience, maybe it's time to book a flight to Germany and stand in line.
Free Apartment in Berlin
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Through the wonders of CouchSurfing, we have come across a man in Berlin. This man, Jens, owns an apartment complex with his friend, and they have an apartment on the fourth floor that is vacant. While Matt and I sent messages on CouchSurfing.com, he replied to a post I made and said we could stay for two nights. We took a subway to the address he gave us, had a little trouble finding it, but finally met up with him today around 7 PM after exploring Berlin on foot. We thought we were staying with him in an apartment, but he gave us the whole vacant apartment on the fourth floor to ourselves, complete with a fully stocked kitchen, laptop, clean linens, and our own bathroom and washer. We talked with him while having tea and realized that an awesome guy he really is. He also told us a lot about Germany and also the neighborhood he lives in (there's lots of prostitutes here, but apparently prostitution is an occupation recognized by the government). He has great life philosophies and he's really laid back but he also has a great work ethic and a lot of self-motivation. He's well off but not too occupied with accumulating wealth and he is open to all kinds of cultures and lifestyles. A new role model!
So now we are in our free apartment, and I am typing this from the laptop he gave us to use. We went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food to make tomorrow, and life is just amazing. While in Berlin, we've walked about 20 km in two days, eaten nonstop, seen some famous stuff, and met some awesome people. Compared to South America, having nice conversations is much easier here. Tomorrow, I think we will take a bike tour of the area, which is supposed to be really educational.
Berlin is nice, at least the areas we've seen so far. Meeting people this trip has been really awesome so far, and I'm really glad I found out about the CouchSurfing thing. Traveling in general is just so fun and it's making me a tiny bit more responsible, I think. It's also making me a bit better at being able to adapt since we're making plans while we move constantly. Hopefully, I can apply this when I get home too because being able to adapt to unexpected obstacles really helps life become so enjoyable.
Anyways, I'm starting to miss chingoos and family a bit since Facebook always tells me about everyone else's life, so send me nice messages and emails. Thanksies.
So now we are in our free apartment, and I am typing this from the laptop he gave us to use. We went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food to make tomorrow, and life is just amazing. While in Berlin, we've walked about 20 km in two days, eaten nonstop, seen some famous stuff, and met some awesome people. Compared to South America, having nice conversations is much easier here. Tomorrow, I think we will take a bike tour of the area, which is supposed to be really educational.
Berlin is nice, at least the areas we've seen so far. Meeting people this trip has been really awesome so far, and I'm really glad I found out about the CouchSurfing thing. Traveling in general is just so fun and it's making me a tiny bit more responsible, I think. It's also making me a bit better at being able to adapt since we're making plans while we move constantly. Hopefully, I can apply this when I get home too because being able to adapt to unexpected obstacles really helps life become so enjoyable.
Anyways, I'm starting to miss chingoos and family a bit since Facebook always tells me about everyone else's life, so send me nice messages and emails. Thanksies.
Braunschweig and My Destiny Dream
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Last time I wrote I had gotten in touch with Jill, a host from Couchsurfing.com, and that same night we went to her place. We talked with Jill and her boyfriend, Frank, and they took us out that night and showed us the town. We got to meet some of their friends and had a great night and knocked out on their couch.
Since then, we haven't done anything too crazy. We do get pretty lost everyday, but it's fun. Other than the extra miles of walking we do, getting lost has no real cons. We end up stumbling upon delicious bakeries, snack shops, and other sources of delicious snacks. We had to migrate from Jill's apartment to another guy's since Jill could only put us up for 2 nights, but our new host is awesome as well. Dominik, our host, works for a company that deals with car engines, and he is one of the guys who does stuff on computers to make sure the engines work well. He is also unbelievably trusting and he gave us a key to his apartment and leaves us there alone at 5:30 in the morning. He leaves 50 Euro bills lying around too. I love CouchSurfing.
Braunschweig is a pretty small town and it is full of these big, old buildings. Jill told us (while she was showing us around the town at night) that some of the buildings actually allowed people to climb up to the roofs or into the towers. Climbing stuff, in case you devoted readers haven't noticed, is really appealing to me. Matt seems to like it too. So we found the buildings the next day and tried to find ways up. One of the buildings, called the Schloss Arkaden, is an old building that was renovated in order to house a huge mall. There's some cool statues on top and Jill told us we were allowed up, but we couldn't find the entrance. We searched every hallway, staircase, elevator, and parking lot but couldn't figure out how to get to the roof. About an hour later and after asking the librarian (there was a library in the building too), we made it to the top. It was pretty cool, but kind of anticlimactic since we had been searching for so long.
The next coolest thing so far was my destiny dream. It's kinda long and weird, but basically I had a dream that I had a next door neighbor who was an Asian girl with short hair and her name was Amy. She dropped her phone and I returned it but she was afraid of me. Seems like just some random dream, right? Wrong. Matt and I are convinced that this is a destiny dream. Represents some sort of woman I am supposed to meet, possibly marry. It's destiny. If you are (or know of) an Asian girl who is my age (plus or minus a few years) and you are pretty and you have short hair and your first name or middle name or last name or nickname is Amy or something similar, then please let me know because we are destined to be together.
Since then, we haven't done anything too crazy. We do get pretty lost everyday, but it's fun. Other than the extra miles of walking we do, getting lost has no real cons. We end up stumbling upon delicious bakeries, snack shops, and other sources of delicious snacks. We had to migrate from Jill's apartment to another guy's since Jill could only put us up for 2 nights, but our new host is awesome as well. Dominik, our host, works for a company that deals with car engines, and he is one of the guys who does stuff on computers to make sure the engines work well. He is also unbelievably trusting and he gave us a key to his apartment and leaves us there alone at 5:30 in the morning. He leaves 50 Euro bills lying around too. I love CouchSurfing.
Braunschweig is a pretty small town and it is full of these big, old buildings. Jill told us (while she was showing us around the town at night) that some of the buildings actually allowed people to climb up to the roofs or into the towers. Climbing stuff, in case you devoted readers haven't noticed, is really appealing to me. Matt seems to like it too. So we found the buildings the next day and tried to find ways up. One of the buildings, called the Schloss Arkaden, is an old building that was renovated in order to house a huge mall. There's some cool statues on top and Jill told us we were allowed up, but we couldn't find the entrance. We searched every hallway, staircase, elevator, and parking lot but couldn't figure out how to get to the roof. About an hour later and after asking the librarian (there was a library in the building too), we made it to the top. It was pretty cool, but kind of anticlimactic since we had been searching for so long.
The next coolest thing so far was my destiny dream. It's kinda long and weird, but basically I had a dream that I had a next door neighbor who was an Asian girl with short hair and her name was Amy. She dropped her phone and I returned it but she was afraid of me. Seems like just some random dream, right? Wrong. Matt and I are convinced that this is a destiny dream. Represents some sort of woman I am supposed to meet, possibly marry. It's destiny. If you are (or know of) an Asian girl who is my age (plus or minus a few years) and you are pretty and you have short hair and your first name or middle name or last name or nickname is Amy or something similar, then please let me know because we are destined to be together.
Brandon's Travels Pt. 2
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Now I'm in Germany. I don't really know where to start. I'm now traveling with my cousin Matt Choo instead of Yoontae, since he has school, and so far all is well. We took a plane from LAX to Philadelphia, got some awesome Philly Cheesesteaks from Geno's, a famous place in South Philly, and then visited the Liberty Bell. Matt wanted to lick it but there were too many people around. After a few hours in Philly, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Hannover where we managed to take a train into the city's center. We arrived around 10 AM and tried to stay awake long enough to adjust our bodies to the 9 hour time difference, but that didn't work out too well. We found a decently cheap hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags, explored the city a bit, ate, went into a few shops and bookstores, then became overwhelmed by physical exhaustion. We trekked back to our hotel and knocked out around 4 PM. 15 hours later, we woke up and figured we should probably do something, so we got ready and ate breakfast at McDonalds.
Before you judge us for going ALL the way to Germany and eating McDonalds, understand that we checked a lot of other places, but apparently Germans aren't big on Sunday morning breakfast. Even the cafes don't open until 10. The only places open were Subway and McDonalds, so we chose McDonalds. I tried to order, but the cashier didn't know English and she started yelling at me in German. I don't think she was happy that she had to start her Sunday morning shift with an incompetent Korean kid who couldn't even speak her language. Lucky for me, the other lady who had just bought coffee spoke some English so she helped me order my food. We went back to the hotel briefly and then took the local street train that was kind of like the trolleys in San Diego. We took this street train thingy all the way to Herrenhauser Gardens, which are the most famous tourist attraction in Hannover (according to the tourist information center). It was actually pretty nice. Everything was really beautiful and green, but it was a little too romantic. I think Matt and I were the only couple who went into the gardens that wasn't romantically involved. I took some really nice creeper pictures of couples because the garden made it so picturesque. I'll upload them later.
We went back into town afterwards and walked allllllllllllllll over. We saw pretty much everything there was to see (based on the tourist map that we had). We also got a little lost for a while but, surprisingly, I managed to lead us back to our hotel after dinner. We knocked out really early again and woke up at 7. That brings us to today. We ate breakfast at the hotel, took a train to Braunschweig, walked a few miles all around the city center while looking for a place to stay, ate lunch at some fish place for pretty cheap, and came to this internet cafe. Lucky for us, a lady from Couchsurfing.com had emailed me, so in about an hour and half we are going to her house to sleep on her couch. FOR FREE. Awesome deal, right?
Overall, Germany has been pretty cool but I feel like everyone here judges us. They give us nasty looks sometimes when we don't understand English, and we feel like they're judging us very heavily when we do something stupid like trip or knock down a chair. Other than that, everything we've seen has been so beautiful. The fields, parks, and areas in the city are so beautiful. Now that we're in Braunschweig, we're going to Battle of the Year. I'm so excited!
Okay this post kind of sucks now that I look back but I don't have time to write better stuff. I'll do better next time, sorry readers. I just crammed a lot of stuff and it's not that interesting. Maybe I can write something better tonight if our CouchSurfing host has a computer we can use. And maybe I'll put up pictures!
Before you judge us for going ALL the way to Germany and eating McDonalds, understand that we checked a lot of other places, but apparently Germans aren't big on Sunday morning breakfast. Even the cafes don't open until 10. The only places open were Subway and McDonalds, so we chose McDonalds. I tried to order, but the cashier didn't know English and she started yelling at me in German. I don't think she was happy that she had to start her Sunday morning shift with an incompetent Korean kid who couldn't even speak her language. Lucky for me, the other lady who had just bought coffee spoke some English so she helped me order my food. We went back to the hotel briefly and then took the local street train that was kind of like the trolleys in San Diego. We took this street train thingy all the way to Herrenhauser Gardens, which are the most famous tourist attraction in Hannover (according to the tourist information center). It was actually pretty nice. Everything was really beautiful and green, but it was a little too romantic. I think Matt and I were the only couple who went into the gardens that wasn't romantically involved. I took some really nice creeper pictures of couples because the garden made it so picturesque. I'll upload them later.
We went back into town afterwards and walked allllllllllllllll over. We saw pretty much everything there was to see (based on the tourist map that we had). We also got a little lost for a while but, surprisingly, I managed to lead us back to our hotel after dinner. We knocked out really early again and woke up at 7. That brings us to today. We ate breakfast at the hotel, took a train to Braunschweig, walked a few miles all around the city center while looking for a place to stay, ate lunch at some fish place for pretty cheap, and came to this internet cafe. Lucky for us, a lady from Couchsurfing.com had emailed me, so in about an hour and half we are going to her house to sleep on her couch. FOR FREE. Awesome deal, right?
Overall, Germany has been pretty cool but I feel like everyone here judges us. They give us nasty looks sometimes when we don't understand English, and we feel like they're judging us very heavily when we do something stupid like trip or knock down a chair. Other than that, everything we've seen has been so beautiful. The fields, parks, and areas in the city are so beautiful. Now that we're in Braunschweig, we're going to Battle of the Year. I'm so excited!
Okay this post kind of sucks now that I look back but I don't have time to write better stuff. I'll do better next time, sorry readers. I just crammed a lot of stuff and it's not that interesting. Maybe I can write something better tonight if our CouchSurfing host has a computer we can use. And maybe I'll put up pictures!
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