Tot ziens! Do videnja! Ciao! La revedere! Hasta luego!
(Saying good-bye to all my former homes…Belgium, Croatia, Bulgaria, Moldova, and South America)
So ends my first career. Crazy, no? Another big change coming up, and I am extremely excited yet very nervous. I feel reverse-culture shock coming on big time, but am ready to take on what life has to bring me next. Friday is my final day of work, and I am currently wrapping up the Uruguay project and getting ready for the upcoming travel plans! I head to Colombia on Saturday with Pedro; we will be spending a couple days in Bogota and then will travel to Medellin, his hometown. I am extremely excited to meet his family and friends, and see where he is from. Everyone who has been to Medellin claims it is one of his or her favorite cities in the world, so we’ll have to see about that! However, Colombia right now is suffering from torrential downpours and “arroyos” (major floods) so I am hoping we will get a little sunny weather as it will be my last week in South America for a while, I’m guessing? I will always remember South America as a warm, sunny, happening place, so I hope that is exactly how I leave it come December 17th when I will return back to the United States for holidays.
I have thought a lot about how I would sketch my final blog post under the title “Off the Beaten Business Path” (because I will be continuing my blog, but it might be needing a new title…) Should I talk about when a crazy driver flashed a gun at me from his car because of my taxi driver’s road rage in Bulgaria? Or maybe when Abbie and I got stuck in a CEO’s bathroom for 30 minutes before an important meeting in Croatia, both of us screaming until the CEO himself found us gasping for fresh air? Or how about the time I was charged 200 euro by Slovenian border control when I didn’t have a “border sticker” on my rental car? Maybe when I tried to close a sales deal with a Moldovan CEO, but couldn’t quite get the words out after he had forced us to take drink after drink of 50-year-old Cognac from his office’s cellar? Or driving 18 hours straight after getting lost in Serbia and Romania so we could make it to Transylvania in time for Halloween? There was that time when I had to rush Pedro to a public hospital in southern Colombia only to find welcoming trails of blood throughout the place – I could write about that? Maybe about all of my wonderful Spanish blunders – calling a CEO Freddy Mierda (Freddy Shit) instead of Freddy Miranda or ordering leche desnuda (naked milk) instead of leche descremada? Or about the funny narcoleptic gay man who accompanied us on our trip to the Amazon and who wouldn’t stop hitting on Pedro or falling asleep at dinner? I could go on and on about all of the crazy memories I have stored up, but perhaps I should talk more in general about my life, what I have gained and will forever miss..
There have been countless memories, hardships, surprises, and changes, and I cannot even begin to describe or explain what I have learned during the past 18 months. I am the biggest proponent of traveling whenever and however you can – whether it be to a neighboring town 5 miles away or to the sheep fields of New Zealand 30,000 miles away. There is honestly no better way to learn more about yourself, because you are constantly surrounded by people you have never met and places your senses have never experienced. After living in places where seeing an American was just plain weird for inhabitants, I have gained a much greater appreciation of self and individuality. I also feel much more aware of being a very lucky citizen of the United States (which should always be called the “United States” and not “America” as the rest of the Americans in North and South America sometimes feel offended). The US is an AMAZING place with so many opportunities and so much efficiency. We are all very convinced from an early age that the “American dream” makes our country what it is, and even if we don’t feel the most welcome in certain countries (cough, Europe, cough), being a citizen of the United States is a blessed fortune. Every CEO from every major company I have interviewed – from Europe to Latin America – is striving to copy the business practices and organizations of the United States. If a CEO had studied in the United States, he made sure to throw it into the conversation in whatever way possible, because a degree from a US shows you are wealthy, prestigious, and SOOOO smart. Speaking English is an advantage for anyone and everyone, and I got a few compliments on my flawless accent :)
Traveling and living abroad has made me more practical and provided me with more common sense than I had before, but it is the actual working part that has educated me the most. The business world is a black hole of opportunities; every country works differently from the next, some currently booming (Brazil) and others failing miserably (Greece). Especially in developing countries, the way the government and the private sector work together greatly affects an economy, as does a company’s knowledge and their ability to apply for state funds and international funding from multilateral banks. Ministries, associations, public companies, and private companies all work together to make things work. The business culture is just as varying as societal culture, one example being the environment during a sales meeting. In Croatia we were always offered delicious coffee and sent away with company gifts; in Bulgaria, we were always offered cigarettes and sent away with a deal; in Peru, we were always offered a friendly, open atmosphere and sent away with a smile; in Uruguay, we were always offered Mate tea and sent away with a stingy “no”.
I am very fortunate to have met the people that I did along the way. My co-workers and friends on various projects have turned into life-long companions I will never forget, and this has been so much more rewarding than the actual places I have been. I will always laugh thinking of the thousands of funny communication errors I’ve exchanged, and I am continuously amazed when I think about the closeness I have felt with so many people from such a different background.
Moving from society to society, I found myself asking so many simple questions that seem trivial but provided me with different answers everywhere I went. For example, is the taxi driver going to rip me off or is there a meter that he is running legally? Is the toilet paper inside or outside of the bathroom stalls? Does this country have visible street signs? Will people stare at me if I go on a run outside? How much do I tip? Will the movies be dubbed or subtitled? Does anyone speak English? What greeting does a CEO best respond to? Are the roads paved? What is the country code and are phone minutes expensive? Does “meeting at 10” really mean “meeting at 10:45”?
While life in the US will be different, at least I am prepared because I already know the answers to any questions I might have upon arriving. Regardless, it is going to be different going back to a country where I always have to show my ID, where the cereal isle is bigger than most countries’ biggest grocery stores, where coffee is served in huge to-go cups and not mini espresso mugs, where I know I can always drink the water, where everyone drives an automatic car, where Google maps actually works, where the majority of the population values punctuality and organization, and where I can call and see my family and friends any damn time I want.
Yes, my final destination is the US, but as I fear my wanderlust will never be satisfied, I have decided to do a little encore trip before settling completely. After Colombia and the holidays, I am headed to South East Asia for 6 weeks! Preliminary plans are to hit Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, a popular backpacking route that I am extremely excited to encounter! Therefore, this blog is definitely NOT saying good-bye, as I have really loved writing about the past 18 months and sharing my experiences. I often found myself while touring an amazing site or monument or city that at the same time I was crafting how I would translate my amazement into words to share with you. I really hope my encounters have translated well on this electronic paper, and that this blog has touched a few of you, keeping me close while I was physically miles and miles away.
