Sick Reflections

Well, the reflections aren't sick; but, due to some sickness, I've had time for reflections. Not really anything deep, just a chance to peruse the old wanderings of my thoughts. As such this weekend I reread my journal from my EuroTrip and decided to pull a few excerpts from that journal (or 'Man-Diary').

Appendix 9: Things I will miss [from our trip]

Singing songs with Chris

Never knowing where I will be next

Building that people put time into

Meeting strangers on trains

Seeing something new around every corner

Latin Women

Hard Bread and creamy honey

Unique Gargoyles

My host families and Lippstadt friends

Attitudes towards alcohol

Smart Cars

People with ridiculous fashion statements

Eurohawks and Euromullets

Doner Kebab

Speaking German

Playing in Castles

Old People who are still LIVING

Ridiculous numbers of stairs

Gelato and Magnum ice cream

Staying in strangers' houses

Concerning the ties one feels towards their homeland
Why is it that peope feel so connected to the land [which] they were born in? There are very few people on the earth who would actually want to trade passports with somebody else. Is it the land itselfe? Possibly. Surely it's not the politics? Nobody is ever truly happy with the political decisions of their state. I want to say it's the people, but even that can't be true because we really can only know a small commune; therefore we do not have a bond with the entire country. Perhaps it is rather a never-fully-existent concept of what our country is? A group of people united around a common vision, despite different ideas [of how] to get there. It has to be beyond the tangible, we must love something in our hearts that we can never fully understand. That is how so many people can unite under one flag and share the same pride. Live the same dream.

Written after watching people show how proud they were of their team during the Olympic Games.


Life Goals

Work a Dude Ranch

Bungee Jump

Run a Marathon

Climb a +14k foot mountain

See the Pyramids at Giza

Make a Pilgrimage

Travel somewhere 500+ miles away by bike or hike

Omitted

Omitted

Drive on a race track

Fly

Lead a Bible Study

See every continent

Go bow hunting

Learn to surf

Speak more than 3 languages

Whitewater raft

...to be added to as new ideas arrive

Realization towards end of trip
I AM just a tourist. This whole life is but a trip that I'm taking. I'm not going to get home until this life is over. So I need to keep living my life with an open eye, desire to learn more about the locals I meet, and treat every place I am in as my mission field. Because I am only passing thru, this whole life is but one amazing vacation!