Tag: traveling

Does my skin color affect my chance of traveling/volunteering?

Leave a comment

It’s been 5 months since I started saving for my summer trip in Thailand. Although I still have 4 more months until the departure day, I already feel super excited about it. Yet, a recent incident has occurred and it may cause me to change the whole plan.

In the beginning, everything seemed to run smoothly since I’d found out about a website called Workaway – a place where people can find projects to work in return for free accommodation (or even food) and cultural exchange while traveling. I soon signed up for it, sending out my requests to potential Thai hosts (though I know that it might be too early to do that but I couldn’t help myself). After a few days, I received 2 replies saying yes, decided to go for one, had some exchange with the host and extended my trip from a week to a month.

To be honest, at first, I was so scared of the idea that I might be not getting any acceptance just because…I’m Asian. I was made to believe that those Thai hosts preferred white people to join their projects since I could hardly see any Asian’s feedback on their pages. Some even make it clear that they only accept “white people”. Yes, they use the exact words: “WHITE PEOPLE”. I can totally understand if many hosts need English native speakers for their English teaching projects. But “WHITE PEOPLE ONLY”? I’m quite intrigued by the reason behind. Is that the “white fetish” people’ve been talking about? Is “white fetish” even a thing?

Anyways, I was glad that I found a perfect project to work for. It would be in a small province in the suburbs of Bangkok, definitely not a touristy place with sunflower fields and golden temples. Not to mention the host, she seemed to be trust-worthy with all the positive feedbacks. I felt so lucky – “So maybe this racism thing is not as serious as I thought it was. Maybe I was just overthinking.”

And as the host and I mailed back and forth, I was so sure that I got my “reservation”.

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end there. As soon as I informed the host of my exact arrival date (because she insisted me to), she turned over and said that all positions had been occupied.

“What???”

“Why it has to be right after I booked my flight tickets?”

“Doesn’t she know that I decided to extend my staying (which eventually led me to book my flight tickets in accordance with the dates) just because of her assurance?”

“Doesn’t she know that I’m very poor and it took me a lot to eventually have this trip?”

A full-blown panic attack.

…

Back to this moment, when the panic attack is gone, I’m still quite confused and nervous. A lot of questions are being stuck in my head and mostly around whether I’m able to find another decent project/host. Even when I’ve calmed myself down and started to send out new requests on Workaway, I feel lost. Negative thoughts keep filling my head no matter how hard I try.

So my story is going nowhere. Hope I could soon find direction for it. I really don’t want to blame this on racism because it’s not. But since I have to get back to the search again, racism is definitely taken into account.

For now, I’ll just continue breathing and hoping for the best.

Throw Back Sunday

Leave a comment

IMG_20160813_123729.jpg

While browsing facebook today, I pumped into a viral article about how Harvard students study as if it were the last day of their lives.

At first, I felt ashamed of myself for not being hard-working enough, since I was scrolling down the mobile screen instead of reading books.

But as soon as I realized the big fact that I was at Harvard, my brain amazingly drew me back to the most beautiful memories of my last summer in the U.S.

america-havard

Yes! I WAS AT THE LEGENDARY HARVARD UNIVERSITY!

Even until now, it still seems extremely surreal to me.

Way back before the trip, in my world, America, NYC, Boston or Harvard had only existed inside the TV frame, books and in my dream. Since I was small, I have always known that my family is nothing more than a middle-class family in a poor country, which means we are only able to live and save some within our “Vietnam Dong-zone“. Therefore, at that time, traveling abroad, especially the U.S was really a lux, not to mention we all know how difficult it is for a foreigner to get inside the U.S. borders.

Fortunately, I found out about a volunteer project that would cover everything including the living expenses, accommodation for the volunteers. I signed up for it. And after a couple of months, I was in America, all by myself. That’s how I got to the dream land.

I spent one month of summer in the country, met lots of cool people, learned various things and bought a lovely poncho. Above all, I set foot in the Harvard University, took a tour. My mind was completely blown away.

boston

Now that I’ve come back, back to the repeated tiresome days, I have never stopped reminiscing about the last summer. It has really triggered my love for traveling, my hunger for another genuine adventure. That’s why I’ve constantly started my plan of traveling around the world. Simply, I’m now bearing this thought to myself: “I’ve been to the hardest, furthest country so why I can’t go to nearer ones?!”

Anyways, my next destination is Thailand. I’m working my ass off for it, saving every penny I could to bring my plan into practice, which is to travel to at least one country every single year.

Simple as that, a poor student who still lives under the same roof with her parents, thinks she can travel around the world. How about you? Have you embarked on your own journey?

Another plan on the go

1 Comment

It’s not that I’m studying German and about to study Masters in Germany (though this is quite a surprise to some people who haven’t acknowledged it). The plan I’m about to reveal is completely a different thing, which has nothing to do with my study, my career, but simply my enjoyment of life.

Let’s go back to my trip to America which I truly enjoyed to every single moment. That was my first time travel aboard and first time travel alone. The excitement, the nervousness and a little of fear pushed me back a bit, yet made the whole trip so incredible. I felt as if  I was a child with a curious mind, discovering the beauty of life. It was not until that trip did I realize how much I loved traveling.

Therefore, I can’t wait long for another trip to come. I have to do something about it. I have to take action immediately. That’s why I’m writing this to inform ones who care that: I AM GOING TO THAILAND NEXT SUMMER!

Actually, this is not an informing note. It’s a declaration of my determination, as a start for the whole plan.

From now on, every single month, I will extract 500,ooo Dongs from my very limited salary which I earn while working as a private tutor and put it in the fund called “SAVINGS FOR THAI DREAM” (it sounds lame, I know). I have about 9 months until next summer and I need at least 5 million Dongs in total in order to make the trip happen. So besides the 500,ooo Dong part, I will also seek for other jobs to get paid as much as possible. The more, the merrier!

So, please pray for me and my fund. If you can donate some, it would be even more fantastic! Yet, I want this Thai dream to be my self-earned trip but at the end it doesn’t matter, me being at Thailand is already a wonderful thing.