The Packing Light Challenge: Days 1-5

Several months ago my mom sent me a link to the blog written by a high school classmate of mine.  A little over a decade ago when we were teenagers attending Century High School, I knew her as Ally Spotts.  She's now married and an accomplished writer known as Allison Vesterfelt.  At approximately the same time I was making my pilgrimage to Korea, Ally was following her dream of visiting all 50 states as the road manager to her musician friend.  The two of them packed up their car and hit the road, playing gigs to pay for their expenses and relying on friends and the kindness of strangers for places to stay.  At the end of the journey, Ally wanted to write a book...and she did.  I'm looking forward to reading it over Christmas break since my mom has already bought us a copy:).  Anyway, back to this blog.  I'd already read a few articles from Allison's blog, but my mom had become a regular reader and thought the daily posts would resonate with me and my place in life.  She was pretty much right, which brings us to the purpose of this evening's post on my own blog.  Allison has just released her book and is revisiting the journey that brought her to where she is.  As a result, she is challenging her readers to take the Packing Light challenge and explore their unfulfilled dreams.  Here is a synopsis of the first five days (it's been a busy week, so I'm catching up all in one post) and will hopefully be able to post day by day throughout the rest of the challenge.

Day 1: What do you want?  If you had no limitations, what is it that you really want to do?
For me, this is easy.  I'm living out the first part of my dream right now--I want to be a teacher, learner, and traveler overseas.  The part that I haven't realized yet is that I desperately want to be living in Europe.  I've left my heart in Paris, Venice, Florence, Oxford, and London.  Western Europe just calls to me and I haven't answered...at least not permanently.  My wanderlust only grows the more of the world I see, and my desire to explore the world, to capture it in photos and in words, just increases.  I also want to be carrying on this journey with a partner and I have yet to find my other half--the one who understands this life.  I want to experience all of these wonderful things with someone by my side.  Who this will be, only God knows.

Day 2: Make a list.  What has to happen in order to achieve your dream?
This is where things start to get tricky!  I am a very practical person who is good at setting goals and seeing them through.  I am also practical in the way that I can see a good thing when I have it and know when to hold on to it.  Thus enters the struggle to let go of one thing in order to pursue another...

1. In order to survive on a European salary, I've got to have some $$ in the bank because you don't go there to save.  I've already decided to work for one more year (for sure) in Korea and have a goal of saving $10,000 per year while I'm in Asia.
2. It's time to start preparing for the job search.  This means getting my resume ready (perhaps redesigned) and building an online teaching portfolio.  This should be completed by July 2014.
3. Sign up with an international search organization who puts on teaching job fairs and will put my application in an international database.
4. Make the official decision by December 2014 that I am leaving my current job--this scares me the most because there's no guarantee I'll find another job!!
5. Go to a job fair and find myself a new job IN EUROPE!
6. Trust God that if this is what He wants for me, He'll find a way to make it all work out.
7. Find a new place to live in my new country.
8. Hire movers to pack up my stuff and ship it to my next country.
9. Say good-bye to Korea!

Day 3: What's holding you back?

This is an easy one--FEAR!  I am a planner.  I hate change and I don't like the unknown.  I hate the idea that I have to give up good-paying job at a wonderful school with lovely colleagues in order to go back on the market and search for a job in Europe that I may not find.  So many teachers want a job in Europe because, IT"S EUROPE.  The competition is steep and this is where all of those doubts rush in and say, "You're not good enough".  I tell myself that maybe I'm not marketable because I don't have IB training and I don't teach higher level chemistry courses.  Self doubt is a confidence killer and it's so easy to let that creep in.  This is what has me thinking that it would just be easier to stay at my very good job that I like and appreciate!

Day 4: Get rid of 5 things!

Well, I've begun the purging already!  There are at least 5 pairs of shoes sitting in a box for charity that I pulled from the shoe closet (and I LOVE shoes, so that's not an easy place to start).  I have yet to do the annual closet clean out, but I know this pile is going to grow as soon as I find time to attack my unworn clothes!

Day 5: Do something different.

I've just read this part of the challenge at the end of the weekend, so I didn't take the opportunity to do something out of character...yet!  I have to say, though, since I moved overseas, I've been challenging myself to do something different often.  I've traveled alone to places I'd never been before.  I've started learning a new language.  I'm taking photography lessons.  I frequently go out into Seoul on my own in a taxi or on the subway.  I truly know what it means to be independent.  I no longer let the fact that I am single keep me from doing the things I want to do.  At the moment, I'm working on booking a trip to Australia this summer.  Yep, I'm going by myself!  As an introvert there are a great deal of social things that are outside of my comfort zone, but I'm certainly pushing myself out there!  Maybe next weekend I'll sign up for a city walking tour through the Royal Asiatic Society:).  We'll see how the week shapes up!  More to come on this one!  Update:  On Thursday I signed up for two walking tours and an overnight trip to a mountain resort!  I haven't found a friend to go along yet, so I'm going it alone!  Should be interesting!

24 Hours in Milano

You know me, if I'm in Europe I seem to find a way to get to Italy. So, when my nine day tour of Switzerland finished I planned to spend the rest of my two week European holiday in bell'Italia. Sunday morning we got up very early for one final breakfast in Luzern and then we boarded the bus and where whisked back to Zurich where everyone went their separate ways. Since the airport and train station are pretty much one in the same, I was glad to have Lucy's company for several more hours. Once again I learned a hard lesson with train tickets as the one I'd booked through the Italian system was no good (not a nice thing to find out when you're talking about a $170 ticket!). So, I shed a few tears, whipped out the credit card, and booked a new ticket. God was on my side, as the first ticket was fully refundable! Thankfully I was able to get an Internet connection at Starbucks and cancel the reservation--whew! I also picked up another mug for mom's collection:).
The Zurich train station was a familiar sight and I passed the remaining time in Switzerland catching up on my postcard writing. I finished just in the nick of time and dropped a huge stack in the mailbox just before heading out to look for my train. I was smart this trip and booked first class tickets. Never again will I travel second class--just saying! There was room for my luggage, I didn't have to share my row with anyone, and it was a pretty peaceful 3 hours and 40 minutes of downtime on the train. When I got to Milano, the fun really began and I had a heck of a time finding my hotel. I didn't do as much forward planning as I should have so with no map in hand I set out and wandered around...and then I remembered that I had a trusty i-Phone and if I just turned on data roaming I could be there in no time. Who knows how much that map cost me, but sure enough I found the hotel in a few minutes with that map in hand! The Hotel Berna was wonderful and I could hardly pry myself away from my comfortable room but Milan was waiting to be seen.




The blue angel in the Zurich train station.
Unlike Venice and Florence, I didn't feel quite as safe in Milan. The area around the train station was busy and there were a load of shady people hanging around. The city reminded me of Rome as it was busy and quite dirty. I decided to go to the Duomo. I was lucky enough to get in before it closed and I wandered through the absolutely massive church. The outside is decorated so ornately, that I could hardly believe it! I took the advice of my travel guide and bought a ticket for the elevator to the rooftop and spent nearly an hour wandering about through the spires. The view was nothing short of incredible and I wish I were a better photographer because I imagine I could have captured so many more amazing shots from up there! I took the stairs down from the roof and immediately walked a few hundred meters down the block to see the beautiful covered shopping arcade called The Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele. Stopping for a gelato beneath the antique glass ceiling and walking along admiring the mosaics adorning the floors was an excellent way to pass another hour or so. It was unlike anything I had seen before! Since I was on my own, I decided to head back to the hotel before the sun went down.




A statue in Duomo square in Milano.




Milano's incredible Duomo.




A glimpse of the interior.




A base of one of the massive columns.




Where the holy water was housed.




Lovely floor tiling.




Like I said, massive.












Now, on to the really good views!




Crowds below!












Gargoyles!




A little decoration up there!
















Cherubs!












Lots of spires!




The rooftops of Milano.








I went there after descending from the rooftop.




The spire.








A massive rooftop on a massive church and what a treat to get to wander around up there!



The Victorio Emmanuele arcade...truly fabulous!





Wonderful mosaics on the floors.


I was supposed to take a bike tour of the city the next morning, but sadly it was cancelled. Instead, I slept in a bit and enjoyed the immense breakfast at the hotel. I then ventured out to see one more sight in the city before taking the train to my beloved Venice. I had read that Sforza Castle was worth a visit, although my book said it was closed on Mondays. None-the-less, I could photograph the exterior so I hopped on the subway and walked on over. To my surprise the castle was open, and free to enter the courtyard, so in I went. The interior was huge and I enjoyed just wandering about taking photos. The heat was getting to me so I headed back and grabbed my suitcase, deciding to pay for a second train ticket and take an earlier train to Venice. Two and a half hours later, I saw the familiar lagoon come into view and it felt a bit like arriving home. A short vaporetto ride later I arrived at Domus Orsoni and was off getting myself lost in the backstreets of the Canaregio. Life is sweet.


One of the huge cornices of Sforza Castle.


Looking down the side of an exterior wall.


Clock tower...a tilted view.


A lovely fountain gracing the front of the castle.





One of the inner courtyards...a nice place to stroll around.





Beautifully frescoed walls inside!


A close up of the frescoes.





So cool!





Ceiling decor!


Archways...





Flowers in the courtyard with a reflecting pool.


My final sight in Milan before saying good-bye and grabbing the train!
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Location:Milano, Italy