Hello friends x
We have returned back to the magical land of Austin after nearly two months of straight traveling. There is nothing like sleeping in your own bed, using your own shampoo in your own shower, and commenting on how things have drastically changed in your time away. “Oh, wow, did they switch that billboard?” “Was that McDonald’s here before?”
In my early twenties, I fantasized about living a nomadic lifestyle — traveling around the world on my own accord. We got a taste of that this summer in both Europe and Taiwan - switching hotels frequently, living out of backpacks, and eating out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We made some amazing friends and gained a deeper appreciation for Taiwanese culture.
When we arrived home to our cute one-bedroom apartment, our plants, and our friends and community here, it hit me: there is no travel without home.
When you meet people abroad, one of the first questions people ask is, even before your name, is, “Where are you from?”
The question “Where are you from?” begins the friendly comparisons.
“In America, do they drink water?” a young Taiwanese girl asked me.
“Do all Americans smile as much as you?” the nail tech asked as she painted by nails.
“In America, do people really shoot kids in schools?” the masseuse asked me as she gave me a foot massage.
Because of these questions and others, my time this summer helped me become more identified with my home. I answered these questions carefully and honestly, knowing my answers were helping to form these people’s world view in real-time.
And similarly, these people were helping me expand and form my world-view. I noted the careful way my Taiwanese students so inventively solved problems, like making little boxes out of newspapers to hold paint when we had no plates. I saw how attentive society members were to pregnant women by giving up seats on the trains and having special areas for expectant mothers to stand to board. I saw how intentional people were about sorting their garbage into compost, recycling, and general bins. By noticing these small things about the Taiwanese way of life, I found myself wanting to take these things with me back home.
T.S. Eliot’s words from “Little Gidding” have been on my mind:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
This poem is what coming home feels like for me. I love the exploring part - I love the new foods, the new conversations, and the new scenery. But my exploring and traveling and growing doesn’t feel complete until I am able to bring these new noticings and learnings back home and know the place for the first time.
Perhaps the reason we come back and “know the place for the first time” is not because of changing billboards and new buildings, but an internal shift in our view of the world.
What is the point of travel, if we arrive back to where we started and are the same exact person we were before we left?
Thanks for reading,
Kimber
So beautiful and wistful. Thank you for sharing about traveling and also about coming home. ♥️
Glad you are safe home. Amazing writing once again.