I, TweedleDea, love to travel.

I was reading an old post on my other blog that I never update, but still read on occasion, and I thought that I would share it with you all. I talk about some stuff from when I was in Korea, and my opinions on Americans. Well it's nice to say after living here for 6 months, that my opinion hasn't changed. I still miss Korea, and I can't wait to go back, and I still love mandarian oranges.
enjoy...

I’ve talked about it a lot, but I’ve never come right out and said it. So… (deep breath). I, Dea, love to travel. There I said it. Wow, it feels good to get that off of my shoulders. I feel so renewed now.

Anyhow I spent close to 2 years in Korea, close to a year in England and a little trip to Mexico and Japan, Hong Kong and China in 1994 when I was 16. In these travels I have realized a few things about human nature, about being Canadian, and about being a woman.

Firstly about being human. Everybody goes to the washroom. It’s shocking I know, but they do. When we think of going to the washroom, perhaps for a sitting performance we think of the throne. Yes, the western toilet. However my dear friends, not everyone uses said toilet. Some people squat, and it’s comfortable! “Oh my good golly lolly”, you gasp, “you’ll fall in!”, you sputter. To which I say, “nay brave traveler, it’s all in how your balance yourself, we in North America squat on our toes and that throws off our balance, whereas to squat over a toilet one should balance on their heels by shifting their weight back, and it is quite comfortable.” Also squatters are far more hygienic because you aren’t touching anything. To make my point, everyone goes to the bathroom and there are several different ways.

My second point about being Canadian, it’s a touchy subject but I am going to talk about it openly and well, no one really reads this and this is my blog so I will write what I want. (oh yeah I don’t have a comment section so I can’t get flamed). I digress. I am Canadian, and a proud Canadian at that, (I even have the flag tattooed to my leg), but I do think that some Canadians take their Canadianism too far. I met several Canadians in Korea and they were so staunchly Canadian that all Americans were wrong and bad and disliked. Sometimes I felt that in order to be a proud Canadian I had to American bash. I hated that and I wouldn’t partake, and I noticed that because I didn’t partake, my more insistent country mates looked down on me. This is my rationale: There are approximately 300 million Americans and there can’t be any way that they are all as horrible as we would like to think they are. I met several Americans when I was in Korea and for the most part they were lovely people. I made some really good friends, and I met some really ignorant ones too, I can’t forget that there are also ignorant Canadians. There are more ignorant Americans, but only because there are more Americans, I am sure that we have the same percent of ignorant Canadians. (And most of them walk around with the flag clearly on display shunning everyone who lives south of the border). I fully believe that unless someone gives me a reason to judge him or her I won’t, American or not. If said American makes a rude comment in earnest then I will judge, but if it’s in jest, then I can jest back. I don’t know how many Americans I have told about the wall of ice at the 49th parallel, or how my sled dogs are my best friends, or how I lost a finger last year in a tragic igloo building accident. Furthermore if an American says that they are Canadian when they are traveling avoid ridicule, I take that as a compliment that they think so highly of us to say that they are Canadian. In conclusion I don’t hate Americans, and I think that we need to realize that we are more alike than we would like to think we are, you know with the large border the similarities in culture….

Finally about being a woman. Holy cow Batman, I am so glad to be a woman in North America. Along with being a proud Canadian I am a very independent woman. I was treated differently than my male counterparts in Korea. This didn’t happen all the time, but it did happen and it was strange. Korea isn’t even that male dominated, I know that there are other parts of the world that suppress women far more, and I am sure that I would implode if I were there. I want to go and see some of these places, just to experience it, and then I can be even more grateful, and have a new outlook on life. There were sometimes in Korea that I was denied service because I was a woman, but it was more because I was mistaken for being Russian. When I was living in Seoul, I never spoke English when I was out shopping and what not, I knew enough Korean that I didn’t need to speak English, and I guess my lack of English coupled with being fair and blonde I was mistaken for being Russian. To reply I would say “I’m Canadian” in my most Canadian accent and the store keeper would be sorry and give me free stuff. So it wasn’t that bad. I did feel really bad for the Russian women who were denied because they were Russian. A lot of the Russian women there were prostitutes, so were regarded lowly. In my mind I know I should have just walked out of the store and not patronized them, but I have some pride and I didn’t want to be mistaken as a hooker. Although I did try to not go back to that establishment, but I did walk away being really glad that I was a Canadian woman and that I didn’t have to go to Korea to be a prostitute to make money for my family.

All in all, traveling in great, you see a lot of things that I think really put the world into perspective. I’m glad I have seen some of the things that I have, and I hope to have the opportunity to experience more