Wednesday, June 6, 2012

thoughts on wanderlust

---as slightly edited version of a message to a friend--- 

The end of the year because I hope that by then I'll be satisfied enough with my knowledge of Arabic. Brazil because I really like it there (I've spent one month there total so far), because I very much like Brazilian Portuguese, and because I think it's a good language to learn -as an investment- "for the future" (i.e. I believe that Brazil will continue to grow in importance, etc...) but that plan is also still vague.

Why ********* for you? How long will you stay there and why are you going there? (and also, if not wanderlust, then why are you going there, and perhaps: what is the right word to describe it?)

I think I know what you mean about home being "not underrateable". I really did also appreciate being at home with my dad and sister for the past two weeks. Nice family breakfasts with pancakes or good (healthy, almond) cereal; good food (great lake pizza); hanging out with my dad, watching/listening to him interact with people (he's really good at it); talking about stuff for the first time with my sis; seeing great friends; or riding my bike on warm summer Chicago streets.

Yet, the question remains: if home is so nice, which it definitely is, why do we (I mean "we" in a general sense) still end up travelling off to distant and oh so different lands? Perhaps it isn't wanderlust (I barely travel outside of Cairo). Perhaps a greedy desire to be confronted to what's new and different than what we call home? I know that not being home for so long has made me appreciate it a LOT more, that's for sure.

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