From Here to Somewhere Else...Finally

It has been a number of years since I've been travelling anywhere further than a 5 hour drive from the Ottawa area. And with school and work it's also been a number of years since I've had more than 4 consecutive days off. Give me your pity, I implore you!

Actually, save your pity for the Liberal Party of Canada, they need it more than I do. That's because I'm about to leave on a 3.5 month trip to South East Asia. I'm going from the repetitive day to day doldrums of a student government worker to the other side of the world where I'm sure the only thing that will be familiar is the general sense of confusion I already carry around with me on a daily basis.

The things I know about South East Asia are as follows:
- It is hot.
- cost of living is cheap.
- there are nice beaches.
- prostitution is rampant.
- the big cities are crazy.
- I will feel taller and whiter than I do here.

The contrast between Canada and SEA is likely to be sharpened because of the crazy weather we're getting this year in Canada. Last weekend, some friends and I went to Mont-Tremblant, a ski resort two hours north of Montreal, to take advantage of the great snowfalls we are getting. There was a winter storm warning in effect which made for interesting ski conditions. It amounted to mother nature bitch slapping us at the top of the mountain--so not quite disaster type weather, but enough to demand a little respect--pounding winds, the snow felt like needles, visibility was about 10 feet and they had to close half the mountain because operating the lifts was deemed too dangerous. I had a healthy case of wind burn and a touch of frostbite by the time the lifts closed down. After barely making it out of the parking lot, with three people pushing, the drive home on my bald summer tires was an exercise in wishful thinking and stress management. All around, good times were had by all!

When I step off the plane in the Philippines I'll have just finished getting acclimatized to this 'in like a lion' Canadian winter. My guess is that for the first week I'll be sweating more than an atheist at an Evangelical Christian retreat, my skin will promptly take on a cancerous pink glow and I'll be running to the bathroom more often than a bulimic Hollywood starlet. Doesn't it sound grand!

But honestly, I am very much looking forward to experiencing some new cultures and being professionally unemployed. The fact that I don't know very much about South East Asia is part of the draw. I don't want to presume too much or expect anything in particular. I want to try to know just enough to not die, and I think that's achievable. The cultural contrast will probably throw me off the most, especially when trying to order a poutine in English from a Thai food vendor. It seems easier to anticipate the environmental contrast between Canada and SEA, though I wonder if even my assumptions of that will be smashed...

I'm very excited to get out there and learn how much I don't know.

Mike