Matador Abroad » Tim Patterson

10 Reasons to Study Abroad in the Islamic World

Tim Patterson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:34:03 +0000

Photo by Please Don’t Smile. Feature photo by Ahron.

Learn Arabic. Get a job. Contribute to world peace. Shatter your preconceptions.

Last week, Matador editor Sarah Menkedick wrote a controversial essay about why young travelers shouldn’t study abroad in Western Europe.

Sarah’s piece generated some controversy, and got me thinking about unconventional study abroad opportunities. Clearly, students who make the brave choice to travel far out of their comfort zones will experience more personal growth than students who spend a semester drinking wine in Florence.

Photo by place_light

Perhaps the greatest travel opportunity for this generation of students is to study abroad in the Islamic world. Here are ten good reasons why:

1. Contribute to World Peace

Between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the horror of terrorism, there is a great deal of mistrust and animosity festering between America and much of the Islamic world.

Authentic connections between American students and local communities in places like Syria or Indonesia will go a long way towards building a more peaceful and understanding world.

(For more on this point, please check out my article Youth Travel Programs are Vital to Our Security.)

2. Shatter Stereotypes

Too often, the Islamic world is caricatured in the West as a monolithic threat, with Muslims portrayed as angry and reactionary.

The truth is infinitely more subtle and multifaceted. First-hand experience and genuine interactions are the best ways to counter malignant stereotypes.

3. Build Your Resume

My cousin chose to study abroad in Jordan, and landed a great job right out of college in Washington DC.

If you’re hoping for a career that involves intercultural relations, politics, international business and travel, experience in the Islamic world will really make your resume stand out.

4. Discover Complexity

The Islamic world spans the globe and includes thousands of unique cultures, many of which are characterized by a fascinating blend of tradition and modernity.

Traveling in the Islamic world is a great way to discover the rich depths of complexity that make our world so enthralling. Just ask President Obama, whose time in Indonesia was a formative experience.

Photo by Alena Bartoli

5. Learn Arabic (or Bahasa, or Uighur, or Pashtun)

If travel experience in Jordan looks good on a resume, imagine how fantastic Arabic language skills would be!

I’m not sure if there’s any program to learn Pashtun while studying abroad, but I guarantee that an American student with Pashtun skills would find dozens of intriguing doors open upon graduating.

6. Save Money

A friend of mine from Williams College spent his junior year at the American University of Cairo. He saved several thousand dollars because of the lower tuition costs, enjoyed a fantastic time and landed a high-powered job after college.

7. Hookah and Shwarma

Chilling in a sidewalk cafe and smoking hookah with your friends is a brilliant way to pass an afternoon, and shwarma might just be the tastiest lunch ever.

Of course, hookah and shwarma aren’t available throughout the Islamic world, but wherever you go, you can count on enticing delicacies and exciting new cultural routines.

8. Confront Gender Roles

Great, you say. It’s all well and good for men to lounge around with water pipes all day, but what’s a woman to do?

Well, for both men and women, travel in the Islamic world presents a fascinating study in gender roles.

There are plenty of modern, feminist women in places like Lebanon and Cairo, but perhaps the most lasting lessons of your experience as a female in the Middle East will come from understanding first-hand the frustrations of discrimination.

9. Tradition and Modernity

The tallest skyscraper is in the Islamic world. So are most of the world’s oldest cities. The contrast and tension between tradition and modernity at this moment of time is utterly fascinating.

10. Reassure Your Parents

You will be safe traveling and living in an Muslim country. Really!

There’s a tradition of hospitality in places like Syria that will make even the most nervous traveler feel welcome and at ease. Apart from a few danger zones, even places like Amman or Bali that have suffered terrorist attacks are just as safe as, say, Buenos Aires, Houston, or Rome.

Reassure your parents by doing some extensive research on your destination, and by getting in touch with people who have already traveled there.

You can find many travelers with travel experience in the Islamic world right here on the Matador Network.

Community Connection

The youth travel company I work for, Where There Be Dragons, is launching new high-school summer programs in the Islamic world in an attempt to build genuine connections and promote mutual understanding.

Our summer program in Morocco was a big success last year, and in 2010 we’re adding an educational travel program in Indonesia and an Arabic program in Jordan and Syria.

Please get in touch with me or leave a comment below if you know of more opportunities for youth travel and study abroad in the Islamic world!

Could the Burj Khalifah Collapse?

Tim Patterson — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:16:33 +0000

Let’s hope the Tower of Dubai doesn’t meet the same fate as the Tower of Babel.

The Burj Khalifah under construction. Joi

There are a lot of similarities between Dubai and the biblical city of Babel.

Last May, I described the Dubai / Babel connection, and put the call out for a “DuBabel” correspondent.

Now that Dubai is officially home to the tallest building in the world, the Babel analogy is especially creepy.

The Tower of Babel collapsed, after all. In the post 9/11 world, the idea of a collapsing sky-scraper is truly terrifying.

As Dubai celebrates the opening of the Burj Khalifah, the last thing anyone wants to think about is a disaster on the scale of 9/11. Voicing such a possibility is practically taboo.

But, with the Babel analogy already a point of discussion, the question must be aired:

Could the Burj Khalifah actually fall?

Or is the only Dubai collapse we need to worry about financial?

I’m curious to hear what you have to say, so please leave a comment below!

Choice, Control and Travel

Tim Patterson — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:09:49 +0000

The lights will slow you down. Photo by Paul Stevenson. Feature photo by David Silverline.

Why is a traffic circle safer than a traffic light, and what does the answer mean for adventure travelers?

Yesterday I attended a workshop by Tom Leahy, a guru in the field of adventure training. A big part of Tom’s workshop was about the importance of choice, especially for people who want to grow through an adventure travel experience.

I took some insights from Tom’s discussion of choice and control, and I want to share them with you here.

Photo by Shikeroku.

First, consider the difference between traffic lights and traffic circles (round-a-bouts).

Traffic lights, like the ones used at countless American crossroads, impose strict controls on driver behavior:

Red = Stop. Green = Go. Yellow = Caution.

Traffic circles, on the other hand, do not require drivers to stop. Instead, a driver has to make a series of complicated observations, evaluations and decisions in order to safely merge with moving traffic.

Guess which type of intersection is safer?

The traffic circle.

The traffic circle is safer because it forces drivers to stay alert and think for themselves. Drivers are not externally controlled, and retain the ability to make lots of choices.

Traffic Lights and Travelers

One lesson for travelers who seek a life-changing experience is to avoid the metaphorical traffic lights.

Photo by laverrue.

Think of a traffic light as a firm external control over your travel experience.

For example, you might have a rigid itinerary imposed by a tour company.

Or you might have overly strong expectations of how the trip will be.

By limiting your options, you’ve given up the ability to make decisions and adjustments while you travel. You can’t go with the flow, and you probably won’t make any profound discoveries along the path.

A travel experience is safer, more empowering, and more rewarding when you retain the ability to adjust on the fly, to stay another day in a place that tugs your heartstrings, to seek out and follow whatever makes you feel most connected and alive.

What’s so sad to me is that the vast majority of Westerners travel as if there were traffic lights strung up all over the world. We plan too much. We expect too much. We book cruises.

Photo from the Mekong Semester.

We trade independence for comfort and reassurance.

So, travelers, I encourage you to protect your freedoms.

Be brave. Dream big. Take control of your own experience by choosing to travel independent of expectations and rigid itineraries.

Go abroad as if the world were full of possibility.

Community Connection

At Matador, we’re inspired by individuals who travel with open minds.

Unplug your television.

Quit your day job.

And embrace the simple joys of free travel.

China Executes Brit, Provokes Outrage

Tim Patterson — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 23:53:34 +0000

China doesn’t hesitate to crack down. Photos by Richard.Fisher.

Whatever you do, don’t try to smuggle heroin into China.

A British man who was caught smuggling a suitcase of heroin into China was put to death this morning. The British government reacted with vigorous condemnation, while the Chinese defended their right to apply the law.

China executed at least 1,718 people in 2008

While many Western democracies have given up the death penalty, China executed at least 1,718 people in 2008, by far the most in the world.

Whatever your feelings on the morality of the death penalty, the biggest story here is China’s increasing tendency to tell the West to piss off when it comes to their domestic policies.

No matter how loudly Britain howled, the Chinese were never going to bend the rules for a drug smuggler. Chinese determination to resist foreign pressure has serious implications for global attempts to deal with all sorts of pressing issues…like climate change.

What do you think about China’s stubbornness in the face of foreign outrage? Please leave a comment below!

No More Easy Money for English Teachers in Japan?

Tim Patterson — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:29:00 +0000

Photo by jrkester. Feature photo by kalandrakas.

English teaching in Japan is still a lucrative gig, but the days of easy money and great benefits might be coming to an end.

After teaching English in Japan with the JET Program for two years, I saved enough money to travel in Southeast Asia for over a year and launch my career in travel writing.

I lived rent free, didn’t work very hard and sent home about $1,500 per month. Since I got paid in yen, the dollar to yen exchange rate was important: most of the time it was around 110 yen to the dollar.

This morning, for old times sake, I checked the dollar to yen exchange rate and nearly jumped out of my chair. 90 yen to the dollar!? Damn!

Seems like English teachers in Japan must really be making bank these days….

Or not.

In a discussion forum on the popular Japan ex-pat website Big Daikon, a career English teacher recently posed the question:

Is the EFL Gravy Train Running Out of Steam?

Like most discussion on Big Daikon, the conversation is frank, crude and informative. For example, one poster writes:

It used to be that the unqualified teachers could make a living on a Nova salary, but it’s becoming increasingly harder to do that. Even if the salary isn’t so bad, I don’t think they keep teachers around as long anymore. The genki dipshit teaching circuit is not a stable industry anymore.

Destinations

Community Connection to Japan

The Big Daikon consensus – 127 posts and 1 colossal tangent later – seems to be that Japanese schools are a lot more particular these days about hiring qualified applicants for English teaching positions.

This is probably good news for Japanese students and for good English teachers – but bad news for ‘punks on a lark’ who spend their days in the teacher’s lounge posting on websites like Big Daikon.

Community Connection

The challenging job environment in Japan makes it important to do lots of research before applying for a teaching position. How to Get a Job Teaching in Japan lays out the basics and is chock full of quality links.

For general information, Matador’s focus page on Japan has a wealth of entertaining and informative articles about life in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Being Foreign

Tim Patterson — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 14:47:58 +0000

Separate spheres. All photos by Irargerich

Being foreign is a revelatory experience, but not all travelers are able to return home.

Last week my section of Cathay Pacific flight 882 from Hong Kong to Los Angeles was full of refugees from Myanmar, a nervous group of 39 men, women and children bundled up in winter coats, each clutching a plastic bag emblazoned with the logo of the International Organization for Migration.

During the long flight, the man next to me – an ethnic Chin – struggled with his in-flight entertainment system. Finally, he got a movie to play – a Beverly Hills 90210 sort of film, featuring wide-eyed blonds flirting with country club pool-boys and shopping on Rodeo Drive.

Fractured clouds

Watching the man watch an idealized vision of America as we cruised over the Aleutians, I thought about the the transition he would face adapting to life in the real America. How would he reconcile the gaps between expectations and reality?

He didn’t speak any English. He was going to the state of Washington.

No matter how well this particular Chin refugee dealt with the transition to life in America, he would have to adjust to being a foreigner in an unrelentingly foreign culture and environment.

The concept of ‘being foreign’ is central to the experience of travel, but mainstream travel media rarely seems to address it head on. The British magazine The Economist recently published a thoughtful meditation on being foreign. One line was especially resonant for me, as I thought about the refugees, exiles in a foreign land:

For the real exile, foreignness is not an adventure but a test of endurance.

We voluntary travelers are so fortunate, in so many ways.

Community Connection

For a look at the challenges the refugees overcame before getting on the plane to America, check out the article Waiting For Life to Begin in a Burmese Refugee Camp.

Clearly, refugees need a lot of support here in the States. Does anyone know how to help out? What nationalities are being resettled in your area? Please leave a comment below!

Merry Christmas, Matador!

Tim Patterson — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 18:54:59 +0000

Wishing you peace, warmth and happiness, wherever you are in the world!

For last year’s Christmas thoughts from a war-torn part of Asia, check out Kachin Christmas: Finding Faith in Myanmar.

U.S. Bombshell Used as a Prayer Bell at a Buddhist Temple in Laos

Tim Patterson — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:43:29 +0000

A local man examines the bombshell, now used as a prayer bell in rural Laos.

From 1964 to 1973, American bombers dropped over two million tons of bombs on rural areas of Laos, a fiery sideshow to the conflict in Vietnam. About 700 lbs of bombs were dropped for every man, woman and child in Laos.

Here’s a detail of the writing on the bomb.

Some of these bombs failed to detonate on impact but are still active, and continue to kill and maim civilians today.

Often, people are killed while trying to harvest scrap metal from the fallen bombs.

Bombshells are now used as flower pots, as boats and as stilts for traditional Lao homes. The prayer bell bombshell in the photos is located at a temple in rural Khammoune Province.

You can visit the temple on a trek in the Phu Hin Boun protected area.

For more information on the legacy of the secret bombing of Laos, check out COPE, a remarkable organization based in Vientiane.

Other good resources include the films Bomb Harvest and the fantastic (unreleased) documentary The CIA in Southeast Asia: The Most Secret Place on Earth.

Learning about the massive bombing of Laos was an transformational experience for me, and the inspiration for my American Manifesto.

Studying Abroad and Trekking Along the Mekong River

Tim Patterson — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:12:04 +0000

Photos: Where There Be Dragons

Tim Patterson, leading an experiential learning study abroad semester for Where There Be Dragons, checks in from the Mekong Semester.

1. The group split up into two vehicles to attempt the rough track to our home-stay in an Yi village near Lashihai. I was riding shotgun in a beat-up van that skidded and fish-tailed up the mountain. The van door fell off twice and the students got out and pushed about a dozen times before the driver gave up and turned around.

We hiked over the pass and saw the headwaters of the Yangtze River through rising rainclouds in the valley below. Heading down to the village, I got a scratchy call on my cell – the other vehicle, a tractor, had also turned around before the pass, and the group needed help with the bags.

I sent my group of students back up the hill to meet the others. The rain came. I sheltered in a hollow tree. Lightning flashed.

Shivering and alone inside a tree somewhere on a mountain in China, I thought – “So this is my job?”

2. Down in the Yi village we ate roasted potatoes for breakfast, pulled from the cooking fire coals.

3. Sure, this job is stressful. Last week a student went into shock crossing a pass near the Tibetan border. My co-instructor, Stew Motta, brought him down with the help of another student. Stew made the call to go to a hospital in town, so I turned back to meet up with the student who had helped with the evacuation.

By the time I reached the trailhead it is was late in the afternoon. We still had a 5 hour hike up over the pass. Short on time, I bargained with mule drivers for a ride up trail. They wanted 185 kwai. I was sweaty, frustrated, worried – and it wasn’t until halfway up the trail, on the back of a mule, passing prayer flags at 11,000 feet that I started to remember where I was.

4. Check out the view from the lodge we hiked into, looking up the valley to 6,740 meter high Kawa Karpo, a sacred mountain that’s never been summited.

5. And now, back in Kunming, we’re getting set to go south into Laos. You can see more photos and read posts by Mekong Semester students on the Yak Yak Board.

Thoughts on Coming Home to Luang Prabang

Tim Patterson — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 04:10:16 +0000

Monks collect morning alms in Luang Prabang.

One hour after landing in Luang Prabang, Allana and I were walking along the bank of the Nam Khan, looking for a fruit-shake and green papaya salad.

Laos is hot in August, and kids jumped from the roofs of riverboats, cannonballing into the brown current. Everything felt soft and slow and easy. “Laos has got to be the most chill country in the world,” said Allana.

It’s strange, how easily I find myself easing back into Luang Prabang. A few flights, a few airports, a night in Bangkok, one last flight up the Mekong and all of sudden I’m squeezing fresh limes into my noodle soup and stopping by Joma for coffee and air-con.

The rivers are higher than I’ve ever seen them before, and there aren’t many tourists this time of year.

Tourists, water – everything flows past Luang Prabang. Sometimes there’s more water, sometimes more falang, but the old woman still fans her cooking fire in the alleyway, and the monks will wake up early to collect their alms.

This town has never lost its calm.

2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award

Tim Patterson — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:00:21 +0000

Laos photos by wili_hybrid

Go Laos!

If you’re looking for a fine collection of travel websites, check out the nominees for the 2009 Ecotourism Spotlight Award, sponsored by Planeta.com.

Ecotourism Spotlight Award 2009

View more documents from ron mader.

Destinations

Community Connection to Laos

Ecotourism Laos, the official website of the Lao National Tourism Administration, gets my vote because it’s packed with information about the National Protected Areas of Laos.

I’ve been fortunate enough to explore some of the Lao Protected Areas, and they encompass some of the most epic landscapes and fascinating cultures on the planet.

The other nominees include Failte Ireland, the official tourism website for Quito, Ecuador and the Responsible Tourism Guide to the Mekong.

Please take a moment to cast your vote!

Civilization

Tim Patterson — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:01:35 +0000

Photo by gruntzooki

10 Good Reasons to Take A Gap Year Before College

Tim Patterson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:27:54 +0000

Photo by Brieze Levy

“Gap Year: A period of time taken by a student to travel or work, often after high school or before starting graduate school, as a break from formal education.” - dictionary.com

Many competitive colleges and universities encourage applicants to pursue a gap year option after graduating from high school.

The colleges believe that students who come to higher education with an extra year of life experience bring valuable perspective to the classroom.

“Taking a gap year in China was the best decision I ever made,” says Courtney Zenner, 26, who spent a year exploring China with the organization School Year Abroad.

“My experience in China exposed me to possibilities I never knew existed, taught me to think independently and allowed me to see the world.”

Photo by Kristin Brudevold

Courtney went on to graduate from Barnard College with a degree in Asian Studies and now leads semester programs in China and India.

Real world life experience gives gap year students a greater sense of personal direction and specific academic goals.

“I didn’t take a gap year, and I wish I had,” said Jessica Newman, 27, who is now an academic dean at South High-School in Denver, Colorado.

“Nobody knows exactly what they want to do when they’re eighteen years old. It’s smart to take time to figure out who you are before you rush into what you’re going to be.”

Gap years are popular with European and Australian students, but remain relatively rare in the Americas. However, in recent years more and more American students are preparing for college by taking a gap year.

Here are 10 good reasons for you to go for a gap year.

1. Learn About the World

Although gap years don’t have to involve foreign travel, most gap year students seize the opportunity to travel abroad.

Young people are able to figure out who they are and what inspires them.

This firsthand experience of unfamiliar cultures offers profound lessons, especially for curious and motivated young people.

After all, engaged travel is one of the best forms of genuine education.

2. Learn About Yourself

For students who grew up in a structured environment with clearly defined social, athletic and academic goals, gap years offer valuable personal freedom.

Young people are able to figure out who they are and what inspires them. During the gap year, they begin to emerge as self-actualized adults.

3. Have Fun

You only live once. A gap year bursting with travel, adventure, exploration and self-discovery can be a life-changing and intensely memorable experience.

4. Overcome Challenges

Make no mistake – a gap year isn’t time to slack off or take a vacation.

Gap year students usually work, volunteer or undertake self-directed service projects.

For many students, especially those from sheltered backgrounds, the gap year is a time to learn how to get along in the real world. This process isn’t always easy, but it is an essential part of growing up.

Photo by Adam Brooks

5. Save Money

There’s a common perception that gap years are only for wealthy students.

However, taking a gap year can actually save you money in the long run. Gap year students often work part-time as they travel, or volunteer for organizations that cover their expenses.

At the other end of the spectrum, structured gap year programs often offer college credit and cost less than college tuition.

The kicker is that by taking a gap year, students are much more likely to know what they want to study in college. Clear academic and career goals keep students from aimlessly drifting through 4 years of college and 3 years of graduate school at upwards of $40,000 per year.

6. Improve Your College Admission Chances

Imagine an admissions officer trying to decide between two applicants.

Both applicants boast impressive grades, scored high on the SATs, are highly recommended by their teachers and played varsity field hockey.

However, one applicant has volunteered for 8 months in East Africa, speaks some Swahili and is passionate about public health issues in developing countries.

Who do you think the admissions officer would choose?

7. Avoid the Social Pitfalls of College

Students who arrive at college with a full year of life experience under their belts are less likely to engage in risky behavior than students for whom college is their first intoxicating dose of freedom from parental supervision.

On this note, gap year students often become effective role models for their college classmates.

Photo by Camille Albouy

8. Find Your Academic Niche

College can be an opportunity to explore a wide range of academic disciplines, but students will get a lot more out of their education if they have at least a general idea of what they want to study, and what career their expensive education will prepare them for.

9. Learn A Foreign Language

Proficiency in a foreign language is an invaluable skill for young people in today’s interconnected world.

Living, working and traveling overseas is the best way to learn a foreign language, which means that gap year students who supplement their high-school Spanish with travel in Bolivia have a serious advantage over their peers.

10. Get Some Serious Perspective

Education, at its core, is about accumulating intimate knowledge of the world through a wide range of life experiences.

Nicholas Kristof, a Rhodes scholar, Pulitzer Prize winning author and star columnist for the New York Times has this to say about gap years:

The bottom line is that you’ll almost certainly learn more from a gap year than you will in any single year in college.

Community Connection

I personally recommend the gap year programs offered by Where There Be Dragons, an educational youth travel organization that specializes in cultural immersion in developing countries.

Introducing: Azriel Cohen

Tim Patterson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:21:09 +0000

Azriel

A long time ago I realized that I had ideas about people and places I only knew about through second hand sources.

I began to wonder if I had any wrong perceptions.

I could educate myself from afar, but all the material would be biased by the perception of the author/creator.

The other option was to have direct experiences.

So I found myself on an almost fifteen year quest (to almost 35 countries so far) to encounter not-yet-familiar humans, cultures, religions, animals, plants and landscapes.

I share the essence of my explorations through creativity – painting, photography, public speaking and writing.

In the backdrop always I’m conscious of being the eldest male in an unbroken lineage of rabbis reaching back a couple thousand years.

As I had almost no contact with anyone outside of the Orthodox Jewish community until my late 20’s, I am able to explore almost anything with the wonder-filled eyes of a child and the mind of a mature educated adult.

Connect With Azriel

Check out Azriel’s intriguing article about reconnecting to animals by exploring our primitive nature.

You can also get in touch with him by visiting his Matador profile or his homepage: www.azrielcohen.com.

TravelFish Wants YOU To Get Offline

Tim Patterson — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:28:48 +0000

Photos via Travelfish

Travelfish is a hugely popular online travel guide to Southeast Asia.

The success of Travelfish, Matador and other travel websites begs a questions – are travelers spending too much time online these days?

Here’s an open letter from Stuart MacDonald, the co-founder of Travelfish:

Despite the dour economic scene worldwide, it seems barely a week passes without a press release landing in my in-tray proclaiming yet another internet travel site destined to be the best thing since padded moneybelts.

The higher-tech sites promise things like localizing content depending on where you are (via your laptop or mobile phone) and telling you how far down the road the guesthouse is — but if you pass another guesthouse while walking down Khao San Road in Bangkok you might get a text from them telling you they are offering a 50% off deal if you check-in during the next hour.

Is that really as absurd as it sounds?

Obviously running a website like Travelfish, we hope to help travelers plan and enjoy their trip, but has travel become too wired?

It’s a sign of the times that it is considered normal to walk into a guesthouse and see it full of travelers gazing into their laptops, checking their Facebook page, updating their travel blog, uploading their photos, Twittering, ranting on Lonely Planet’s Thorntree or, yes, cruising Travelfish.

Just a few years ago, walking into a scene like that would have been decidedly odd.

How is this changing travel?

People’s sources of travel intelligence are morphing.

Largely gone are the days of guesthouse comment books, once immensely valuable tomes full of snippets and travel advice. Instead people search travel websites for up-to-date info.

Why ask a stranger in the common room where a good cafe is when you can simultaneously ask a million people through Twitter on your laptop?

Why use a guidebook when a savvy website will localize content to your iPhone and recommend the best guesthouse within 100 metres of where you are standing based on your past reservation preferences?

Why swap addresses when you can just swap phone numbers or email addresses on your Blackberry? When was the last time on the road you actually exchanged postal addresses with another traveler?

What happens when you leave your laptop, iPhone and Blackberry at home? Remember Poste Restante?

All these new ways of collecting travel intelligence can be great, but when it comes to up-to-date information they are rarely a substitute for sitting down with a complete stranger and swapping notes.

So try it: Switch off your laptop, walk across the room and introduce yourself to another traveler — you’ll be surprised just how much untapped information is sitting right there in the guesthouse common room with you.

And, of course, once you’re done chatting, be sure to get the laptop back on and post the information on Travelfish quicksmart — or at least throw in your two cents about wired travel on the Travelfish forum.

What Do You Think?

Hey there, wired traveler. What do you think about the profusion of online travel guides? Please leave a comment below.

Nicholas Kristof Explains How To Evade Bandits

Tim Patterson — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:10:00 +0000

Nicholas Kristof, one of Matador’s favorite international journalists, has an odd opinion column in this week’s Sunday New York Times.

Photo by Alicepopkorn Feature photo by Turkairo

The crusading journalist Nicholas Kristof has long been an advocate of educational travel programs for high-school and college students. In 2006 he called for universities to offer college credit for gap year programs and independent travel.

Visionary, right? But the proposal went nowhere.

His latest column starts out on familiar ground, with Kristof criticizing American universities for their narrow approach to the study of pressing global issues:

One of the great failures of American universities is that they are far too parochial, rarely exposing students to worlds beyond our borders.

But then he gets to the sticking point….

FEAR FEAR FEAR

According to Kristof, a big part of why American students hesitate to travel is fear for their safety, so he wraps his argument for educational travel in 15 rather ridiculous travel safety tips.

Tip # 14. If terrorists finger you, break out singing “O Canada”!

Seriously?

Well, maybe if you’re a habitual visitor to Sudan, Iraq, North Korea and the Congo, it makes sense to “lift the sheet to look for bloodstains on the mattress”.

But Kristof knows as well as anyone that international travel is a safe and deeply educational experience.

His safety tips are an attention grabber, a desperate attempt at building viral buzz. The real message comes in the last tip:

Tip # 15: Don’t be so cautious that you miss the magic of escaping your comfort zone and mingling with local people and staying in their homes. The risks are minimal compared with the wonders of spending time in a small village. So take a gap year, or volunteer in a village or a slum.

And even if everything goes wrong and you are robbed and catch malaria, shrug it off — those are precisely the kinds of authentic interactions with local cultures that, in retrospect, enrich a journey and life itself.

Why is educational travel important?

Check out my essay Youth Travel Programs Are Vital To Our Security.

To read Nicholas Kristof’s complete column, check out Cum Laude In Evading Bandits.

For an organization that offers the finest student travel programs in the developing world, check out Where There Be Dragons.

10 Extraordinarily Useful Japanese Phrases For Travelers

Tim Patterson — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:05:32 +0000

Tokyo photo by oimax———-Feature photo by skyseeker

Going to Japan? Here are some Japanese phrases to memorize on the plane.

This post is dedicated to Sarah Menkedick, who is currently learning Japanese in Nagoya, Japan.

Some of these Japanese phrases are practical. Some of them are funny. All 10 will greatly enhance your trip to Japan.

All of the phrases are pretty informal, especially the one about crapping your pants.

Note that I spell the phrases phonetically in the bold text, but spell them with the most common romanization of the Japanese characters when explaining a point.

Confused already? Don’t worry about it.

Keitai girl by scion02

1. “Yo-ro-sh-ku o-neh-gai-shi-mus.”

This phrase is absolute magic. Say “yoroshiku” to any Japanese person in any situation and they will help you with anything and everything you need. It’s impossible to translate literally, but means something to the effect of “please do your best and treat me well”.

If you memorize nothing else before going to Japan, remember “yoroshiku” and you’re totally set. “Onegaishimasu” is a common word that means something similar to “please”.

2. “Yosh. Gahn-bah-di-mus.”

This phrase means something like, “OK, I’m going for it,” or “I’ll do my best”. A Japanese would say “Ganbarimasu” before taking a test, or leaving the house for a job interview.

Japanese people will crack up if you say it before walking outside, eating noodles or using a vending machine. Try saying it before using useful phrase # 8.

3. “Ara! Onara suru tsu-mori datta keh-do, un-chi ga de-chatta.”

The literal translation of this useful phrase is “Oops! I meant to fart but poop came out”.

Saying this useful phrase never gets old, especially in public places, especially on a first date and most especially if it’s clearly one of only 10 Japanese phrases that you’ve memorized.

When in Southeast Asia, I especially enjoy muttering in Japanese about crapping my pants while walking past Japanese tourists. The reactions are priceless.

4. “Mo da-meh. Yoh-para-chatta. Go-men.”

At some point during your stay, Japanese people will probably try to make you drink past your limit. That’s when this phrase comes in handy. It means something like, “No more, I’m already drunk, sorry.”

Photo by Jenny Webber

5. “Ko-ko wa do-ko? Wa-ta-shi wa da-reh?” Na-ni mo wah-kah-nai.”

Where is this? Who am I? I don’t understand anything.

This is what you say after failing to use useful phrase # 4 in time.

6. “Ee-show ni kah-rah-o-keh ni ee-koh ka?”

Shall we go to karaoke together? This is a good line to use if trying to pick someone up from the bar. Think of karaoke as a transition point between the bar and the love hotel.

Note – please don’t pronounce karaoke with lots of EEE sounds. It should sound like “kah-rah-o-keh” not “carry-oh-key”.

7. “Hon-toe ni oh-ee-shee des yo!”

Use this one when eating. It means something like, “For real, it’s delicious!”

Hontou ni means “for real” or “really” or “I’m not kidding.” Japanese people are always telling sweet little white lies, so dropping a “hontou ni” from time to time is very much appreciated.

8. “Ah-nah-tah wa ha-ruh no ee-chee ban no sah-ku-rah yo-ree u-tsu-ku-shee.”

This classic Japanese pick-up line means “You’re more beautiful than the first cherry blossom of spring.”

Destinations

Community Connection to Japan

9. “Ni-hon dai-skee”.

Japan is the best. I love Japan. When in doubt, just smile, nod and repeat.

10. “Koh-nah ni kee-ray na to-ko-ro wa hah-jee-meh-teh mee-tah!”

Japanese people love it when you gush about their country. This phrase means, “I’ve never seen a place so beautiful before”.

Bust it out at famous attractions and you’ll meet with instant approval.

Want To Live In Japan?

Check out: How To Get A Job Teaching In Japan

Do You Speak Any Japanese?

Help us all out by sharing a useful phrase in the comments section below.

Help BraveNewTraveler.com Reach 4000 Subscribers!

Tim Patterson — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:16:06 +0000

I might not be editing BNT these days, and I’m not getting naked for the video this time around, but Ian and Christine are turning out fantastic articles, so if you haven’t subscribed to BNT yet, be sure to help them reach the goal!

Help BNT hit 4000 subscribers!

After all, it’s not every day you get to see a man as pale as Ian run naked down a beach…..

http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/subscribe/

Taj Mahal Video

Tim Patterson — Fri, 15 May 2009 13:33:38 +0000

The Taj Mahal is a monument to love.

Destinations

Community Connection to India

Lonely Planet author Sarina Singh shares the secrets of the Taj Mahal in this beautiful video.

The dark love story of the magnificent monument is fascinating. If you’ve seen the Taj, is there any other man-made structure in the world that could possibly match its beauty?

Going to India?

Be sure to read 10 Indian Customs To Know Before You Visit India.

Feature photo by Matador member Vlogabond.

Thanks For Stopping By!

Tim Patterson — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:29:40 +0000

Hello, readers! We’re glad you’re here and hope you stick around a while.

Have you checked out the new Matador Network?

Wanted: DuBabel Correspondent

Tim Patterson — Mon, 11 May 2009 12:00:31 +0000

Photo taken from the Burj Dubai by 7-70. Feature photo by millyarder.

Is Dubai a modern day Babel?

Few places exemplify the surreal juxtapositions of the modern age like the boom-town of Dubai.

Dubai is a city built on bubbles and sand, a free market playground for the global elite.

Yet Dubai is also a labor camp for countless economic migrants, a dictatorship where an obscenely wealthy prince was recently caught torturing an Afghan merchant, then driving over him in a Mercedes SUV.

Photo by Sharif

DuBabel?

Here at Matador, we wonder if Dubai might be a modern day Babel, a place where ambition outstrips empathy.

The tower of Babel fell because the men who built it were unable to communicate with each other. Does the same communication gap divide the bankers and bricklayers of Dubai?

After all, the official website of the Burj Dubai Tower, the highest in the world, has this for a slogan:

Burj Dubai will be known by many names. But only a privileged group of people will call it home.

The Burj Dubai under construction. Joi

We Want Your Voice

If you are an ex-pat living in Dubai, we want to hear from you. We want your dispatches from the front-lines of the global economy.

You will be our Dubabel correspondent, so we expect a somewhat critical take on things. Your writing should target the gap between the height of excess and the reality of mortal limits.

“The New Mecca” by George Saunders is, in our opinion, the pinnacle of Dubabel journalism. Too bad it’s not available online, but you can listen to a long excerpt here and read an interview with Saunders over at Worldhum.

Finally, it’s OK if you like Dubai, and it’s even better if you love it.

After all, if you didn’t care about the place, you couldn’t write about it well.

Interested?

Please leave a comment below with a link to something you’ve written about Dubai, and we’ll get back to you.

For details about what writing for Matador entails, please visit our guidelines.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

The Tower Of Babel by Brueghel

Abha, Matador’s expert on Dubai, left a PR job in the UAE after reading the inspirational book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts.

Here are some Dubai blogs we enjoy:

Secret Dubai Diary

One Big Construction Site

Dubai Consumer Mirror

Dubai Thoughts

The Corrupting Influence Of The City!

Tim Patterson — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:10:20 +0000

Essential reading for hippy world travelers.

Photo by NeilsPhotography___Feature photo by Ramona.Forcella

If you’re off traveling and are suddenly crippled by a horrific attack of Campylobacter jejuni after eating some under-cooked chicken, would you prefer to be treated by a Doctor — who, you know, has an understanding of the germ theory of disease — or have raw pig’s blood slathered on your face by a man who has never washed his hands?

I mean, I like “local color”, too, but I also like people who know how to build school-houses and hospitals, and who don’t believe that their neighbor can make their “cattle fly off into a vortex of clouds”.

(Turns out pig’s blood can also be used to ward off Thai witches and Cambodian cattle rustlers, as well as cure every sort of disease in Laos.)

dirty bodega

The truth is, the inhabitants of rural areas — most particularly in the Third World, though this is true of parts of Europe as well — are not lovely repositories of authentic culture.

(To be fair: while I suppose being slathered in pig’s blood is ‘authentic’ in the basic sense that it is what they would do to one of their own, that isn’t an argument for trying it, nor for enjoying it.)

In fact, the further you get from the cities, the more viciously backwards with respect to medicine, hygiene and hospitality the people get…and, eventually, you reach places where the word ‘culture’ is completely inapplicable, and your life is seriously in danger.

Give me Allopathic Medicine, hot water, Das Pergamonmuseum and a nice chèvre en brioche, any day.

None for you, though, because you think that “cities all over the world are pretty homogenized”.

Ugh…not even someone who checked into the nearest Hilton as soon as they arrived in every city they ever visited could be so deluded!

Within a hundred miles of Paris alone there are fifty unique cultures, and a few dozen argots. The same could be said for Barcelona, Glasgow, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Florence…

They all include nice clean beds, and clean food, too!

(Anyway, if you’d like to try to argue that there is no ‘culture’ in Paris or Barcelona…or that they are ‘homogeneous’…well…)

- Jordan

Editor’s Note

The essay you just read is a response to a popular article I wrote called How To Travel The World For Free.

In the article, I advised broke travelers to stick to rural areas instead of cities. Perhaps I went too far when I wrote the following in the discussion that followed my original post:

In my experience, culture is best preserved and practiced in rural areas. In this globalized age, cities all over the world are pretty homogenized – especially wealthy downtowns.

Sure, there are museums and restaurants, but real, living, vibrant culture – the blend of traditions unique to place – is best preserved in the countryside, away from corrupting influence.

The essay above, one of several smartly written rebukes, was a comment from “Jordan”.

Jordan, if you’re out there, thanks for making your voice heard.

-Tim Patterson

COMMUNITY CONNECTION:

Here’s a lyrical essay about a pig slaughter in Nicaragua by Teresa, a contributing editor her at the Matador Network.

Also, check out a recent New York Times feature that shows how big U.S. pig farming companies like Smithfield are changing the farming culture of Eastern Europe.

Pico Iyer On “Why We Travel”

Tim Patterson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:34:23 +0000

Why We Travel is a classic essay from the world’s greatest living travel writer, Pico Iyer.

Worldhum.com recently republished one of my favorite essays – Why We Travel by Pico Iyer – as part of their 8th anniversary celebration.

The essay is an absolute masterwork.

Why We Travel elucidates the inner journey of travel in Iyer’s classic style of lyrical juxtaposition.

Where There Be Dragons

Here’s an excerpt:

The sovereign freedom of traveling comes from the fact that it whirls you around and turns you upside down, and stands everything you took for granted on its head. If a diploma can famously be a passport (to a journey through hard realism), a passport can be a diploma (for a crash course in cultural relativism). And the first lesson we learn on the road, whether we like it or not, is how provisional and provincial are the things we imagine to be universal.

Isn’t that a fabulous quote? The whole essay is even better.

For years, some Where There Be Dragons programs have used Why We Travel as the first reading assignment, simply because it captures the magic of exploration so well.

If you haven’t read Why We Travel yet, read it now. If you have read it, read it again.

And while you’re at Worldhum, make sure to say congrats to Jim and Mike for eight – !!! 8 !!! – years of publishing fantastic travel stories.

Glimpse.org Is Worth A Long Look

Tim Patterson — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:20:29 +0000

Photo: satbir

I’ll be honest.

For a long time – over a year – I received e-mail updates from Glimpse.org and archived each and every one of them without going to the website.

Tonight, jet-lagged and on fast internet for the first time in months, I decided to give Glimpse another look, and I’ve got one word for you:

Wow.

OK, here are a few more words about Glimpse.

The site layout is clean, attractive and much easier to navigate than it was the last time I visited.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a feature article by Matador Abroad co-editor Sarah Menkedick on the front page. Since the article was originally published back in 2007, it shows that Glimpse is doing a good job of dredging the best content from their archives and placing it where you can easily find it.

Read: Alan the Afrikaner (Who May Not Be The Racist Pig I Took Him For)

Student Travel (Mostly)

Glimpse was originally geared towards young people with interest in study abroad. Although it’s still geared towards students, travelers of any age can appreciate the feature articles and social aspects of the community. In fact, it seems like the new Glimpse, with its emphasis on user-generated and professionally edited content, is a lot like Matador.

Correspondents Program

Now this is cool. The Glimpse Correspondents Program is a $600 grant that any North American between 18 and 30 who is traveling abroad for more than 10 weeks can apply for. Along with the money comes a professional editor who will work with you to produce top-quality articles and multi-media – a great platform for launching a travel writing career.

National Geographic Approved

When I see the National Geographic logo, I know I’m looking at quality. Glimpse is supported by National Geographic. ‘Nuf said.

Have you checked out Glimpse recently?

What do you think of the site? Please leave a comment below.

Introducing: Spencer Klein

Tim Patterson — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:12:30 +0000

The moon was high in Boquete after several drinks and someone said “Central America is going through puberty.” We laughed, but it’s true. These are delicate times.

I’m fired up on: Positivity. Action. The ability to create. Making sense. And the release of self-image.

Who I’d like to meet on my travels: Thich Nhat Hahn

Ideal place to watch the sunset: Sitting on my board on the water.

Sports I do: Surfing, soccer, tennis, bacce.

Before I die I’d like to: Live, and think much of death, and then live more and better, always with death in mind.

About me: The only thing you can count on is change.

Read Spencer Klein’s Matador feature articles:

When Maximo Was Our Captain: Surfing Bocas

Another End Of The Road: Searching For Surf In Centroamerica

My Hometown In 500 Words: Virginia Beach, VA

Connect with Spencer Klein on Matador

I (Heart) Transitions Abroad

Tim Patterson — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:18:50 +0000

In 1991 I was a Little League pitcher for the Durham Mets. Stepping out onto the mound was always pure magic. I felt like a big-shot in my uniform, hurling 45 mph fastballs.

Once in a while, though, the high-school baseball team would be practicing at the same time, on the full-size field across the lot, and I’d be reminded that I still had a lot of growing up to do.

Writing and editing for Matador Abroad in 2009 is just as big a thrill as pitching for the Mets was back in 4th grade. This independent online travel community is growing fast, and I’ve got no doubt that we’ll make the big leagues soon.

But sometimes I look over the fence, to where the big kids practice, and I remember that Matador Abroad has a lot of catching up to do. Since 1977 Transitions Abroad has been the leading resource for global citizens, vagabonds and every dreamer who stares for hours at world maps, imagining possibilities.

It’s my dream to build Matador Abroad into a resource that’s just as empowering and inspiring as Transitions Abroad has been for so many people. After another 32 years, I hope both websites will still be going strong.

Check out the archives of travel resources at Transitions Abroad. It’s a treasure trove of articles, links and advice. If you like what you see, give a shout-out to Gregory Hubbs, the editor and publisher of Transitions Abroad.

You can find his profile right here on Matador.

Introducing: Baxter Jackson

Tim Patterson — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:08:13 +0000

My goal is to visit every country on earth before I die. I’m 36 now and have only seen 21% of it, think I’ll make it?

Hometown: Corpus Christi, Texas

Currently in: Ibri, Oman

Who I’d like to meet on my travels: Sultan Qaboos, Vladimir Putin, the Brah Boys

Traveling Next: Tanzania, insh’allah

Matador Profile: Baxter Jackson

Matador Articles by Baxter: Arabian Bull Wrestling; Dreaming In Arabic, Learning In Yemen; Muslim Fear: How Teaching In Oman taught Me The Shades Of Islam

10 Travel Jobs Within Your Reach

Tim Patterson — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:09:39 +0000

Photo zeandroid Feature photo skino

You love to travel. You hate your job. Maybe a travel job is right for you.

Despite the economic gloom and doom, there are millions of jobs available these days. Many of these jobs require extensive travel or even relocation overseas.

Some of the travel jobs on this list pay better than others. Some demand specific qualifications, while others are available to just about anyone who can speak English and button their shirt. Most are best suited to young people without major attachments.

All of these travel jobs promise overseas adventure and exposure to foreign cultures, so put aside the local classifieds and explore a world of possibility!

English Teacher

English teaching jobs are ridiculously easy to find in many parts of the world. It helps to have a college degree or ESL certification, but these qualifications aren’t mandatory. The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program is one of the best English teaching gigs, but there are countless other opportunities in every corner of the world.

Top 10 Places For Teaching English Abroad

Tour Guide

Photo by Marcin Wichary

Tour guiding jobs are plentiful if you already know a place well and have good social skills. You can either freelance, using the web to attract clients, or you can apply for a job with an established tour company. It helps to have a particular skill or hobby that you can share with your clients, like mountain biking or birdwatching.

Tour Guide: The Right Job For You?

Sailor (Navy)

Even when the last factory in America has closed, the military will still be hiring. There are a ton of reasons why this situation sucks, but a Navy job actually isn’t all bad. You’re very unlikely to see combat, and you’ll definitely get to see the world.

Join the Navy, See the World

Sailor (Yachts)

Photo by sharkbait

If you can’t picture yourself on an aircraft carrier, how about a luxurious yacht? Rich people need crews to help them get around, and qualified sailors with good people skills can travel the world in style by hanging out in fancy ports and making connections with the global elite.

How To Travel The World By Crewing On Yachts

Travel Writer

Becoming a travel writer is easy. Earning a decent income from travel writing is more difficult. However, if you can write fairly well and are web-savvy, it’s possible to sustain your travels on writing income alone.

Matador Travel Writing School

Geologist

Becoming a geologist will take some time and money, but once you get your degree the travel and employment opportunities are mind-blowing. Our hunger for fossil-fuel energy isn’t going to end anytime soon, and people who can sniff out the world’s last stashes of oil will always score high-paying work in exotic locales.

Becoming A Geologist

Peace Corp Volunteer

Photo by army.mil

Wait a second, you say. Don’t Peace Corp volunteers get paid pennies? Well, yes, but how does good health insurance, student loan deferrals and a solid $5,000 bonus after the end of your service sound?

Peace Corp Official Site

Importer / Exporter

There are cheap widgets for sale in China. Americans love widgets. So go to China, buy cheap widgets, and sell them in America. Done and done.

How To Start Your Own Import / Export Business

Host / Hostess

Photo by Timothy Lloyd

Japanese men and women will pay you hundreds of dollars to flirt with them in smoky bars. Hey, it beats English teaching…

So You Want To Be A Bar Hostess?

Diplomat

Yup, the foreign service is hiring. If you read The New York Times and don’t smoke pot you’re probably qualified. Being a diplomat isn’t all fun and games, but the pay is decent and you’ll have good job security.

The Life Of A Diplomat

Final Notes

Done with travel and want to find a job back home? How To Make Travel Look Good On A Resume is a must read.

An excellent resource for finding travel jobs is the website Transitions Abroad.

And remember, if you can’t find a travel job you can always travel the world for free.

If you have a suggestion, question or just want to rant, please leave a comment below.

Introducing: Okinawa Wildlife Photographer

Tim Patterson — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 06:10:58 +0000

I am a retired USMC Engineer who decided to spend the rest of my days behind the lens viewer of a camera. Wildlife is my specialty.

I’m fired up on showing the the world Okinawa and its unique culture through photography.

Let’s collaborate: Wildlife/Travel Photographer looking to collaborate with any publications interested in my photos from Okinawa, Japan.

Matador Profile: Ryukyu Mike

Photography Website: Mike’s Ryukyu Gallery

Travel Blog Entry: Katsuren Castle

Travel’s Most Mysterious Gift

Tim Patterson — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 17:20:37 +0000

Salalah, Oman. Photo by Baxter Jackson

“The rhetorical disaster of proclaiming war on terror is now becoming clear. The world is full of terror, just as it is filled with beauty and kindness. It can never be exterminated, only borne.

Every traveler knows this – every traveler expects it – because an understanding of our world’s shifting ambiguities is travel’s most mysterious gift.”

-Tom Bissell

from Over There: How America Sees the Rest of the World, a collection of narrative essays published by Granta.

Introducing: An Olympian Travel Writer In South Korea

Tim Patterson — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:07:53 +0000

I teach at a college in South Korea. I hate mayonnaise. I also do a lot of traveling and writing. My stuff has appeared at various sites on the net and even won an award (hooray).

I’m fired up on writing stories and travelogues, playing rock and roll music, riding motorcycles, fly fishing, acting, traveling, hiking, performing comedy, and drinking copious amounts of liquor.

I felt the most immersed in a foreign culture the first time I ate eel in Korea, watching the segments squirm and slither as they cooked in the pan…

Matador Profile: Tharp42 – Olympian Travel Writer

Award-Winning Travel Story: The Worst Motorcycle In Laos

Personal Blog Homely Planet

Meet Me On The Mekong

Tim Patterson — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:30:58 +0000

photo and feature map: Where There Be Dragons

Join Matador contributing editor Tim Patterson on the inaugural Mekong River semester program offered by Where There Be Dragons.

I’m typing on the banks of the Mekong River near the sleepy town of Tha Khaek, a provincial capital in central Laos. It’s dry season now, and children are playing soccer on sandbars that extend into the river channel.

Tomorrow I’ll trek up a tributary of the Mekong into the rugged limestone mountains of central Khammuan Province, one of the most remote parts of Southeast Asia. A major dam has just been built here, flooding a vast region of upland forest and producing electricity that fuels economic growth and rapid modernization.

This fall, I’ll return to Laos with 12 students and 2 co-instructors to lead the inaugural Mekong Semester for the educational youth travel company Where There Be Dragons.

Want to come along?

photo Where There Be Dragons

Dragons programs are rugged learning adventures designed for open-minded students who are willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of discovery. Semester programs last for three months and feature extended home-stays, trekking and in-depth studies of issues related to development, ecology, culture and politics.

The Mekong Semester will follow the river from the Himalayan glaciers of China’s Yunnan province into Laos, settling into an extended stay in the ancient royal capital of Luang Prabang before wrapping up in Cambodia.

The trip will be challenging, both in terms of travel and academic rigor. We want students who are curious about the world, ready to immerse themselves in foreign cultures and willing to take a hard look at the realities of development in remote parts of Asia.

photo Where There Be Dragons

If you’re a high-school senior looking for a gap-year option, or a college student who needs an adventure, please check out the full program description at Where There Be Dragons. Most of the spots for the fall semester are already full, but there are a few openings left for the right applicants.

You can also feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions – though I’ll be way out of WiFi range for the next few days!

Put Some Damn Clothes On!

Tim Patterson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 12:08:13 +0000

Photo by The Philosophy Of Travel
Feature photo by Stinkie Pinkie

Hey you, backpacker girl. Yes you, in the halter top and jean shorts, drinking a banana shake by the Mekong.

Would you walk down the street topless in Brisbane or Stockholm or Boston?

Sorry, don’t mean to offend you. It’s just that the way you’re dressed is totally inappropriate for this place. Look around at the local women – do you see any bare shoulders?

No, don’t point to the bar down the street. Those women are prostitutes.

The fact is, wearing skimpy clothes in Southeast Asia makes YOU look like a prostitute. Sure, the locals are used to backpacker fashion by now, and if you stick to the banana pancake trail, you won’t get more than a few uncomfortably long looks.

Not impressed by backpacker fashion.
Photo by Akuppa

But if you venture outside the tourist zones and – gasp – actually attempt to interact with local people on more than the most superficial level, your bare skin will be totally offensive. You can get around the language barrier to make genuine connections, but flouting cultural norms separates you from the locals as effectively as razor wire.

Show A Little Respect

OK, OK. You’re on holiday. You’re here to have fun, try some new food and maybe hook up with that dreamy English guy who you met tubing in Vang Vieng. You’re not in Laos to be some sort of freelance ambassador.

But, just for a moment, imagine what your grandparents would say if rich, rowdy, foreigners – perhaps Russians, or Africans, or Eskimos – started pouring into your hometown wearing nothing but body paint, leather boots and thongs. Poor Grandma would wonder what the world was coming to, wouldn’t she.

So show a little respect. Buy a sarong in the local market, put away your tube-tops and for Buddha’s sake, please cover up if you visit a temple.

Hippie Bombs

Photo by JonRawlinson

Backpacker guys, you’re not off the hook. When was the last time you showered? Did you use soap?

Dreads and stubble might show off how far-out you’ve gone on your travels, but in Southeast Asia personal hygiene is of utmost importance. Be neat. Be clean. Wash your hair.

America might not be dropping cluster bombs on Southeast Asia anymore, but hippie-bombs are also disruptive to local culture. Take care of your appearance, and you’ll get a lot more out of your travels.

What say you, readers? Am I too harsh on tube-tops? Please leave a comment below.

Other Matador articles to check out include Has Travel Chanel Sunk To A New Low With Bridget’s Sexiest Beaches? and the classic Budget Travelers Are Hippie Scum.

Is The JET Program The Right Job For You?

Tim Patterson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 04:36:53 +0000

Feature photo and photo above by Abram

The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program is one of the best overseas jobs available to college graduates who are completely unqualified to do anything else.

JET is a Japanese government program that places English speaking foreigners in public schools throughout Japan, primarily in rural and suburban areas. The purpose of the program encompasses cultural exchange along with language instruction. The department that sponsors JET wants to expose ordinary Japanese citizens to foreigners while also encouraging foreigners to learn first-hand about Japanese culture.

Since actual teaching is only part of the job description, you don’t need teaching experience or certification to qualify for JET. You don’t need to speak any Japanese either. Indeed, for recent college graduates who find themselves with dim job prospects, student loans and a semi-useless liberal arts degree, JET can be an absolute lifesaver.

How To Apply

You must apply for JET in your home country. The first step is a paper application. If you don’t screw that up, you’ll be scheduled for an interview at the nearest Japanese consulate.

Dress as well as you can for the interview. You should look and act like a young Republican. Come prepared to demonstrate three things: emotional stability, an interest in learning about Japan and basic teaching ability. Be sure to have a 5 minute lesson plan ready to deliver.

If all goes well, you’ll get a letter of acceptance followed by a specific assignment to a school system somewhere in Japan.

photo by Abram

Payment and Responsibilities

JET pays well, especially when the yen is strong against the dollar. You’ll make the equivalent of about $35,000 per year. Rent is often free or subsidized, and since most JET placements are in the countryside, your overall cost of living will be quite low.

Job responsibilities vary, but are rarely more demanding than 25 hours of team-taught lessons per week. Your main job is to be a good guest – show up on time, be appreciative and stay out of trouble. For ambitious personalities JET can be boring, but if you just want to enjoy Japan with lots of free time and minimal responsibilities, it’s absolutely perfect. The Japanese are warm, welcoming and generous to foreigners.

JET requires a one-year contractual commitment, with the option to re-contract for one or two additional years. Many JET participants use the money to pay off student loans or travel in other parts of Asia; some fall in love with either Japan or a Japanese person and stay on. Some people can’t take the culture shock, waste the year drinking and then hightail it back home.

JET won’t be the best job you ever have, or a life-long career, but for young people who want to make some money and experience a foreign culture, it’s a great opportunity.

For more information:

Jet Program Official Site

Big Daikon

How To Get A Job Teaching In Japan

Now Is The Time To Go Abroad…Or Is It?

Tim Patterson — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:09:03 +0000

Taking a break from the US of A might be a very smart move. Or one of the biggest mistakes of your life.

Are you thinking of abandoning the American Titanic for a lifeboat abroad, traveling overseas to spend a year or two teaching English in Japan, blogging from Buenos Aires or just bumming around Laos on $5 per day? Here’s something to consider before you take the plunge.

Apart from his well-intentioned and misguided attempts to sustain the unsustainable U.S. economy, President Obama has sent two strong messages in his short time in office. Both of these messages have implications for people like me, who struggle to balance extended overseas travel with the desire for a more stable lifestyle that is grounded in one community.

Americans Welcome!

The first message, directed to the global community, is that the Bush era of bellicose foreign policy is over. Obama is determined to usher in a new era of international cooperation, and has even reached out to Iran.

These diplomatic overtures and the change of tone in Washington mean one thing for travelers: After 8 long, shameful years, it’s once again OK to be an American abroad. Even in places like Iran, strangers are greeting Americans with hospitality. Job opportunities are opening overseas, and even the State Department is hiring. Vibrant countries with low costs of living look like great harbors to weather the economic storm.

What an opportunity for American travelers! But don’t buy that one-way ticket to Tehran just yet…

Better To Put Down Roots?

The second message from the new administration suggests this may be a time to get grounded. An organic vegetable garden is being planted on the South Lawn of the White House.

The symbolic gesture of the White House vegetable garden demonstrates the importance of getting back to basics, renewing our connection to the Earth and nurturing healthy, local and self-sufficient economies.

No matter how you break it down, jetting off to another continent in search of work or adventure is not a sustainable activity. Shouldn’t we learn to grow our own potatoes instead of sampling an international buffet? Shouldn’t the recession be a time for reflection?

What say you, readers? Please leave a comment below.

Student Travel In Tibet

Tim Patterson — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 06:55:00 +0000

For intellectually curious high-school students who are ready for rugged travel, the Tibetan regions of the central Asian plateau offer profound learning adventures.

I’ve often written about the importance of youth travel programs, both for the individual students who are exposed to a foreign culture and for the international community, which desperately needs to foster a generation of empowered global citizens.

However, just as not all youth travel organizations are created equal, not all destinations offer the same degree of experiential education. One place that does provide motivated students with truly transformational and deeply educational travel experiences is the Tibetan plateau.

Tibet is a life-changing destination for two reasons. One, it is home to a culture remarkably different from any in the West. Many would argue that traditional Tibetan culture holds many lessons for the West.

Second, Tibet is place wrapped up in illusion and propaganda. Facts about Tibet are hard to come by, and first-hand travel experiences are extremely valuable. Most foreigners who travel to Tibet are confined by draconian regulations and only see a handful of government approved sites. Some student travel programs, however, are able to go deeper into Tibetan culture and explore places few tourists would get to see.

Where There Be Dragons is offering a 6 week Tibet student travel program for 16 – 18 year old students this summer. Last year, the Dragons Tibet trip was rerouted to Ladakh (a culturally Tibetan area of India) because of political tensions, but the students were able to meet with the Dalai Lama. This year, everyone at Dragons has fingers crossed for the Tibet Autonomous Region to open.

Whether the Tibet program is in Ladakh or in Tibet proper, the Dragons program will be a deeply profound journey for the right students.

For more info. check out Where There Be Dragons.

Nine Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Educational Summer Travel Program

Tim Patterson — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:33:02 +0000

Feature photo and photo above courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

Educational travel programs for high-school students are not all created equal. Know what you’re getting before making a commitment.

Each summer, thousands of North American high-school students travel abroad with organizations that specialize in educational travel programs.

Many of these lucky students return home with increased self-confidence, a heightened understanding of global issues, fabulous photos for Facebook, and a college essay topic that will impress even the most ruthless Ivy League admissions officer.

Parents and students who decide to invest in an educational travel program should be applauded, but choosing the right program is a daunting and complicated task. Dozens of organizations specialize in youth travel, and among these organizations there are tremendous variations in travel style, educational philosophy, and overall quality.

When it comes to youth travel programs, making the right choice requires extensive research and careful consideration. The following questions will help you make sense of your options.

1. What Risk-Management Policies Are in Place?

Every student travel company will tell you participant safety is their number one priority, but you should ask about their specific risk-management policies. At a minimum, trip instructors should be certified Wilderness First Responders, have extensive in-country experience, and be backed up by a qualified emergency services provider.

Student behavior is a greater risk than riots, floods, or bacteria. Does the program tacitly allow students to drink alcohol? Are students allowed to ride motor-bikes or hook-up with each other?

The travel company will probably insist that students are not allowed to engage in risky behavior, but ask former participants how strict their leaders were and you might get a more honest response.

Finally, it’s important to recognize that travel in developed countries like France or Argentina is not necessarily any less dangerous than travel in poor countries like Cambodia or Bolivia.

A qualified and experienced instructor team operating under carefully prepared risk management policies is the best line of defense against accident, injury, and illness.

Photo courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

2. How Many Students Are in a Group?

Small is beautiful. A travel group of 10-12 students is an ideal size, but 16 is too many and anything above 20 will guarantee a lack of instructor supervision and a cookie-cutter experience.

Ask if student groups will ever be combined. Some youth travel companies operate in-country base camps where several groups of students live at the same time. This is not an ideal scenario because it resembles summer camp – students will spend their time frantically forming cliques and be less likely to immerse themselves in the local culture or learn something new.

3. What Is The Instructor / Student Ratio?

Just as important as small group size is a low instructor to student ratio. One instructor for every four students is solid, one for every six is risky and one for every 10 is dangerous and irresponsible.

A low student-instructor ratio helps instructors keep close tabs on student health and behavior while giving students lots of individual attention. If only two instructors are trying to keep track of 20 students, they will not be able to do anything more than take attendance and make sure students are on the tour bus every morning.

Likewise, if an instructor gets sick, or needs to leave the group in order to escort a student to a hospital, it’s important to have at least two instructors who can stay behind and keep the group safe.

4. What Are the Instructors’ Qualifications?

Beyond basic qualifications like first aid training, ask if instructors are professional educators or just glorified baby-sitters.

How old is the average instructor? Many organizations hire recent college graduates or even current college students, which is asking for trouble.

How much in-country experience do the instructors have? Some organizations hire instructors who have never been to the country where the group will travel.

Finally, are the instructors even called instructors, or are they ‘guides’ or ‘counselors’? A guide leads a tour group and a counselor works at summer camp. If you’re looking for a genuinely educational travel experience, examine the credentials of the instructors with great care.

Photo courtesy of Where There Be Dragons.

5. What Is the Organization’s Philosophy of Travel?

Philosophy of travel is a difficult concept to quantify, but it can make all the difference between a fun but forgettable vacation and a profoundly memorable learning experience.

How touristy is the program? Will the group be traveling on tour buses, visiting famous attractions and consuming pre-packaged experiences, or will they get off the beaten path, interact with local people and enjoy a uniquely memorable learning adventure?

A good traveler should be humble, appreciative, curious, and respectful of local customs. If the organization is promoting a whirlwind tour or spring break style party trip, stay well away.

6. What Is the Main Focus of the Program?

Some programs are focused on service projects, some on language studies, and others on niche activities like sailing or wildlife conservation.

This works out well when students’ interests and goals match the specific focus of the program, but other students might want a more comprehensive experience.

7. Will Students Interact With Local People?

When a dozen teenagers are thrown into a situation together, they sometimes find it difficult to pay attention to anything but the social dynamics of the group.

Since genuine interaction with local people is such a valuable element of travel, find out how students are encouraged to meet the locals.

Will there be home-stays? Are students given solo time? Does the program emphasize culturally appropriate behavior and give students the practical skills they need to communicate?

8. What Costs Are NOT Included in the Tuition?

Youth travel programs aren’t cheap, and it’s important to know exactly what you get for your money. Most companies list a tuition price that does not include international airfare.

Other costs that might not be covered include student visas, travel insurance, airport taxes, and money for personal items and souvenirs.

Photo by -Gep-.

9. How Many Swimsuit Photos Are in the Catalog?

Finally, allow me to introduce The Swimsuit Test – my favorite metric for determining the quality of a youth travel program.

The Swimsuit Test is simple. Look through the program catalog and count the photos of attractive students who are either shirtless or wearing swimsuits. The more swimsuit photos, the less respectable the company.

Why is The Swimsuit Test a good barometer of quality?

Youth travel companies know that photos of cute boys and girls having fun in swimsuits will attract teenage interest. Beyond the moral issue of using scantily clad teenagers for marketing purposes lie questions of cultural respect and educational priorities.

In many countries, showing so much skin is culturally inappropriate behavior. The very scenes that companies use to market their trips will alienate the local people and separate the students from the genuine culture they are ostensibly there to experience.

Moreover, while hanging out on the beach might look like fun, it’s not an activity students need to travel across the world to enjoy.

Find a program that focuses on challenging students to do more than just have fun at the beach. Travel is too valuable an opportunity to waste.

Support Youth Travel Programs

The Matador Network is proud to sponsor a student on a youth travel program with Where There Be Dragons, a highly regarded youth travel company. To help, please make a donation to The Matador Fund.

Wondering if youth travel programs are worth the investment? Read Tim Patterson’s recent essay “Youth Travel Programs Are Vital To Our Security.”

Compare Youth Travel Programs

Here is a list of companies that specialize in youth travel programs. If you notice an omission, feel free to add a link in the comment section.

360 Student Travel

Abbey Road Overseas Programs

Action Quest

Adventure Cross Country

Al Campo

Amigos de las Americas

Broadreach

Center for Cross-Cultural Study

China Prep

CIEE

Deer Hill Expeditions

EF International Schools

Experiment in International Living

Green Across the Pacific

Glimpses of China

Global Leadership Adventures

Longacre Expeditions

NOLS

Projects Abroad

Putney Student Travel

The Road Less Traveled

Where There Be Dragons

For more information and resources, check out this high school study abroad page at Transitions Abroad, which is loaded with quality articles and advice.

Study Abroad In Eco-Villages

Tim Patterson — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:27:47 +0000

Living Routes students in Israel. Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Daniel Greenberg explains why eco-villages are the best campuses we have for people to learn about sustainable living.

These days, learning firsthand about practical solutions to the challenges of the post-carbon age looks more and more like a vital part of a college education.

I recently enjoyed a conversation with Matador member Daniel Greenberg, founder of Living Routes, a remarkable study abroad organization that runs programs in eco-villages on six continents.

Living Routes programs are highly regarded for both quality of life and academic integrity, and students earn college credit through the University of Massachusetts.

Tim: Sustainability is a mainstream buzzword, but I feel eco-villages still suffer from a certain stigma among much of mainstream society. I lived for a time at an eco-village in Thailand where people are remarkably serious and diligent about building a better world, but my dad dismissively refers to it as “the hippie commune.”

How do you counter the perception among parents and teachers who see study abroad in eco-villages as a frivolous, radical or ‘hippy-dippy’ concept?

Daniel: Eco-villages are not your parents’ communes. While some can trace their roots back to the counterculture of the ’60s and ’70s, few today identify with the “hippie” stereotype. Members are generally hard working, environmentally and health conscious, and family oriented.

Anyone who believes eco-villages are marginal or irrelevant is not aware of current global trends.

Essentially, eco-villages represent humanity’s best research and development laboratories for how we can learn to live well and lightly.

Just look around. Given today’s realities of climate change and peak oil, what do you think life will be like in a coming “carbon-constrained” world?

How will we get around? Where will our food come from? What kind of work will we be doing?

Essentially, eco-villages represent humanity’s best research and development laboratories for how we can learn to live well and lightly; for how we can think globally and act locally; and for how we can recreate fulfilling, sustainable communities.

We need eco-villages more than we can imagine. They are not utopias, but they are trying, and that makes them the best “campuses” we have for people to learn about living sustainably by actually doing it!

Tim: What are some of the practical skills Living Routes students learn in eco-villages that they can apply to their lives and careers back home?

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Daniel: I like to think of our programs as journeys into community, ecology, and spirit. On the community level, students learn about such topics as conflict facilitation, non-violent communication, consensus, fair trade, and local economies.

On the ecological level, students learn about ecological design, permaculture, reforestation, organic farming, appropriate technologies, [and] renewable energies.

On the spiritual dimension, while our programs are not religious, they do encourage students to ask big questions such as “What do I believe?”, “How did I come to believe this?”, and, perhaps most importantly, “What are my options?”

Whether they are engaging with shamans in Peru or radical sustainability folks in India, students are challenged to step out of their own comfort zones and engage with holistic, integrated solutions to today’s biggest issues.

Alumni of Living Routes programs can never again say “It can’t be done.” because they have witnessed people fully dedicated to Doing It!

What’s left is for students to ask themselves, “How can I best make a difference?” “What is my ‘purpose” or ‘vocation’?”, which Frederick Buechner has wonderfully defined as “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

The world is hungry for change and I am grateful every day for the opportunity to be living in this time where our actions are so vital and needed.

Tim: Living Routes has programs on 6 continents. What does each program have in common, and if you could only recommend one program, which would it be?

Daniel: All Living Routes’ programs are about sustainable community development and leadership for a post-carbon world.

Our primary vision is to immerse future leaders into communities that are creating new cultures that are living more sustainable “stories” about who we are in relation to each other and the planet.

You can only really hear and absorb these stories through being a part of them and that’s what makes these programs such transformational experiences.

And you can’t ask me to recommend only one. That’s like asking which is my favorite child!

Tim: One thing I struggle with as a world traveler is the fact that foreign travel, and air travel in particular, is an extremely high-impact activity. I often feel like a hypocrite, writing about sustainability and promoting low-impact lifestyles while flying from continent to continent.

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

Is foreign travel compatible with the basic philosophy of eco-villages? How does Living Routes reconcile the environmental impact of travel with the values it attempts to instill?

Daniel: This is perhaps Living Routes’ biggest dilemma. How can we truly be advocates for sustainability when our programs produce over 200 metric tons of CO2/year, mostly from air travel?

The general answer is that we believe the transformation that happens on our programs and the change that ripples out from our students more than compensates for these impacts. And we’re not just taking that on faith.

In mid-2007, we started surveying students about their environmental beliefs and practices – just before, in the last few days, six-months after and two-years after each program – to examine what kinds of impacts our programs really make over time.

If, in a year or two, it becomes clear that our programs do not really change people, we are going to be hard pressed to continue running them.

More specifically, Living Routes started instituting a comprehensive carbon strategy in 2005, which to my knowledge, made us the first study abroad organization to do so. This involves measuring, reducing, and offsetting all of our office and program-related greenhouse gas emissions.

This has also been a great way to educate students about their impacts and support eco-village-based renewable energy projects.

Photo courtesy LivingRoutes.org

We’re now developing a Carbon Commitment Calculator, which will allow our students (and others!) to commit to lifestyle changes that result in a reduction in CO2 in order to offset the impact of particular events (such as our programs).

While we believe major changes in governments and corporations are a necessary part of any “great turning” towards a more ecological age, they are not sufficient.

As an organization, we are now moving beyond being “carbon neutral” towards being “carbon conscious” because it is becoming increasingly obvious that individuals and communities will need to be at the core of any lasting change. And this is where eco-villages and Living Routes are leading the way.

Community Connection

For more information on Living Routes, check outwww.livingroutes.org. To find out the location of Daniel’s favorite spot to watch the sunrise, check out his Matador profile.

Youth Travel Programs Are Vital To Our Security

Tim Patterson — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:27:45 +0000

In the age of the War on Terror, youth travel programs are a powerful antidote to ignorance and fear.

Photo by Asian Insights

A global perspective is essential to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.

Addressing big problems like global warming and nuclear proliferation will require unprecedented levels of international cooperation.

Likewise, big opportunities like the chance to end poverty depend on our ability to extend compassion, knowledge and resources to the far reaches of the globe.

Many of the global citizens who will spearhead new levels of international cooperation in the next century are still young, students in high schools from Pittsburgh to Phnom Penh. We need to give the leaders of tomorrow the chance to get to know each other today.

Youth travel and grassroots exchange programs are one of the most important and cost-effective investments we can make.

Photo by Asian Insights

Travel is the Best Education

With travel comes both empathy and knowledge.

Travel – real, rugged, authentic travel – is the best sort of education. In this day and age, knowing Africa is more important than knowing algebra.

For our brightest students, taking a year to vagabond through China and study Mandarin looks more and more like a wise and practical alternative to a prestigious internship with Lehman Brothers or Bear Sterns.

Dragons in Cambodia

I recently had the opportunity to lead a group of 12 remarkable high school students on a 6 week Where There Be Dragons program in Cambodia.

The experience electrified me. I could not be more inspired.

The real world connections the students made in Cambodia are the seeds of future peace.

The courage they found in themselves to embark on an epic and challenging journey created a confidence that will carry them through life.

I don’t take any credit for the personal growth and profound education the students in my group experienced in Cambodia. The act of travel was what did it – the magical experience of confronting the world with clear and open eyes.

Photo by Asian Insights

Peace Depends on Knowledge

Where There Be Dragons is a funny name for a travel company. The thing about dragons, of course, is that they don’t exist. Our fears of the unknown are rarely justified.

We need young people who are willing to dream big.

Fear and ignorance are always dangerous, but especially so when institutionalized in the most powerful country in the world.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt was dead on when he told Americans “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

In the era of perpetual War on Terror, we must nurture individuals who can distinguish between genuine threats to our security and paranoid fantasies born of ignorance and fear.

Photo by Shannanigans

Asking The BIG Questions

Travel forces the big questions.

The older we get, the less willing we become to question everything and make our choices as if we really can be the change we want to see in the world.

America needs smart, conscientious young people who are willing to dream big.

By empowering youth through authentic travel experiences in places where they are confronted with unvarnished truths, we create future leaders with the skill and motivation to work for peace and justice.

It’s not enough to drink away a study abroad semester in Florence, or traipse through Southeast Asian backpacker zones for a few months after college graduation.

Reaping the real humanitarian benefits of travel requires traveling close to the ground in places that provoke hard questions.

Overcoming a Foreign Policy of Fear

Photo by Shannanigans

We need young people who are not just clever, but also courageous.

We need high school students eager to break out of their sheltered suburbs and cozy Facebook networks to confront the world first-hand.

It costs billions of dollars to send cruise missiles and Predator drones to distant lands, but only thousands of dollars to help future leaders discover the world.

If you’re a parent, encourage your son or daughter to travel. If you’re a student, I’m envious – you can choose from a world of possibilities. If you’re a citizen who wants peace, please support youth travel programs.

The global challenges that lie ahead are too big to solve without profound, intimate knowledge of the outside world.

Community Connection!

For more inspiring essays about the value of travel and global citizenship in the 21st century, check out 10 Ways Travelers Can Change The World and A Manifesto From A Young American.

Where There Be Dragons offers youth travel programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

If you’re passionate about travel, dive into the Matador community and connect with like-minded innovators from around the world.

To help send inner-city youth on a Where There Be Dragons program to Asia, please support The Matador Fund.

10 Tips For A Fun Home Stay

Tim Patterson — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:01:13 +0000

Feature Photo by imagesbyk2 Photography. Photo above by miramurphy

As a tender 15 year old boy, I attended an all-girls high-school in Japan.

Those days in Japan were hands-down the single most empowering experience of my adolescent life, even though, sadly, at the time I had no idea how to talk to girls of any nationality.

What made my travel in Japan so empowering and memorable were the home-stay families who bid me welcome.

I’m now convinced that the single best way to gain an in-depth understanding of a local culture is to participate in a home-stay.

Whether you’re a high-school student applying for a summer program, a college student studying abroad in Italy, or a retiree volunteering at an organic farm in Vermont, it’s my sincere hope that these ten tips will help you get the most out of your home-stay.

1) Appreciate

Be sure to express your appreciation for your host family’s hospitality at every opportunity.

Sincere smiles and profuse thanks go a long way towards smoothing out early interactions, and the more you consciously and visibly appreciate what your host family does for you, the more they will be inclined to create and share fun experiences with you in the future.

Good times are contagious, and a positive outlook can go a long way.

2) Relax

Stress is also contagious, and the beginning of a home-stay will definitely be a high stress time for everyone involved.

Make a conscious effort to relax, smile and be at ease around your host family, and they will relax in turn.

3) Immerse

The most successful home stays, like the most effective language study programs, are fully immersive.

Although you might be tempted to hang out with people from your home country from time to time, make the effort to totally commit yourself to the local culture instead.

You might find that homesickness and culture shock pass quickly without a fellow traveler around to remind you of home.

Photo by pfurlong

4) Laugh

Don’t take yourself too seriously!

No one will expect you to have mastered every cultural intricacy as soon as you arrive, so if you botch an introduction or mistakenly pour the salad dressing into your soup, just laugh about your mistake.

Nothing breaks down cultural barriers like a mutual gigglefest.

5) Respect

Maintain a respectful attitude, especially when interacting with older people.

Constantly give attention to how your actions and demeanor impact other members of the household, and strive to model culturally appropriate behavior at all times.

6) Gift

Never arrive for a home-stay empty-handed, and make an effort to acknowledge host family milestones with a culturally appropriate gift.

The best gifts are those with a connection to your home culture, such as a local handicraft or regional delicacy.

For example, as a Vermonter, I always travel with maple sugar candies.

7) Ask

If you’re unsure about something, just ask!

Even if you don’t share a common language with your host family, a simple question like how to bathe will be easy for them to answer.

Be proactive and cheerful about your questions and needs.

Photo by davetrainer

8 ) Chill

Travel is often a high-energy activity, but home stays are different. Don’t expect your host family to constantly entertain you.

Instead, take the opportunity to chill out and observe the daily rhythms of the household and community.

9) Risk

Take chances, and try things you might not attempt at home. Try cooking a meal for your host family, or sing a song at the local festival.

Even if you aren’t a chef or a singer, making the effort to step outside your comfort zone and attempt something new is a great recipe for personal growth – and your host family will appreciate the effort.

10) Remember

Keep in touch with your host family after you return home. A thank you note is the bare minimum.

Share photos, exchange New Years cards and really make the effort to maintain your friendship.

A deep and enduring international friendship is one of the most valuable things in life. With luck, your home stay will be just the beginning of a warm and lasting relationship.

Matador Abroad » Tim Patterson

10 Reasons to Study Abroad in the Islamic World

Community Connection

Could the Burj Khalifah Collapse?

Could the Burj Khalifah actually fall?

Or is the only Dubai collapse we need to worry about financial? I’m curious to hear what you have to say, so please leave a comment below!

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Help BraveNewTraveler.com Reach 4000 Subscribers!

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Thanks For Stopping By!

Wanted: DuBabel Correspondent

Is Dubai a modern day Babel?

DuBabel?

We Want Your Voice

Interested?

The Corrupting Influence Of The City!

Editor’s Note

Pico Iyer On “Why We Travel”

Glimpse.org Is Worth A Long Look

Introducing: Spencer Klein

I (Heart) Transitions Abroad

Introducing: Baxter Jackson

10 Travel Jobs Within Your Reach

English Teacher

Tour Guide

Sailor (Navy)

Sailor (Yachts)

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Peace Corp Volunteer

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Diplomat

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Is The JET Program The Right Job For You?

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Now Is The Time To Go Abroad…Or Is It?

Americans Welcome!

Better To Put Down Roots?

Student Travel In Tibet

Nine Questions to Ask Before Choosing an Educational Summer Travel Program

1. What Risk-Management Policies Are in Place?

2. How Many Students Are in a Group?

3. What Is The Instructor / Student Ratio?

Or is the only Dubai collapse we need to worry about financial?

I’m curious to hear what you have to say, so please leave a comment below!