"He has a direction and he going to do great things. But he doesn't know what those things are, and the best part is neither do the rest of us. Until then I'll still tell the same story of how you put wedding invitations in the refrigerator." Thanks Melanie.
Granted, there was a lot of wine. We were in New Jersey, of course there was a lot of wine. But I think I learned more in that moment than I have in the past couple months, and nothing has inspired me forward like those words did.
When I was on Semester at Sea I discovered a number of things. How to deal without having plumbing, getting locked in an elevator with 11 semi-strangers and laughing, to knowing how to treat 1st degree burns after a sexual encounter in a shower, but if I learned anything the most on that life changing trip it was humility.
We were in Myanmar and I was in Bagan. Now just as a hint to described what was going on in the country my most expensive meal was 7 dollars. And I drank a little too much. I have photos to prove the scenery was like nothing I had ever seen before. But my best souvenir from SAS as a whole was this T-Shirt I bought in Myanmar.
"Parleis vous francais?", "konbanwa okyakusama", "hey, how are you doing" to languages I had just recently heard in China and Vietnam, plus her mother tongue of Burmese. There was this girl wearing a white T-Shirt and shorts talking to all of the people about to get on the boat in more languages than I could count (and I am a snob about languages) trying to sell these locally made T-Shirts.
I wanted to be away from all of the people and they were checking out the local shops before we went on our river tour, but I was sitting against a tree just watching this young girl who couldn't have been more than 14 sell T-shirts. She had a couple customers here and there but most were trying to get to their destination and didn't pay too much attention. Though some were surprised by her array of greetings. I was fascinated, still am.
I walked up to the little girl and asked her how much her T-shirts were being sold for, she told me 3 dollars but you could buy 2 for 5. And then she quoted the price to me in a couple different currencies that I might have had on me.
We then went on to have a conversation about her because I asked her a couple questions. Her name was Suwee, she spoke 9 languages conversationally, and could understand 14. She came here to sell T-shirts in the morning and then in the evening, and went to school in the afternoon. When she told me she was 9 years old I was floored. 9 years old and she spoke a language per year? One of my professors told me I should go to a country and a state per year I lived, but imagine speaking that many languages at that age?
It was her way to support her 3 siblings and family by working, and learning the best way to sell T-shirts her family made. I went to my tour guide and asked him if he could translate my 40 dollars in to the Burmese currency (which I forget the name of at the moment). He said "what could you spend that much money on? I'm sure I could negotiate a better price". I told him it was all I had on me for the rest of the trip. There were only a few days left but this was more important.
I gave all of the money I had to the young, fascinating and brilliant young girl who spoke 9 languages, understood 14, and sold T-Shirts before and after school with ratty shoes. And the sad thing is is that one day she might not be able to see the world outside of her own city, let alone outside of her own country, and she will know how to speak more languages than I ever will even if I studied for the rest of my life.
Yet we complain, we are sad, and when things don't go our way we throw tantrums. Whenever I have a bad day this story puts my mind back into perspective along with a whole slew of memories like this, but this is one I treasure most.
Remember that when you approach someone else, when you speak your mind, when you take a shit and the toilet flushes, you are privileged. You are lucky, you are loved, and you have a future that you control almost 99% of, don't waste it. Because some people don't have the option.
29 Days until I move to Japan. Until next time.
P.S. here's some photos from Myanmar that I adore;
