Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve shared our thoughts on surprises in the world of international volunteering. We started off by addressing disorganized organizations. Next, we shared our take on something that keeps a lot of people from volunteering – learning a foreign language. This week we’re talking about living without the comforts of home.
When we get into conversations about volunteering in a different country, people often assume the worst: showers are non-existent, all of the food is dangerous, credit cards aren’t accepted anywhere. You get the idea. While those are extreme (and largely untrue!) assumptions, there is a lot to be said about the adjusting that goes along with spending a good chunk of time in a vastly different culture.
Surprise #3 – Living With Less
I vividly remember packing to spend several months volunteering and traveling around South America. We were determined to bring only three backpack-size bags. We spent a lot of time staring back and forth between the stacks of stuff we wanted to bring and the three bags. How were we going to make this work? We ended up doing something extreme. Rather than taking a “What can we squeeze into these bags?” mentality, we went to the opposite end of the spectrum. We decided, instead, to embrace a “How little do you think we can take?” attitude.
We ended up packing minimally. A couple pairs of jeans, a few shirts. I’m in a black, white or gray shirt in nearly every picture that we have. I even decided to leave my iPod shuffle at home (which, on second thought, may have been going too far).
Anyhow, the point is this: you don’t simply learn to adjust but you actually start to thrive on forced simplicity. In our case, we found that this extended to other areas as well. For instance, we started to relish the fact that we weren’t constantly bombarded with news and that we were reading more. We enjoyed less physical and mental clutter. We even made the last minute decision to tag on a trip to Antarctica. We hadn’t packed cold weather gear. We survived.
Our advice: bring a couple creature comforts from home and minimize the rest. Living with less = a very good thing.
Next up: “Wow” Moments
Latest posts by wearekandc
- Reality Check Via a Credit Card - January 15th, 2010
- Here's to Courage - December 11th, 2009
- International Volunteer Day - December 4th, 2009
- From South America to Samoa - November 27th, 2009
- Take Action in NYC: Mercy Corps - November 6th, 2009
- 5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #5 - We're All Connected - October 21st, 2009
- Help Keep the World Amazing: Blog Action Day 2009 - October 15th, 2009
- 5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #4 - "Wow" Moments - October 13th, 2009
- 5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #2 - Language Non-Barriers - September 25th, 2009
- 5 Surprises About International Volunteering: #1 - Disorganized Organizations - September 18th, 2009
