Blog Challenge Day Two – Twenty Facts About Me

Blog writing challenge day two – Twenty facts about me.  Day two and it’s a tough one.  Most people, in my opinion, don’t like to talk about themselves for fear of being judged, they don’t like bragging, they don’t think their life is interesting, or they are afraid of exposing their weaknesses.

One thing I have learned in the last ten years of basically solo travel is that if you want to make connections, meet people, and immerse yourself in the local scene you need to talk about yourself.  One of my favorite travel movies is “A Map For Saturday”. In the movie, most backpackers admit to the five questions that everyone eventually asks.  They are; where have you been?,  where are you going?, where are you from?, how long are you traveling? and, how long have you been traveling?.  And no, what is your name isn’t in the top five.  Another thing I have learned is that people are genuinely interested in what you have to say, especially being an expat.  In the last 4 years that I have lived in Poland, one question I am asked quite often is, ”Why Poland?”.  I have been asked so many times, that I even wrote a blog about it: https://wendyjmarvin.com/2021/12/26/why-poland-theres-more-to-this-country-than-pierogi/.

On with the subject and I’ll try to make them as interesting as possible, but twenty facts doesn’t seem like an easy task.

I have a severe case of wanderlust.  My mother always told me I had the travel bug since birth.  I was born in Kimbrough Army Hospital, Fort Meade, Maryland.  Before I was born, not knowing he was going to be a father, my dad had a serious jeep accident while on maneuvers.  36 facial fractures and weeks in a coma, he was medically discharged 2 days after I was born and I went on my first road trip at 3 days old.  It wasn’t a long journey (from Fort Meade, Maryland to Warren, Ohio) but my mother swore it started my wanderlust.

I left the hospital nameless, well, as Female Marvin.   I guess it was allowed back in the day.  I was eventually named for Wendy from “Peter Pan”,  Keeper (mother) of Lost Boys.  Given my current situation, it might be fitting.

 

I have one brother, who is my best friend and biggest supporter.

I have visited 47 countries and if you throw in all the territories, like Hong Kong and Tibet which are part of China, that number would be well over 50.  I don’t count countries that I have only been to the airport.  5 hours in the airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia does not count as a country visited.

I loved reading National Geographic Magazine. Even though my mom claimed my wanderlust started at 3 days, I am fairly certain that my dad’s subscription to National Geographic magazine fueled it even more.  I loved perusing them cover to cover.  I now search out and purchase old issues that highlight places I have been.

I have eaten donkey meat, horse tartare, and a camel burger. 

I can (probably should read could) ride a unicycle. When I was about 6 or 7 years old, one of the only things I wanted for Christmas was a unicycle.  Santa came through and I learned to ride.  I even rode in the Pete Gabriel’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade when I was 12 or 13.  I probably wouldn’t attempt to get on one now with my bad knees and back, but I do remember giving it a go again on my 50^th birthday just for shits and giggles.

My favorite color is green – sage green to be exact.

I was the first girl to play Little League in my town.  Although I played with dolls and such growing up, my dad loved baseball.  Whenever he played with my brother, and coaching his gadget ball team (I was the bat girl), he always let me play/practice too.  I had my own glove, a black one, for some reason I didn’t want the typical brown glove. Sunday mornings after Sunday School, he would take us to the ball field at Laird Avenue School and hit balls with us for an hour or so until it was time for my mom to get home from church.  I got pretty good and that’s how I ended up being the first girl in our city to play Little League.  I even played on Stan O’Day’s All-Star Team one year.

I love to cook.  Baking – forget about it!

I am halfway there.  If you have stuck with me, you still have 10 more facts to go.

I have lived in four countries other than the USA. Since we have already determined that I have had a passion for travel for a long time and if you know anything about me, it probably won’t come as a surprise that I have always had a love for Paris.  Wearing berets as a young girl and pretending I could speak French.  I think I always knew I would one day live in Paris and I did. If you read yesterday’s post, that is how this blog got started.  Since living in Paris, I also lived 4 years in China, 5 months in Bali, and currently just over 4 years in Poland.  I often say Paris is my heart and Bali is my soul.

I don’t own and don’t plan on owning a TV.  I haven’t watched television in over 10 years and have no plans to get a TV when I go back to the States. No, I don’t have a return date.  Life is short and the world is wide.

I love gin, and slightly dirty martinis with bleu cheese-stuffed olives. I visited the Beefeater’s Distillery in London with my friend Teri. I somehow convinced them to open the showcase and let me try on the crown.  I also came home with a lot of Beefeater bags. Cheers!

I broke my back in China. When I returned to the USA after living in Paris, I knew life on that side of the pond wasn’t what I wanted.  Little did I know when I started looking at ways to live abroad, that I would end up halfway around the world in a small village called Xiashan.  I lived in this village for 6 months (August 2015-February 2016) and fell in love with China.  6 months turned into 4 years. When I was living in my 4^th city in China, Dong’e, I was in an accident on my scooter and suffered a broken back.  A funny story, I even thought it was funny before they wheeled me off for my 6-7-hour surgery. I had to have a “cage”  (rods and stuff) to “fix’ my broken back.  It would connect 3 vertebrae.  I spent about 36 hours in the ICU while my family was contacted in the USA and all my X-rays and MRI were reviewed by doctors there. Everyone agreed the surgery was necessary, but before they would do the surgery, I had to decide if I would accept “made in China” hardware or if I wanted to wait and get the hardware from the USA. Those 36 hours hadn’t been fun and I said, “Give me made in China.” The funny part, well I think it is funny, I had to sign a document (written in Chinese) that I was offered hardware from the USA but I accepted the made-in-China hardware.

I hate driving.

I have walked the Great Wall of China. My interest in China was sparked by former President Richard Nixon in February 1972.  He became the first president to visit the PRC, People’s Republic of China, ending 25 years of no communication or diplomatic ties between the two countries.  His visit also allowed the American public to view images of China for the first time in over two decades.  I remember he ate the fermented (black) eggs.  Other than whatever knowledge a 9-year-old would get in school, Nixon’s visit sparked my interest in the “Middle Kingdom”.  I remember thinking it would be cool to see/walk the Great Wall of China.  I fulfilled that dream several times over walking on 4 different sections of the Great Wall.  I even made it to the beginning/end where the wall meets the Bohai Sea.  I also have the National Geographic Issue about the discovery of the Terracotta Army and have been fortunate to see it twice.

I have helped exhume a body for cremation. While living in Paris, I became friends with Julie who worked at my favorite café.  She had a dream to move to Bali and made me promise I would visit her when she made this dream come true.  In February 2018, I made my first visit to Bali to visit her.  I decided I wanted to go to Ubud before I met up with Julie.  This is how I met my Balinese Family whom I love dearly.  In the few short days I stayed with them, they introduced me to the Balinese culture and traditions.  Before I left, they invited me to return in August to be a part of a Ngaben or cremation ceremony.  I did return and they included me as part of their family.  At 2 am the morning of the cremation, I accompanied them to the burial grounds of the temple to exhume Ketut’s mother’s body.

I have stood in Red Square in Moscow.

 

I have camped on Mount Everest Base Camp.  Long before I came to China, I had an interest in Tibet, and meeting the Dalai Lama is on my bucket list.  Yes, I know he no longer lives in Tibet, that aside, how could I live in China and not visit Tibet?  Getting to Tibet isn’t as easy as jumping on a train or plane and getting off in Lhasa.  An individual cannot enter Tibet without a travel permit and a Tibetan guide.  In other words, an individual cannot just turn up in Lhasa hang out for a few days and travel around the region. I was living in Hunan Province and it seemed like the time was ripe. In Shenzhen, I would begin my 53-hour train ride to “The Roof of the World’ or “The Land of Snows”, otherwise known as Tibet.  Because I had to have a guide and join a tour, one of my must-do’s was Base Camp.  I will never forget how I felt watching the sunset on that mighty mountain.  Or when I was outside my tent, alone at 4 am, and it looked like a billion stars in that night sky.

I plan to leave Poland at the end of this year and become a true Nomad for an undetermined amount of time.

There you have it.  20 facts about me.  But the most important fact about me is that I couldn’t have done all this without my family and friends.  Some of you have been friends for life, some I will never see again.  The support and encouragement you have given me is amazing.  A bonus fact:  My dream is to put my story into a book.  Thanks for being a part of my chapters.