Day Eight – Five Current Goals

Are resolutions and bucket lists the same as goals?  Resolutions, we hear that word thrown around at the end of one year and the beginning of a new one.  A resolution is a firm decision to do or not to do something.  Often a habit we want to stop or start.  A bucket list is a list of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.  Goals are a person’s vision for the future, something you want to achieve, or maybe simply a dream with a deadline.  All are very similar by definition.  They all revolve around aspirations and intentions yet differ in scope and time frame.  I like the acronym SMART when talking about goals – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.  I don’t have a specific bucket list or a written list of goals.  Well, that is somewhat of a lie.  When Teri and I were in London at the Beefeater’s Distillery, I got a book called “Gin Bucket List”.  I do hope to complete the list in the book and I keep a list of all the different gins I try.  I do start each year by thinking of things I want to do, but not so specific to make them resolutions.  On to my big five:

You probably know that I love travel.  I recently started a spreadsheet with all the countries of the world.  I am including the capital city, calling code, official language(s), currency, visa requirements, and longitude and latitude.  I also purchased “The Adventure Book, Ultimate Travelers Edition”. It is a journal that lists all the countries and territories in the world along with US states and some fun pages such as Foodie Bingo.

Along with journaling about your experiences, it also had a page of flags.  This leads me to my first goal.  It is to learn all the capitals and identify all the flags of the world.  I had no idea how many flags are similar.  Slowly but surely I am getting there.  I have little flag flashcards I made that have the country and its capital on the back.  I also have an app that quizzes me on both flags and capitals but also has a nice twist where it shows the country on a world map and I have to identify the flag.  My bedtime ritual. I didn’t set a time frame but I know when I get to camp this summer, there is always someone looking for that challenge.

In September 2018 I had big plans to meet my friend Teri and my cousins Bob and Sally in Paris. I planned it around the Jimmy Buffett concert at La Cigale.  It would be Bob and Sally’s first trip to Paris and they wanted me to show them around.  Then September 6^th happened.  I was in an accident in China and ended up with a broken back.  Our trip had to be rescheduled and we ended up going in May 2019.  This year Bob and Sally will be in Paris again and are bringing the grandkids, cousins I have never met.  My second goal is to meet them all in Paris.

This month marked the fourth year I have lived in Poland.  My initial intent was to spend 12-18 months.  No, I didn’t have a plan for what was next, although most likely back to Asia. I arrived on February 4, 2020.  Unless you were living off-grid, everyone knows what happened by mid-March – the world stopped turning.  Poland is an easy country to get comfortable in.  I did just that.  Even after restrictions were lifted pretty much worldwide, I continued my Polish life…working, traveling, having fun, and traveling some more.  Just like when I was in China, I woke up one-morning last year and decided I needed to think about moving on.  I wasn’t sure when or where exactly I wanted to go but I knew it was time.  Goal number three is to leave Poland in December 2024/January 2025. However, by this writing, I have somewhat of a plan as to where I want to go.

In the summer of 2022, I was at Zenira Camp on the Black Sea in Kiten, Bulgaria.  I wanted to do some traveling after camp ended in August.  The prior year after camp I flew to Cairo to experience the pyramids.  Then I decided to head to Casablanca and Marrakech Morocco.  Both were exhilarating journeys that fueled my soul.  I tossed around a few possibilities, including a return to Egypt for Valley of the Kings or India but I didn’t have a specific destination, and finally Kenya and Tanzania.

In my dreams, I didn’t have visions of sugar plums, not even lions, tigers, and bears, but baobabs, zebras, elephants, giraffes, and epic sunsets behind massive acacia trees.  Another visit to Egypt and a trip to India would have to wait, so I narrowed it down to Kenya and Tanzania.  I remember I had joined an online community a few years ago called WorkAway.  I decided my trip would involve a WorkAway or a volunteer program that provides room and board in exchange for volunteer hours.

If I was going to this part of Kenya or Tanzania, it had to include a safari.  The thing that finally tipped the scales to Bright English Medium School was the quote, “Go big or go home”.  To me, going big was the Serengeti.  BEMS (Bright English Medium School) mentioned their proximity to the Serengeti in their host write-up.  Soon I was messaging back and forth with Juliana and Lydia from BEMS and the next thing I knew; I pulled the trigger on a one-way plane ticket to Arusha, Tanzania from Sofia Bulgaria.

My WorkAway experience in Tanzania was one of the best experiences in my life.  As I mentioned above, I have some idea of where I want to travel when I leave Poland.  It isn’t set in stone and no details, but I hope to travel through Romania, Türkiye, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and then into the “Stan” countries.  At some point, I would like to have an extended stay in India.  My number four goal is a little vague since I haven’t decided exactly the countries I will be in but in two parts my goal is when in Azerbaijan to visit the homes of my flatmates, Tarlan and Zaka, and to have as many WorkAway experiences as I can in these countries.

As cliche as it sounds and maybe even a cop-out, my fifth goal is to live my best life. As David Bowie said, “I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring.”