Category Archives: travel

South America: Finding Home in Brazil

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Yes, that is my name on a towel. This is my first time couchsurfing and I was a little hesitant, but the family has been incredibly nice. They have one dog and two cats, the dog is named “Maggie” and has two poofy hairdo´s on the side of its head.

I now have complete access to internet, it`s incredible. After a horrible experience dying from food poisoning in Ecuador, I had to fly back to Quito and then to Brazil. Yesterday was a full day of flying, and my stomach was aching so bad. But thank God, today I feel great and I´ve learned a few Portugeuse words…unfortunately, with a Brazilian computer, I can´t spell check my English.

Small note of gratefulness: I had thrown away my crappy towel in Ecuador because I didn´t want to carry too much. On the way to the house, I asked my friend if they had an extra towel. When I got to there, they told me to look in the bathroom….voila- a new towel with my name on it. This may be a small surprise, but to me I knew that god had provided one with my very name on it. He sure takes care of His kids.

Everytime I look at the picture I am reminded that I have a home here in Brazil. I´ve been looking into a lot of travel writing sites, am trying to stop myself from compulsive workaholic behavior and not submit while I´m here. I know that I have something lined up in the states, there´s no human explanation, but my friend said that I´ll be working one on one with people, some kind of consulting work.

After going to the jungle, meeting Marco and working with the kids, I had 3 days. Even though, I didn´t have the money, I knew I had to go to the Galapagos Island because when would I return to Ecuador again? I put it on credit (yes, I know, not too smart, but somtimes  you have to sacrifice, plus it´s not like I have college loans) and flew there. I got sick the second day, wabam, diarrhea and vomit galore. I was praying my ass off (to put it nicely) and tons of people were back home to support me. But I felt completely alone and vulnerable.

As a 3rd world country, Ecuador sure had awesome hospitals. As a foreigner, I got to see the nurse for free and only had to pay 21 bucks for medication. They stabbed my arm with a vaccination shot and gave me some acid eating medicine. Wow, if I was in America, I would be screwed over with tons of bills.

Some pictures while I was still alive:

Galapagos

Turtoise

No I´m not in Taiwan, but there´s a street like the night market. There I met a Taiwanese, no kidding, straight from Taiwan. It felt good to talk in Mandarin because I had been speaking really bad Spanglish for 10 days.

I will expand on more when I return to the states. More posts to come!! And do keep the comments coming!! I love them! God bless!

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Jungle and Meeting Marco

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Hi friends!

I´m trying to type really fast so I dont have to pay so much at the cabinas, though it´s relatively cheap. First of all, I´m alive! I have mosquito bites but I am happy and well. The other day I got to meet Marco and his family, as well as visit a church project. There were so many kids, they were all super adorable. I wanted to cry when Marco gave me a hug, he loved the scrapbook and gifts I brought him. Especially, the ninjas I bought from my friend who makes them. He carried the plush toys when we went to the zoo together. He is currently 10 years old and his family is struggling financially.

We went to visit his house and he had a monito, monkey as a pet. On my lap is the monito.

My friend, that is a real monkey. It tried to bite me, but after awhile it fell asleep on my lap. Sorry about the botellia in the picture, haha.

Then, I went to the jungle…let´s say, it was one strange thing after another.The lights went out in the lodge, I had some dark dreams, and it was super hot and humid. But within 3 days I had made more than 5 friends that I can say, I´ll now be friends forever with. Ecuadorians are so helpful, they will take time out of their day to help you. They are not driven by money only, they value famillia more than anything.

Yesterday, after riding with a tour guide, a worker and their boss (it just so happened they were at the lodge visiting and they were nice enough to give me a ride back with them), I had to pee SO BAD. Necessito el bano so bad. Well, my friend told me I had to get on a certain bus, when the black market taxi stopped, it just so happened the bus was right across the street. So with my backpack, I jumped out the taxi, ran across the trafficked street and jumped onto a moving bus, yes it started moving.

Somehow God is protecting me and giving me rides everywhere. I can´t tell you how amazing I´ve felt meeting the people here, they really humble me and help me to see the valuable things in life. I´m so glad I came, I wish everyone could experience this.

Fanta and Rice Breakfasts, Hot Summer Humid Nights in Ecuador

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Hi Friend!

I´ve finally got the time to blog about my first 2 days in Ecuador. The manager of the internet place just asked me if I´m married, it´s not very unlikely that random strangers will make conversation with you by asking about your boyfriend or spouse. He said, “your boyfriend is in Ecuador?”. To which I said “America”.

I´m in a random hole in the wall internet cafe, except there´s no cafe. It´s called a “cabina”. I rode in a 5 hour bus to Tena from Quito today. What I´ve fortunately realized is that Ecuador is probably the most beautiful place on earth, and also the people are one of the kindest people on earth as well. Unlike the pre- warnings that “omg”, you are going to get robbed and beware of men there, men in fact, especially the older ones have been like papas to me. Today on the bus, I met a bus driver who helped me find a hostel and find my way around Tena. Then previously, a medicine salesman helped me get to the terminal and take the right bus to Tena. He was very kind, though I don´t understand why he said he wanted to see the movies with me when I already told him I had a boyfriend.

Having said, Ï paid 10 bucks to stay at a hostel. The hostel has a little gap above the door so you can hear what drama the owners are watching. The amazonias get really cold at night, though during the day, it´s like living 24-7 in a hot steam bath. I feel yucky. It feels like living in Taiwan. The night, the markets do resemble Taiwan markets from 15 years ago. Though Taiwan is now much cleaner and more modernized.

I was thinking about how I´m the only asian woman walking on the street. Sometimes you start to feel like an exotic animal that everyone stares at. Now I know how white people feel in Asia, except in this case, it´s an Asian in Ecuador. Staring is very normal it seems.

And private space doesn´t exist. Personal space? What? When people point to tell you something, they definitely cross your American space by bypassing the normal boundaries. Of course, I´m crossed and pissed. Though I´ve realized, hey, they are not the only ones. Sometimes they don´t stop talking until you tell them, ¨”I´m going to take a nap”.

This morning, I was freaking out about how I would get to Tena, I prayed. Then, when I was buying a 30 cent comb the medicine salesman happened to just be going there. Thank god! I would say, Ecuadorians are WAY more hospitable than people in LA. I mean no one in LA would take the time to help you. Plus, if you think about it, no one goes walking in Skidrow at night anyways. All the things you do at home, is what you would do in a foreign country.

Speaking of foreign, I hope that I never act foreign, besides the language barrier. I hope I´m never someone that treats local with disrespect and no offense, ¨”act really white”. I was analyzing and observing today, and thinking about what it means to be foreign. And of course, how everything my American friends warned me of, happens to be 99 percent not true. Of course, we have to be careful wherever we go, but my time in Ecuador, for the two days, have proven to be positive…..besides feeling like an exotic animal and the sometimes ¨freaking annoying remarks “cheennnnaaa” as in Chinese. Because the very idea that a Chinese would come from Los Angeles seems so foreign, I have to try really hard to be patient.

More to come….

Love, bekka

Screw Coming Home

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I’m not going to lie, but this time I really don’t know why I’m back in los angeles. My trip felt way too short. I was already out of my suitcase and getting used to not having the same bed any few days. I was used to walking several miles a day and rewearing pants. I liked meeting new people and the excitement of not planning my days and living with the flow.

Its not that I don’t miss my friends, there are moments I do…but when you meet other backpackers, you all live in the same mentality. No one is living for security, everyone is a nomad.

I miss that already and have no idea why I’m back.

Next time I’m seriously moving, I’m tired of going back and forth. I want to give it all up for who I really am.

I realize after talking to my roommate, trying to explain my trip… is like trying to explain a beautiful piece of art with words, you just can’t. I can’t explain my trip at all with sufficiency…you just have to backpack on your own to understand what I felt. And of course, the amount of partying I do as well, well you know me, I’m beyond other people. When I backpack, I pack my days with friends and fun more so than others.

You can imagine how my trip was, no, you can’t. Even as I sit in my room right now, life is so quiet, so normal. There’s nothing that is new in a constant room, a house. When you travel, you sleep in an unknown bed, next to 10 people in bunk beds, you never know if the music will be too loud or if people will walk in and start shouting. You don’t know where the bus is taking you, you carry maps and its’ wrinkled at the end.

It’s just indescribable, it can’t be compared to “vacations” or people who stay at 5 star hotels. It can’t be planned, it’s a backpackers’ journey. The mentality is completely different from normal life. I’ll try to write more about it another day. Right now I’m so jet lagged I can’t think.

Life The Romance

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I’m pretty upset because I spent a whole 30 minutes or more typing up a blog post and of course, I was impatient and kept clicking publish, but the internet slowed and somehow I closed it without saving it. This is a writer’s worse nightmare.

I had such good words to share, but now I’m not in the mood for it.

I’ll be straight up then- I met a friend in Melbourne who inspired beauty in my heart. His smile and carefree laughs, jumping on the street for no reason made me realize that “Man! I’m not alone!”. Our mutual love for music, dance, street art, and nice areas to lounge sparked a friendship that would potentially last for life. He stirred up beauty in my heart and I will always remember him for it. He also taught me to grasp each moment and cherish the now. This is so contrary to American culture, and I could only have learned that from a French person- to live life with passion and zest.

In America, I feel, sometimes it’s so easy to be talking to another person, and checking your phone at the same time. It’s so easy to bypass another person without a second thought. It’s easy to go from one appointment to another without actually “THINKING”. OMG BIG SURPRISE. It’s so true because I was once like that. I hate that. I really do. How can you live life without being aware of self, others, and your atmosphere? How can you live life without being “here” and in the “now”? How can you constantly worry about the future when “now” is all you have?

I’ve learned that on my trip, I’ve experienced it. You can only experience “just being” by being in the moment, by experiencing being, being aware of the sounds, the smells, the persons, the environment, by being where you are in the now.

Mon Melbourne Cherie

Found in a bathroom in Melbourne toilet. :)

 

Living With Boys

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All my life, I have been used to living with women. Well, that would be my mom and I. Plus one brother. The last few years, I lived with a housemate and back at home, I live with a woman roommate.

Here in Melbourne, for the last two days, I’ve been in a house full of men. It’s quite simple. Men are quite simple I meant. I like how it’s quiet and also there’s not much television watching so I like that. I hate the noise of the TV because I grew up with it. Basically, I’m staying with my friend, who has 2 brothers and a dad. Mom is working somewhere. Yesterday, I couldn’t sleep because the wind kept banging on the door and I kept thinking there was someone knocking on the door.

While walking on Brunswick Street, Melbourne, Australia, I spotted a Kewpie from the outside. I barged in and started snapping photos. This is a BLUE KEWPIE!!!

Bomb Art in the alleyways of Melbourne

I’m planning my next few days (oh GOD I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO LA!!!) and thought of going to Tasmania. According to my friend, it’s one of the most “unmolested” places in Australia. But I looked up the flights and it cost 400 bucks. Screw that!! I’m coming back to Australia and working!!! I tried to book a ticket to see this Chinese theatre show called Rhinoceros Love, supposedly a hit in Beijing. But the lady wouldn’t take my expired Student ID. It’s raining cats and dogs outside, boogers.

Cairns

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I’m currently in Cairns, Australia. Arrived by flight yesterday from Sydney. Of course the first night in every city, I end up meeting new friends and going out with them. I ended up on stage again dancing some shuffles and stuff. My English friend said, “you said you love to dance, but you didn’t tell me you’re awesome!!” Well, I’m not going to brag right?

I’ve only been in Australia for 6 days, and I love it more than I’ve ever imagined. I love it so much I can actually see myself doing the work holiday deal here. Everyone is so laid back here, I don’t feel as anxious being here. Back in LA, I felt like paranoid about not working or feeling busy.

However, I think if I lived here, I’d also be prone to become alcoholic. People seriously drink everyday. Perhaps only in Cairns, people start drinking at 10am. I’m glad I have high tolerance and high energy. I don’t really need alchy to sustain dancing for hours on end.

A few people had to stop my friends and ask if I was okay “because well, I look like I’m on drugs”. Of course I don’t do drugs eh?

I’m going to seriously look into working in Australia…

I Finally Found Free Wifi

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Well, not exactly, because I still had to buy a drink to use their internet. I’m staying at this hostel in Sydney…quite dirty compared to the ones I’ve been to.

This is my journal entry from yesterday….enjoy!

September 11, 2011

Landed in Australia around 6:30 AM. Total culture shock because I was so f%cking impatient to get to the shuttle and the concierge was taking so long. Plus my monthly had come on the plane, so my trip started with lots of hormones.

Not going to lie, but this hostel kitchen smells like fart. I hate how when people see me, they see an Asian face, not a live person. I’m so tired though, been walking around since early morning until 6am. I’ve been non-stop alive for 12 hours after a 15 hours flight. I’m dead as a cockroach. Dead. Dead. Dead meat. 

I was walking by the bathroom and I was startled because I saw this FINE David back, like muscled and toned staring at my face. I passed by and said “well, hello”. Of course non of the stalls had bathrooms so I went back and bumped into David, or so I call him.

I walked around the city, went to 2 backpacker flight stores, and felt totally ripped off. Of course I didn’t book anything because whose going to pay 600 bucks (AUS) for 4 tours. Rip off!! I also went to Vodaphone and got a sim card for 30 AUS. The guy was from Malaysia and had been in Australia for 7 years. I wonder how selling phones can be interesting, but then I find many things unworthy of my time.

I’m sitting in this dim room of computers, the only place I can find any kind of well, peace. It’s here with this 18 year old English boy from Nottingham, he’s quite something. I thought he was Australian because he had his pants sagged. I find this hostel quite dirty, more dirty than any I’ve seen. Thinking back, the san diego one was seriously clean. 

Anyways, I met 2 aussie males at the university. Met up with the lady from Project Futures, and then met a german girl. For some reason, everyone seems to look at me weird, like I fell from planet Mars. Seriously, just because I have red hair and black slanty eyes…don’t mean you can’t make friends with me.

By the way, I noticed a lot of people are scared to meet other folks, it’s like they are scared other cultures will absorb them and that they’ll lose a part of themselves. My new German friend told me that Germans like to stick together even if they travel together. This god damn cough will not leave me, GOD HELP ME!!

Australians are quite polite, as blunt as they are. They are kind of aloof, shy? They are definitely a lot more polite than people from Los Angeles. Anyways, haven’t really met someone I completely clicked with besides that university mate. 

Today’s entry-

Craziest day of my life. Yesterday I started the night by writing and reading. I was drinking a beer and just having a grand time on my own. Then Joe and Matt comes in and we start talking about my pending book to come and how it’s about my life, etc. We start having these crazy conversations about life, love, and random cultural differences such as English slang and LA slang. We decide to hit a pub and I swear, I totally put my cup down onto nothing, yes….YES nothing! I wasn’t looking!! So my beer was totally wasted. It was such a sad sight!

So the pub had a 3rd floor dance floor. They were literally playing the radio but somehow the radio had good music on. There were folks in suits, some young people, but more so the older crowd. The were very innocent in the ways that they danced, compared to Los Angeles. They were kind of cutesy if you know what I mean.

We then go to another bar and this one had a live band singing songs from Lady Gaga and even David Guetta. They had long blonde hair that they threw their sweat at people with. Good thing I wasn’t in the front. Yes this all happened in one day, the day I landed… 

Yah, I Know I’m Kind of Crazy

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So I finally sat down and did some calculations.

I have to raise or somehow God will rain down at least $1,672.57 by September 11. So I can pay my bills and September and October rent before I go to Australia. I already pulled out my money for Australia.

I’m struggling between having faith, waiting on God and doing everything I can to sell everything I have to earn some money.

I have a lot of clothes I can sell, but it’s hard to list all of them in that time span. I can sell my laptop, but my laptop is my life work.

So this leaves me thinking, well, it’s got to be God or else I don’t see how anything is possible. I wrote this down in my journal “He will not fail you or forsake you”. It’s scary to be in a place of need, perhaps, even shameful- as obnoxious as that word is, but it leaves me in utmost need of God and His grace to rain even more heavily. When the miracle comes, as last minute as it is, I’ll show the world that God is really that real. For now, I’m going to pray fervently, having patience and believing all that I have believed about my God.

 

Jesus The SuperDad

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Recently God has been blowing my mind away.

My friend had a vision for me that I was a baby and that Jesus was carrying me and even cooking for me.

That really made me cry because, well, Jesus cooks for me!

I have 12 days before I board the plane to Oz Land. Another friend prophesied that he saw different arrows and God will bring in finance through different sources. But that, it would be very last minute. I can see that happening- I mean I have 12 days left.

I guess the world can laugh at me- but I’m already seeing God fight for me.

Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Exodus 14:13,14)

I’ve been really learning to be still and cry to God for help. There were several nights I felt disillusioned and thought there were demons watching me, but I knew they were just trying to scare me. God has really been fighting for me in the small things.

Like, little things that I randomly thought I’d need- such as comfortable leggings, travel jackets, etc. My friend called me and told me her friend was moving and that she has clothes in my size. I ended up even getting sketchbooks and sharpies I needed to draw on the trip. GOD IS SO DETAILED in His providing- when we simply trust Him with childlike faith. All the ways I thought God would provide, God has a better and more surprising way. I even had a twitter friend donate to my trip- even though we’ve never met. His emails have been encouraging and shown me that somehow my writing is making a difference in the world.

God is not far away, He is fighting for you!

Tell Him all your needs and He’s fighting for you to get you the best. Thank you for all those that have listened to God and faithfully given out of generosity. I know God honors your heart and is using the money to bless others 1,000 fold.

 

 

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