“Travel is a Privilege”

Every week, I read a blog post from a famous travel blogger.  His pen name is Nomadic Matt, and his full-time job is traveling the world, writing books and blogs about each country, and sharing his passion with others.  This line was the title of his last blog.  This post continued to say:

            “You and I both know how much of a positive impact travel can have on a person's life. It broadens your mind, changes your outlook on life, and exposes you to new ideas.”

And as I was reading through this blog, I kept saying “Amen, brother!” to almost every sentence.  His blog eventually discusses his non-profit organization that provides opportunities for underprivileged children to travel on a dream vacation.  It’s a really cool organization; you should check out the website here:  

https://www.crowdrise.com/excelsior-academy-goes-global/fundraiser/foundation-for-learning-and-youth-travel-education

But after reading this post, I realized how much of an impact these last two years have had on me.  Obviously, I’ve been noticing slowly throughout my time, but it really hit me after I read his thoughts.  I’ve started to see the world differently, and understand that one culture is not any better than any other; God makes us all unique and special, and we need to honor that difference.  I’ve realized that it is my job to be a global citizen and adapt to the situation in front of me, whether that is shoe etiquette (taking my shoes off at the door, take off shoes and put on sandals, wear shoes inside, wear socks but not shoes) or proper greeting for an older woman (figuring out if I should shake her hand, or give her a hug, or bow, or just say thank you) when she invites me to dinner.  I now understand a bit more of why people act the way they do, and why certain cultures value certain things over others.  All of these things are incredible, worldview-altering things that cannot be learned staying in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

All of that being said, traveling has its share of challenges too.  I’ve seen humanity at its worst, from governmental corruption in Indonesia, to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, to rude and self-entitled tourists, and realizing the pain people cause others daily is not easy.  I’ve gotten stuck in awkward conversations about culturally inappropriate topics, or a major language barrier, or tried to share the Gospel with someone who had no desire to listen.  I’ve been lost in the wrong part of a city more than once, without a phone or a motorbike or any confidence in knowing where I was.  I’ve also missed deep relationships and small comforts from home as I’m on the road. 

But all of these situations, the good and the challenging, the amazing and the terrible, have brought me home a completely different person than when I left Hershey two years ago.  I would be lying if I wasn’t a bit worried about fitting back into my Pennsylvania community, but I know that who I am now is a emotionally stronger, relationally deeper, better educated, and more sensitive person than when I left. 

Throughout the last few days, I’ve really been thanking God for the opportunity of these last two years.  I know it was part of His plan to lead me here, and I am eternally grateful.  But I also need to thank you, for your financial and prayerful support of me as I’ve been overseas.  None of this life-changing opportunity could have happened without you.  I look forward to reconnecting with each of you and sharing more about my experience. 

But for now, if you have the privilege to travel, take full advantage.  Don’t stay in one place for fear of the unknown; I’ve lived through lots of strange and uncomfortable, and grown from it; you will too.  And if you have the chance but don’t want to, support those who don’t have a chance, through the organization above or many other related programs around the world.  Everyone deserves the chance to experience what I have.  I truly believe that traveling, and the resulting worldview expansion and experiences that comes from it, is the first step to creating a peaceful, loving world for everyone.  People are all people, and we are meant to see and love them as Christ does, but how can we do that if we don’t have the chance to truly know and understand them?

Travel is a privilege, and I’m so thankful for the privilege of the last two years of traveling the world.  I’m also thankful that I’ll be back to America in less than 24 hours.  There is a time and a place for everything. 

But above it all, God is good.  All the time.

Luke Forshey

July 19, 2017

 

PS. If you are planning to travel, I recommend this blog.  His tips and tricks have been incredibly helpful!

https://www.nomadicmatt.com/getting-started-new/

10 Thoughts about Poland

10. Poland was torn apart by WW2.  The first fighting of the war took place in Poland, as Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 to start WW2.  The rest of the war, they were controlled by either Germany or the Soviet Union.  Almost all of the current cities have been completely rebuilt because German bombs decimated the country during the war.  After the war, the Soviets occupied Poland for the next many years, so Poland is a relatively new independent country. 

9. Polish people have 2 celebrations for themselves per year.  People celebrate their birthday and a “name day,” on the day that is designated for your specific name.  Polish people have to choose a name for their baby off a list (of about 365 names) and then if January 1 is the day of St. Katherine, and your baby’s name is Katherine, then the parents would celebrate both the child’s birthday (on the actual day of birth) and the child’s name day, on January 1.  I got to see a “name day” celebration, and it looked very similar to an American birthday party: food, games, presents, and hanging out with friends and family. 

8.  Krakow is known as the tourist capital of the country, while Warsaw is the political and business capital of the country.  People from Krakow asked me why I was going o Warsaw, because there was “nothing to see there,” but I quite enjoyed the many museums and monuments in Warsaw too. 

7. Each museum in Warsaw has one day of the week that is free entry, so I took advantage and saved $15 to enter the National Museum of Poland.  It was actually quite a sad to see though: the National Museum had so very few artifacts from Polish history of artists, because much of their important artifacts were burned or stolen by the Germans during WW2.  Most of the museum was filled with German, Italian, or English artifacts. 

6. Polish food is quite delicious- my favorite thing I had were pierogies, little dumplings filled with spinach, feta cheese and sausage, then eaten with sour cream.  They were delicious; I was sad I only tried them on my last day!  Pierogies are also popular in Pittsburgh, PA, so I wonder if there is or was a large Polish population in Pittsburgh.

5. Polish people are incredibly friendly towards tourists!  More in Krakow than in Warsaw, but I had so many conversations with friendly Polish people about their culture and their way of life.  It definitely made the trip more enjoyable to feel I connected with a few people while I was there. 

4.  Polish Jews are so incredibly proud of their heritage, regardless of the troubles they have had.  In Krakow, they had the annual Jewish Celebration Festival, complete with food, dance, music, workshops, and reading of the Torah, and although I didn’t have time to attend many of the activities, I went to their evening concert one night.  At the concert, the people were so filled with joy, dancing and singing and inviting anyone who wasn’t Jewish to participate in the celebration as well.  An old Jewish man even kissed me as I walked into the front of the park.  The band also translated a few of the lyrics (they were all in Hebrew), and the line that stuck out to me the most was “How can be stop dancing when You are watching over us?”  This attitude of thankfulness and joy in worship was a really special thing to see, and I wish more Christian churches had this same attitude of joyful worship every service.

3. I was surprised that very little was still intact from either the Warsaw or Krakow Ghettos.  Warsaw has one 20m stretch of the wall still that still stands with a small plaque, while Krakow only has a wall without the plaque.  I wonder if they wanted to forget about this terrible part of their history, or if in rebuilding their cities, they didn’t find that to be an important part. 

2. Auschwitz-Birkenau Death Camp is an incredibly touching place.  It is representative of one of the worst periods in world history, and seeing how these people treated others caused me to think of love.  Love is the absence of hate, so even if I can’t do too much, I can love the people I interact with and make sure I don’t contribute to a lack of love like I saw there.  If you get a chance to visit, you absolutely should: photos or textbooks don’t begin to share the emotion you feel when you actually step into their barracks and walk through the gas chambers where 1 million people were killed.  It was surely not an easy visit, but one I believe every human on earth should experience.

1. While touring Krakow, I saw some of the most beautiful places of worship I have ever seen.  They were all decorated in such elaborate gold, with statues and candles and so much beauty in one place.  These cathedrals were located almost one per block, with one street holding 4 or 5 or up to 8 cathedrals on that street alone.   Throughout my whole trip, I have been amazed at the buildings that people build to honor God- I only hope the original builders and all the people who visit the building have hearts that are as beautiful, pure and wanting to honor God as well.  

Luke Forshey
July 15, 2017

10 Thoughts on Russia

10.  Sometimes, getting off of the main tourist cities in a country will be a much better experience.  I had a friend in Russia suggest that I only see St. Petersburg and Moscow, but I decided to go to Kazan to see the better soccer games.  Kazan is such a cool city, with some really stunning architecture, some really good food (even Pap John’s!) and a very welcoming, still very Asian-feeling culture.  Most people don’t think to go to Kazan on a Russian tour, but I am so thankful that I spent a bit of time in this beautiful city. 

9.  Russia has a lot of the “greatest” or “biggest” things in Europe.  Just to name a few, the largest mosque in Europe is in Kazan, the Qalsarif Mosque, the 2 largest skyscrapers in Europe are in Moscow, and the 3^rd largest escalator and 3^rd deepest metro station in the world are both in Moscow as well (Park Pobedy station- 740 steps, 84 meters underground). 

8. In Moscow, we went to a mall beside Red Square- and almost every person had ice cream.  We also went to get ice cream, and the ice cream vendor had the scoops of ice cream already attached to a cone in the freezer.  The attendant took a pair of tongs, picked up a cone with ice cream already on top, and handed it to us…quite a different way of getting ice cream!  And it was about 70 cents per cone- what a deal!

7.  St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow is an incredible building.  Everyone knows about the large, colorful domes, but very few people know about the detail underneath the domes- each support and pillar is painted with beautiful flowers, in blues and reds and gold trim, but each one is painted differently- no two are the same.  In addition, there are little brick arches, alcoves of shelter, and a cool design of the bricks making up the formation.  If you ever get the chance to go visit this beautiful building, do it.  Pictures don’t do it justice!

6. Moscow has the best metro system I have ever seen, hands down.  There are 14, yes 14 lines, and almost every part of the city has a stop within a few hundred meters of it.  A few years ago, the Russian government launched a competition to see who could create the easiest to read metro map, so reading the map (in English and Russian even!) was not hard at all.  Each stop also has a different theme, with a design unique to each individual station throughout the whole complex.  The station closest to my hotel was called “Elektrozavodskaya” which must mean something about electric, because the station was covered in lights and lighting bolts in the design of the ceiling and walls.  They definitely spent lots of time designing each stop. 

5. Google translate is an amazing thing, especially for when you need to talk about visas and tourist registration (important stuff!) with the hotel receptionist who doesn’t speak English…hopefully I will not have to replicate that experience again…

4. Speaking of which, if you go to Russia, make sure to read all of the fine print about how long you have to register before you get in trouble with the government.  Most times, foreigners must register within 7 business days of arriving, which was great for me because I would only be there 5 and therefore didn’t need to register.  But I missed the fine print about “All foreigners who arrive with a ‘Soccer visa’ must register within 24 hours of arriving in Russia.”  I was quite worried I would never be allowed to leave the airport, but thanks to a very friendly customs officer, I had no problems! 

3. If you ever want to go to visit Russia, go next year for the 2018 World Cup.  If you buy a World Cup (or Confederations Cup this year) ticket, you get a free visa into Russia (which is quite difficult to get as an American!) for about 6 weeks total, along with free train rides between the host cities (which would have been $40 or more per trip), free metro/public bus transportation in the city on game days, and even discounts to the museums in the city.  In addition, there were about fifteen tourist information booths set up throughout each city to guide tourists with any questions.  It was quite remarkable how organized this first tournament was, so I have no doubt the World Cup next year will run just as smoothly.  Who wants to go with me?  :P

2.  Russian people are not angry at Americans.  Don’t believe the lies that the American media feeds us.  At Starbucks one night, my friend and I started talking with a Russian couple sitting beside us.  They were both genuinely interested in hearing about American culture, and we realized that we had much more in common than we may have thought: she was a school teacher, he liked watching soccer, they were going on a trip to celebrate the summer break, they felt it is pointless that Russia and the US are so angry at each other, and they realized that people are all the same throughout the world.  It was really a positive conversation, which changed my perception about Russian people’s attitude towards the US.  All of the people I met were much warmer than I thought they would be; there is nothing to be scared about interacting with Russian people! 

1.  Russia is a religious mismatch of a country, and it was quite cool to see a mosque, a Catholic church, a Russian orthodox cathedral, and a Jewish Synagogue all so close to each other.  All of that being said, evangelism in any form is still illegal, and the general culture of this country is not a practicing religious culture, just a historical/familial tie to religion.  I have a friend who works in a seminary in Russia, and he said we were not allowed to visit him because of drawing negative attention to his work.  Please be praying that the Russian government will repeal the law that makes it so hard to share the Word and will instead be open to the life-changing message of the Gospel. 

Luke Forshey

July 2, 2017