Places I'd Like to See

I haven't been outside the US in close to four years now, and I'm getting restless.  I've always felt like a foreigner in my own country, standing on the sidelines either fascinated, indifferent, or disgusted.  The fascination ended in about the eighth grade, after then I more or less decided to get on my own path.  It was a gradual movement of independent thinking away from the usual mode that many subscribe to.  I became more me, not the me that the culture, my race, my family might have wanted, but which was truly this woman, the budding writer, poet, and artist.  Now at my age I will never be able to put on the safe persona that others might want for me, and that is good.  

There are places I would like to see.  I want a real home and civilization based on traditions that work, not the latest craze.  But the places I will mention are not necessarily where I might want to live, but I would truly like to see before I die.

The two countries I've spent the most time in were Botswana, a semi-desert, landlocked nation that borders Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa; and Turkey which like Russia is in both Europe and Asia. Whereas Botswana is landlocked, Turkey is nearly surrounded by water; four seas touch it: the Sea of Marmara, the Black Sea, the Aegean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.  Turkey is also surrounded by several countries, Greece, Bulgaria, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Armenia, and Syria.  Whereas I had developed a low self-esteem in my own country, Botswana made me feel proud to be a black person, and Turkey showed me that my character not my color is what really mattered.  I could in many ways relax in these countries, whereas here I had learned to feel somewhat guarded and nervous.  I didn't realize I felt this way until I left here.  Some people carry their biases with them with they travel, but I went with an open mind, and my life was changed for the better.  


I am going to mention all the countries I would like visit with explanations why.

*Norway-- One of my favorite writers is Norwegian, Sigrid Undset, a Nobel Prize winning novelist and deservedly so.  She brought medieval times alive in her novels.  Norway also has mountains and fjords.  I love mountains and large bodies of water.  I'd also like to see a medieval stave church.  

 *Tanzania, Zanzibar, or any African country that's stable-- America has a generic culture.  We don't have a national cuisine, or rather one with much variety.  Even our religious holidays have lost their original meanings. Christmas is just a yearly episode of getting into more debt, trying to flaunt what you got for yourself and your kids to make others pea green with envy, and in the end the junk just ends up in the corner, and we're back out foraging for other stuff we really don't need.  I like meaning in life.  Knowing your true origins gives some people a sense of pride and an identity to fall back on when times are tough.  I met a lady in Botswana who was a British citizen of Russian descent.  She'd worked in Tanzania for years and said the people were extremely poor, many in rags, but they were kind and hospitable.  As for Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania, it is a mix of African and Arab.  The old rulers were from Oman on the east side of Saudi Arabia.  I would like to go there and see the people, culture, architecture, and the sea.  As for Africa...I am an African in America, and I am proud of it.  I don't know if what some told me in Botswana is true, that I look like I'm from a western African tribe that is royalty, but Africa is my roots. It should be remembered that some of my ancestors didn't willing come over here on ships.  

*Oman-- I've read a lot of good things about Oman and it's ruler Sultan Qaboos. The Omanis are said to be very hospitable.  Oman is a beautiful desert land with some interesting ecosystems.  Their Sultan is said to be a peacemaker unlike most of our leaders and a number of his neighbors who are avid peacebreakers.  If he gets a Nobel Prize, from what I've read of him, he will be far more deserving than some of the more recent recipients.   


*Russia-- The first contact I had with Russia was the book Nicholas and Alexandra.  Russia is both East and West with a long rich history.  It was considered the third Rome after the Turks took Constantinople (Rome in the East) in 1453.  Byzantium lived for a few centuries in on a slightly different way to the north of what is now Turkey.  I've met Russians, and I liked them all.  The few Russian films I've seen, I like.  I like the seriousness and intellect of the Russians I've met.  I love their bluntness.  There is no pretension there.  There is so much history and architecture in Russia.  Russia's greatest poet, Alexander Pushkin was of African descent.  


*China-- I love Chinese food, traditional music, and some of their movies.  Many of the Ph.D.'s that are now earned in this country are by Chinese people.  I want to learn about their traditional medicines.  This is an old culture that I can learn much from.


*Iran-- Of course, this extremely beautiful country with a mystical tradition has been demonized over and over since I was 17.  Read Daughter of Persia: A Woman's Journey From Her Father's Harem Through the Islamic Revolution, by Sattareh Farman Farmaian and you will see that Iran has a long proud history and has been often the victim not the demon.  Iran has a city called Shiraz which is called the city of poets and roses. One of the greatest poets of all times Hafez is buried there.  If a city has a name like that (the city of poets and roses), the place can't be a site of pure evil.


*Vietnam-- This country is kind of new on my list.  A few weeks ago, I was at a middle school where the kids were studying about Vietnam, China, and some other places in Asia.  They were looking at a documentary about Vietnam that was surprisingly objective.  There was even respect shown for the North Vietnam leader Ho Chin Minh, that he was trying to free his people from decades of Western colonialism.  I'm sure that those who want to turn the clock back to the glories of old that I was taught in school, wouldn't like what I saw in that documentary, but that's them, and this is me. After seeing the movie Indochine, I decided I'd like to see the beautiful mountains of unusual shape in Vietnam.


*Croatia-- I got interested in Croatia when I learned there's a coliseum  that never gets attention. The country is mountainous and on the sea.  Places like that are my kind of place. 


*Mongolia-- The Turks say the Mongolians are their cousins.  I met a Mongolian once, outside of Walmart of all places.  She was selling costume jewelry to help pay for the construction of a school back home.  Very friendly, short, and smiling, she told me that everywhere she'd gone in America looked the same I wasn't offended because I understood her point. Many of the us aren't comfortable with variety in surroundings or people, so I didn't get mad at her.  She had probably seen Walmart over and over wherever she'd set foot here.  I think nomadic cultures and those built on the transportation of the horse are interesting.  I want to see and visit a yurt.


*Uzbekistan-- I happen to listen to Uzbek pop music.  Unlike Herman Cain who didn't think knowing a little about this Central Asia country or who its current president it is important, I would like to travel there.  Years ago after the fall of the Soviet Union there was a series on PBS about different countries that were in the USSR.  One program was about an Uzbek family.  The mother was a traditional dancer, the father played a traditional Uzbek instrument, the daughter was learning traditional Uzbek dance, regional dances from parts of Russia and ballet, and the son was a school boy.  Later I met a some Uzbeks and a Russia Tatar who had lived there. One of my favorite Uzbek singers is Murodbek Qilichev.  Here is one his videos which background is in a traditional Uzbek tea house.

*Peru-- I would like to see Machu Picchu I'm also interested in the history of the Incan Empire.

*Argentina-- This country has a pretty name, I think.  I want to see some of the different varieties of landscapes and some of places where Eva Peron stood.  

As the years go by I'm not so interested in the standard tourist places, France, Italy, etc.  My interests have turned to the south and the east.  There is a big world out there, and we have only one life.  To go nowhere or to be only interested in the places that convention says are the only places one should see is sad and limiting. Get the chains off and step outside the box and learn about some places. Go there if you can.