Travel Picks of the Week - 12/07/07
Photo: Flickr/BrendaM
Ancient monuments and towering cathedrals fill us with a sense of amazement and set us thinking about the energy that inspired such arduous human endeavor. Today’s top world attractions were social and spiritual centers of primordial civilizations.
Robert Scheer takes a peek at some of the world’s most visited sacred sites and provides tips on preparation for such a journey in In Search of Sacred Places.
The global religious travel market has become an 18-billion dollar a year industry, thanks to an upsurge of young travelers who seek to combine faith with fun and adventure. New York Times’ Joshua Kurlantzick looks into opportunities for faith-based travel combined with active pursuits like skiing and hiking in Leave the Sackcloth at Home.
Personal Space
I recently came across an article about proxemics, the study of personal space and it got me to thinking of personal space during travel. Personal space is not something that pertains only to human animals– all animals have some sense of personal space, be it while attacking or retreating or smelling or communicating. It is only in humans that our sense of space is directly involved and understood.
The issue of personal space is a fascinating concept. Who belongs where and when? Most of us don’t really recognize it on a daily basis, unless we come across an overtly large amount of close-talkers, animated gesturers, smelly people or any other such invaders of ‘personal’ space.
On the whole, throughout the course of the day, most people will obey most invisible laws regarding distance of communication, bus riding, line queuing and the like. Often times for the traveler, its Eastern counterpart will confront their largely Western notion of personal space in confusing, surprising and illuminating ways.
In North America, we have the luxury of a tremendous amount of space. Population per square kilometer here is a pittance compared to say, Japan, China or India.
Immediately a Western traveler will notice that the astounding amount of people who live in these places all have somewhere to go and lives to lead. Crowds, queues, conversations are all done in quite close contact, oftentimes devolving into surging masses of people. Life simply can’t afford the space it can in the West as in the East.
It’s amazing how fast piddly concerns like having the ‘normal’ space around us are lost in a new land. The foreigner is not the native in a foreign land. We can’t be choosy with our means and modes. Often times, the busiest most crowded modes of transportation are our lot. We dumbly line up in queues for any number of things. We go to markets. We go to busy places.
For some there is a grating aspect of such constant touching, such closed quarters. Others see it as sort of a comfort, as a humanizing experience. I tend to group myself with the latter, although it is odd how oftentimes even when ample space is available (in a waiting room, or, say a certain train station in Shenzen, China) certain zealous people will still huddle in groups together, or, say, the only other person in the station.
It’s an idea that on an individual level seems to be largely transitive as well. Oftentimes I’ve noticed those who originally hail from a country of much smaller personal space proportions will still revert to their original, closer space boundaries when in conversation or transit and vice versa for those who hail from larger personal space countries.
Tales Out of School
Back in the Big Apple, kids have to be frisked for semiautomatic weapons before entering the school building. Having gained admittance, they then proceed to spend their time setting fires to garbage cans in the girl’s and boy’s bathrooms as a form of recreation (and no, although writers are prone to exaggerate, I am not making this up in order to entertain you: a former publishing colleague who left to teach at a charter high school in Queens told me this story in her first or second year. Funnily enough, she still didn’t want her old job back, though.)
As a teacher here in a private school in Dakar, I have to say that I have it extremely good compared to my NY counterparts: my students stand when I enter the room and it is considered a grave infraction if their drab brown uniform shirts are not tucked in properly, if they are wearing nail polish or (Allah forbid!) if they come to class without their book or their homework assignment.
Coming to America
I don’t think anyone really foresaw the speed, and the massive drop, that the American Dollar has taken in the past few months. As an American studying in Canada, I know all too well that current exchange rate. My first transaction at a bank a few years ago when I first came here was converting $100 USD into Canadian dollars. I received exactly $137.87. I remember that figure exactly; it’s burned into my memory, as a marker of my prudent decision making. “It’s like I’m only paying 70% for everything!”
That was three years ago. Oh how the times have changed. On my most recent trip to the bank, for $100 I got exactly $98 back– the closest to parity I’ve gotten all year. My prudence is no more.
