To give a brief intro and also make a bridge between the last South America trip and my upcoming one. This is what has happened to me during the last 4 years almost 5 years. The last South America trip brought me back home to Hong Kong, that was in Nov 2009. I was looking for jobs in Hong Kong for months and it went nowhere. So, I ended up asking my sister in Boston if her company would still take me in. They already gave me an offer before I left the US, I just didn't want to work with my sister in the same company, so I declined. Anyhow, I am not one who can just sit and do nothing day after day, month after month. I went crazy, depressed and all that not so good stuff. So that was it, the job in Boston was still open. By Oct 2010, I returned back to the US and started working in Boston. Sometimes, you just need to walk a full circle to go back to where you have been after all.
So far, I have enjoyed my life here I have to say, about the work I do, about the future ahead of me, it looks promising. I have met many friends in Boston, formed a good social network. But this is a college town, people come and people go. I have at least 3 or 4 friends whom I have become quite close to but they ended up moving away for work, going back to their countries or for other reasons. Boston is a little small for me too, but very livable nonetheless. Would I stay here forever? I am not sure about that, but I certainly would be staying here for a while, especially if I am thinking about applying for a green card. I would probably have to stick with my current job for a while.
The good thing about having a stable job is the financial independence and the sense of belonging, but the bad thing about it is that I would not be able to easily take 2 months vacation to go to South America or any exotic places in the world. I do have traveled quite a bit for the past few years, short trips mostly. I went to Puerto Rico for 5 days, Japan for a 10, went to half of dozen national parks around Utah/Arizona, all the New England states in the US. I also did a cross country road trip from Phenoix to Boston too, and went to Alaska last year with my partner at the time as well. All fantastic experience and memories I will treasure for a long long time. But nothing like another solo trip to South America, just the thought of it kind of blow my mind. South America, for some reasons, is like a sanctuary for me, a place where I bring myself back to center and focus on the direction I am heading in life. It is not going to be a 2 months trip, but a 2 weeks trip in Argentina, from the very bottom of the Patagonia, Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, up to the Iguazu Falls by the Brazilian border.
Yes! The movie Happy Together has inspired me on the planning of this route. I just wanted to see the lighthouse at the end of the world even since I first saw the movie a zillion years ago. I will write about the itinerary in the next post.
