Same same but different

by Victor Gonzalez (Spain)

I didn't expect to find Nepal

̈ Same same but different ̈ In my country we have a saying that ̈from a wedding another wedding come out ̈. Well in this case, from the wedding come out a whole new change of mind of how I saw the world and how we are all connected no matter how different we are. Because meet other cultures is necessary in life to be the best human being we could become. In summer 2018, my girlfriends invited me to a wedding in Nepal where she was working with an ONG for a few years, I love to travel and I know it was important to her so of course I accepted. What I did not expect is what I would discover in this journey about life and myself. Journey full of nice people, new flavors, new smells, new ways of seeing life. I never expected to meet such wonderful and pure-hearted people as I could met there. We travelled to Nepal a third world country; where they do not have asphalt roads, some of them don’t have running water and they live with chickens. Well these people shared with us all what they had, making us feel like we were one of them. Sometimes we feel bad or unfortunate for little things in our life but meeting people with other realities makes you be consequent with how blessed in life you are. Travel can help you meet new people and forge friendship bondings that last forever. I will always keep them in my heart, Bimal, Sam, Suandra, Amrita, Himal and the rest of the children. ̈ Same same but different ̈ is the perfect example of how two different cultures can have things in common. This is a very common expression used for the Nepali people when they speak with a foreigner. It is easy, they know the word same and different but they do not need to learn how to say ̈ similar ̈. And is strange but thinking as a foreigner makes sense. This is an example of how a culture clash makes you be more open minded to think how other people think and understand the world. The same goes for religion and traditions. Traveling makes you a person thirsty for knowledge and personal growth. Meet other cultures could help you to discover who are you and most importantly, who you want to be. After meeting all the people I met in this wonderful journey, now I know want to keep traveling. I want to keep meeting new people with amazing stories to tell. I want to meet so many different cultures and learn from them. I want to help people, to teach people, to make their lifes easier. Now I know that this world is really big and I would want to leave some kind of personal mark in it. The way I see it travel creates addiction. It is a good and necessary addiction.Wake up in you a thirst for knowledge that you didn't know you had For every parents should be mandatory to inculcate their children the love to travel. Makes you meet new interesting people, and create new friendship bonds. It Makes you a cultured person with an open mind. In summary traveling makes better human beings. We are all connected. Mitakuye Oyasin.