The first question people usually ask me when the find out I'm in Mongolia is how long I'm staying in Mongolia. I get this from people here as well as people in the US. It's a fairly easy question. I should be here a year barring great love or great loss.
The second question people usually ask me is when I'm going home. This one is a bit trickier. I know that I'll be here for a year, but I haven't a clue where I'm headed after that. Or, for how long. The other part that makes this question tricky is that "home" is a rather abstract idea to me. For me, it's not a place. I've lived in a lot of places all of which have had their merits and downfalls, but none of which have captured my heart forever. Clearly, I'm still moving around. It's hard to even label it as a set of people because all of the people in my life that as an aggregate would make up "home" are never in the same place. So, really my home is spread all over the world right now. This makes it hard for me to pin point a time at which I will be going home. Safe to say, it probably won't be for a while. Recently, a friend labeled me as "undomiciled". I am on the move without a permanent fixture to which I return. I think that's a pretty accurate description
When people ask the second question they are usually asking when I will be returning to the US. I don't even really know that. (Sorry Mom and Dad). I have been dreaming about traveling for a very long time. I still remember sitting on the bus in middle school plotting travels to New Zealand (thank you Lord of the Rings...). Or just buying my own island somewhere in the world. It'll happen. It's not that I don't like the US. Well, not all of the time anyways. And, even in the three months that I've been gone I have learned to appreciate the US. But, now that I'm out, I want to see what else is out here.
I want to have adventures and travel before I get too overwhelmed by a sense of "responsibility". Or, if I'm lucky, I'll be able avoid it altogether. I don't ever want to be trapped doing something soul crushing. I know that doing the crappy work that no one else wants to do builds character or something equally unpleasant. But, it's not that I'm against doing grunt work. I'm against doing things that bring down the soul. Things that are frustrating, and detrimental to emotional well being. No one should be stuck doing something that they hate. It makes for unhappy people, and unhappy people never did anyone any good.
In another recent conversation a friend was asking my plans next, which of course I don't know. To which he rebuttals, Bridget you're probably going to end up somewhere interesting and stay there, aren't you? I hope so. I don't know what I want to do, but I don't think I have to know that yet. I'll find it. Or, it'll find me. Eventually.
