25 Years and 25 Things You May Not Know About Me

I’m turning the big 25.

Monday is ma birthday! Of course, since I am living and working in Korea that really makes me 27, because they like pinning on an extra two years. You turn one when you are born since 9 months in the womb is apparently close enough to a year…and then you turn two whenever the Lunar Year rolls around, which means everyone’s birthday falls on the same day… Err, I think I’ll just stick to my 25.

So, I feel like I should be writing some kind of enlightened post sharing all the wisdom I’ve accrued over the past quarter of a century (pshaw!) but truth is 25 feels pretty normal. I’m not freaking out about my age, I’m not worried about the future, I am excited to be calling a foreign land in Asia my home, I have a handsome red-headed boy ’round my arm, and I have incredible travel plans for the coming year. What’s a girl like me to complain about?

Instead I figured I would have a little fun with this and share 25 little facts about me. It is my day after all. 😉

1 ) I was born in a French speaking Canadian province and my French is deplorable (but not so deplorable that I am completely helpless when travelling through France!)

2 ) My first trip abroad took me to the exciting Peruvian capital of Lima. Six months and this girl already had a passport!

3 ) I grew up speaking Spanish as my first language. ¡En serio hablo español, así que me pueden dejar un mensaje si estan leyendo desde Sudamérica!

4 ) Okay, so maybe I speak a lot of languages… I can manage to communicate to a certain degree in five different ones.

5 ) The boyfriend and I make videos on YouTube.

6 ) I lived in a very rural town in Argentina as a child. My main hobby was making traps in the forest – seriously, I would dig holes and then put branches and leaves over them hoping someone would fall in… Nothing serious – you would have suffered a twisted ankle at most. Gotta create your own entertainment in the country!

7 ) Lisbon is the first city where I travelled solo.

8 ) I have two sisters and they too love to travel! Sometimes with me.

9 ) I like wandering down back alleys.

10 ) I studied Humanities in university because it allowed me to take the most random courses like German literature, Islamic architecture, and abstract drawing.

11 ) First memory abroad is that of a demonstration taking place outside the hotel in Buenos Aires when all I wanted to do was sleep. Let the 6 year old have her nap, please!

12 ) I take photos of ‘EngRish‘ signs wherever I go.

13 ) Brazil is the country I have most visited, and Rio de Janeiro feels like my second home.

14 ) Temple hopping is my idea of a weekend outing.

15 ) I once bumped into 3 people I know in a city that none of us were from. And these three people weren’t even together!

16 ) I want to live in India for a while – even though it tried to kill me.

17 ) I traded grad school in England to work and play in Asia. No regrets!

18 ) I got a nose ring to prove to myself that I wasn’t chicken. I’m quite fond of it now.

19 ) I thought South Korea was going to be rather bland and tame before I moved out here; it’s been anything but that.

20 ) I could eat street food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

21 ) My first international trip without parents was to California at 18, where I spent a month volunteering in a forgotten community and its surrounding trailer parks. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so helpless.

22 ) I get excited every time one of my articles is published, but it makes me too nervous to read them.

23 ) I used to refuse to sing in front of people until I moved to Korea. Noraebang changed my mind.

24 ) I can’t seem to remember how I celebrated my birthday last year…but

25 ) I’m going in search of Indian food and other adventures for my birthday tomorrow!