It’s not like any other travel I’d organised before.
It’s not a mission trip to a host country.
It’s not a visit to a passport country.
It’s not a holiday.
It’s not a conference.
It’s not going away for study.
It's a tailor-made international health trip.
Emails flying between 3 countries. Collecting the correct documents for medical matters and crossing international borders. Trying to write a budget with 3 or 4 different currencies. Scheduling doctor's appointments not knowing how long it would take to get there from my accommodation, or how I would do that with no local language or knowledge or sense of direction. Trying to choose the cheaper flights that also matched up with when counsellors and guesthouse beds would be available...
It felt like such a hassle to have to organise it, and it
was annoying that we would all need to put our lives on hold for the duration. Going away cost so much money and I needed many people’s help to make it happen. If only I didn’t live somewhere without these services, there would
be no need for a trip like this. I could just slot it into our normal everyday
activities.
These were my thoughts as I prepared to have our babies
overseas, and more recently as I got ready for two weeks of counselling and medical appointments in a country we have no connections to. I resented having to travel for fairly
run-of-the-mill health events.
So what was this trip like?
It was a little like a holiday, in that I was in a relaxing
environment away from normal life.
And a little like a conference in that I
learnt a lot of exciting things that I’m eager to take back to my real life.
I was in a country that was neither my passport country
nor host country. Daily activities included catching taxis from my
accommodation to meetings. They weren’t big group meeting though, rather
individual counselling sessions or doctor’s appointments. It was great to finally
be able to investigate the mental and physical health issues I had been trying
to work on over the last six months.
And the accommodation wasn’t just a place to sleep. It’s
a little like a guesthouse, but specifically for cross-cultural workers. People often stay
and rest when they visit the town for a holiday, health care, between conferences
and while in transition between countries.
This means I was instantly part of a community of
others who have similar (but very different) life experiences and who are also
there for counselling, or having babies and a variety of other reasons. Joining feels so easy and
enjoyable; it makes the whole experience of a health trip even more valuable. I
don’t know how to describe just how amazing it is to be briefly immersed in
relationships that start and end quickly but with a connection that feels so unique and
deep.
And it means it felt slightly reminiscent of living on
Bible college campus, each family or individual has their own place to sleep but we all
eat together. Perfect balance of personal space and community life. The big difference being that instead of classes to attend there
is a pool, gardens and playgrounds. Other differences are that people often arrive and depart via the
international airport, and stays are usually measured in weeks rather than
years.
It also means that I could really focus on my health as food
and laundry is all taken care of onsite.
Counselling and
getting blood tests results back is exhausting, so I didn’t have energy for much else.
The only “housework” I needed to do while
there was collect drinking water from the dining room, and drop my clothes off
at the laundry.
Being away from both my passport and host country meant
that I was free from any distractions and obligations. I could use all my
brain space and energy on the specific things I needed help with. Instead of resenting that I had to travel for
health care, I’m actually really glad now. It worked really well. I feel like
it was more helpful doing it like this than doing things from home, slotted in around normal life.
I remember the same feeling when we were away to have our
first baby. It had been so hard to get there, and I was annoyed I couldn’t just
do things from home like pregnant friends in my passport country. But when we
were there, it felt so beneficial to have that family time away while going
through such a big transition.
Yes, it was expensive, time consuming, and I needed a lot of help
to make it happen; especially from my poor husband who basically had to put things
on hold for a couple of weeks. But it turned out to be really effective in the
ways we were hoping, as well as enjoyable. In fact so enjoyable I almost didn't want to come home! It's a strange thing to have such meaningful memories in a country we aren't connected to in any other way.
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| My clean laundry waiting for me! Boring photo but exciting moment. |
I was excited to see Velvet Ashes this week is all about TRAVEL. I wanted some way to remember this whole experience of a two week counselling intensive while staying in a missionary retreat, so this blog post is what I came up with.
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| I enjoyed being driven around by drivers who know where to go, on smooth roads, in closed vehicles with suspension. |
