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Anonymous
Next year, around September, I plan on traveling. I'm not sure where, which is why I need some people with experience to help me decide. There are sites like bravenewtraveller that I've gleaned lots of information from, but many of those people seem like self-obsessed idealists. My reason for travel is to learn other languages and cultures. I want to widen my worldview first-hand, and get away from the very inward culture that has influenced my every thought for the past 20 years.

I have a bit over 2000USD in the bank. I plan on perhaps traveling by plane, but I'll also be investigating free transport by working on a boat, which I've heard actually happens and can be arranged, and I'm no stranger to hard work. I do tons of volunteer work in my own community.

Most "volunteering abroad" programs are actually scams for affluent, self-important white people, so I have to really look around- and I learned most places that need help aren't represented online. I know that most people wishing to volunteer abroad don't possess any skills to differentiate themselves from locals who could do the same job, but I am not entirely unskilled, as I can cook, perform first-aid, have experience teaching English as an ESL assistant, strong leadership, some meager form of cultural sensitivity from all my reading in anthropology, etc.

I plan on WWOOFing wherever I go, since that seems reasonable, with some couch-surfing here and there. I want to be gone for at least six months, I'm not sure what sort of visa or insurance I will need until I'm totally decided.

I am a native English speaker. If I continue my rate of study with Japanese, I could easily have 2nd JLPT level proficiency by next summer. I have knowledge of basic French grammar but my speaking and listening are awful.

continued in next post
>> Anonymous
continued

The languages I'm most interested in are Japanese, (Brazilian) Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Russian. The places I've considered (very naively, I admit), are Japan (Fukuoka), Brazil (Bahia), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Chile (Santiago), Spain (Barcelona), a few other countries in Europe (including Ireland), and a few places in east Asia. I'm not sure what draws me to these places, as I know little about them.

If I go to Japan, I'll be stuck at Japan pretty much, and I'll have to continue working hard at the language. I'm not sure how well I would like South American countries, though I have confidence I could be decent at the languages a lot quicker than Japanese. They are also cheaper than Japan, if I ever had an emergency from wwoofing and needed to be out on my own. Going to Europe would open up a lot of places to me, but I confess I know little about getting around there, or the interplay between the countries, or even where most of the countries are.

Of additional note, I have a potential contact floating around countries near Brazil. He's the son of a woman I do hospice volunteer work with, a blind musician who teaches English and is fluent in Portuguese (cool guy, huh?).

I don't know. I want to feel more solid on this before I devote more time directing language studies in any certain direction. If you have any words on this, I'd appreciate it.
>> Anonymous
Also, forgot to mention, I'll be saving up more money in the meantime.
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Anonymous
There's no way you'd be out for six months on only 2k, and volunteer work/free lodging can be unpredictable. Take a shorter trip during the summer, stay at hostels.
>> Anonymous
2K? I blew $500 on a bus trip to and from California, and I didn't even stay anywhere!

I really admire your optimism, but understand that a lot of those "rich, white folks" you're criticizing do these programs because of the unpredictable nature of travel.

If you wanna go all out and learn a new culture, just move, get a job, etc, but don't have any unrealistic expectations of being able to float around on a couple of grand for months at a time -- living alone in a new world will drain you of a lot of your cash very, very fast.

Good luck getting any sort of job in Japan, btw something like a quarter up to a half of those under 25 are either unemployed or non-regular workers. There have actually been protests.

Now is only the time to travel if you're already set on money. If you plan to extend your cash while you're out there, the best place to do that is...where you are right now. Also, consider the conversion rate of the country you're going to -- $2K won't get you nearly as far in Japan as in, say, South America.
>> Anonymous
>>81867
>Most "volunteering abroad" programs are actually scams for affluent, self-important white people

This. What the fuck, why do all places that I've found require either an advanced degree, a shitload of money you're supposed to pay them, or both? Can't I just go build some fucking houses or something?
>> Anonymous
>>81867
>Most "volunteering abroad" programs are actually scams for affluent, self-important white people,

This. Why do all places I've found require either some sort of a ridiculous degree, you paying them a shitload of money for the privilege of helping people, or both?

I just want to build some fucking brick houses for someone or something goddamn.
>> Anonymous
>>82285

OP here. My reading brought me to this conclusion:

Here's what happens. Small organizations in many countries need help, sometimes cannot find that help locally, and many times don't have websites (and obviously wouldn't care to attract people from other countries anyway).

A lot of spoiled Americans, especially college kids taking "gap years", want to "find themselves", or become more "cultured", and they believe painting a fence in Paraguay can help them achieve that.

"Volunteering agencies" see this opportunity, seize it, and basically charge these loaded, unskilled people thousands of dollars for the simple service of connecting them with local agencies in another country. These people think the money they spent for their two-week hippo-dung cleaning excursion was justified, and brag about it to their friends over margaritas/PBR upon their return.

Most people who volunteer abroad are actually just having a vacation.

WWOOF seems to be one of the few legit organizations- you pay for your transportation to the farm, and that's it. Hard work secures your room and board, and most people have positive experiences with it. Women, at farms in rural Europe, find the most trouble with it because of lecherous farmers who want more than help.

Volunteering abroad is fine as long as you realize that unless you have special skills, you aren't needed. And if you want to volunteer abroad just because you want to help people, you can do that much better in your own community, where you won't be a burden on others because of a language barrier or your lack of useful skills.

I would really like to know if anyone on /trv/ has ever wwoofed before, or taught English, etc. I've decided on Brazil for now.