SSU Travels the World

Only a few days after landing in the Philippines I learned that “Tira” is a word in one of the dialects spoken there. You can only imagine my excitement when I learned that it was spelled and pronounced the same way and even more so when I learned its meaning: “Go for it.” The example the woman gave me was, if a bunch of people are in a bar or drinking together and someone starts chugging, people would start chanting, “Tira! Tira!.” How encouraging it was to know that my name is being chanted in bars all across the Philippines.
I decided that I would keep this in mind during the trip; that I would transfer it to situations in which I felt a little apprehensive and let it serve as a reminder that I am there to experience all that I can. Though one thing I’ve been learning is that experiences cannot be compared. Not in the sense that you can’t exchange them, but in the sense that you can’t measure your experience against someone else’s. It is also true that the same experience is not meaningful in the same way for each person; therefore what is significant for one person, may not be significant for another. It’s hard not to do this though. It’s hard to be the person who hears about all the exciting things people are doing and feeling like the things you’re doing aren’t as fun, and you’re not taking advantage of opportunity. It’s also hard to be the person who’s having the great adventures and still being sensitive to others, and not coming across as arrogant or demeaning to the experiences of others.
I’ve decided to keep my name in mind and “go for it” when something interests me; and let my experience here in Asia be significant to myself.