I wonder as i wander: refugypsy vagabond

“...with a vagrant strain in the blood, a natural inquisitiveness about the world beyond their doors.” Arthur Compton-Rickett

I need to move, I need new, fresh, unseen, unheard of, unlearned. I love to explore. I am nomadic. Fearless traveler. I cant even finish my post - I'm already gone, took off for the relentless trip, in search of my own personal temple.

I grew up between Estonia and Belarus, constantly crossing over Latvia and Lithuania as I was coming from one grandparents' house to another. My father is an interpreter, he was one of the few privileged people who could travel out of Soviet Union, and I think I take after him in my relentless motion. The break of Soviet Union when I was 6 put about 5 countries on my travel map, and the list has grown up to 17 countries since. I turned 19 during my first vacation in the USA, and I have visited around 25 states throughout the three consecutive summers I've spent here. Last vacation, 5 years ago, I stopped in NYC on my way back to Belarus and ...never left. Do I consider New York my home? More like headquarters to based out from. Perfect location and connection with the rest of the world, an explosive eclectic mixture of characters and cultures make this "human botanical garden" great place for me to be.. for a while. Moreover, the political and socio-economic tendencies in Belarus - my home at the time - were not much too my liking, and I asked for political asylum in this immigrants' paradise (documented refugee hehe). My gypsy part is underdocumented and is more of intuitive guess and gossip. But please do not mistake a nomadic refugee for a bum, as I hope I'm not. Happily residing in my lovely apartment in Greenwich Village, I make a quiet glamorous vagabond, and I must admit, I love comfort, and I hope comfort loves me back:)

My next expansion is down to the South - and I have started studying Spanish for that matter. First time I have set my foot down in the Spanish speaking world was my trip to the gorgeous but poor Dominican Republic. I haven't been to Argentina yet, but somehow I'm so sure I'll love it in Buenos Aires! I am also very curious about Japan, and I think that Japanese will be my next and biggest challenge. I speak or at least have studied 5 languages (Russian, Belarussian, English, German and Spanish) and every next one is easier than the previous, but Japanese must be a special cookie:) With my major in international business, Chinese is more profitable for me, as knowing Chinese I'd pretty much cover the majority of the world. But after a few summer visits to Canal st I doubt China is the right environment for me.. Needless to mention, I'm allergic to communism:D

I love to travel and I love education. Next time I have a chance to speak to Santa, I will ask him to make me Mary Poppins (or, better, Maria Popinska haha - based on my ethnic heritage) - a traveling teacher, who comes and goes as she pleases. With my current academic success of straight A's through 3 semesters, it looks like I might incorporate Noam Chomski's character in my ambition - a highly respected intellectual who's opinion on the world's issues is so listened to and appreciated. My biggest ambition would be to learn a newly developed course for a semester, just adopted by one of the Ivy League schools, and for the next semester go teach it in another prestige university. Learn and teach, relentlessly, always on the move.

According to Wikipedia, I am a Peripatetic nomad - who offer the skills of a craft or trade to those they travel among (most common in industrialized nations). My further wikiresearch made me realize something I could not get my entire life! Apparently, I am a representative of the Finnish kale (The Finnish Kale are a group of the Romani people that lives primarily in Finland and Sweden. In Finland they are often referred to as Mustalaiset (pl.) which means etymologically "Blacks", due to their darker complexions and hair in comparison to most other Scandinavians). No wonder in Estonia (which is across the sea from Finland) they noticed instantly that I look somewhat different! (I thought I should attribute it to my Belarussian half). But the Belarussian people did not apprehend me as part of community either, pointing out my Estonian accent and southern tan:) Nowadays, here, in the US, they call me Russian, but I could care less. I'm universal, I'm cosmopolitan, I am the force that makes the Earth go round:)

Works Sited:
1. image: http://www.hscross.com/wikis/images/3/36/Wanderer_from_the_Resplendent_City.jpg
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Kale
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagabond_(person)