The World is Your Oyster . . .
VOCABULARY
I left England at the age of 19, many moons ago, to work as a nanny for a rich Swiss family. In those days, I was the exception as most of my friends were seriously thinking about starting a career or a family. In those days, people regarded their job as a long-term commitment and wouldn’t have dreamed of chopping and changing jobs, as they do today. However, today the opportunities for young people are endless.
Take my son, Oliver, for example .Afew months ago he told me that he wanted to do a four-month journey around South America. I thought "wow – how adventurous is that?" Obviously, these days, it seems to be no problem, as more and more youngsters decide to take time off their everyday lives and do something adventurous – something that takes them out of their comfort zone. Some decide to study in a foreign country and learn a new language, while others do charity work in places like Africa, India or South America. They can learn so much more about real life than they would have done in school or at work – sitting in an office or behind a desk. Oliver took advantage of what Erasmus had to offer and went off to study in San Sebastián, where he learned perfect Spanish and fell in love with Spain. This took him to work in Barcelona, where he also picked up a few words of Catalan on top of his perfect English and German. I must admit, we took advantage of this when he managed to get us into a completely booked out Catalan tapas restaurant, in Palma de Mallorca. Then he ended up in the Italian ski resort of Livigno, working in tourism, and learned perfect Italian within no time. It took me six years of living in Italy to speak as fluently as he does. In Livigno, Oliver was able to fulfil his real passion for music, by single-handedly organising an end-of-season electronic music festival, with DJs from all over the world, which attracted more than 10,000 visitors.
Young people have so many opportunities – the world is really their oyster. Once they see that the world has so much to offer, there is no stopping them. This is probably more of a problem for the parents than the children, as I realised last week when I took Oliver to the airport to see him off .It was quite a tearful goodbye.
Oliver has prepared a very interesting itinerary for the next four months, which doesn’t only involve travelling around Columbia, Peru, Bolivia Argentina and trekking through the Amazon jungle, but he will also be working on a coffee farm and going to a Columbian wedding, in December. By the time he reads all this personal information about himself, he will be in Bogota. Here again, he found work when word got round that he is a brilliant DJ and produces his own music. Oliver has now been booked by various clubs in Columbia.
It’s at times like this that the internet comes in handy, as not only has Oliver been able to book flights, trekking tours and accommodation through it, I have been able to find out so much more about the places he will be visiting and it all looks amazing – an adventure that will give him memories for life. Unfortunately, one can also find out about the dangers of visiting such a country, not to mention the many vaccinations, including rabies, that are necessary. But no risk, no fun as they say.
This will be the first time that we haven’t spent Christmas together, in thirty years, as he will be on the top of Machu Picchu, while we are lighting the candles on the Christmas tree. But we have to let our children free and not always make them feel that they have to do what we want them to. many moons ago – vor vielen Jahren in those days – damals exception – Ausnahme to regard as – ansehen als a long-term commitment – eine langfristige Bindung to chop and change the jon – ständig den Arbeitsplatz wechseln take my son for example – zum Beispiel mein Sohn these days – heutzutage to take time off – sich freinehmen everyday life – das tägliche Leben adventurous – abenteuerlustig comfort zone – Wohlfühlzone behind a desk – an einem Schreibtisch to take advantage of – ausnützen to end up – landen to pick up – aufschnappen within no time – in kürzester Zeit to fulfil – erfüllen the real passion – die wahre Leidenschaft single-handedly – allein, ohne Hilfe to attract – anziehen the world is your oyster – die Welt steht dir offen to see sbd. off – sich von jmd. verabschieden tearful – tränenreich itinerary – Reiseplan by the time – wenn to come in handy – sich als nützlich erweisen accommodation – Unterkunft memories – Erinnerungen dangers – Gefahren not to mention – ganz zu schweigen von vaccinations – Impfungen rabies – Tollwut to let sbd. free – jmd. Freiheit geben