If I won the lottery, the first thing I would do is buy what I needed most.  I don’t need a huge house or seventeen motorcycles, eight boats or a house servant.  I would probably purchase a decent car and a nice apartment somewhere, just to have a couple of things that are durable and good quality.  I would then take a large portion of that money and stash it in a savings account, or several CD account, invest some in foreign currencies (if that’s still legal), and travel and write.  Perhaps I would work here and there for some extra fun money, but the most important thing for me at that point would be to see the world.

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I don’t know if a lot of families or people do this very often, but I remember having a New Year’s Day lunch or dinner with my grandparents.  It has been hit-and-miss with that since they passed on, but some of my family members have tried to keep that going, schedules permitting.  Like I said before, I haven’t heard of a lot of families doing it.  Maybe it’s too close to Christmas dinner.  Maybe too many people are still recovering from some type of reverie from the night before.  I don’t pretend to know, though I will say that even with the type of festivities from New Year’s Eve, a good meal helps with that recovery.  Either way, what better way to bring in a New Year with a large meal.

I would go to Vietnam for my honeymoon.  I have never been there, which adds to the appeal, but everything I have heard and seen about the place piques my curiosity.  Not only is it tropical, but is an east Asian country with strong traditions of Buddhism, architecture, and a deep history.  Everything from Chinese settlers and traders to the French colonial period have influenced the intriguing, and strong, people of Vietnam.  Not only that history and tradition, but the country itself looks beautiful, from the mountains in their central highlands to the expansive and varied beaches.  Their food is delicious as well.   If all else fails, the food is a good reason to go.

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My greatest achievement so far was the ability to live in another country for over a year.  It may not seem like much, but everything about it now seems extraordinary to me.  I did not move to Mexico, or Canada, or even another nation that is, essentially, based on Western culture.  It was Korea.  I worked there, lived there, and didn’t travel back to the United States.  I fulfilled my work contract, and toughed it out through the “culture shock” phase.  Perhaps it’s small of me to compare myself to others, but it isn’t something a lot of people can handle.  I left the U.S. alone, and arrived in Korea alone, travelled around their country, learned some of their language, and ate some of their more suspicious looking meals.  It really got me out of my comfort zone and aided my wanderlust.  As far as it being an achievement, I survived and loved the experience, and wish to replicate it in the future.

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