How did a single woman with a six year old daughter, teaching in a small town in Iowa, wind up on the other side of the world, facing new cultures and raw life experiences? From taking shelter from a bomb attack not but a few feet away in Pakistan, to keeping up with the peculiar culture of Mongolians, to befriending Ethiopian thugs, Denise Burress has seen and done it all.
It had always been a dream of Denise’s to travel abroad, but in 1997, a friend reminded her of her long forgotten wish, and so it “reignited the desire to go overseas to teach”. Being “eager and interested”, she packed up her bags, and set off into the unknown, with no idea of what to expect. Since then, Denise has been caught up in a whirlwind of adventure after adventure, summing up the experience as similar to “being in a movie”.
After living and travelling amongst countries in the Middle East for some time, Denise’s travels took her to Pakistan. “Pakistan was the most incredible country”, she exclaims “I hated it and loved it!” Denise explains that this vortex of emotions spouts from the conjunction of the fear of bomb attacks and the extravagance that she discovered in Pakistan. Going into more detail, she describes her feelings during the first suicide bomb attack she witnessed. “We were in school…We had no idea what was happening…it was really scary”, she recalls, struggling to find the right words. Although it’s not something she would want to repeat, Denise was glad to have been able to live through such an “intense, real life experience”. But Denise wasn’t going to let something like that scare her away, insisting that Pakistan is at the top of her ‘favorite places’ list. “We had fun in spite of everything” she claims, going on to talk about the rich culture, the exotic food and the beautiful native dresses. Unraveling on the luxuries of Pakistan, she gushes how they “would go shopping for fabrics and have [their] own clothes made”. Denise had delved into a world unknown to her, and found herself caught up in a balance between two opposing sides of life while in Pakistan. But her quest to see more of the world did not end there.
On her journey to seek out more of what this world has to offer, Denise wound up in the ragged, bitterly cold terrain of Mongolia. To Denise, it sounded like such a “unique, bizarre place”, that she just couldn’t resist the lure of. But she soon realized that not every country she travelled to would offer up the same satisfaction and enjoyment that she had relished in other places. Describing how she felt alienated and completely out of sync with the people and the culture, Denise reveals that “it was really hard to live there”. But the language barriers and the food she just couldn’t bring herself to appreciate - (“absolutely awful. Everything was mutton!”) -were just the beginning of her problems. Denise was victim to countless robberies and pickpocketing, witnessed numerous passed out drunks on streets and in shops, and often had to deal with the shocking behavior of the natives. “It was a herding culture”, she remarks laughingly. But despite her inability to find anything welcoming about the Mongolian culture, Denise is glad that she “had that experience” and would never “take that back”. Denise’s ever optimistic attitude and lively spirit is a truly envious trait, and she has not let any challenges thrown in her way, prevent her from seizing memorable moments in the worst of times.
It had always been a dream of Denise’s to travel abroad, but in 1997, a friend reminded her of her long forgotten wish, and so it “reignited the desire to go overseas to teach”. Being “eager and interested”, she packed up her bags, and set off into the unknown, with no idea of what to expect. Since then, Denise has been caught up in a whirlwind of adventure after adventure, summing up the experience as similar to “being in a movie”.
After living and travelling amongst countries in the Middle East for some time, Denise’s travels took her to Pakistan. “Pakistan was the most incredible country”, she exclaims “I hated it and loved it!” Denise explains that this vortex of emotions spouts from the conjunction of the fear of bomb attacks and the extravagance that she discovered in Pakistan. Going into more detail, she describes her feelings during the first suicide bomb attack she witnessed. “We were in school…We had no idea what was happening…it was really scary”, she recalls, struggling to find the right words. Although it’s not something she would want to repeat, Denise was glad to have been able to live through such an “intense, real life experience”. But Denise wasn’t going to let something like that scare her away, insisting that Pakistan is at the top of her ‘favorite places’ list. “We had fun in spite of everything” she claims, going on to talk about the rich culture, the exotic food and the beautiful native dresses. Unraveling on the luxuries of Pakistan, she gushes how they “would go shopping for fabrics and have [their] own clothes made”. Denise had delved into a world unknown to her, and found herself caught up in a balance between two opposing sides of life while in Pakistan. But her quest to see more of the world did not end there.
On her journey to seek out more of what this world has to offer, Denise wound up in the ragged, bitterly cold terrain of Mongolia. To Denise, it sounded like such a “unique, bizarre place”, that she just couldn’t resist the lure of. But she soon realized that not every country she travelled to would offer up the same satisfaction and enjoyment that she had relished in other places. Describing how she felt alienated and completely out of sync with the people and the culture, Denise reveals that “it was really hard to live there”. But the language barriers and the food she just couldn’t bring herself to appreciate - (“absolutely awful. Everything was mutton!”) -were just the beginning of her problems. Denise was victim to countless robberies and pickpocketing, witnessed numerous passed out drunks on streets and in shops, and often had to deal with the shocking behavior of the natives. “It was a herding culture”, she remarks laughingly. But despite her inability to find anything welcoming about the Mongolian culture, Denise is glad that she “had that experience” and would never “take that back”. Denise’s ever optimistic attitude and lively spirit is a truly envious trait, and she has not let any challenges thrown in her way, prevent her from seizing memorable moments in the worst of times.
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