Take a left…then an immediate right

Happy four months old to meeeeee!!!

Look at all the things I’m learning and doing! When I say “good listener” I mean like, when there’s a lot of context and they don’t have their mouth covered by a surgical mask. Just so, we’re clear.

How can two weeks possibly go by so fast! How can so much happen and yet I can also feel like there’s nothing to talk about?

First off – I got to sing in a friend’s wedding! She had been dating this great guy at our school for a while and within about a month she got engaged and married! (They don’t mess around here). The entire school was in an uproar, making decorations, planning the music, gathering tables and chairs, you name it, we can do it! I won’t say that I’m completely knowledgable in the wedding culture of South East Asia buuuuuuut I think there’s the possibility of me getting pretty close by the time I head home.

Then the next weekend I got to attend another wedding, this time a Buddhist reception, with a different friend from school. She then took me to her house afterward and we hung out with her daughter. Did I mention this was all on my lunch break? And that it was on a Friday afternoon? I didn’t sing, but they definitely wanted me to. (Note to self…learn new songs in local language to sing when asked on command.)

(By the way have you ever had to wear a long pencil skirt and ride on the back of a motorbike side-saddle to get down the bumpiest dirt road of your life without falling off or losing your shoes? All y’all ladies living in South East Asia just gave me a huge ‘amen’. We can talk about how scary things become normal later.)

I fixed a clock, put up paintings, and got a new roommate!

I said goodbye to my old language teacher at my local center and started with a new teacher, which is an exciting change – but sad to say goodbye!

I started tutoring middle school history – which is good because I feel like this is the do-over I didn’t even know I wanted. I mean, I’m genuinely interested in the Magna Carta the time around, so…I feel like I’m growing.

I think in my last blog I mentioned something about being ready for plans to change, but I don’t think I could have predicted how fast life can change in one week, talk about some quick and serious turns (new roommates, new responsibilities, new teachers!) It’s like there’s a GPS somewhere shouting to take immediate turns that take you in completely new directions, except I don’t really hear it, it just happens. They say that’s how it works around here. And I’d say that I’ll get used to it, but if the only thing to get used to is constant change is it possible to get used to that?

I’ll go with probably. And I think there are a few things that I can still count on as a definite possibility in my time here. 1) Ants will still constantly be invading my house and 2) There will be plenty of opportunities to sing at weddings.