The academic year of 2018/19 flew by. It didn’t feel like there was much time to sit and smell the roses, but it was a choice I made to do online classes in the fall and spring semesters. Between work and study and church and Thai classes and a new relationship, it was a dizzying year. I enjoyed good chunks of it, but I am glad that I can breathe easier now.
Now, if I could press ‘pause’ on my life now……who am I kidding? Lol.
I miss my kimbap across the miles that separate us and I count down the weeks till we meet again each time. Apart from missing him, however, I am fully thriving – for the first time it feels – in my work life and personal life. Someone made a remark this summer about how their current life was the best it had ever been. It made me stop in my tracks. I personally believe that every year gets better than the last, because I like to think I get better at living life 🤔😝
The first year in Bangkok was finding my feet. A new place. Living alone for the first time in my own apartment with nobody next door I could really call on. A new job. New year groups to teach and kids to figure out. A new language. New roads and landmarks. Many strange, wonderful, bewildering things. But I was blessed to find good colleagues who worked as a team, a good church that became my second family, and a great TCM doctor who helped me regain my health. Being mistaken for a Thai was funny and made me want to master the language more!
The second year built on the blessings of the first. I moved apartments, and by God’s grace I found an apartment with a spacious balcony (hello laundry flapping in the wind!) AND more crucially for my mental/emotional/spiritual health…..a HOUSEMATE! Both of these were answered prayers. The balcony was a random prayer I made on New Year’s Day in 2018, never dreaming that 5 months later my landlord would increase my rental. So I moved. The housemate was a wistful prayer that I thought was impossible, and lo and behold, she is Malaysian and even her name is 75% exactly the same as my sister’s!! My dreadful cough, Larry, left me completely midway through the year and only surfaced now and again when I’ve been naughty and eating too much forbidden foods. I did Master’s classes and assignments while continuing to ‘date’ KC through video calls and texts. Oh and learning to ride a motorcycle was fun, too.
Third year in Bangkok feels familiar but exciting still. Having homie around is such a blessing, and we look forward to experimenting more in the kitchen and sharpening our culinary skills. I’m eager to try out all the things I’ve learnt over the last two summers in my classrooms. So far some things have been wonderful…..and some things have tanked. Not every kid will love music – I have come to accept that and not take it personally. And I think that has been freeing in and of itself. Still taking Thai lessons but I can read most of the alphabet already, it’s just having to know the exceptions too and building fluency. After this musical is over, I’m considering taking dressmaking classes 😊 Shopping secondhand is fun, but alterations are not always easy. So that is a little side project to take on for this year!
Officially, I have also entered my 7th year of teaching. That’s a nice thought to have as I approach 30 wheeeeeeeee……
learn and live 