Journaling Life Abroad

If we were meeting for coffee today, I’d invite you to join me at Pacamara, a neat little cafe in the center of the old city in Chiang Mai. I’m here today because the electricity at our house is out for the day due to some kind of scheduled maintenance. At least we got a letter in advance warning us it would be out! The funny thing is, as much of a pain as it is to be stuck in a cafe all. day. just to work, I’m almost preferring it because the internet is much faster here than at our house. Our internet at home sucks, but the company that has the fast internet doesn’t do service as far out in the boonies as we are.

{le sigh}

Anyway, I’m super grateful today because I’m finally getting back to life as usual and something more like routine. I got some good writing done yesterday, the house is starting to look more like itself, there are fresh groceries in the fridge, and really, I had a great week at work last week. Though I have to drive a long way to get there, I love the time I get with the kids and my coworkers. The kids did a birthday video for me that literally brought me to tears. I had to go hide in the bathroom to deal with it – especially after one kid, who suffers from a horribly abusive home life, wished me a good birthday, said he loved me, and listed all the things we’ve done together and thanked me for each one. I was a blubbering mess.

Then I taught them how to make spaghetti.

They were fans. It kind of reminds me of when I was a kid growing up on fabulous Thai food and the highlight of my week was when we went to Sizzler’s and I got their buffet spaghetti and garlic bread because that was novel and “foreign.”

(Never trust a kid’s sense of taste.) Did you have stuff like that when you were a kid?

But having been gone for all that time in Europe gave me fresh perspective when I came back, and I see how far our kids have come in the past year. I’m super proud of them. A couple of the older girls are really developing poise and grace and a kind of self-confidence I rarely see in women in their area. I see the kids beginning to dream, and I see kids coming to our resource center like it’s their second home, and I feel proud and grateful that it seems like we’re doing at least something right for them.

Plan for today: begin the final edits on my manuscript (YAY!! and FINALLY!!). I had a little writing date for myself yesterday and did some free writing and writing to a prompt and that helped me get back in the groove. Today, it’s time to get back down to work!

What’s up your sleeve for today?

Oh! Also – come back later today (Tuesday), would you? I’ve got some announcements to make a little later! …although most of you are sleeping in the States right now as I type this, so it’s possible announcements are up by the time you see this. So, um, just check back on my main page, ok? Thanks!

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

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