As of today, it has been four months since I stepped foot on this island. As of today, it has been four months of changes – changes in language, changes in living, changes in eating, changes in loving, and, most importantly, changes within. There are a lot of things here which become more and more normal as I live here, and there are other things that will never cease to feel foreign. Also, there are things that I have forgotten used to be normal for me. So today, in honor of my new normal, and for your reading enjoyment, I’m going to list some of these things out.
Things I don’t say/do/hear anymore:
1. “I wonder if I need a sweater.”
2. “I wonder if this is spicy.” (Answer: It is.)
3. Drive in a lane. What are lanes?!?
4. Get everything in one place.
5. Choose. In a lot of different things. You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit, right Mom?
6. Sit in an air-conditioned house.
7. A lot of people who’s first language is English. This is still weird to me.
8. Brush my hair…because my hair is hardly ever straight. This curly, “Hagrid-like” mop on my head is untameable, I tell ya!
9. “I wonder if they have rice.” Ere’body’s got rice.
10. “That was way easier than I thought it was going to be.” Okay, so maybe this phrase isn’t totally removed from my vocabulary, but it almost is!
Things that I do/say/hear now that are the same(ish):
1. Drink a lot of coffee. This activity might have exponentially increased now that I live on coffee island.
2. “I love you.”
3. Smile. Cheesy, I know, but it is the same in every language!
4. Sannnnnnnnnnnnng. A lot of singing goes on in my house, in the market, on the street, in the mall…
5. Sweat, although this too, has exponentially increased. And dry season is just starting…
6. Get mail. Although now, it is exponentially more treasured and exponentially more wonderful! Also, it is sometimes exponentially more difficult to receive…but get it I do, one way or the other! I have some good “get it done” genes!
7. Go to the mall. Eat, shop, buy groceries, see a movie, and, my personal new favorite, go to ACE Hardw@re. I go to ACE and pretend I’m in T@rget. Is this bad? Don’t answer that.
8. Take a shower. Although now, almost every day I take two. You can’t get into your bed at night with SE Asian dirty feet (or I can’t anyway)!
9. Cook. Yummmmmmmmmm. I’m going to miss having so many cheap fruits and veggies! Although you won’t see the likes of too many pre-made sauces, soups, or anything of the sort around these parts!
10. Live my life. I’m the same. I have the same shortcomings and the same country accent (which sometimes turns ghetto). I still love to be crafty and compassionate and colorful (especially my fingernails). I still love the same things and the same people; Father is just growing my heart to love even more.
Things I say/do/hear now that I didn’t before:
1. “I’m gonna take a becak to the market.” Go to the mall and the market in the same day.
2. “Does this milk have to be refrigerated?”
3. Argue with my driver over 30 cents. (Translated – “I am not paying 80 cents to get there! The normal price is 5o cents!”) Haha, it matters!
4. Have my feet exfoliated (eaten) by baby fish!
5. Kill multiple ants on a daily basis.
6. Eat food off a cart from the street. (Yes, I know the risks. Yes, I’ve suffered from the risks. Yes, I still eat it. YUM!)
7. SPEAK IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE! Oh yeah! And oh yeahhhhhh, still working on that one. Daily.
8. Celine, Whitney (RIP), or some 90s boy band playing in stores and on the street. On a daily basis. Also, the little eating place at the end of our street plays The Beatles! It’s so nice to walk out to “Love, love me do…you know I love you…”
9. Avoid large, LARGE holes while walking down the street. My roommate may or may not have fallen in one during rainy season.
10. Have cats (and other animals) live on my roof, on my terrace, and in my yard.
11. Live with a bunch of geckos (known here as cicaks :: chee-chaks) crawling on my walls. They have the cutest little babies! We have 3 that live in our kitchen, a couple in our living room, and a whole bunch on the awning above our front terrace. They eat bugs…terima kasih cicaks!
12. Think that a meal that costs more than $5-6 dollars is REALLY expensive! We like to float around the $2-3 category.
13. Have someone tell me I’m beautiful every day. I’m really going to miss this one!!
14. “That massage was so cheap!!”
15. Personally, one of the weirdest, yet most normal, but still most "alerting" things I hear every day is the call. The call happens 5 times a day, every single day, and it is a call for Muslim people here to pray. It ranges in length, and no matter where you are, there is a masjid close enough by where you can hear it. The first one starts around 3:30 AM. The last finishes around 8:00 PM. Here’s a brief moment:
Some days here are harder. Some days here are just the same. And, maybe, some days here might even be easier. But what I know is this: Every day is worth it.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to [the Son], the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of G0d. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
(Hebrews 12:1-3)
Things I don’t say/do/hear anymore:
1. “I wonder if I need a sweater.”
2. “I wonder if this is spicy.” (Answer: It is.)
3. Drive in a lane. What are lanes?!?
4. Get everything in one place.
5. Choose. In a lot of different things. You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit, right Mom?
6. Sit in an air-conditioned house.
7. A lot of people who’s first language is English. This is still weird to me.
8. Brush my hair…because my hair is hardly ever straight. This curly, “Hagrid-like” mop on my head is untameable, I tell ya!
9. “I wonder if they have rice.” Ere’body’s got rice.
10. “That was way easier than I thought it was going to be.” Okay, so maybe this phrase isn’t totally removed from my vocabulary, but it almost is!
Things that I do/say/hear now that are the same(ish):
1. Drink a lot of coffee. This activity might have exponentially increased now that I live on coffee island.
2. “I love you.”
3. Smile. Cheesy, I know, but it is the same in every language!
4. Sannnnnnnnnnnnng. A lot of singing goes on in my house, in the market, on the street, in the mall…
5. Sweat, although this too, has exponentially increased. And dry season is just starting…
6. Get mail. Although now, it is exponentially more treasured and exponentially more wonderful! Also, it is sometimes exponentially more difficult to receive…but get it I do, one way or the other! I have some good “get it done” genes!
7. Go to the mall. Eat, shop, buy groceries, see a movie, and, my personal new favorite, go to ACE Hardw@re. I go to ACE and pretend I’m in T@rget. Is this bad? Don’t answer that.
8. Take a shower. Although now, almost every day I take two. You can’t get into your bed at night with SE Asian dirty feet (or I can’t anyway)!
9. Cook. Yummmmmmmmmm. I’m going to miss having so many cheap fruits and veggies! Although you won’t see the likes of too many pre-made sauces, soups, or anything of the sort around these parts!
10. Live my life. I’m the same. I have the same shortcomings and the same country accent (which sometimes turns ghetto). I still love to be crafty and compassionate and colorful (especially my fingernails). I still love the same things and the same people; Father is just growing my heart to love even more.
Things I say/do/hear now that I didn’t before:
1. “I’m gonna take a becak to the market.” Go to the mall and the market in the same day.
2. “Does this milk have to be refrigerated?”
3. Argue with my driver over 30 cents. (Translated – “I am not paying 80 cents to get there! The normal price is 5o cents!”) Haha, it matters!
4. Have my feet exfoliated (eaten) by baby fish!
5. Kill multiple ants on a daily basis.
6. Eat food off a cart from the street. (Yes, I know the risks. Yes, I’ve suffered from the risks. Yes, I still eat it. YUM!)
7. SPEAK IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE! Oh yeah! And oh yeahhhhhh, still working on that one. Daily.
8. Celine, Whitney (RIP), or some 90s boy band playing in stores and on the street. On a daily basis. Also, the little eating place at the end of our street plays The Beatles! It’s so nice to walk out to “Love, love me do…you know I love you…”
9. Avoid large, LARGE holes while walking down the street. My roommate may or may not have fallen in one during rainy season.
10. Have cats (and other animals) live on my roof, on my terrace, and in my yard.
11. Live with a bunch of geckos (known here as cicaks :: chee-chaks) crawling on my walls. They have the cutest little babies! We have 3 that live in our kitchen, a couple in our living room, and a whole bunch on the awning above our front terrace. They eat bugs…terima kasih cicaks!
12. Think that a meal that costs more than $5-6 dollars is REALLY expensive! We like to float around the $2-3 category.
13. Have someone tell me I’m beautiful every day. I’m really going to miss this one!!
14. “That massage was so cheap!!”
15. Personally, one of the weirdest, yet most normal, but still most "alerting" things I hear every day is the call. The call happens 5 times a day, every single day, and it is a call for Muslim people here to pray. It ranges in length, and no matter where you are, there is a masjid close enough by where you can hear it. The first one starts around 3:30 AM. The last finishes around 8:00 PM. Here’s a brief moment:
THE Masjid.
Some days here are harder. Some days here are just the same. And, maybe, some days here might even be easier. But what I know is this: Every day is worth it.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to [the Son], the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of G0d. Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.
(Hebrews 12:1-3)
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