Arriving Home

What a difference between our first arrival and this year’s! Last year it took me a full month to get used to the smells, the traffic, the noise, the heat, the primitive apartment with its lack of kitchen, uncomfortable couch, and hard bed. This year I knew exactly what to expect, and the familiarity felt good. It felt like home.

After a good night’s sleep, we woke to a new year, 12 hours ahead of everyone in the States. We felt that was quite an accomplishment. I can now do the Wordle a day ahead of my sister Ruth, and she can benefit from looking at my score and improving her score as a result. It’s the little things in life that count.

We took a walk via the canal (so much quieter and more scenic than trudging down Ladprao Road)

and wandered the Bangkapi Mall, getting our mall discount card. We then visited our gym (which is located in the mall) and signed up again for two months. Expensive, but an absolute essential. We picked up toilet paper, eggs, and milk at the Makro market and were done for the day.

At least, I was done. I spent most of the afternoon lying on the bed, reading and fighting sleep. The night/day switch of time zones here keeps me sleepy in the afternoon and restless at night. But it will soon settle. Phil went to change some money and spent an hour or so walking the side streets around the Mission House. We were still so full of airport lounge cuisine and plane meals that we skipped lunch and dinner, and went to bed as soon as the sun went down. 

Two things of interest: (1) We killed three huge cockroaches (3-4” long) within 15 minutes of arrival in our apartment. We have not seen any since. (2) Phil keeps warning me not to touch street poles or dangling wires, as a man died here a few weeks ago from touching a live pole. Most streets, even the side streets, are a tangle of wires, often hanging down onto the sidewalk:

Teaching will not start until next Wednesday, with teacher training on Monday and Tuesday. Tomorrow we will see Nui, one of our former students, and have lunch together. So good to see dear friends again.