I made it.
It took 24 hours of travel, a 48 hour delay and a monster
typhoon, but I am here. The jet lag has
been rough, the social life full (tonight’s my first night to myself) and the
beer served with ice, but I love it.
Thailand is for me.
I feel like I’ve woken up to something I’ve been missing
without knowing it. It was nine years ago I moved back to the US from London
and the plan was to stay for two years, recharge, and move on. I guess buying a
place wasn’t the best idea to go along with that plan, but oh well. I now realize that this move has been seven
years overdue and to prove it I’ve had a line from the Vampire Weekend song
Horchata merrily stuck in my head for days – Here comes the feeling you
thought you’d forgotten…
And, it’s true. I’d
forgotten the excitement of being in a big, new city, the thrill of puzzling my
way through discovery and disorientation. I’d forgotten how much I love being
an expat and the instant connection to meeting others who also chucked it all
in to move overseas. I’d forgotten the
fun in stumbling upon a city’s quirks, like the Bangkok buses… both free ones
and fee ones drive the exact same route. Why upgrade for a whopping 22cents?
Air conditioning, that’s why. I also love the challenge of trying to get what
you want when you don’t speak the language – pointing to random street vendor
food and hoping 1. It tastes good and 2. It’s not commonly found in dog food or,
for that matter, dog.
Maybe I just needed an adventure. Maybe there’s some higher
purpose to me unexpectedly being here. Maybe life is just fluky and without reason.
All I know is that my jump is back and I already have about a half dozen blog
posts drafted in my head – encounters with fortune tellers, a face off with a
water monitor, observations on house-hunting and an accidental insult to the
king. (Punishable by my own starring
role on Locked Up Abroad.
Whatever was missing, whatever was renewed, my inner writer
is back. Stay tuned.
