Post Offices in the Rain.

Since I've been in America I haven't really written much.... at all... and I miss it. Thus, here I am.

There are a few things in my life that have not changed...

• I still find myself mentally responding to things in Thai instead of English.
• I subconsciously convert prices from US Dollars to Bhat in my head.
• I pause when I walk indoors, till I remember that I don't have to take my shoes off.
• Mosquitoes still have power to drive me to insanity. They have corrupted me.
• I have a longing within my heart whenever I hear Thailand mentioned.

MANY things in my life have changed dramatically...

• My morning commute has gone from 2 staircases to a 30-minute drive.
• I get hankerings for Thai food, not American.
• I'm no longer teaching, but am now an Administrative Assistant (Extraordinaire).
• I blow-dry my hair on a regular basis.
• I live in a house, rather than above a house, above a school office.
• There are squirrels running around outside. Not dogs.

Change is an odd thing. So is distance. While I was in Thailand I read Jane Austen's novel Emma, to keep my English speaking skills sharp. I came across a dialogue that really stood out to me. My friend Haley can vouch for me. We were sitting in Starbucks when I read it, and I had to interrupt her from her own book to read it to her. In the story, the character of Jane Fairfax was being rebuked for her seeming foolishness of going to the post office in the rain. This is her response...

"I can easily believe that letters are very little to you, much less than to me, but it is not your being ten years older than myself which makes the difference, it is not age, but situation. You have every body dearest to you always at hand, I, probably, never shall again; and therefore till I have outlived all my affections, a post-office, I think, must always have power to draw me out, in worse weather than to-day." Jane Austen, Emma, Chapter 34.

Sometimes now, I feel a lot like Jane Fairfax. While I am marvelously content where I am in life, I feel like there are bits and pieces of me that still eagerly await news from far off places. There are are people who are dear to me not only here, but also far away. And I am doubtful that will ever change.