Maaf! Sorry! I haven't had anytime to write a blog post in the past couple weeks just because I've been so busy running around with my friends and family that when I got on the computer today, I had thought it had only been a week at most since I'd last posted, but it's nearly been three weeks. That's just how my exchange has felt- everything is going by so fast that I have to stop and remind myself to check my e-mails, my facebook and my blog or else I honestly don't know if I would remember to update anyone on where I am.
Next week I'll have officially been here for six months. I cannot believe that it's all going by so fast, but when I look at how much I've grown and learned these past six months, I mean, I kind of can tell that I've been here for a while but if I hadn't ever used a calendar or a clock while I've been here I honestly would've told you I've been here for a month. Two, tops. I keep expecting these feelings of homesickness to kick in, for me to go through all of these stages that us exchange students learned of during our orientations preparing ourselves for what it was going to be like, living abroad for a year, and none of it has really happened to me. Yeah, there have been a couple of nights where I had to do a midnight McDonald's run to have french fries when I'd been eating rice for sixty straight days and a time when I was going through the photos of all of my friends in college, at parties and getting to go back home for thanksgiving and winter break, where I couldn't stop crying because I thought that I was missing out on being a part of all of their lives. But it's my host family's generosity and the selfless kindness that has been shown to me here during my time in Indonesia that makes me feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
Just for a little peek into what my day-to-day life is right now, this morning, I slept in until ten, (I don't have school this week, cuz there's a big election thing going on for the next governor of South Sulawesi) made some eggs to go with my rice for breakfast, went on a walk with my sister to buy fresh papaya and banana for lunch, went on a bike ride along the beach for an hour and then visited the kids at the orphanage and played soccer with them until dinnertime. I know that if I chose another path last year, I could be in college right now, taking as many credits as I can so that I can graduate, get a job, buy a house and all of the other important adult things that are expected of a recent high school graduate, but somehow this just feels like the place I need to be right now. It doesn't feel like anything is 'missing' in my life, it feels whole. And I really am excited about going to college, I've always known that I wanted to study something that had to do with the environment and that I wanted to get as much higher education as possible, but I don't feel the need to rush into it all. I'm on island time now :)
I remember last year, when I was a senior, and everything felt so rushed and like I had to make all of these life-alretering decisions, while trying to balance being on swim team, having a job, a Mt. Everest sized pile of college applications as well as trying to have a social life on top of it all, but I don't feel any of that here. No pressure. If I mess up, I mess up and then I learn from it. I feel so much more peaceful here. Flying home into O'Hare airport in Chicago might erase all that the second the plane lands, but in the meantime I'm just trying to go with the flow.
Next week, I also move to my third and final host family, which I'm really excited about because it'll be the first time I'll have host brothers (and four younger ones, too!) so I'll be sure to post about all that, too.
I'm working on uploading/editing a bunch of pictures that I'll post soon, probably next week or right before I move into my next host family.
To my family reading this, I feel your love thousands of miles away, and it'll be wonderful to see as much of you as I can this summer. To my friends, thanks for supporting me through everything and for caring about me enough to Skype me at all hours of the day whenever I need to hear from you. Love you all.
Next week I'll have officially been here for six months. I cannot believe that it's all going by so fast, but when I look at how much I've grown and learned these past six months, I mean, I kind of can tell that I've been here for a while but if I hadn't ever used a calendar or a clock while I've been here I honestly would've told you I've been here for a month. Two, tops. I keep expecting these feelings of homesickness to kick in, for me to go through all of these stages that us exchange students learned of during our orientations preparing ourselves for what it was going to be like, living abroad for a year, and none of it has really happened to me. Yeah, there have been a couple of nights where I had to do a midnight McDonald's run to have french fries when I'd been eating rice for sixty straight days and a time when I was going through the photos of all of my friends in college, at parties and getting to go back home for thanksgiving and winter break, where I couldn't stop crying because I thought that I was missing out on being a part of all of their lives. But it's my host family's generosity and the selfless kindness that has been shown to me here during my time in Indonesia that makes me feel like I'm the luckiest girl in the world.
Just for a little peek into what my day-to-day life is right now, this morning, I slept in until ten, (I don't have school this week, cuz there's a big election thing going on for the next governor of South Sulawesi) made some eggs to go with my rice for breakfast, went on a walk with my sister to buy fresh papaya and banana for lunch, went on a bike ride along the beach for an hour and then visited the kids at the orphanage and played soccer with them until dinnertime. I know that if I chose another path last year, I could be in college right now, taking as many credits as I can so that I can graduate, get a job, buy a house and all of the other important adult things that are expected of a recent high school graduate, but somehow this just feels like the place I need to be right now. It doesn't feel like anything is 'missing' in my life, it feels whole. And I really am excited about going to college, I've always known that I wanted to study something that had to do with the environment and that I wanted to get as much higher education as possible, but I don't feel the need to rush into it all. I'm on island time now :)
I remember last year, when I was a senior, and everything felt so rushed and like I had to make all of these life-alretering decisions, while trying to balance being on swim team, having a job, a Mt. Everest sized pile of college applications as well as trying to have a social life on top of it all, but I don't feel any of that here. No pressure. If I mess up, I mess up and then I learn from it. I feel so much more peaceful here. Flying home into O'Hare airport in Chicago might erase all that the second the plane lands, but in the meantime I'm just trying to go with the flow.
Next week, I also move to my third and final host family, which I'm really excited about because it'll be the first time I'll have host brothers (and four younger ones, too!) so I'll be sure to post about all that, too.
I'm working on uploading/editing a bunch of pictures that I'll post soon, probably next week or right before I move into my next host family.
To my family reading this, I feel your love thousands of miles away, and it'll be wonderful to see as much of you as I can this summer. To my friends, thanks for supporting me through everything and for caring about me enough to Skype me at all hours of the day whenever I need to hear from you. Love you all.
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