3 years ago...

Three years ago tonight, we landed in Asia. The university where we would attend language school met us at the airport, and on the way to the hotel we stopped to eat a meal which mainly consisted of pig stomach and random chicken organs. We had the privilege of treating the school official and van driver to that meal. After being harassed for how much luggage we brought, we stayed in a dumpy hotel that night, all the while wondering, "what in the world are we doing here?!" Those first few weeks we went into survival mode, getting super excited over little things like finding peanut butter and jelly at the supermarket. And we had our own little pity party on Dec 25. After being in Asia for only 2 weeks at the time, we really had a rough first Christmas. What a difference three years makes. Today we had lunch with some Asian friends and were able to converse in a quasi-articulate manner. We don't get as grossed out any more at people spitting and kids peeing on the street. Kevin's even been known to throw down more than his share of animal organs at a meal! Even though we are still considered outsiders, there are times when it seems like home here. How does one sum up three years of cross-cultural living? It's just impossible. But, we definitely are different people than we were three years ago. In some ways I think we've changed for the better, maybe in some ways for the worse. I don't think we are as fun-loving as we used to be; we don't laugh as often. (But, we're trying to work on that!!) Discounting those first few days of thinking "what have we done?" we've never regretted moving overseas. Sure we miss our loved ones and all the great stuff living in America has to offer. But, it's been a fun, wild ride. Kevin and I sometimes comment on what a weird life it is to live overseas. But it's a fun kind of weird. We're thankful Dad's allowed us to see some cool stuff, and we hope it's only the beginning of great things to come. It's hard to believe this time next year we'll be celebrating Christmas with family in the States!