A year ago today, I stepped foot into this beautiful, hot, wonderful country. It’s unbelievable that that much time has already passed. It’s been full of laughter, awe, worship, tears, challenges, and pretty much anything else you can imagine.
10 things I love about this country (aside from the people):
- The cicaks – these little geckos not only eat the mosquitoes that carry malaria and dengue, but I also think they’re super cute.
- The food – when I first arrived in this country, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the food. It was a lot of rice, and it was spicy. But now, it is some of the best food in the world.
- Fresh fruit juice - Divine.
- Speaking in another language – Okay, so I’m far from fluent, but it’s still really cool to be able to understand and even slightly communicate in another language.
- Driving a motorcycle – Yeah, there are some times when I fear for my life and others when I battle road rage, but all in all, it’s a rather fun experience.
- The landscape – Turn one direction, mountains. Another, the beach. Does it get any better?
- Batik fabric – this beautiful fabric is wonderful, and each province has their own unique style.
- Greeting friends with a cheek-to-cheek embrace – I loved this when I was in France, and I was thrilled to discover it’s here as well.
- Being community-oriented – Honestly, this took me a while to adjust to: neighbors coming in and peeking in my room, asking about every little thing, etc. My housemates have stories of, while battling dengue, waking up to find neighbors standing over the beds, watching them. Now, though, it’s a source of comfort. Our neighbors have our backs. The first two weeks after we moved in, the little ibu next door sat outside our gate every night, making sure we got home safely. Relationships matter.
- Dependence on the Lord – There is absolutely no denying our dependence on the Lord in this country. Day in and day out, it is very clear: WE NEED HIM. Need Him for sanity, need Him for comfort, need Him for strength, need Him to do it all really… In the States, that fact can be clouded, but here, it is very, very evident.
10 things that have changed:
- Ideas of cold - 70 degrees is coooold. Guess that’s what happens when you live in 90-degree weather with high humidity year round. When we went up to the mountains, I wore a sweater and shivered.
- How comfortable I am with physical contact with the same gender - It’s a totally normal thing now to walk hand-in-hand with a good girl friend. Nothing is thought of it. Extremely awkward at first, now it’s a common thing even among my American girl friends.
- My eating habits - Remember when you were a kid and your parents always scolded you for eating with your hands? Yeah. Forget that.
- The definition of an address - Want to know what we say when we give our address? It’s the blue and grey house next to the red house in the neighborhood behind the orange building on this one street. To receive a package, I get a text message from the post office telling me to come pick one up. To pay bills, I take last month’s bill down the street to a guy’s house who has a computer set up in his living room. Mailboxes are a thing of the past.
- My idea of showering - Warm water spraying down automatically from a shower head above me is a faint memory. Now, my arms get a daily workout as I dump cold water over my head. It’s rather refreshing in the middle of blazing hot day in the tropics though.
- My cooking abilities - Not that I’m this awesome cook or anything, but through being under some pretty awesome ladies, I can now successfully make some things taste like America (some things).
- My driving abilities – Piggybacking off of loving to drive above, my driving abilities have also changed drastically… and not necessarily in a good way. I’m a lot more aggressive now… I’m pretty sure I’m going to be in trouble when I get back to the States.
- Handshakes - After lightly shaking someone’s hand, you bring your own up to your chest. Please don’t think I’m weird if I come back and do this. It’s a really hard habit to break.
- Standards for movies - Going to the theater here is a magical experience – It’s dark, they’re speaking in English, we’re eating candy and movie popcorn… It’s almost like being in America, and it’s worth watching movies that I would never consider seeing if I was actually back in the States.
- Ideas of cleanliness - When it comes to the bathroom, wet is clean. If the food has no roaches, it’s good. Ants? Extra protein.
"And we know that for those who love G-d all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If G-d is for us, who can be against us?"
- Rom 8:28-31
