We arrived back in our city less than a month ago. In that time, we've:
had 7 overnight house guests
celebrated 2 local holidays with local friends and 1 American one with friends of many nationalities, reconnected with local friends
spent two full mornings at the hospital (follow-up tests for Shaddai)
found a new teacher for our kids and planned their next weeks of language study
had 10 language lessons
babysat for coworkers
had more than 30 people join us at our dining room table
gone to other people's houses for dinner
done taxes (always fun when there's 4 currencies and 9 per diems involved)
met with our company consultant to discuss our plan for moving ahead in language study and set the date for our next evaluation
and 3 out of the 4 of us have been sick.
No wonder I feel ready for another day at the beach!
I keep looking around our house wondering why everything isn't put away from our Thailand trip and today I finally realized it's because I've been too busy washing sheets from our all wonderful (but unexpected) company!
Look at this cutie! Shaddai has been planning for her to visit since we very first moved to this apartment. Her parents had appointments in the city but had tried calling while we were in Thailand so the call didn't come through.
Last Sunday afternoon we were headed to a friend's house and my e-bike battery inexplicably ran out of battery. It was so odd. I had just charged it. So I parked it at the closest supermarket and while I was standing on the side of the road waiting for J and the kids to pick me up on the motorbike who should I see walking down the street but our first friends from the other city!! It was amazing! They said they'd tried to call but couldn't get us (because we were in Thailand). We asked if they had plans or needed somewhere to stay. They said they had plans for dinner but would check out of their hotel as soon as possible and come to our apartment. S was elated!! And we were pretty happy too.
Our visit with them was amazing! So fun to hear about life in the city we left behind. And incredible to feel like we actually have genuine friendships in this language and culture so different from our own. I'd like to say it's our hard work paying off but really it's just a whole lotta thoughts on our behalf and more grace than we can imagine!