Resolve.

I’m back, laden from travels, not with memorabilia and knick-knacks, but dirty clothes and many resolutions. I know, I haven’t even talked about my trip yet (by the way, we went to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, and Siem Reap), but I will, and right now these current thoughts are more important to get to you, if you’re still reading and checking for updates. Along these lines, one of my vows is to write at least biweekly given I am in Aceh, and hopefully even if I’m not. That said, I returned to Banda Aceh last night (Sunday) and am now sitting on my comfortable couch looking out at my partially demolished backyard. It’s full of ridiculously large pieces of wood, a ten-foot tree trunk, and rubbish. All this fenced in by our castle wall. Luckily, both Kristi and I have returned from our trip with new domestic resolve and a great urge to landscape. Hopefully we’ll be using those strewn about pieces to create a beautiful garden. And, by the time any of you visit, that cement wall will be cheerily painted and adorned in passion fruit vines. Also luckily, the bulbs I planted right before leaving have sprouted up a good foot and a half, so at least some things have been growing. We’ve got quite a bit of work to do, but it’s all exciting.

But back to those resolutions. Next to me, I have the Oberlin Shansi annual report in which there are descriptions from all my senior fellows all around Asia telling of their experiences and feelings of connectedness within their respective communities. While I am happy for them and look forward to a similar feeling, I am a bit sad recognizing how I am not yet at that point. Every two months since leaving the USA, my life has changed pretty drastically. I look forward to this next semester –which has little more than an occasional three-day weekend holiday- as a chance to really and truly set down roots. I came here for two years to give myself a chance to understand a new community and to be a part of it. And while in any context the one semester I’ve been here would never be enough to truly feel connected, I am still impatient for that moment to arrive. I hope to find my niche this semester-whether it’s with the ladies at a new aerobics class I tried with Sarah or with a music group I hope to join soon, or maybe I’ll finally find those windsurfers that have disappeared with the onset of the rainy season. Either way, I will be improving my Bahasa Indonesia and working much harder on many aspects of my social and work life. More about my trip and Aceh to come very very soon.