2 Week Retrospect

I've been abroad for just over 2 weeks now. It feels way longer, but that's the way these things go I guess. A few lessons learned:

Do not expect things. Do not expect warm showers, nor expect to shower every day. There's no reason to subject yourself to an icy cascade every morning. Do not expect toilets to flush. Do not expect cars to stop for you. Do not expect basic institutions like the post office to work on time, or even at all, depending. Least of all, do not expect to stay healthy if someone gets sick. If someone goes down, we all go down.

Be flexible. Plans can change for literally any reason, so just roll with it. What someone says we'll do tomorrow is more of a hope than a fact.

The day of the week is an abstract concept, and has no bearing on life. We can have class twice a day for 4 days, take a week-long field trip, and then have class for the next 10 days. Routines and "weekends" have ceased to exist, and there is nothing to tell me the day is, or even why that should matter. It gets worse when trying to communicate with friends and family. The time difference in Asia means I'm usually living in the future, while everyone in the states is streets behind.

You can get by with a lot less than you think you do. On our last field trip, I just took my daypack (1,000 cubic inches; smaller than most school bags) and lived out of it comfortably for the entire time. This especially applies to laundry - clothes can be worn until they don't pass the sniff test, at which point you should maybe wash them. Using a laundry service is tedious and expensive, and if everyone did their own laundry at the guest house there would be no available sinks, ever. The less you can get by with, the less work for you later.

I need to watch my head.

There's probably more of course, but they'll have to be other stories for other days. For now, peace out.