Little Things

By the time you read this post, I'll be on bus to Manila to catch my flight to Hong Kong. To beat the traffic and ensure I get to the airport in time for my flight, I'm taking the 9 hour bus trip overnight. That means I'll have plenty of time to chill and read at the airport until my flight takes off. I'll be so full of excitement I don't know how I'll be able to pass the time!

The past couple of weeks have been crazy busy. I'm ready for a break and some fun with friends! However, busyness never takes me away from enjoying the little things.

{"Are you ready?" asks this bobble dashboard thing. I don't think I ever am.}

Little Things

This past weekend was exactly what I needed to recharge. I finished an amazing book, The Fractured Road, Part I: East & West, which I recommend to all and is written by a fellow resident of Loudoun County. I do warn you, though, that the sequel won't be published until Summer 2014 and the ending leaves you wanting more!

I, also, walked around the compound with my neighbor and chatted for hours. Then on Sunday, the priest's wife invited me over to learn how to bake her delicious carrot cake! Next week, I promised to teach her how bake my mom's banana bread. Hopefully, baking on Sundays will become a regular event!

Another YASCer and I came to the realization that most of our days will not be filled with great travels and over-the-top excitement. We are settling into a normal daily routine, going to work, grocery shopping, cleaning our apartments and so on. But then something happens or I see something that reminds me I'm living away from anything I've ever known.

{Tried Bugnay Fruit Wine made by a local. It has an after taste of rice wine with a sweet but sour tang. Can't say it's my favorite.}

Little Things

I have many little moments to share this week, but I will keep it to five. However one of my favorite moments from this past week, I was unable to capture on camera.

This past Sunday, I needed to go grocery shopping. Vanessa accompanied me and I took my first tricycle ride! Tricycles are motorcycles with a side cart attached. When I first saw them, I was thinking that they could fit maybe two people in the side cart. Then Jocelyn said, “Oh no, you can fit up to five people in those things. And when the school kids take them, they’ll pile in 8 or 9.” I was like, “Is this a circus show? How can 5 people fit in that clown car?” But two sit on the back seat of the cart, one sits sideways. Then two others can fit behind the driver on the motorcycle. The one we took into town fit Vanessa and I comfortably. However the one we took back from town, it was cramped. Vanessa ended up sitting sideways. The best part was we were trying to beat the storm back but it started pouring, of course, on the ride back! There’s no doors on these things so the rain started coming in and drenching us. Fortunately, Vanessa had an umbrella so she opened it to block the tiny doorway of the sidecar. We rode like that for about 15 minutes until we finally made it back! The whole event was quite comical.

{A lifesaver! So happy that I do not have to wash my clothes by hand.}

Little Things

I had one crazy night this past Friday, I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! One of my favorite movies which I decided to bring on DVD for nights like this past Friday to help past the time. No matter how many times I watch it, I always cry! Anyways, my point is towards the end of the movie one of the characters, Tibby, finds a tape of her 12 year-old friend, Bailey, who just died of Leukemia (one of the parts where I cry). On the tape Bailey says,

"Being happy isn't having everything in your life be perfect. Maybe it's about stringing together all the little things like wearing these pants or getting to a new level of Dragon's Lair - making those count for more than the bad stuff. Maybe we just get through it... and that's all we can ask for."

She's right. Not everything in life is perfect. However, if we enjoy all the little things, add up the simple moments and take them for more than the annoying, frustrating, or bad things we sometimes deal with, then our life will seem that much better. 

I'm starting a new weekly series on the blog called, "The Little Things" where I will feature pictures of small moments or items that made me smile or happy. Because while there will be major events or adventures that happen throughout my YASC year, it will also be shaped by little things. 

{I woke up especially early this morning and witnessed this beautiful sunrise from out my window}