21 Days & I keep getting the same question…

I just moved into my apartment about a week ago, just arrived in Thailand within the month, and already the question keeps rolling in:

“So, do you know what you’re doing after this year is up?”

Twenty-one days, people! That’s it! But this question is already more common than, “So, what made you decide to move to Thailand?” (Thankfully that one’s a close second.) Granted, we’ve got some free time on our hands here, and daydreaming fills much of that; it’s not as if I haven’t been asking myself that question since before I boarded the plane. As someone who insists on making big-picture plans (I’m the “Yeah, I’ve got a five-year plan” type), I understand the urge & embrace it. The truth is though, we (or at least I, I can’t speak for the other new teachers here, but there is a clear pattern) NEED to work on ‘living in the now.’ I don’t want to get to the end of this experience and wish I’d spent less time envisioning the next experience. Remember my last post? We just moved to THAILAND. The focus should be on things like the fact that most of us have never written a lesson plan before, and how do you say the name of the food I just ate, and did I just accidentally flash everyone while wearing a skirt, riding my bicycle, clearly not having taken wind resistance into account before I left this morning?

All jokes aside (for a minute), multiple friends have, at various points, already noted their own particularly Western addiction to focusing on the future. Though I’ve always been aware of my own struggle with living in the now, never has it been put into such sharp focus as seeing it compared to the Thai culture surrounding us. I want to be here. As in, actually be here.

That said, don’t be surprised if there’s a post up soon about post-Thailand daydreams (or actual plans. I have to be a grown-up about this at some point. Or so the other grown-ups I know tell me).

It’s my blog, I can do what I want…