It is a little crazy being back in the states and the things I notice as being different. Here are just a few of the things that struck me as different since I have been back.

- Public Bathrooms are free and provide toilet paper

- the light-switch to the bathroom is inside the room

- driving on the other-side of the road

- cheese or milk is a part of almost every meal

- the sun is still out past 7 pm

- noodles is not something usually eaten for breakfast

- everything just seems bigger (people, food, buildings, etc)

- there aren't buckets in the bathrooms to flush the toilets

- there is only one language being spoken

- you can order coffee black without anyone giving a strange look

More to come later. It is good to be back but also very odd. I miss my family and friends back in Malaysia and am also having fun seeing old ones once more. Right now many things seem overwhelming. They are familiar yet they are strange at the same time.

Leaving on a Jetplane

Hard to believe that this year is coming to an end. The last few weeks have been a blur as work speed up with last projects to work on and goals to accomplish. Now I'm standing in the Singapore airport and am wondering how I have gotten here. I know the litteral answer to that question but ther is so much more too it then I got on a plane. The year has been an experience I will never forget and will always cherish. Many people have asked me if I was excited to go home. To that I told them there are mixed feelings. I guess the simplest words I can put my feelings into are: I'm excited to go home and see family and friends but I'm sad to leave family and friends. Malaysia has become a home and with that many of the people have become a part of my family. It is hard to leave but I hope that contact can continue and the friendships started can keep on growing. Ok, that is it for now. It is time to head onto one of the longest flights I will face. Singapore to San Fran. Now the questions remains: Do you lose a day or do you gain a day? Time changes: one of the worlds trials and challenges of international travel. Peace.

NOW

It is hard to believe that I am entering my final week in Malaysia. The year seems to have gone by very fast. At first it was slow as it was a time of adjustment. Then it just took off as my community started to form and a daily routine was somewhat established. Now just as I seem to be fully comfortable here it is time to say goodbye. Is it really time to go? I have mixed feelings about this. I hear from both sides of the world about how happy and sad I must be to go home. There have been many marriage arrangements (not done by me) in the hopes of making it possible to stay longer. There is also the question of "When will you come back?" Then from the other side of the world there are the statements of "We can't wait to see you", "Only ___ days till you are here", "Are you excited?" To all these questions I can say yes and I don't know. I'm excited to go home and see family and friends but at the same time I am sad to leave family and friends. It is a very mixed feeling and each day, no each hour, it can change. The easiest way for me to look at this final week is to not look at it. I am not going to to look at the calendar and will just live in the here and now. Enjoy the rest of my time in Malaysia with the people I have come to know and love being with. Then I will look towards the reunion with the people I have not seen for a year. It is the living in the now attitude and as much as I am looking forward to going home I am also home right now.