If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that this week has been incredibly busy…and tiring…
If we were having coffee, I start out with the big news first–I bought a motorbike on Thursday afternoon! My school got a really good deal on a used bike for me; some of the teachers came with me to buy it to make sure everything was in working order and to act as communication with the Thai speaking seller. One of the teachers is teaching me to ride it and with enough practice, I’m hoping to be able to ride it to and from school soon enough! I’m a bit nervous to go out onto the road on it, but also very excited. I’ve been feeling very isolated and dependent on others in my town for transportation of late and it feels very liberating to finally have a motorbike of my own. I can’t wait to explore around my province a little bit more when I’m more acclimated to using the bike.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I’ve been spending more time with Thai friends this week, getting out of my shell and pushing myself to socialize, despite the language barrier and my own social anxiety. I find that my social anxiety gets worse when I know people don’t speak the same language as me–while this certainly an incentive to learn more Thai, I also need to remember that people are people, regardless of the language they speak. These excursions included Tuesday night, when two of the other western teachers and I went out to dinner with some of the Thai teachers at our school and Friday night, when I started tutoring two people around my age in English at a restaurant I frequent in town.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that today (Sunday) was this big huge dance recital at school. Classes were cancelled on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of last week to practice. All the teachers had to be there and it was so much fun to see the kids in their costumes and watch them perform. That said, it’s also been INCREDIBLY hot and humid here the last few days (more so than usual), so while I enjoyed the recital and the lunch that we had afterwards, I was incredibly grateful to go back to my apartment and cool off for a while in the AC. I currently sit here writing up this coffee share in an adorable little coffee and dessert place that just opened right across from my apartment–it has WiFi and coffee so let me tell you, I’m pretty certain this will become a frequent place for me to come and get some blogging and lesson planning done.
If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that I am quite certain that I am going through one of the most critical and formative periods in my life right now. I have made some pretty profound realizations about myself in the last few weeks and I’m really striving to live a fuller and more enriching life–to push myself in new ways, to find confidence that I didn’t know I had, and to continue to learn and grow and become the person I’ve always wanted to be. Of course, all this learning and growing is easier said than done…in fact, I’m finding that it’s pretty darn exhausting. As one of my dear friends recently reminded me, I need to be kinder to myself. It’s okay if the weekend comes and I’m too tired to do anything but chill at home. It’s okay if I spend both my Friday and Saturday nights watching Friends or reading. I have A LOT of expectations for myself in the new year and I’m realizing that, while it’s perfectly okay to have these expectations for myself, it’s also important to accept that growth takes time. I can’t force myself to change all at once. The change I expect for myself is a process. It won’t always be easy and, in fact, it will probably be pretty hard sometimes. In the end it will be incredibly worth it, but I am nowhere near the end…and that’s okay. It’s okay to be exhausted. It’s okay to just need time.
If we were having coffee, I’d be about ready to switch it off to you–and I’d ask you, do you have anything to share over coffee?
This post is part of the Weekend Coffee Share link up at Part Time Monster
It's a Britta Bottle! 
Hope you bought a real helmet, right ? Very happy to read that it’s all getting better, smoothly .. You’re doing great !
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Of course I bought a helmet! It’s blue and perfectly complements the pink of my motorbike. 🙂 Drivers are CRAZY here! There’s no way I’m going out on the road without one.
Thank you, Estelea. It’s certainly been a process adjusting…but it’s also been such a wonderful learning experience, and will continue to be a wonderful learning experience.
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Great to read that! All the very very best to you dear, next time we meet in the real life you ll have to teach me how to ride a scooter ok? 😉
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Oh goodness! I don’t know if I’ll ever be an adequate enough rider to teach someone else…but we’ll see! Can’t wait for that real life meeting. 🙂
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Cool about the motorcycle. I want to echo Estelea and say I hope you also got a helmet. It’s also very cool that the people from school helped you with this and that you are doing more with them. It was very cold here this week. The weekend was much warmer, but it’s going to get frigid during the week. It’s always interesting to read from people on different continents how different the weather is!
I hope you have a great week ahead! And yes, it’s OK to sit and read or watch something brainless on a Friday and Saturday nights!
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Yes, yes, a helmet is accounted for. 🙂
My school is INCREDIBLY accommodating to its foreign teachers and I feel incredibly lucky in that respect.
Still humid here. Still sweating all the time. Might as well get used to it as March and April are apparently the hottest two months here in Thailand they are right around the corner.
Hope you have a great week, too, Trent!
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Love your pink bike! And yes to the helmet like they all said… you know how crazy drivers in Thailand are. But its nice to get transportation of your own so you can be anywhere you want to be without relying on others. Good luck! And happy exploring! 🙂
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I bought a helmet this weekend! Wouldn’t think of driving around without one–because I do, indeed, know how crazy the drivers are.
I’m still learning how to drive it and haven’t really taken it out on my own yet, but the prospect of a bit more independence is so lovely and I can’t wait I’m ready to explore my province a bit more and see all there is to see!
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Motor bike and a dance recital. Your life is busy and educational right now. Enjoy this time.
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Thank you BettyLouise. It was, indeed, a busy week with no prospect of slowing down in the future. I will try my best!
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Love that bike! Hope you have a lovely helmet, too. 😀
I’m so glad to hear about your adventures and that you’re doing well—it all sounds so exciting!
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Bought a helmet this weekend! It’s baby blue and perfectly complements the pink of my bike! 🙂
It is all very exciting! Can’t wait to fill in the blogosphere more as I continue on my adventures!
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Hooray! 🙂
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It’s a real pleasure reading your posts at the moment Britta. Of course I always enjoy reading them but I specifically want to highlight your recent slew of posts, because they are filled with so much acceptance and self love & care that it is both refreshing and inspiring. I think we all need to learn to say ‘this is okay’ to ourselves more often. Especially as so many magazines & websites are telling us our current lifestyles aren’t okay and that we need to change & eath healthier, be more social, travel more, do more DIY, be more creative….etc! Our lives are pretty okay thank you very much.
Also, I’d like to reiterate all the comments here please:
OHMYGOSHYOUGOTABIKE!!!!! Personally bikes terrify me, but I am always a little in awe of those who ride them. (My mind still chalks them up as the kinda transport a rebel chick rides while listening to awesome rock music…..the kinda girl I dream of being but could never pull off!)
And finally the stuff I want to share over coffee is that uno is incredibly competitive if you play with your BFF, and I’m finally feeling excited again about my radio show! (It’s all in the latest 52 adventures post tbh)
BRITTA! KEEP being awesome, KEEP being inspiring and KEEP living life to the full! You’re doing okay chick, you’re doing wonderfully okay.
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Ohhh Kitty, you just have a way of warming my heart. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words! I agree it’s soo hard in this day and age to think for ourselves and understand what we truly need to ourselves when we are constantly being bombarded with the “right” way to live our lives. It’s really, quite liberating to see past all of that and comprehend for oneself what is the best way to live.
Haha, bikes kind of terrify me, too…and drivers are crazy here in Thailand! Butt it’s one of the most common means of transportation here–almost, if not more common, than cars, and I figure–I live in Thailand, might as well live like the Thais do! A teacher at my school is giving me lessons so I haven’t successfully driven on any roads by myself yet–all in due time, though!
I’ve noticed that you’ve been super busy on your own blog, which is awesome! I’ve just been really terrible and keeping up with other people’s blogs of late. Life is busy. I’ve had a lot on my mind recently and life in Thailand certainly keeps me on my toes. I do miss checking in with people in the blogosphere, though, so I should probably get around to doing that at some point.
By the way, I think we should be friends (I mean, I think we are already, but let’s make it official right now). Annnnd If you ever find yourself in Bangkok in the near future, just go ahead and let me know. 🙂
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Aww I’m so glad Britta! 🙂
Isn’t it just a wonderful feeling? I haven’t fully got this sorted with pushing past all the magazines quite yet (although stopping buying them for about a year definitely helped!), but I’m getting there. In fact, as I say, I stopped buying them for a year, but have recently returned to Glamour, simply for Fearne Cotton’s article on being happy. It’s not one where she tells you what you should be doing, but rather sharing what she is doing, and how it’s working for her, which I think is a much nicer way of doing it.
Good luck in that case! I imagine once you’re more confident on it, and have been for a couple of drives in town it’ll probably be less scary, but good for you for fully embracing your new culture! 🙂
I have haha, I’ve been making up for lost time, and trying to find ways to keep coming back to my blog and being active on it, because I so want to be. (In fact I’ve gotten to a point of going ‘I need to take a photo of that for my blog’ or ‘I wonder which post I can squeeze this into…..or is this enough material for one full post….’ Don’t worry about catching every post, there is no expectation of you reading them all (or, if we’re honest here, any!) it’s always lovely to see you pop up in my notifications as and when you like and/or comment on a post, but it’s not something I will ever expect. If I don’t read every single blog post by every single person I follow, and I can hardly expect my followers to do the same haha! I only really mentioned it because I was trying to do a quick sum up in reply to your question and then panicked I was going to be repeating myself, so figured I’d just tell you where to find it in case you were interested in knowing more. (Sounds silly I know, I blame the fact that I do most blog post readings at 6 in the morning and decide to comment before my brain is fully in gear….a dangerous thing!) My blog is always going to be there, so if and when you fancy a drop by, go right ahead otherwise, I know (thanks to your awesome blog) that you’re life is very clearly happening and keeping you busy with it. (Plus I imagine Thailand hasn’t quite got the wifi coverage the US or the UK have….which means you get to be ‘in life’ more than ‘reading life’…if that makes sense?!)
I NEARLY ADDED SOMETHING LIKE THAT AT THE END OF MY COMMENT! And then deleted it because I was like ‘can I really do that? I mean c’mon this cool US chick is not gonna be thinking this…you’re just someone randomer who she swaps comments with from time to time….LOOK AT ALL THE OTHER COMMENTS AND FRIENDS SHE HAS!!! *ahem* ANYWAY! Yes let’s make this official! I officially pronounce you man and….wait NO! I officially pronounce you and I friends! Woop! *Parties, throws flowers, drunkenly hits on cute barman….’ uhh…..yeah….
If I do make it that way anytime soon I will definitely let you know, and if the UK ever romances you over this way, you let me know, and we can do a proper ol’ #weekendcoffeeshare with actual coffee….face to face……venturing outside………oh boy what an adventure! 😛
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Okay, yes, I have lots of blogger friends whom I’ve connected with over my past year and a half on WordPress, but here’s the kicker–most of them are a least two decades older than me. All of my blogger friends are so supportive and I LOVE having them as connections, but I don’t have many blogger friends who are actually near my age. It’s really refreshing to get to know someone in this setting who was born in the same decade and who also seems to (from what I can tell) have a similarly quirky personality to myself. 🙂 Basically, we should have been friends long ago! But…there’s no time like the present to start!
Also. You obviously don’t know this about me, but here’s another sharing moment–I am dying to find my way to the UK one day. I’ve been to Ireland and Northern Ireland, BUT NEVER ENGLAND AND IT’S BEEN MY DREAM SINCE BIRTH. I would also love to live there for a time maybe. I’m looking into some graduate school programs in England, actually. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll be able to have coffee IN PERSON frequently(ish). The future is an open book and I’m not done with Southeast Asia, yet, but England has been calling my name for SOME TIME.
Motorbike is a work in progress but I’m feeling better on it with each passing day!
Thailand actually has a lot of wifi coverage–Asian people are obsessed with their phones…but I’ve been trying to spend less time on my phone and live a bit more in the present. I’ll be here in the blogosphere and I will try to get to posts, but I definitely haven’t been here as frequently as I used to be. The blogosphere is great but real life is pretty cool, too. 🙂
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Woohoo! Loving the little bike! We have a million of those darting all over the place in India, and to be honest they make me so nervous, but I want to drive one at the same time! :p
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Haha, still haven’t gotten the courage to drive it outside the parking lot of my apartment, though–these things will come with time, though, I suppose. I wasn’t nervous by them until I actually got on and started riding one…I need to trust myself more. But learning to ride a motorbike when I’ve never ridden one before is nerve racking so I’m trying not to be too hard on myself. 🙂
Hope all is well with you!
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