Year In Review

2011 was a year of change and transition.  But then again, so was 2010.  I am hoping that 2012 is a bit calmer, at least in terms of major location and employment changes!  I was thinking about it yesterday though, and realized that in the past 10 years I have lived in 7 cities on 4 continents.  10 years ago today I'd been to Mexico once for a week and to Canada many times, but that was it :) 

NYE last year found me in Nashville, ringing in the new year with friends from my time in Argentina.  January found me in the midst of a long term job teaching 7th grade science. In February, my job offer came in from ICS and I decided to move to Thailand.  In March I enjoyed a week with my cousins while their parents were away over our spring break, and a visit from friends in Pennsylvania.  I also started another long term job that would go through the end of April and really challenge my management skills.  April took me to the Philadelphia area to stay with another cousin and see Philly for the first time.  I apparently didn't do much in May :)  In June I spent a lovely week at Long Lake before teaching summer school.  July was a quick month of organizing and packing and good-byes.  I left for Bangkok on the 19th.  August brought the first days of school and a quick learning curve of daily life, learning how to get around my neighborhood.  September was a month of developing friendships and beginning to form routines in my new home.  While October started smoothly enough, news of great floods soon reached Bangkok, and then the floods themselves, sending the city into a panic and causing our school to close.  I was lucky enough to end the month nestled on the beach of a quiet island in the Gulf of Thailand.  With school still closed in early November, I headed to Burma for 5 days, returning to tentatively restart "normal life" once the threat of the floods passed, leaving our neighborhood and district dry.  December has been a whirl of parties and celebrations, first in Bangkok and then in Michigan, and has ended with a flurry of family and friends, and hardly a flurry in sight. 

My goals for 2012 are simple.  Learn more Thai.  Live in the present moment.  Trust the inner voice of Love. 

Happy New Year, dear readers!