5 Things: Week 5

1. Today we moved from Kuala Lumpur to Koh Phagnan, Thailand. It was a grueling and annoying 14 hours of travel, but we made it. Almost as soon as we dropped our bags in our new places, a calm settled over the group. We're on the beach. Literally. My front yard is sand and the view from my bedroom is nothing but sea. Our new coworking space is just about 10 minutes down the beach, with hammocks galore and a vegan menu of dreams. I wonder if I'll ever be wearing shoes this month. After being all together in September, there's a bit more space now. It's a bit less of a powder keg. We've been broken up into 3 communities - and I'm thrilled about my neighbors. It's a more thoughtful, engaging crew. People who don't need to be wasted to connect or have fun, and there's just too much of that crowd in this cohort.

2. Today also, marks the beginning of Rosh Hashanah - the Jewish New Year. L'shana tovah! I'm miles away from any kind of organized service - but I celebrated with a delightful conversation about Jewish culture and identity with the two other yids in the crew, meeting a new Israeli friend, and planning for apples and honey tomorrow. Also - signing up for round 3 of 10Q doesn't hurt either. 

3.  This last week has really scuffed up the lenses of my rose colored glasses when it comes to Remote Year. For the most part, when I started, I felt like I was getting what I was paying for - housing coverage, flight coordination, access to a workspace, and a logistical team on the ground. But each of those areas have taken a pretty ridiciulous downtown, and so of course - its hard to maintain my earlier confidence. When one of the program leaders sat down next to me on the ferry and asked me for yet a-fucking-nother time - "How are you doing?" - at first I said "Fine." But then, quite quickly, it all started coming up. My disappointments, my frustrations. The fact that for the first time since being accepted to this program in January 2016, I've thought that quitting the program might be the reasonable way to go.

So, I laid this out - made some suggestions about things to replace, and ways to move forward. A lot of shit needs to happen for them to rectify themselves in my opinion. 

4. At 9:30 in the morning, two other remotes and I scampered around the airport to find a place to drop postcards in the mail. I didn't count mine exactly - but I think I sent something close to 30. And I think I'll be doing the same, or more every month. When I was getting ready to leave for RY, I thought I'd set up some kind of subscription service -  but that is feeling kind of...craven in a way. These are my notes of love while I'm far away, they shouldn't be paid for.

5. I finally finished my first Lomography roll. Featuring New York, Salt Lake, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Cameron Highlands, Singapore, and the Templar Rainforest Reserve. The film's just sitting there - waiting till I get to London to see the (red) light of the darkroom. 

(Only one day late this time. I was nodding off from travel exhaustion as I tried to write last night, and a lot of nonsense showed up among these words. Picked it back up when I was coherent again.)