Pluses and Minuses

I'm in my second week of being back in Cambodia, and it's remarkably… normal now. The homesickness is still there, but it's at manageable levels, the kind of lingering feeling of knowing that I'll always be missing out on something, somewhere. It's a feeling I'm used to, even if it's not entirely comfortable. However, in honor of my friend, Susannah, who is currently living in Munich, I've decided that the best way to ease back into life (and blogging!) is to make a list. So here they are, the good and the bad (but not the ugly) things about being back in Cambodia.

+ My favorite coffee shop opened a new branch only 5 minutes from my apartment.

- There is a severe shortage of bagels in this part of the world

+There are tons of cute Cambodian kids running around.

- None of them are my niece.

+ I haven't had to take a snow day since I arrived and the weather hasn't been unbearably hot.

- My sojourn in the US was during the winter, so Cambodians everywhere are commenting on my clean, white skin.

+ Driving a moto again is pretty fun.

- Driving a moto again is downright terrifying.

+ Coming across foods that I forgot I really enjoyed.

- Food poisoning, and being ill for 24 hours last week.

On the whole, it's pretty balanced, and I forgot to include things like, "Spending time with friends I'd missed" and "Being back to work," so maybe it's a little more in favor of the positive at this point. I think there are always good and bad things about relocating, even when it's somewhere you want to be. And life isn't about balancing the equation, is it? We'll always have some negatives in amidst the positives, and sometimes one won't outrank the other. I'm growing more and more accustomed to living in between the bad and the good, and learning which of these values really carry the most weight in my life. In the meantime, I'm drinking coffee and trying to get some work finished. Five months is a long time to be away.

(Oh! And I've now caved to peer pressure joined twitter, so you can follow me there: http://twitter.com/katepieps. I'd love to follow you, too, so let me know if you're there!)