One Foot Out the Door

Those of you who travel, or have lived abroad, or simply just picked up and moved to a new place will know what I mean when I say, I've got one foot out the door. It's that inevitable thing that happens when the end of a journey is in sight and a new one is about to begin. For weeks now I've been slowly saying good-bye to friends, while I work my arse off to get this thesis done. I can't spend as much time with them as I'd like, but sometimes its just as well because I hate good-byes. I have about a week and a half before D and I take off for our short trip to New Zealand. After that, a two day stop back in KL, and then I'm on a plane to DC.

I'm all about moving forward, always have been. In fact, sometimes I move forward so quickly that I forget to be where I am. So staying focused on the thesis, amidst the packing, planning and the good-byes helps to keep my brain focused on where I am... but I can't help it, half of my brain is already back home.

Rarely do I leave a place without some sadness and some reservations, but also, I rarely leave a place without being excited about where I'm going. That is no less true of Malaysia. As I sat and chatted with one of my friends yesterday, she asked if my time in Malaysia has been an overall good experience. The answer is of course a resounding yes. I have learned so much more than I ever bargained for. The language, yes, the history of Southeast Asia, yes, but even more so, I've learned more about me, and about people in general. I'll save that for another post, but yes, suffice it to say, when I leave, I will feel as if I accomplished what I intended to, and also gained a lot more than I would've expected.

Anyway, just some thoughts for a Tuesday morning. I'm at 120 pages in the thesis, but need to add around 30 more before tomorrow afternoon, so I guess I'd better shift back to working on that.