I Have a Confession to Make:

When I lived at the Wesley during my last year at LSU, we tried to have family dinners with regular occasion. (Did I just use that properly? It sounds wrong...) At said family dinners, Jennifer Fontenot, with some regularity would declare: "I have a confession to make..." And then proceed to confess to borrowing someone's shampoo or hitting someone's car in the parking lot (that actually happened, but she checked to see if it was one of our's before confessing. It wasn't harmed.) or maybe even just that she had a great day.

That being said, in the spirit of Jennifer Fontenot, I have a confession to make: I could see myself staying here for awhile. (Don't tell my parents.) But in truth, it isn't so bad... Maybe. Don't get me wrong, I miss Louisiana something fierce, because, you know, it's my home. I miss the States, too. I know and understand how things work there and this place is completely foreign to me. Even the times they do business (between 12pm and 12am, often) are weird to me and I want more than anything to find a Gap somewhere on this island.

BUT.

(This is important, I'm making a huge confession here, people.) Everything's much scarier when you're brand spankin' new or you haven't even made it to your final destination yet. I have a tendancy to panic and go straight to the worst case scenario in my mind (I know, right? ME???), which probably makes my fear of the unknown my greatest fear in life. (Aside from my physical fears of snakes and needles...) But this place isn't quite so bad, I don't think. Sure, there are rust stains on the walls of apartment buildings from the ACs haphazardly inserted here and there and sure, there are clothes on every balcony caged in by iron bars, but there's also some funky old trees and bonsai gardens and some ruins of cathedrals. Those parts are kinda charming!

I once saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations where he eats street meat in Hong Kong. I haven't gotten that brave, but you never know... Anthony seemed to think it was pretty super.

Maybe one day I'll even get to travel around the area: the Phillipines, Japan, Indonesia... Everything's so close. For now, though, work is my life. Don't get me wrong, things could be worse. I love having a steady job again. That whole part of this situation is not half bad, you know?