Today we leave Thailand for the first time since we moved here 6 months ago, to visit family and friends in the US and Canada. On the taxi ride to the airport, I was watching our new home city go by and saw a golf cart adapted into a police vehicle round the corner with lights swinging. We both thought it was pretty funny, the juxtaposition of power and control with the speed and size of a golf cart and it led to us joking together about all the driving scenarios we would have to avoid repeating in North America.

Wow, more than three months have gone by! We moved to Chiang Mai to slow down our lives but the transition phase has been anything but slow. To be fair, one of those months was on Koh Phi Phi taking everything slow. I'm so glad we built that time into our moving plans. After that we spent a month housesitting before we got our place. Another week was with Jess back in the islands again, and we've been doing a fair amount of sightseeing together in addition to that. At a certain point though, this is all part of life and we need to find a way to settle in around those welcome interruptions and variety of life.

Last night, the rest of the ISDSI students arrived into Chiang Mai for the start of Fall semester. Today they are all buzzing around and I am reveling in the way life goes in cycles, remembering that startling breath of hot air as I stepped out of the airport air conditioning into the hot Chiang Mai summer air, and the first moment I met my host family as they came walking up that same driveway entrance to pick me up.

A very happy birthday to my dear sister Jess, who just turned twenty-two and managed to make being on camera and listening to Taylor Swift all day look entirely adorable! We are grateful to be able to spend the week with her in one of the most beautiful places on earth - Koh Lipe, Thailand. This video is an example of what Tory Roff, Jessica deLange and I do for fun.

Behind the scenes:

We came over here with two suitcases and carry-ons.

A big part of the move for us was a great opportunity to reset and live into our values. I'm still grateful for that chance, and have been thinking about and tracking all our purchases as we bring them into the house but I think the surprising part is that the 'set up' part of reseting is taking much longer than we expected. Now that we've re-established some kind of normalcy and level of comfort at home, I feel like I can finally reflect on this process a bit.

In some ways, Thailand is different than back home, things are done differently, and just take longer in general and take longer to figure out with the cultural and language barriers. In other ways, we have personally changed our lifestyle so we have different resources than we might have if we just tried to replicate our life in Minnesota.

I remember the exhaustion of learning everything new from last time I was here but I didn't realize how exhausting it would be to start over from scratch, even if it's a really cool experience. There are lots of fully furnished condos in Chiang Mai but we didn't want to find a tourist-oriented house with tourist prices. So we found a little neighborhood with an large unfurnished rowhouse, and we have been steadily filling it to a level of comfort that we basically arrived at today, meaning, somewhere to sit, somewhere to sleep, somewhere to clean and cook and somewhere to put things down. It's so strange to be in this phase of mandatory consumption. Thai kitchens are much simpler than we're used to and usually freestanding, so we had to buy an entire kitchen (fridge, counter/table, sink set, shelf, and propane stove - the final missing piece). But we're getting there! It's a relief to know that we may be able to slow down again soon, in the meantime we've been trying to relax and create and relish all the sweet moments of beginning again.

If you can take a minute, slow down, go somewhere quiet with someone you love and listen to this Iron and Wine cover of the classic "This Must be the Place." It has reached us perfectly in this time.

This must be the place!

An entire set of Thai style pillows and mats

Okay this was delivery, but impressive nonetheless...

Two garbage cans...

Two large fans...

Helmets: one of life's new necessities

My sister in law sent us an email with some sweet questions about our new home that were fun to reflect on... here they are along with some additional questions I've gotten from a few friends:

1. What is weather like during this time of year? What is weather like in other seasons?

Tory: Weather has been very pleasant. Really hot when we arrived and in the south. But now it is the beginning of rainy season that means chillier temps and somewhat consistent train showers where it pours hard for 20 minutes to 2 hours. Nobody really let's it change their routine though.

Rachel: We thought we would rock climb in the south of Thailand for most of the day... turns out it's really hot! We ended up usually starting around 3pm and getting in a few hours before dark. Even though it's relatively cooler up here, I have definitely become a sweaty person.

2. Are you staying in one location or do you move when you feel like it?

Tory: We are in the midst of an apartment search right now and likely have a winner that will be a 12 mo lease. We have been house-sitting since we got back to Chiang Mai 10 days ago. Before that, we stayed on Koh Phi Phi for 3 weeks.

Rachel: The apartment search has been a pretty big job... our best method so far has been to scooter around in little neighborhoods and if we feel like we could live there, take pictures of for rent signs we find. My coworkers at ISDSI have been a big help weeding through the photos of signs we took, letting me know what the Thai words for "for rent" look like (and what "for sale" or "no parking" look like instead!)
          I can't imagine how hard this would be without a landing pad, I am really grateful for the house-sitting opportunity even though we are excited to find a place of our own that will finally be a little bit more permanent! 

3. What do you do for food - do you go out to eat or do you go to markets and take food back to where you are staying?

Tory: A mix. I still like cooking and we just found an organic market so that is still part of life. But we eat out once or twice a day right now. It is very cheap and delicious to do so.

Rachel: I buy fruit every few days to take home, and we make mango smoothies often! 

Here was our first haul from the local market:


And our first visit to the fancy grocery store:


4. Are you making lots of friends?

Tory: We are diving into many things and saying yes whenever possible with people. Casting our nets wide. We will see how the plan is working after a few months I guess. There are lots of really nice people here and many expats and locals alike are surprised and excited when they here we will be here for years not weeks like many of the foreigners here.

Rachel: I feel like we are, yeah! I am surprised at how nice and gracious people are... even though that was one of the reasons we picked Chiang Mai, it is nice to feel like it is truly a friendly place. We also have some previous connections, host family and coworkers, plus REB returns soon I hope! 

5. Are all of your bug bites healing? :)

Tory: Bugs are less of an issue in Chiang mai:)

Rachel: AGH yes, thank you for asking :)

6. What does a typical day look like for you two?

Tory: We have yet to have a typical day. Right now we are starting pretty late, looking for apartments online and on the scooter, maybe rock climb, and then I work from 8-midnight. In bed by 1 or 2.

Rachel: That's accurate. I think we're both looking forward to finding our rhythm. A place of our own will help establish that - our house, our local market, our corner coffee shop, our climbing gym, etc. Some of this is falling into place, like the gym, but it's exciting to visualize where we'll be located for the next little while and build around that. 

7. What is your favorite Thai drink?

Tory: It's it's a divide between mango smoothie and Thai ice tea which costs about a dollar.

Rachel: Completely agree.
Thanks Kaylee!

Other questions from dear friends...

Has it been a lot of time with just the two of you? 

Tory: Yes. We knew this would happen at first and we also know that it can be a little toxic. Minor steps have been taken to adjust but we are hoping future routine will help to correct it. Also, friend-making is not difficult so far so that will help.

Rachel: YES. We found a balance on Koh Phi Phi so by the end of three weeks felt in sync but independent. Now we've had about 10 days in Chiang Mai and so much of it has been setting up a life here, taking care of basic needs or logistics, but I think we're getting back to a balance. Now that I found a bicycle I feel a lot more mobile and independent.

Is Chiang Mai where you'll be for the most part now? 

Tory: Yes. Right now just excited to get our feet on the ground.

Rachel: Yep! We are loving exploring the city. There's all these little neighborhoods with their own charm, food, and markets. We come home pretty exhausted from doing simple things like grocery shopping, speaking Thai for extended periods, or just riding around house-hunting in the bustling traffic. I feel like a kid, where everything is interesting but also unfamiliar and people are constantly using big words you don't know yet :)
        There's a sweetness to this state of being though. I feel blessed, and guided, and cared for through the actions of friends and family near and far. Thank you.