I finally feel at home

This is going to sound strange but for the first time since moving here in February 2007, I actually feel at home. Normally, after a trip away from Palembang, I find myself complaining about how inconvenient this house is and how 'difficult' it is to live here. This time, I actually have an unusual feeling of familiarity.

Instead of grimacing at the wet bathroom tiles, I enjoyed my cold mandi and marveled at how smooth the water felt. Now this is particularly strange because the water in Palembang is so dirty that if you let your clothes drip dry, they'd be able to stand up all on their own from all the impurities that came along with the water that washed them.

There have been some 'casualties' in my garden but it sure felt great to be playing around in the garden with Aaron again this morning. We'll have to do some major replanting and repositioning but I'm looking forward to that.

I did enjoy lots of Malaysian food during the break but I find myself enjoying my mainly vegetarian diet here just as much. I missed the simplicity and supposed healthiness of it all.

After a year and a half here, we were the people welcoming two new families to our neighborhood yesterday. Both had young children and both the women I met spoke English. Yay for me!

So, after telling my friends and family in Malaysia that Palembang is the most boring place in the world and giving them the impression that I'd rather not be living here, I now have a complete change of heart and feel that I can almost call it a great place to live. I know the lack of activities here will get to me soon enough but apart from that, I LIKE IT HERE.