The good, the bad and the ugly.

Life has been pretty boring over the past several days. We have been staying inside, studying and looking forward to dinner. We have time to take a trip, but fear spending money, unsure of when we will get jobs.

As I mentioned at the beginning of all of this, I was to report the good, the bad and the ugly and normally I prefer to share the good and downplay the bad. I think it is only fair to share it all as promised.

We are just shy of two weeks into our new life. When one decides to move there entire life to another place it is always challenging and of course a move to a foreign country, especially Vietnam, it adds even more challenges. Everything is new and it is normal to fight that. I yearn at times for the comforts and securities of what I had. I made this choice to get out of my comfort and to try new things....so here we are. I am doing my best to not focus on the challenges and instead embrace the new. I do know that it is easy to get angry, frustrated, depressed at this time and I must change my focus or else it will marr the good things around me.

One thing I have going for me is that I always move forward regardless of the difficulty. If I know it is important, then I will endure until I overcome. I am in the stage where I am wondering at times "What the hell am I doing here?!?" There must be goals, there must be things to look forward to and there must be ways to deal with the challenges or else you will go crazy and it will all be misery.

I made the choice to come here. I accept the challenges. I will move forward. It is impossible to grow and learn if there are not the difficulties and failures. As I have said many times before, if it was all so easy, then the sense of accomplishment would not be as great. The reality is that this is the tough part of the journey and life could be sooooo much worse.

For me and for you.....as cliche as it may seem, you have to see through the ugliness and find the beauty. Sometimes being surrounded by poverty and those that struggle so very hard is what is needed to wake up. Thus far, being able to share a smile with someone who I otherwise could not connect with has been my biggest joy.....truly. Also, I must admit, finding cans of soda water or a favorite cheese or cookieThe brings me great joy too.