Oh Happy Day!

It was a good end to an extremely taxing day.

I spent the entire day reading trying to solve a particular problem in my work here. Killed thousands of brain cells...

"Spent the whole day trying to figure something out, only to be futile."

Familar words, anyone?

But it was a great end. I received two care packages today. Count them. Not one, but two!

Old friend sent me local pre-packed spices from Asian Home Gourmet. There were spices for bak kut teh, chicken curry, and tom yam soup. Great! But too little lah. How do you expect those 6 packets to last my remaining time here ah? How come no laksa paste ah?

*grin*

As much as I appreciated those goodies, they simply cannot beat the other package I received today.

It was from Jana, the Czech girl I met only less than two months ago. She had her parents send me chocolate biscuits (dark chocolate), chocolate coconut candy, honey banana chips, ground coconut flakes, and a bar of dark chocolate. All the things that I said I like. It was a really pleasant surprise. I mean who would go to all that trouble for someone you only recently met? I really appreciate that gesture. And she added little notes on every pack, on the box, and on the wrapping. It's really sweet.

She wrapped them up in a box, sent it to a soon-to-be-ordained friend of ours, Juan (from Colombia), in the Jesuit community here to pass it to me. She wanted it to be a total surprise. It worked. I didn't expect anything like that. Little gestures that only girls would care about.

I don't regret coming here at all. The experience has been great. Although I am out of my comfort zone a lot, not knowing what to do, how to pay my bills, what to expect, culture shock and cultural differences, etc., I certainly met many good people. As much as I hate shopping alone (Something I would never do back home. If I had no choice, it would be chop chop kali pok.), I've learnt the pleasures of taking my time to window shop, to buy groceries, and to be thick-skinned when necessary. But of course, having company is definitely better.

To the arrival of one or more care packages! Cheers!