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I though I had one more trip on the horizon -- a sort of internship in Media -- but not anymore. After 2 1/2 years of calling Chiang Mai "home," I'm headed back to my birthplace of Cincinnati, USA.

It's very strange, because I like and want to live overseas, and think I may again in the future. But for now, I'm quite excited to go back to my roots.

Several single friends who share my kind of lifestyle have also recently been given opportunities put down a few roots and connect with family. I think it's good.

I recently read a book about being older and single*, and how this makes "community" harder for us in some ways... so many options of where to live, what job to go for, the WORLD is available to us! And yet, that causes our friends (and us) to come and go like the wind, and "Saturday nights continue to roll around with daunting frequency." If we don't really plan ahead, and work hard to develop new local friendships, we can often end up spending a quiet evening alone, when we would prefer to be making a meaningful human connection.

One of this writer's friends says it's like "attempting to slake one’s relational thirst by sipping from a thousand little waxy Dixie cups. You don’t die of dehydration, but in your core, you increasingly long for a few deep wells."

I could relate to that. I've been quite thirsty for some time. I'm excited to be returning to the deep, familiar well that is my flesh and blood.


*Revelations of a Single Woman by Connally Gilliam

Munich and Surrounds

My flight out of Germany was from Munich. As I had an afternoon flight, Rahel encouraged me to travel just beyond the city where I could catch a glimpse of the mountains. So I went to Starnberger See, or Starnberg Lake.


Interesting Lawn Ornament


I rushed back to the airport (more than 1 hour trip) only to find out that my flight was delayed 4 hours! So I decided to scope out the city of Munich. There happened to be a festival going on:


Traditional Ladies


Random Operatic Singer Lady


Hopfbrauhaus


The Rathaus (Town Hall) at Marianplatz in Munich

Nürnberg

2008.07 Nürnberg

Brussels

The famous statue (not me, the "peeing boy!")



Actual BELGIAN Waffles


Neat building with a wild sky


Did you know smurfs were from Belgium? They're called "Schtroumpfs" and are 50 years old this year.


This is the Atomium, from the 1958 World's Fair. People can zipline from the top!

Great Insight

A few weeks ago some of us were joking around, pretend-arguing. One guy boasted, "I reject your reality and substitute it with my own!"

I thought that pretty much explains every kind of conflict between people that there ever was.

London

The Globe Theater


Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a pub dating from the 1600s that welcomed such guests as Voltaire and Charles Dickens... I had a lunch of Fish, Chips, and mashed peas here.


The Tube


Millenium Bridge


St. Paul's Cathedral

Oxford and surrounds, UK

This is Christ Church College of Oxford University, parts of which were used in the filming of Harry Potter.



Christy and I share a Steak and Ale Pie at the Eagle and Child Pub, where C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and others used to meet.




In the Cotswolds.




Blenheim Palace.