June

For the last two weeks I’ve been volunteering at a children’s shelter full-time and between that and some unexpected but welcomed work I haven’t had much if any time to think about what to post so pardon me as I try to put something together at the last minute. A couple months back I promised some kids that I’d come back to visit them during their school holiday in June. I told them I would only be staying here in Malaysia for one week however when I tried to leave last week I was unable to deny the earnest pleas of a few little girls who really wanted me to stay. Some of them even went as far as vowing to eat only vegetables and to never eat candy if I stayed, haha. I told them such vows were unnecessary and that regardless of whether or not I stayed they should try their best to eat more vegetables and less candy.

I generally take a wider, distant, and more objective view of things and this allows me to escape all of the emotional ups and downs most people experience however it seems my one remaining weakness/soft spot are kids in these kinds of situations particularly ones I can see are benefiting from my time with them and I know will one day help other people and the planet with what they’ve learned from me. Sitting at a table attempting to explain to some of the teary-eyed kids who are closest to me why I had to leave and why I wasn’t sure when I would be coming back almost made me shed a few tears of guilt. Next time I’m preparing to leave I’ll have to arrange for those few kids to be out and surround the table with a few other kids that saying good-bye to would if anything cause me to shed tears of joy.

For now it looks like I’ll be staying here for the summer so tomorrow I’ll be going back to Thailand to get my skateboard, slackline, and other some other things I’ve missed having around the past two weeks. I look forward to jumping into my cold mountain river and enjoying the peace and nature there for around 5 days before returning here for a 7 or 8 week session at a new place I just rented. They wanted $1000 a month for the house which is in a prime location next to a park and a 3 minute skateboard ride away from the market but I got them to rent me a room and give me a temporary two month stay for $250 a month as they search for someone to rent the entire house long-term. I already told the kids I won’t be putting in the kind of hours I put in the past two weeks and they understood. Hopefully I can toughen them up a little over the next 8 weeks and make my next departure go a little smoother.

P.S. Check out this gorgeous red-tailed racer I had slither into my house in Thailand and this beautiful tree frog I saw here in Malaysia.