Exactly one year ago, we received this work email from our boss: “Is there anyone in the Region who would be interested in a short-term, say 6-12 months, assignment to Thailand?”

Without any hesitation whatsoever, I replied in the affirmative. You only live once, right? (Finally used YOLO, yes!) And you never know when an opportunity like this will come up again. Six months later, I’d find myself seated in the pre-departure lounge, excitedly and anxiously waiting for a flight that would take me to this brand new phase in my life.

Time passes so quickly. Two days from now, I will have spent exactly six months in Bangkok. During that time I’ve paid homage to the Reclining Buddha and climbed the Temple of the Dawn, got crushed by the mob during the New Year countdown in CentralWorld, attacked by strangers wielding water guns during Songkran, scraped what little Thai I know to speak to a taxi driver in the hopes that he’d charge me the meter and not a fixed fare (it worked), hopped on one foot to cross the street in Saphan Taksin because my sandal straps collapsed into pieces, lost 8 lbs and began a quest to have a fitter body, ate (and continues to eat) a thousand pounds of lek yum and mami yum noodles for lunch but just for 1,000 baht a month, watched around 10 movies, entertained around 5 visitors, and successfully poached one egg.

Six months gone, six months left to go. But something tells me the adventure isn’t quite over yet. :)