Life Goes On and On and On

I realized my blogs are getting farther and farther apart.  Its not that there isn't anything worth writing about.  Actually there is plenty.  I just have so many distractions,  I think.  I'm actually less than 2 weeks away from moving again.  A couple of weeks ago, after losing sleep yet again when my housemate and our houseguest came home late at night and loud again, I had time to get mad and have another chat with God about whether or not I should continue to put up with this.  We recently became houseguest free a few days ago after having a houseguest for 6 weeks.  It was a very long time to have a non paying housemate and it got even longer when the late nights started.  Shortly after she arrived, my housemate started going out to bars and other places and would return late at night.  Usually they would laugh and carry on til much later into the night.  Our house transmits sound very well.  Even with my door closed and no hearing aid on, I could hear full conversations going on in the kitchen downstairs.  A few times especially in the beginning weeks, I got up or sent a text asking them to please quiet down.  They usually would and the next day I got apologies.  But then it would happen again and again.  A few times I just waited it out, not wanting to get out of bed.  I considered moving after being woken up 3 times one week.  A friend that I confided in, suggested that I pray about it first.  I did and didn't feel like it was the time to leave.  Then a couple of weeks ago, I was awoken again only this time they brought home 2 guests.  Mind you this was already after 1am.  As I lay in bed frustrated, I used the time to talk to God again about moving.  I felt like this time, I needed to leave.  It had become clear that there was no effort on my housemates part to try to be considerate after hours and waiting for our houseguest to leave didn't guarantee the end of it. 
The next morning I got up for church and discovered that some food I had just bought the day before was also eaten during the late night.  Tiredness and frustration spilled out when I did run into my housemate and guest and instead of talking to them, I yelled my frustrations and said that I was moving.  Then I left for church.  My moving plans began immediately as I told both my pastor and a new couple from Canada that I was househunting
After church, my housemate came to me and apologized and we had a calm conversation.  I can't recall if I apologized for yelling in that conversation.  A day or so later I did apologize and asked forgiveness as I don't usually yell at people when I'm mad.  I do feel bad for how I handled the whole thing as I let my emotions do the talking in the moment.    She also thinks I planned to move long before I told her as I found a place within 2 days of telling her.  I think it was just a quick answer to prayer as I didn't start looking until after I told her. 

 Currently, my housemate and I are on eggshells. I don't know if she's forgiven me as she asked for space following the incident.  I've been giving her that.  I found a new house 48 hrs after I started looking and signed a 1 year lease yesterday. I think ultimately, it will be better for both of us.  She's moving to the neighborhood she's talked about going to that I never wanted to live in. I'm getting my own 2 bedroom house in a Thai neighborhood.  I think it will be easier to immerse myself in the culture as I am surrounded by farangs in my current moo baan.  I'm excited about my new place and look forward to getting to know the neighbors who don't speak English.  From what I hear, that's all of them.  I also can have cats in my new place and dogs arent' allowed.  Sorry dog lovers but the dogs here are not nice.  Now that I'm comfortable on my motorbike, its not a problem being farther away from work.

waiting for the launch

many lanterns in the sky

Quick little note, we celebrated Loy Krathong here in Thailand just a week ago. Loy means floating and Krathongs are these floating things adorned with banana leaves, flowers and incense. My favorite part was setting off the large lanterns. There were millions in the sky. My camera doesn't do it justice. My least favorite part were the fireworks. Anyone can buy fireworks no matter how big and dangerous they are. So professional type fireworks were being set off outside my house mostly the last 2 nights and off and on all week. There were some bomb sounding ones that went off at midnight and I finally had to plug my ears and pray the fireworks only went up. Its neat to be able to be here during a festival though. I will goto the hot air balloon festival in a week at the school next door to ours. Apparently its not to be missed.

Just after we let it go

off it goes

Waiting for the hot air to fill the lantern