Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Dozen Signs The Mission Is Changing Me

1. I save and reuse baggies.

2. I have a blog.

3. I think in terms of liters and kilometers instead of gallons and miles.

4. I carry a handkerchief with me.

5. I wave and smile at the military police when they let me through a checkpoint without stopping me.

6. I go grocery shopping with Diane. (I love being with Diane even more than I hate shopping)

7. I unpack my suitcase the same day I come back home.

8. I am patient when I am ready to leave and others (that would be Diane) are still getting ready. (This may be a genetic breakthrough as I believe "pre-trip impatience" is a Heyman family trait handed down from generation to generation).

9. I don't tip waiters (they don't do that here and I feel like I am cheating them) but I do tip the man who cleans my windshield at the gas station (they still do that here, but I don't think you are supposed to tip them...I can't help myself).

10. When the guy with the red car parks in front of my garage and blocks me from backing out almost every single morning, I do not get mad, I just push his car down the street a few feet (or houses) as he always leaves it in neutral. The neighbors watched me do this the other day and didn't think twice about it, the strange thing is neither did I.

11. I habitually end phone conversations by saying, "chau-chau".

12. I carry some cash with me everywhere I go. No more dipping into Taylor's lunch money jar for me!

Chau-chau.

5 comments:

  1. haha i was gong to say the same thing as jen, that's really funny.

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  2. It has changed me in three ways - 1. I have something fun to look forward to reading (the blog) when I get some down time, 2. I posted my first comments to a blog and continue to occasionally chime in and 3. As fun as it is to read you blog, it reminds me how much I miss our conversations, which I took for granted almost every day.

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  3. It will be so fun to meet the new Ray when we come to visit! Ha. The visual of #10 is pretty funny. I feel slightly awkward just moving people's grocery shopping carts at the store.

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  4. Fun list! I remember a professor in my urban planning class showing us a dirt parking lot somewhere in South America full of cars randomly parked everywhere. I guess everyone left their car in neutral and you just bumped whatever car was in your way with your car. Too funny.

    Can you help Curtis with that same genetic breakthrough? Oh wait, maybe I'm the one who gets anxious and maybe a little bit psycho before we leave on a trip. Ha!

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