Bye-Bye Home Depot
Choosing to live abroad is saying “yes” to adventure, to broadening your perspective, to learning how to problem solve, to learning and growing, and so much more. But it’s also saying “yes” to sacrifices.
You gain so much when you travel and/or live abroad, but there are also things you have to let go of. Like Tex-Mex. And overnight delivery service.
Someone asked us yesterday what are the things we think we will miss? We’ve been gone just a couple of weeks, so these things haven’t hit us yet, but we’ve already identified several things we know we are going to miss such as:
- Being able to shop online and have the goods delivered to your door the next morning
- Having a car and being able to go anywhere anytime
- Mexican food
- Big box stores on every corner
- High-speed internet
- Home Depot and Lowes
- Hot showers anytime you want them
- Water you can drink from the tap
- Electricity that is stable
- Ease of communication
The biggest sacrifice, though, is leaving precious friends and family. For us, leaving our daughter, Jessie, behind and not seeing her for several months at a time was a big one. Leaving Melanie’s mom and her sister and brother-in-law was too. Leaving our church community hit hard and, for Melanie, leaving her Brookdale community was really tough.
That’s what happens when you deeply love the people you are with. Someone once said, “You will never be completely at home again because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That’s the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.” It’s so true.
We moved down from the mountains this week and are currently in an area of Bali called Sanur. This is an area we like very much because it’s right on the coast so you can go to the beach every day, but it also has a lot of conveniences, great restaurants, coffee shops, and GELATO! We are big gelato fans, and Bali has numerous gelato places. We like the vibe in Sanur. And the 60-minute pedicure and foot massage for $7 wasn't too bad either!
It is NOT rainy season in Bali right now, but it has rained all day every day since we came down from the mountains. Kind of a bummer to not be able to go to the beach, but it did give us a chance to test out our rain gear, and we were pleased to see that we brought the right things to keep us dry even when walking in the rain! Yay!
We've also been able to connect with several close friends who've come to Bali for a conference! You never know who you'll run into on this global adventure!
For those of you who've traveled/lived abroad, what were some things you missed?
