Thursday Thoughts ☆ Welcome 2015 ☆ Being an Expat & Taipei Trip

Beautiful guest bedroom at Josh & Kara’s.

During this past winter break my family and I went to Taipei to see our 4 good friends, Josh, Kara, Sijen & Bryan, and their kids. Josh and Kara graciously hosted us in Taipei. They moved to Taipei at the same time as when we moved to Mumbai in 2013. We all lived in Jakarta for 3 years at the same time and spent a lot of time together during our posting there. They are the ones who offered to take care of my first daughter when my husband and I flew to Singapore from Jakarta to take our second daughter for her surgery to have a swollen gland removed in 2011. I traveled with Kara to Siem Reep, Cambodia and Ubud, Bali during our time in Jakarta, Indonesia.

As expats it’s lovely that we get to meet many wonderful people, but it never gets easy when we have to say goodbyes. The good thing is that we can visit each other in different parts of the world. The best part of traveling internationally to visit our friends is that we can benefit from our friends’ tour guide which is my favorite. Why? Expats know exactly what foreign tourists want to see. Josh and Kara are the best Taipei experts as far as I know. They know so many fun activities for kids to do and the best local restaurants to go to in Taipei and beyond. I will introduce a few of them to you through my blog. All I need to do now is to get myself organized enough to edit the photos.

As for 2015, this year will become a turning point for me.

I’m turning 40 (Not yet! In a half year)!

Many people have huge celebrations for their 40th birthdays. They make a big trip, scratch something off from their bucket lists, get a surprise party, you name it. When I was in Taipei, I asked Josh, who had a big birthday bash in Bali, Indonesia, why he thought many people would have grand celebrations for their 40th birthdays. To this question he replied “you have lived half of your life if you’re lucky.” That truth hits you hard, doesn’t it? When I was younger I never imagined that I would welcome the half point of my life this fast.

It seems to me that the world likes to focus on younger women. I, on the contrary, think some women in their 40’s are more inspiring and admire them. They make me look forward to the 40’s. Just to name one is Gwyneth Paltrow. I’m going to look at 40 as a rebirth. I’m not even born yet. Joke aside, I will be very grateful for being able to have my 40th birthday in 6 months. I loved and am still loving my 30’s because I gained so much more confidence in myself. My 20’s was awesome, but I remember feeling lack of self-confidence and constantly worried about the threats I imagined in my head. To be relieved from those self-created threats in my 30’s was liberating. Getting old is not a negative thing. If I don’t get older, I don’t get to see my kids grow up. Getting old means gaining wealth of life.

Speaking of a half point, we just completed the half of our tour in Mumbai. How could this be possible? I love our life in Mumbai and I want it to slow down a bit. I am blessed to have the life I have. My life is not perfect, though. I constantly think I could do better and need to make efforts. I sometimes feel lost. I often worry that I am not doing what I am supposed to be doing at this point of my life. I tell myself that it’s perfectly normal. We all have fears. Learning how to coexist with them in peace is the art of life.

All the best and a big heartfelt thank-you to all the people who come to my blog to read it. You are the reason for my motivation to keep blogging.

Here’s to 2015!