I met a guy from the program at his apartment last night. He made dinner and we say around and talked for a couple hours. He’s really interesting and very nice. He offered to let me leave my big suitcase at his place so I don’t have to drag it around everywhere with me. He also said that I could stay with him for a while if I wanted since he has an extra room. It’s a really kind offer and one I plan to take him up on eventually.

I’m on my way to get my visa extended now. I’m hoping to make it through the extension process without too much trouble. If all goes really well I’ll have time to run to the train station afterwards as well. I’m hoping to take an overnight train south and make it to one of the islands on Saturday. I could stay for a few days, relax and read books. I called the Wat near Chiang Mai and scheduled showing up there for a meditation program on 8/7/13 (July 8th). It’s a 26 day stay, but it sounds like that will be reevaluated at the 10 day mark so it’s possible it’ll end up being shorter than that. I’m excited to check the place out and get some instruction on meditation. I’m a little concerned that my knees won’t like me sitting in the proper way one is supposed to sit when they meditate. I get the impression they might be a little strict on that, but we’ll see. I’m really grateful that things are starting to fall into place. I feel much less like I’m here all alone now and getting some of that wonder back I’ve been trying to cultivate the past week. It’s not that I lost my sense of adventure, but I definitely pulled back a bit.

Gratitude List:
Short-term future plans falling into place
Having great opportunities for personal growth on the horizon
Working to unlock a mystery