Just a few hours shy of a month have I spent in the Orient, and though the first few days were a struggle as I acclimatised to the weather, the food, and the culture, I now feel incredibly comfortable here, despite being so far away from home. 

Where even is home?

If home is supposed to be where your heart is, then I suppose I am always at home, because I love my life and am constantly overwhelmed by the gratitude that fills my heart as I realise how fortunate I am to have these experiences and to share them with the most wonderful of friends. 

My days have been inundated with new learning as I listen to the wisdom of children. My evenings I spend soaking up the atmosphere of a city that has so much to offer in spite of its newness. Such a young city leads to many mistakes and misdemeanors of its own... And it's sometimes difficult to keep your head above water when you are the newest addition to a new city. 

Being tall and blonde may have its advantages, but it does mean that it is rather difficult to be inconspicuous, and my personality too, seems to have its drawbacks here in the Far East; this is a place where it is more favourable to be discrete and distinguished instead of ostentatious and gregarious. And as my past has shown, I do rather enjoy being the centre of attention. 

I still have much to learn, and with every day my confidence grows. 

There have been rumours that the Duke of Albany has also travelled East, and though we are on pleasant terms, I do not know if I am quite ready to see him on this side of the world. Especially when there are the most delectable men and women on this side of the world who think nothing of my caresses and knowing looks, but rather encourage my more licentious behaviour.

It's another country that I am letting crawl its way into my heart and I willingly call it home. 



D. S.

There are no words to describe the view that lies before me. It is a landscape so foreign to me that I feel an alien in a country I have chosen to adopt me for the foreseeable future. Despite my yearning for adventure, I truly feel out of my depth in a world so vastly different from my own, but I'm learning. 

There are strange sights, smells and sounds every moment of every day; it is a sensory overload and I constantly feel overwhelmed by the newness of it all.

But I love it. 

I cannot explain the love I have for my life, and how grateful I am for this opportunity ~ the Far East is a delicate flower waiting to unfurl, with a hubbub of life at it's centre that is almost impossible to penetrate. 

The words that spring to mind are gaudy, ostentatious, luxurious, unbelievable, eccentric and foreign. Even my time in the City of a Hundred Spires or the Antipodes didn't prepare me for the onslaught of strangeness that the Orient has to offer. It is truly like nowhere else in the world, and I cannot express my love for this experience enough, though I have only been here a fortnight.

To be so far away from home and so joyously uncomfortable is a sensation I would highly recommend ~ travelling and learning to love somewhere new is an incomparable lesson that we should all be so lucky to learn. 

Travel darlings, travel. 



D. S.