Home?

Last week Wednesday my orientation roommates and I dragged our bags around the corner to the next dorm over on a sleepy U of Chicago campus. We left our bags outside with some of the group already there and went to turn in our keys.  This simple task defined my day as the lady at the front desk said, "Have a safe trip home." My breath caught in my chest as I mumbled thanks and hurried outside where we began to laugh, which seems to be the easiest response to all things overwhelming.

We left the country last week for a completely differet home.  Our eighteen hours on a plane did not bring us to the familiar, comfortable known place that formed us in many different ways.  Instead our day of travel brought us to the complete unknown of the North Coast of Borneo.  The past week of orientation has been full of laughter as we navigate the unfamilar: trying to eat rice with chopsticks, learning Malay, handwashing our laundry with a little too much soap,  and chilling at the base of the mountain. Aside from the laughter, we have also started discussing what it means to be associated with the Christian church in a Muslim country, how the Malaysian government interacts and regulates religion, and how that affects the many different ethnic groups who call Malaysia home.

Amongst the deep conversations on our orientation mini-retreat we've also been spending the mornings hiking through the jungle at the base of Mt. Kinabalu, which was an incredible adventure. On our way up to the mountains we stopped for lunch in Tuaran, the town I will be placed in, for the local noodle dish. Catching a brief glimpse of the place I hope to call home for a year allowed me to remember that perhaps home actually is where  the heart is. Maybe my trip home is more of an ongoing search to find myself amoung the others of rich and complex new communities.