I grew up in a small town–let us not discuss the name of the place here–and had pretty much the same friends all my life. When I went to college, I worked a lot (A LOT) and took a bunch of classes, so I never had time to make new friends. For the whole first year I worked at Logan, no other teachers even knew my name. Making friends is not my strong suit…

…which has not helped me here. You need friends in a foreign country, people to show you around, go out with, talk English to. Otherwise, life can be pretty lonely at times. We have been lucky to know so many people through Mark’s work, but that is not the same as making your own friends.

Today, at the meeting at the newspaper, I made a friend. Truthfully, she was more outgoing than me and introduced herself first. But nonetheless, I was talkative and we laughed and now we have plans to go hang out together. Tonight we will go to a jazz club and in the next few weeks, we will go to a soccer game. There is also a third girl who will join us.

So look at that!! 32 years with no friend-making skills and I make 2 new friends in one day. How’s that for beginner’s luck???