diary entry from January 26, 2014

At the moment I am sitting on the terrace while the sun dries my hair.  I left the frigidity of boston in exchange for this warmth.  This terrace is the manifestation of something I had been dreaming of.  Somehow I knew there would be a balcony but I could have never expected it to be this beautiful.  I am five stories in the air and the people below are tiny figures who I can observe & admire.  To my left are the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains.  I stood here last night while the sun was setting and their white snow-caps were illuminated in pink.  I was conscious about my decision to travel here, and because of that consciousness I have been rewarded with contentment.  The air is different, the sun is different, the smells are different.  I never thought I would see a man selling bread out of the back of his car, or a cockroach the size of my palm.  But each little difference is intoxicating to me.  Time is slower; there is not a feeling of hurry or a care in the world.  I could easily be bored.  But then I remember that I am a foreigner, everything around me is eye-candy, and there are millions of secrets still to be discovered.  I am feeling very lucky!