March 20, 2023

It has been a whirlwind few days of highs and lows. After an incredible day of snorkeling and swimming in the ocean and dancing with new friends my first huge blunder happened. Someone stole my phone and all the cash out of my wallet. I am obviously incredibly disappointed and stressed about this and have been using some time to reflect and process it all. Luckily, I have my laptop so I am able to still have SOME form of communication, as well as having my debit and credit cards still in my possession. The hostel staff was great at trying all they could to help me get my phone back but it appears to be a lost cause.

So now, I’ve lost the wonderful photos of this trip this far (hoping they backed up onto my icloud), and am without a phone. I’m heading to Vietnam on the 21st and will hopefully be able to buy something to get me through once I’m there. While I’m disappointed, I can’t allow this to bring me down. I am still on an incredible adventure and took the day to just be disconnected and talk to my new friends. We hung out at the hostel, drank beers, shared stories, and laughed about the misfortune. I had someone come up to me and say they’re shocked I’m still so chipper when this has happened, but I just don’t know why to let something I can’t change ruin this trip. It’s a learning experience and I have to take it as such. We went on a sunset cruise and I watched one last sunset in Gili, an island that does really hold a piece of my heart now for the good, the bad, and the messy. I’ll return here one day. The hostel staff has already offered to have me come back and work as a volunteer to get free accomodation/food/drinks because we had so much fun here. So sure, a bad thing happened. But I still am on an adventure far greater than most have the opportunity to go on. My posting is going to be a bit harder now but I’ll do what I can.