Back at The Sanctuary + Counselling Breakthrough

I was going to do a Living Abroad Ledger this morning, but I started writing the intro and it turned into a full post of its own. So I’m just going with it. Most of you tell me that you’re most interested in my personal stories, so here is one I would tell you if you were sitting across the table from me rn.

You know, here.

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Good morning beautiful readers!

I'm writing to you today from my happy place, the stunning Sanctuary on Haad Thian East on Koh Phangan. I'm here with my writing group, and the Sanctuary team — who always welcome us with open arms (and discounts since we offer workshops to their guests) — suggested we take the newly renovated Treehouse (formerly the spa) for our group.

The old spa, now our private space

And it's literally perfect! There's 4 separate bedrooms, a common living area, several oddly-placed bathrooms (I guess from its spa days), and a seaview. It's freaking AWESOME.

My room, the strange bathroom with no toilet, and the living space (with Omer's back)

OK, there's no aircon, which isn't ideal in the hottest hot season we've ever had, but it's been raining all this week and last, so it's really cooling down. Thank GOD, as the island was desperate for rain!

We arrived yesterday and one person leaves Saturday, another Sunday, and the rest of us are staying ‘til Monday. Which means it was a bitch to work out how to split the cost of the room per person! But thank goodness we have a German former HR manager, Bhakta, in our toolbelt so she worked it all out for us.

Yesterday after checking in, we had our Writers’ Collective meeting that we do every Thursday afternoon. I’m happy to announce that I am finally writing my book again after a few months’ hiatus, and I was featured presenter this week. I submitted a completely rewritten — and unfinished — chapter 1. And the feedback was awesome. They all seemed to find the story much more engaging since I’ve added more dialogue and spent more time on character development. But it wasn’t just positive feedback: I got a lot of constructive feedback and suggestions that were immensely helpful, and now I’m so excited to get back into it and write the banger of a cliffhanger ending for the first chapter.

After our meeting ended, everyone moseyed down to the restaurant for dinner. I went for a steam and cold plunge first.

When I eventually joined the table, the tunes were pumping and Bhakta announced it was open mic night!

I wound up performing the rap I wrote a few months ago, I Wrote a Rap🎙️: Sunset in the Shadows. It was fun!

This morning I woke up at 6:30 am and went for a morning swim in the sea, followed by a vinyasa yoga class, and now I’m writing this post! I just went for another quick dip as the rain looks impending and I just LOVE the water here.

There is definitely rain on the way…

Tomorrow will be a similar rhythm, though we are sadly saying goodbye to one of our group members, Omer, who leaves Monday for Vancouver Island, Canada. He’s Israeli and wishes to take advantage of the 3-year visa that Canada is offering to Israeli and Palestinian citizens. He came over to my house a few days ago to get some info from me about my old ‘hood, but I am so out of touch not having lived there in 22 years (OMG), I’m not sure I gave him much insight that couldn’t be found on Google!

Then me and Tyler and a few other friends who are coming over are planning to go to Eden — though we are still undecided if we’ll stay up through the night, or sleep and wake up early and go, since it’s more of an early Sunday morning party.

I so badly needed a break from reality, so a trip to my happy place on the other side of my island and away from my responsibilities (except this newsletter, obviously!) was much needed.