Date Night

     Last Sunday, Chip and I had a ‘date night.’ I thought I would share a bit because I’m sure everyone is curious how a halfway-around-the-world distance relationship is working out. Well, it’s certainly not easy, but it is working out pretty well so far. We were able to talk before I left about how we would keep our relationship afloat while living so far away from each other. We agreed that it would be best if we could talk as often as possible, but accepted that this might be less than we wanted due to lack of internet on my end and busy schedules. So far, the majority of our talking has been through typing on Skype around my lunch time (bad internet connection at work prevents quality calls most of the time) and afternoon phone calls. 

     We also came up with the idea of reading a book and talking about it. Last semester we read Boys are Waffles, Girls are Spaghetti and the Five Love Languages together and found that it was really helpful to spark conversation and get a better understanding of each other. Right now we are working on Girl Meets God in our spare time, and talking about it when possible.

     Last Sunday we tried something new: a date night where we designate a night/afternoon to watch the same movie at the same time. Okay, I realize this may sound pretty cheesy, but it was great! He called me at 7pm my time and we started the movie while eating (theoretically) the same food – I ended up eating some leftovers. He called every thirty minutes or so and we would catch up on what was happening and how we liked it so far. It was great to feel like we could almost be together even if not physically in the same room. Unfortunately, this meant that I couldn’t fall asleep halfway through and wake up ten minutes from the end…. My usual movie-watching method. Oh well, worth it, I suppose!

      We are also learning new things every day about ourselves… such as: 

1) Chip should not talk on the phone when sitting down, distracted by something, or attempting to multi-task

2)   Ellen should not talk on the phone after 10pm or while lying in bed or else the conversation may turn to snoring very quickly

3)  We are both much better at expressing feelings by writing it down via e-mails rather than over the phone. 

All-in-all, things are going very well! Thank goodness for technology that allows us to stay in touch so easily.