Mai Pen Rai...which means no worries :)

l haven’t written in some time.  Suffice to say, life has been moving both too fast and too slow to waste time on words.  The update?  This is truly the land of smiles.  For a thousand reasons, none of which can I adequately explain.   At least not yet.  I’ll work on it.  Some things I can say right now:

1) It’s over!  I finished my TESOL program on Thursday.  No problem.  The course was great, I was with a bunch of awesome native English speakers from around the world…particularly a Brit and a South African whose company I greatly enjoyed….but also 20 or so other people who were just wonderful, fantastic, kind, and insightful human beings.  And a raging good time, of course.  I spent a day teaching at an orphanage, learned all about Thai cartoons (Ben 10!), and learned a few things about myself and about life in general.  Success.

2) Thai rum has one hell of a kick!  Only indulged a couple of times while I’ve been here, but wow!  We know how I drink back home…really have to curb that here.  It sneaks up on you like you wouldn’t believe!  Also, I’m spreading the concept of slap shots around the far east Julie!

3) The Thai people are really wonderful and kind.  When the program finished, everyone left for other, more exciting places.  I decided to stay around Naiharn for a few more days.  All the locals were surprised to see I was still here, and they’ve all greeted me warmly, expressing joy in my decision to stick around a little longer.  If I believed in anything, I would feel very blessed right now.  Instead, I just feel an overwhelming joy at being in this place at this time.

4) Which brings me to the last thing I can say.  My burner friends will understand this.  Last year at burning man, I tried to explain to a virgin campmate what “The Playa Provides”  means.  My explanation fell terribly short.  Toward the end of the burn, he told me he understood what it meant, and gave me the best explanation I could imagine: The playa brings you everything you need, and everything you never knew you needed.  I will be forever grateful for this explanation, and it proves itself again and again.  I am on the other side of the world, and the playa is providing.  Providing joy, and love, and more surprises than I could ever have imagined.  I can only say thank you to the playa and all of my burner friends and camp mates who have made me believe in this.  

Now that the program is over, I have checked out of the swanky resort the program provided, and into what amounts to a shack on the rocks overlooking the beach.  It has a bamboo mat ceiling inside, and a corrugated tin roof outside, a dilapidated little porch, no air conditioning, and a bevy of mosquitos at night.  I absolutely love it.  I feel much more at home there than at the resort.  I fall asleep to the sounds of the sea on the rocks, and wake to geckos chasing each other across my ceiling.

Home sweet home:

My daily sustenance:

 The view from my front door!

I have even gotten used to the heat.  With no air conditioning, I still wake up cold at night, turn off the fan, and have to don warm clothes and fleece blankets.  75 is now freezing!  With the program over, I have a couple of weeks to explore, relax, and play before my orientation in Bangkok.  After that I head north to Isan and my teaching post.  Plenty of time to enjoy myself before then!  Mai pen rai everyone...no worries!  Life is good.