Gratitude: Week of February 10

1. P’Julie :: Again. She really has been taking care of me this week. On Sunday we went on a little adventure. Mostly getting lost and looking for restaurants that turned out to be closed, but in between all those odd little detours, we visited several little museums, temples, and historical sights. But my favorite part of the day was lunch in Sri Satchanali. We sat in this little bamboo hut where everything from the chairs to the top of the hut was made from a bamboo tree. It was comfortable, the breeze was amazing, and the luscious view of mountains, trees, and a lake, all culminated into a 2-hour relaxing and easy lunch.

2. Tai Chi :: P’Julie in her wonderful mother/tour guide capacity has invited me to the Tai Chi classes at the local Chinese school, for the children of Chinese immigrants who are Thai citizens (I think… language barriers can be confusing…) . Anyways, the classes are taught by this adorably tiny woman who is at least 65 years old and she has a ton of spunk. We warmed up for about 5 minutes, did Tai Chi for 20 minutes, aerobics for another 20 minutes, and then “playing with a bamboo stick” for another 20 minutes. It was fun, and really funny.

3. Valentines Day/ HIV Day :: Valentine’s Day was celebrated a little early at school this year because Maka Bucha was on 2/14 and being a religious holiday we had no school Friday. But the Valentine’s Day celebrations were of course ridiculous and an easy excuse for many students to miss class later in the day. There were performances, handing out of condoms, dances and songs about HIV prevention, which were all very light hearted and funny, causing us farangs to wonder if the real message of HIV/AIDS was really getting across to the students or not… Nonetheless it was a fun and celebratory day.

Also, the students covered my with stickers throughout the day – feeling loved 🙂

4. Long Lazy Weekends :: Hammock hang time, long bike rides, coconut waters, massages, “House of Cards”, smoothies, and naps 🙂 Just what I needed.

5. Preparation :: I am preparing what I need to take while backpacking and what I need to send home! It’s all so exciting and I cannot wait to travel around before heading home. Also, I have begun preparing for job applications. I can’t believe that in 3 months I will be back in the USA… surreal.