Après la pluie, le beau temps

---

The streets are flooded
the children are catching the underwater creatures, that are mysteries to our eyes
with pails and nets they stand waiting
Maybe they will sell their steals, maybe there is nothing of worth but anticipation
But their smiles..
their smiles are worth a million catches for me,
especially after one catch for them,

the farangs are mocked by the thai and burmese watching us struggle to bike through street rivers,
the farangs holding the sun umbrellas for shelter from the rain rather than just staying out of the rain
the farangs who squeel at the sight of an eel more than the ee squeels itself.

It was a happy and sad day, this flooding and ongoing rain reminds me of the floods in Bishop's, it reminds me of when I was kid and when our property that overlooked the bay of Quinte flooded, I was that innocent small one catching underwater creatures.
maybe not to sell,
and definitely not to eat
just to admire and to observe.
BUT I am confident that the feeling these children get and the feeling that I use to get after catching something is roughly the same, if not exact.

The water is brown, and not water that I would want to swim around in, but it is definitely water that I would take a float in; admire the emerald glossy view in, and definitely drink a pabst beer too.

Dear Canada, dear family, dear friends, dear strangers and foreigners,
despite all the sadness and gloom you can easily get consumed in, there is beauty or light or joy and happiness and HOPE.
HOPE keeps people going
every.
single.
day.

Today for me, it was a sad and happy day. I was sad thinking of all those things I miss back home in Canada, my life, my network, my boyfriend ( how embaressing) my clothes that stay dry if I want them to.
But that hope and success and pride that I saw in these children s eyes because of their pails filling of freshly caught mystery creatures;
the happiness and laughter by the locals because us farangs ( foreigners) can't bike through the rapids, and run away from water eels and greasy looking fish..
that puts a smile on my face.
That gives today a golden star.

And just like the streets that are over flowing with water, from the persistent down pouring. None of that is permanent.
NOTHING is permanent.
This rain; the flooding; this sadness and happiness that alternate in strange ways...
none of it is permanent.
So let yourself feel, and get caught up in these emotions, they are never permanent but they are important- they will teach you many things about yourself.

Happiness comes in different ways, sometimes its someone elses smile - they are contagious, if you want them to be that is; it could come in a dream, in a plan, an idea, a person..
for me it came today from little children whose smiles could have shined light to the whole world.
Thank you rain for not stopping, and for flooding the streets; for letting these boys catch fish, and making me smile.
You made my day.


That whole blog reading over it now sounds so random- I did get the scatterbrain genes from Gin Dawg.
I had a lot of thoughts and i guess that is the way they came out.


Couple side notes:
ate prawn the other day like legs and all ( prawn are the pre lobster stage) - little baby guys that are about the size of a finger, you just like bite their heads off and eat them with the shell on and stuff. Can't pretend it wasn't good. it was.
also ate 'chicken insides' the other day, don't know exactly what part but that was all i got from the head mistress.
there is a leak in my bedroom roof so Anne Marie ( my room mate) and I have a big container collecting this greasy old brown water that is dripping from the roof.
Lastly, the mangoes here are 10 x bigger, 50 x times tastier and 10 x cheaper than the ones bag home.

I would like to also pay tribute to Boutin: i never thought the thousands of proverbs you taught us would actually be useful but one of them was, I was wrong about you my friend.

Kathy

---

Comments

[gindawg]

random
I thought I was reading free verse poetry. Such beautiful images. And memories. I read a book"Out of teh Dust" to my students a little while ago. They were inspired by a young girl's ability to thrive under the burden of tradegy and loss. I will send it. Keep writing, please. It is obviously a gift you have been given! mama