It's been a lazy week here in Northeastern Thailand. Summer is in full swing and the days are hot... no I don't mean just hot, I mean really hot AND humid. Try to imagine standing in a sauna with the heat set at 100 degrees for about 14hours, fully clothed. That's how I feel today...drained and wet. Now that I have everyone's sympathy I can tell you that I'm actually sitting in a nice cool ICT office my village has recently built. It's got 12 new computers ready for anxious students. It will be interesting to see who actually uses them. My Thai counterpart, Lek, is in Bangkok the next two weeks learning how to teach Information, communication, technology. I on the other hand have been pedaling around my villages conversing with the locals, attempting to ... read more

Songkran, the most popular Thai festival of the year, is held between the 13th and 15th of April. It celebrates the lunar New Year and the Buddha images are bathed or cleansed with water. The elders are sprinkled with water on their hands and necks as a show of respect. In the larger cities water battles are the order of the day with truckloads of people, mostly the young, carrying huge pots of water and bazooka water guns. The festival actually started here in Ponethong on Saturday. Five mounds of sand were dumped at the local wat and the village families somehow organized themselves into groups to work on individual mounds forming them into pyramids. They were then decorated with fresh flowers and candles. My office, the SAO or Sub-district Administrative Office, or in Thai, aw-baa-daw, ... read more

I’m almost there… I can see the flags waving me on at the finish line. The final week of training is coming to an end and I couldn’t be happier. The Competency test was taken today and the language this past Saturday. I actually passed and can now ask for directions to the bathroom! These have truly been the toughest two months I’ve experienced in years and if I had to do it over, I would think long and hard. There have been some very bright and beautiful spots on the horizon and those are what have kept me motivated. You will see them here in the faces of some of the people I’ve come to love. Jakkit and his family have so little when it comes to material wealth yet they share every meal with ... read more

Sorry to bother everyone but this is really a note to all the new subscribers to my blog......Welcome and sawadii ka! Go ahead and check out my previous postings and await my new entries. I''ll be away from site until next Wed so will not post anything until the following Sunday...sorry to my original fans. I'm delighted to have such a large and wonderful following. I hope I can live up to your expectations. Until next time, sawadii ka sabiidii mai ka................. read more

Good Morning All, This week I thought I'd talk a little more about some of the foods I've been exposed to. Notice I didn't use the word "eaten". You all know me to be somewhat adventuresome but there are some limits when it comes to my palate. Oh, before I go any further, let me apologize for any typo's, misspellings, bad grammar etc. No spell or grammar checks on this blog....I should take issue with that. In Thailand a meal is not a meal unless it includes rice. That means a bowl of rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For us Westerners this is cause for concern.......constipation!!!! I know this is not the proper forum for such a topic but it is of upmost importance for those staying here any length of time. I've tried to ... read more