hereandnow

Michael Franti, morning rain, pancakes and my newest accessory, a half cast up to my knee, have all motivated/slowed me down enough to blog. My life changed immensely when I moved to Bangkok. To this day I'm still finding my rhythm in this city. When I first came here last September I had no idea what the universe had in store for me :) Simply put I was overwhelmed beyond words! From bursting into tears after my second day of teaching to wrestling with the fact that I was surrounded by concrete to listening to empowering poetry at a favorite hangout, it's been a trip. This morning I did something that I'd been putting off for a year...organizing my photos. As Franti says, "The more I see the less I know." As I saw my life ... read more

Trajectory, as wiki says, "is the path a moving object follows through space as a function of time." The word has been seriously innundating my world for the last two weeks. Popping up in dreams, conversations, pulling and pushing me toward what will probably result in me sequestering myself off in my room studying more about control theory. Nomad is the other word that's coming around a lot too. James and I were discussing the similarities and differences between nomad and vagabond. I'm a nomad. James is a nomad. I love being a nomad. What is it with trajectory and the percieved control we have upon it. What does influence or direct it? Do we, ultimately, if we're in tune with our soul...our deepest wants and desires direct it? If each of us is on a ... read more

All week the students had midterms. Thankfully that meant a break from teaching, but that also meant proctoring exams. Monday and Tuesday I co-proctored with none other than our landlady (she's an English teacher). I don't know what changed or shifted but the Thai teachers seemed more relaxed. Perhaps it was my blundering hula hoop display that broke down some walls. I'll have you know that P'Nid (my new aunt here) and I were both hooping with the best of them by midweek! It was so much fun to see them lower their guards and play. Wednesday rolled around and I was stuck proctoring outside for half the day. That was less than fun as I was pretty sure the flies were going to eat me alive. All of a sudden it was Thursday! That night ... read more

For two days now I've been trying to formulate a blog entry. What I've ended up with are sentences jotted down in random places, of random events, emotions and fleeting thoughts. My desire was to explain the last month, to summarize my experiences. As I've said before I usually don't write about things. So, my struggles to convey a months worth of living in SE Asia is as real as my struggle to speak the language here. Then it hit me this morning! Living here is all about appreciating the little things and welcoming the blissful, if not frustrating and refreshing, constant change. This may sound obvious and coming from me even a bit redundant, but allow me to elaborate. I arrived here in Tak, Thailand 10 days ago. I had just finished an eye opening ... read more

I arrived in Manila this past Saturday and saw Aisa for the first time. The one that dreams cannot fathom and books try to beckon tourists with. The extremes between classes here are unmistakable. One minute my friend Chris and I were crashing a wedding in an opulent Chinese Catholic Chrurch and the next I was staring in disbelief at the scene layed out before me. My tear filled eyes were greeted by outstretched hands from the street children who lept off their rotting, curbside trash piles for the opportunity to beg for something, anything from me. Each time I said no and kept walking I think a part of my soul was left in each pile. Will they stumble upon it some day while brushing aside a plastic bag or over-turning a styrofoam plate? I ... read more