Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Last night we went out to the Roadhouse for a big family dinner. They had a big Thanksgiving buffet but I opted for the bbq chicken and some ribs. Delicious. I hope everyone's having a great time and eating up on that Turkey/Potato/Stuffing for me.

much love
j

An Early Exit

My work doesn't really have scheduled vacation days for me. Instead they gave me a handful of days and let me pick and choose when I could go. Well, turns out I still have six unused days-off left and not a whole lot of days-on in which to use them. I was gonna take a vacation the first week of December (wrapping my vacation around the King's Birthday on the 5th) but I Can Read wants to use that week to have me train my replacement so I'll be bumping it back to the week after. This will take my vacation all through my last day of work so it appears as though I'l be totally done with work sooner than I thought. This is good and bad. It's good because my departure from Thailand was so close to my last day that I was afraid I wouldn't have the time or energy to pack and make sure everything was squared away. Now I have plenty of time and give this place a proper goodbye. It's bad because Ryan and I had planned overlapping vacations to do some stuff and now we might only have a few days in common. Also because I have, a most, three more classes with some of my students. Bummer! Most of my kids are awesome and a couple are really sweet and I'm gonna miss them.

I'm still unsure what to do with my last week off here. I don't know if I should revisit someplace I loved, or try someplace new. I have some time to think about it. Just not a whole lot...

Much love,
j

Homeward Bound

My buddy Chris went back to the U.S. just a few days ago. We had a big send-off and Soi 8 isn't the same without him. Since his arrival in March he's been a good friend and a solid bud. The other thing about his departure is that it really opened my eyes to how soon I'll be leaving. It was recently brought to my attention that many of you don't know exactly when that is. Well, tickets have been booked and I'll be back on American soil on Dec. 17th. I actually leave Thailand on the morning of the 15th, but I'm making a little stop in Hong Kong so I can attend Margy and Justin's wedding (very cool). Then I go Shanghai->Chicago->Boston. According to my itinerary, the flight from Shanghai to Chicago takes -1 hour which will certainly be weird. I leave at 6:00pm and land at 5:00pm on the same day!

This isn’t gonna be a big retrospective post about my amazing time in the Thailand. I still have a lot of time left and a lot of living left to do. I actually just saw the Grand Palace for the first time last week! (Chris and I decided that if we both lived in Bangkok for so long, we might as well see it’s biggest tourist attraction.) This post is just to say that the idea of coming home is starting to build. Making mental lists of the first things I’m gonna do/eat; the people I can’t wait to see; and most of all who and what I’m gonna miss the most. When I left the U.S., I was pretty certain that I’d return before too, too long. Now it’s different. Now I’m not sure when/if I’ll ever be back here again and that’s not easy to handle.

Much Love
j

Pics

Here's some of those pics from my vacation down south. Enjoy!





Ryan finds his happy place


Family ride



Not pictured: More dogs



On our way to Adong



Refreshing swim after our journey up the waterfall



Our private beach



Just another day