Hindsight

Even though it’s my last night in Bangkok, I am compelled to post a memorable picture from July 14th. The girl furthest right is Rumi - one of the most positive and friendly 2-nensei students I’ve co-taught. Never afraid to try english, never afraid to walk up to say hello and communicate.

I returned from a nice, relaxing vacation at Rayong, about 30 kilometers past the tourist-heavy Pattaya beach. It, too, is a beach area. Given that it was a weekday, almost no one was on the beach. In fact, we were the only ones swimming about at our beachside hotel.

I’ve taken a slew of pictures that will have to wait until I return home (which has a broadband connection)…

Once again I’m finding it difficult to place all my thoughts into one post. Tomorrow morning I’ll be on a flight to Los Angeles International. Right now I’m “touristed” out. I don’t need anymore introductions to new foods or customs or temples or anything for that matter. I’d just like to find a sense of the familiar.

Of course, being in Kitakyushu became the familiar.

I really miss my kids.

I’ve enjoyed most of my time here in Thailand, and I do miss Japan quite a bit. So this is how it feels, I thought to myself. This is how it is.

Tomorrow is the start of the next chapter I suppose. Blank, unwritten, without an outline.

I’m going home.