It was a good day, I got 3" X 5" lined note cards and saw beautiful clouds

Saturday 10/15
Nuck came over to teach me some Thai. I learned, I hope, the first five letters of the Thai alphabet. I asked her to help translate some of the Rosetta Stone workbook to English to help me prepare for the lesson. It was fun. She actually did a great job, drilling me in a many different ways to build my skills. She would be a good teacher.

I had an email from Keith about teaching in Summer School. It is time to start planning for the summer and even next falls schedule will be due in January. It was good to hear from Keith and Susan. It sounds like things are going well at Tanana Valley Campus. My hope is to split my time between teaching and advising. I would like to be involved in the Student Support Center and to teach 6 to 9 credits a semester.

The kitchen is just about done. We have concrete cupboards covered in tile. The doors and sink that we got from Home Pro worked fine. We still need to get an electrical outlet and also propane or cooking gas for the cooking burners. There is a need for much more storage and a lot of detail stuff, but a majority of the work is done.

It is fun to share pictures and to watch peoples response. The photo shop in Phra Pradaeng that we use does a good job. When I see how many pictures that people have on their walls it seems like photography is a valued way to keep memories.

I saw a man on the concrete path carrying two large bags of rice on a bicycle. One bag was balanced over each wheel. I can not imagine keeping my balance riding with that much weight to balance.

On Wednesday I forgot to mention that I saw another odd school name, California Christian International School. There is so much hope that people have in International schools. I hope the students are not disappointed, but I am afraid they will be.

Last night there were some beautiful clouds. There was a storm passing by and the light was right to show the power and motion of the clouds. We did not get the storm, but I must have spent about an hour just watching the clouds move and change.

When there is a storm coming the dragon flies fly very high. I think it is the same thing that swallows do before a storm in Alaska, harvest bugs.

Sunday 10/16

Walking to the boat there was what sounded like Christian church music coming from a house. I asked some questions and got an ambiguous answer. I do not know what was going on, or who was attending.

We took bus 102 to Paknam and then a Tuk Tuk to Richard's house. I like the Paknam area and market.

While waiting for Gor to arrive we visited the remains of the old prison and did some photography. Since I am using film lately there will be a delay between my blog and the photographs being posted. I just prefer my film cameras to my digital cameras for some kind of photography. You can read about Gor by going to the Gor's World web site at http://www.gorsworld.com/

We visited the Ancient City. I was impressed, it was an interesting real non-touristy place that was built for an important purpose with respect. It is well worth visiting and taking the time to explore. For a place with all the publicity it is a very relaxed place to explore. We got some gifts to take back to Alaska. I will not describe them so that them might be a surprise. I will say that I liked the simple design and quality of the items we purchased.

We drove to a large concrete dock to eat, but it was too busy. People go there to watch the sea gulls. They migrate from Russia and are just arriving. They stay until March. The gulls schedule sounds identical to the Alaska gulls. It was good to see the gulls and reminded me of home.

We found a restaurant with northern Thai food. It was not too good, but it was another experience.

When we left there was a storm front going over with some absolutely beautiful clouds. You could see the storm moving fast, and you could see the clear sky around the edges. We heard a little thunder but the storm missed us. I was in the car stuck in traffic so I did not get any pictures, but the emotional impact of the clouds as they moved passed us was amazing. I really love to watch clouds when they are in motion. We found out later where the storm did hit.

After some funny discussion between Richard and Gor about the proper way to go we visited Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang which has a large reclining Buddha. You can even go inside the Buddha. There were paintings illustrating different religious experiences including hell. There was even the Buddha's heart and intestines. The cool thing about this Wat was that there were many Monks and Nuns around. There was a funeral ceremony going on, many people were there visiting. It was a real Wat, active, and embedded in the community. It was not overpowering and intimidating like Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan. I liked it there, it made me smile and feel welcome. I can not imagine two more different experiences then visiting Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan and then going to Wat Bang Phli Yai Klang. If you want to see more details of the Wat you can visit http://www.thaibuddhist.com/wat_bangphliyaiklang.htm

After visiting the Wat we stopped by Big C in Samut Praknam. Richard and Gor said that they had 3X5 lined index cards there. They did, and I got 6 packages of the cards. I will need to transcribe all the words that I am learning using the Rosetta Stone CD to the cards to help my memory. I am seriously glad to get them.

We took the ferry from Samut Praknam to Phra Pradaeng province. The rain from the beautiful clouds must have fallen here. The roads were seriously flooded, there was a heavy stream of water flowing from one lane to another. The road was being rebuilt so it was a mud bath. The Taxi driver called a radio station to give a traffic report. We were lucky to get a taxi and lucky to get through. I am not talking about puddles, I am taking about seriously deep water that flooded large areas of the road. Even with the flooding we did get home with no problems.

We have been thinking about traveling up north in November. We want to travel before the tourist season begins. There are some sites up there that I want to visit for my sabbatical.