STOU, Vajira Hospital, Muang Thang Thani III, and political dialectic!

11/29
This morning I saw a two bicycle family. The mother and father were each riding a bicycle with a child on the back. They were riding their children to school.

In Bangkok the time spent to get to and from work is a great waste of time, Nun takes two hour each way to commute between her home and work. People leave for work between 5:00 and 6:00 AM. Imagine 4 hours a day waiting in traffic and trying to get to home or work.

Jit's mom is being admitted into the hospital for cataract surgery. Her operation will be tomorrow.

I worked on my STOU presentation today, the date has been changed to December 16th. I also have a presentation scheduled with the photographers at STOU December 23rd. I was asked to speak English slowly! I will know more later on the details of this presentation.

11/30
We woke at 4:30 so we could get to the hospital to prepare Jit's mom for surgery. We got the small boat at 6:00, during the commuter rush, many people from the community were lining up for the small boat to go to work. Over and over I get reminded how hard people work to make a living.

There was a large ship in the river surrounded by barges, cranes on the ship scoop rice from barges into the ships hold. The ship waterline rises as the hold fills, the barges rise higher as they are emptied. When crossing over the Chao Phraya river on the Rama IX bridge I can see ships in the middle of the river surrounded by clusters of barges.

Jit's mom is staying at Vajira hospital. the hospital is immense. When you enter the hospital you pass a large Spirit House with rocks and flowing water, it is a good place to stop and reflect. The hospital is built around the original hospital, an old building, in sort of a central court, a huge modern hospital has developed around the original old graceful "mansion". It is surprising and interesting.

There is a balcony by Jit's mothers room, it is a group room on the 7th floor of an older wing of the hospital. I wait on the balcony and just look around. I can see the central column of the Rama VIII bridge with the lotus blossom flame on top, it really is a beautiful bridge. There are birds, Pigeons of course and smaller black birds with yellow around their eyes. The bird makes a variety of calls. The birds have a confident curious attitude, sort of like small Ravens. There are white markings on their wings when they fly, they are about half the size of a pigeon. What ever they are, they are a pretty neat bird, fun to watch. There are Swallows or Swifts flocking around the 9th floor of the main hospital building, soaring and circling, catching up drafts, probably eating insects

Politically Thailand has an interesting process, the government will make a proposal, for instance transferring schools to local government authorities, vested interests will come to Bangkok and demonstrate and present petitions, and there will be a compromise, sort of a dialectic of proposal, demonstration, and compromise. When we left the hospital the Taxi took a different way to avoid today's demonstrations. There were three demonstrations going on at once, something about milk subsidies, and two demonstrations on whether schools can be transferred to local governments. Last week there was a gathering about safety inspections for the green mini-buses.

When we got to STOU I worked on my presentation, it is going well, but I have a lot to do. The work is an investment in a future course that I will teach when I return to Alaska, so it is valuable time.

In the courtyard at STOU there are a mother dog and puppies, the puppies are really cute, they are behind an ornamental garden and large rock. Seeing puppies is very tempting, if we were staying longer I would get a dog, a Thai dog, to watch the house and just to have around to enjoy. I will be glad to get home and see our dog Ava again, I wonder if she will remember us.

STOU is in the Muang Thang Thani III across across from a large Wat and the Department of Land, I think. Muang Thang Thani is a nice place to live, a mix of many stores. There is easy expressway access, and the mix of stores and atmosphere is not too overwhelming. I looked up the community on the web. There is a great web site that explains and documents the community. www.mttbkk.com The area we walked in is just up the road from Impact Center, there are many remnants of the economic collapse of 1997. If I were moving to Bangkok, to live, I would look at this area for an apartment.

We ate at Dr Lex. Steak and Thai Food. There is a set menu with a variety of pork, chicken and beef steaks and also Thai food. The meal includes ice cream for dessert. The meals were the equivalent of $2.00. The dishes and decorations in the restaurant were simple and tasteful. There was a Christmas Tree up, which is very disorienting. Christmas is not on my mind. It was a good place to eat.

12/1
At dawn the bird sounds are amazing, it is like having a very calming alarm clock. there are whoos, whirs, rumbles and chirps. The sounds are wonderful. At dusk many of the same sounds repeat, but in the morning it is a wonderful way to wake up. Today I am staying home to work.