Tomorrow Mae Sot, Sunday Ayutthaya, next Saturday Suphanburi

Tomorrow we leave for Mae Sot with the people from Non-Formal Education. We will stay the night there and then get back to Bangkok, somehow, to catch the nine temple trip with Mona and Jit's friends from years back. Next Friday is Jit's dad's birthday and then we go to Suphanburi for the wedding. I will, I hope, have many opportunities for photography.

This morning we went to STOU to work with Continuing Education. The taxi driver is the same one that drove us to Ko Kret. He will also drive us to Suphanburi. He lives in the Klong Toey area. He has one daughter 22 who is separated from her husband and another daughter 17 that works in a wood working factory. He does not smoke, drink, or gamble. I think he used to, but stopped. He is a good driver. There is a chance that his niece will come with us to Suphanburi. Jit is not supporting it, but I am. If we are spending the money for the taxi we might as well add a little joy and experience for the family.

It was hazy, almost foggy this morning. There were many kids in scouting uniforms going to school. There were "herds" of motorbikes carrying families to school and work. The street vendors were busy selling food.

At STOU there was some kind of celebration for monks, there was supposed to be 99 monks coming on campus for food and ceremonies. It looked like it, but I did not count.

The Continuing Education department is a little dysfunctional. I have had to chase people down to get some clarity as to tasks and expectations. At first they wanted me to create a useless database with 46 records, some kind of template. I said I could not do it alone, but I could help one of the employees do it. That stopped that idea. There were some other vague proposals and then it became clear that they did not really have anything for me to do! I have an office and a computer but no meaningful tasks. After some more honest talk I will help the IT person with his tasks. He is responsible for the department web page and also creating databases. He does not have formal training in the area. We will start next Monday with any questions that he has. I think I can be of service, but it was a little bit of a charade to get people pinned down. I think I shocked Jit with my bluntness. At one point I flat out said that I was not going to do busy work! My schedule will be Monday through Wednesday from 9:00 to 2:00, but if there is not meaningful work I will leave and do my own valuable things. I have 12 days and 48 hours left at STOU. I am saving the rest of the time for my other Sabbatical goals and to do things with Jit's family. I also hope that Non-Formal Education continues to evolve into something of value. I feel rapport with the people there.

This evening I walked in the park, through young teenagers were watching one of the lizards. They were hiding behind trees. I stopped to watch. When the lizard came towards the shore the girl ran up on the bridge, the other boy jumped up on a park bench. The third boy stood his ground and as the lizard cruised along the shore he move to see it more clearly. I could tell they were interested and excited. When I first stopped I was wondering if they were going to through stones or something, but no, they were just interested. It was fun to watch their curiosity.

Jit's dad has put an elliptical ring made of reeds in the canal. The ring is floating around a stick in the mud. He throws fish food in the ring. I do not know why, but it looks cool.

When I was at STOU I experimented with Evernote to archive my blog. I displayed the September listings, selected all, and clicked on the Evernote clip button in the browser, it worked, all the text and photographs were copied to Evernote. Evernote uses XML so the file was not large. I have archived my blog! I will be able to rearrange the blog in correct chronological order and to publish it as a web page when I return to Alaska. I am planning to stop the Blog one week after I return home. I might, but I am not sure, re-awaken my Wandering In Alaska blog. I know I will use the Alaska blog for photography. I also, besides organizing my Thailand blog, will create a Thailand photography web site. I will have many things to do in Alaska

I will probably not post anything to the blog until next Monday or Tuesday, but I will be keeping notes and taking pictures.