CP in... America???

This comes as my first-ever blog post written from my kitchen counter at home in San Diego.

The 27 hours of flight home were all in all pretty painless. My 5 hour layover at the San Francisco airport, though, was as much of a culture shock as my first month in Thailand. Things like toilet seat covers, automatic sinks, a correct English menu listing items in U.S. dollars, understanding all the multitude of American English conversations going on around me, the sight of my California driver's license, using my credit card (the lady at the coffee counter had to chase me down when I forgot my signature).... Wow! Now I just have to relearn my old phone and right-side-of-the-road traffic patterns, and what it feels like to not sweat at all hours of the day.

While I readjust to some noticeable Asia side effects in the coming weeks (I already forewent my favorite breakfast cereal this morning in favor of fried eggs doused in chili sauce), I will rehash some of the highlights from the past month of Southeast Asia travel adventures. They stretched across the bustling capital city of Thailand to a certain ancient temple complex in Cambodia to the stunning beaches and jungle hills of Indonesia; they involved characters from a bartender named Jack Sparrow to a beach called Senggigi; and more often than not, resulted from some combination of poor trip planning and fortuitous friend-making.

Tune in again soon!

Don't Cry For Me Bandon Sriserm

The truth is... I loved you so much, I'll be back in 3 months.

This past week and Monday marked our very last school dayz at BS School. It was a week of testing, grading, 'yearbook' signing, class partying and worst of all, tearful goodbye-ing. Sitting around the office all day comforting bawling 9 to 11 year-olds was definitely not the most fun I've ever had here - and certainly not the kind of Last Day of School I'm used to in America, when most kids are leaping out of their seats at the bell and happy to never see their classroom teachers again.

The kids showered us in gifts and "Love You Forever" cards, and none of it helped us say goodbye any faster. Khim 1 gave me a baby photo of herself with a conversation bubble scrawled on in blue marker reading "I MISS AJ. CAITLIN"... I will truly cherish it forever. Most of my 6th grade students, though, knowing I'd be back again this summer, made it easier by promising to visit Sriserm often when they go off to high school next year, and saying "See you!" instead of goodbye forever. It's hard to describe how much these kids have meant to me over the past 9 months, and how much I will miss seeing their faces in class every morning. The end of the year arrived way too suddenly.

But, it did arrive, and this morning I am sitting in my half-packed apartment room: one corner with things I'll be taking with me on vacation and back home to San Diego for 2 months, and another corner with ajaan gear and clothes-I-wouldn't-be-caught-dead-wearing-in-America, awaiting my return in June.

One of my best friends from college, Julia Jacobson, arrived in Nan last Thursday. She joined in on the end of year festivities with students and our foreigner friends here - an honorary member of the Nan Bicycle Club. Starting today, we will be traveling together though Southeast Asia for the next month. Here's a rough itinerary of our plans...


Thailand
March 2 - March 5: Chiang Mai
March 6 - 9: Bangkok
March 10 - 14: island beaches along the Gulf of Thailand 


Cambodia
March 15 - 18: Siem Reap (Angkor Wat)


Indonesia
March 19 - 28: Bali


Goodbye to all the wonderful people who made this first year in Asia so awesome. I will think of you as we scatter across the globe in the next few months. And to my home-sweet-home-away-from-home, Nan.... See you!