Month: January 2015

Surrounded by teachers in Northern Thailand

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Suddenly I find myself surrounded by teachers. (I trust you know how hard it is to find them when you are looking for a single one… now I need almost a whole hand to count the sudden influx). It never rains but it pours, right? And each one feels like a relationship of trust. {You know the stories of how I started 3 different postgraduate degrees and ditched two because the teachers just weren’t right.. Or how I rotated through a set of driving instructors until I found THE one that fit like a glove? All the while hearing friends tell me that I am either and or fussy. Discerning guys, it’s called discerning and not paying any old ‘quack’ .. What a cool word! But I didn’t mean it as mean as quack might sound. It just was so snazzy and snappy to use.. } Also in other news: Thanks to Nephyr from the Naga Thai Massage Center I learnt that my website is full of errors. I have a lot to learn it …

Sometimes it’s the little things that make the day good..

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It’s a good day when after a seriously sleep-disrupted night I find that the market vendor left the seeds in the jackfruit. Finally! I’ve been trying to get my hands on Jackfruit seeds for way to long. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the day good.. It was a really quiet day even if the following really doesn’t sound like it: My teachers at Massage school distributed serious kindness, meant it and then revealed my bicycle that I had left here 2 years ago! Got to love them! I got to help translate/correct some stuff and felt way better about getting free classes after that. (yes, that’s right. No charge because that’s the style. And also the only way I could be here in the first place.) After a week here I finally visited my favourite cafe with garden and a fish pond with giant goldfish (I mean GIANT), it is way out of budget for this journey but that’s ok. I’m here to learn and hopefully photograph. Anyhow they remembered me and I …

“ohhhhh !!!!!!! this is terrifying and exciting in equal doses! “

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Terrifying it is – incredibly. I am departing with not a lot of money. Not a lot at all.. It looks like I have money for immigration purposes but once you take into account my bills there is a lot less than zero in my life… Jason will help while I will arrive empty handed really.. I am to some extent purposely putting myself into this position I live in the illusion that I can force myself out of my shell, to jump over the shadows of shyness and to finally crawl out of the chrysalis that I have barricaded myself behind.. Is it wing speeding time or will I flap like a fish on land… even they eventually figured it out… I just hope I am like the fish who figured it out, not like the last one before the fish who figured it out and who instead perished.. Witness me jumping into a very deep dark unknown. You will no doubt find out what happened next. (credit card power sufficient to get me home …

Last full week before departure

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I can’t exactly believe that I am really off, with so little money in my pocket and so little self belief.. But it might be what I need to prompt my confidence to finally sprout and grow. Somehow I feel like I have been so slow at growing in general, it took so long to realise so many basics of life.. Today I will start on the admin that necessarily needs to be prepared for any long journey. I also will take a trip to the charity shop and see if they would like to take all of my things off me. I also am running behind with my studies at my Thai theory Course and need to take that more serious and not miss this opportunity to learn.

Friends in trouble & letting go of the past

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Just as I am getting ready to depart and have started my first trial packing of the smaller of 3 suitcases options I hear the news that two friends of mine really could use my support here as their new year began with seismic shifts of their life’s tectonic plates.. And everything is looking uncertain, new and possibly heartbreaking. I feel so guilty for following my life path which takes me geographically and by default also spiritually away to a far away continent. Trial packing went reasonably well, I learnt that a large bag of my favourite clothes will not even nearly fit me anymore.. Now that is what spending a year glued to information gathering & accumulating will do to a body.. Something that has to change this year. My personal Yoga practice needs to be put firmly back on the menu of life. I surprisingly found the resolve to pack all ill fitting, far too small, items into a bag and set it aside to bring along with me to share with my …

2015 New Year’s Resolutions

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I made 2 so far: 1 – ask to be paid for every service I provide. Do not offer anything for nothing. This is in part to get a better response from clients as well as improve my self-value. 2 – lead with optimism not fear. This relates to my financial reality, stop beginning every conversation with how precarious my financial status is, how I earned not quite 50% of what I need to cover my minimum costs. Instead be optimistic and trust that people will also want to support me if I am not presenting financial fears.. 3 – get on the Yoga mat 3 times a week because it makes me feel great 4 – invest in thai language lessons in Thailand. Because going on souvenir hunts or spending money snacking on surplus snackables will probably cost almost as much as language lessons while not giving me an in-depth view of the place I am in the way language can. 5 – be courageous and create opportunities for myself, find 2 customers per …