Tick Tock

Today is killer.

It’s been 5 months since I’ve been in Thailand.  Five months since I’ve been able to hug my mom and dad.  Skype has been a loyal friend when no other option was available, but it definitely leaves much to be desired.  And now my parents are in Thailand.  In Thailand and seeing the sights in Bangkok, while I am sitting in the office in between summer school lessons, helplessly at the mercy of the second’s hand, crawling at its leisure.

Honestly, this whole month has been cruel torture.  You know as you begin a marathon that you’re in it for the long haul, and there is a quiet and peaceful acceptance.  You find your rhythm and your pace and you appreciate the scenery and encouraging cheers of the crowds as you pass.  You commit.  But man oh man… getting myself up and off of my tush for a three mile jog is an arduous task.  Instead of that acceptance, that commitment, that sense of ” becoming “one” with time, I usually just want it to be over with.  It is only three miles, but with the finish line so close, it feels like fifty.

That is what today is– a three mile run.  Make that a three mile run, hungover on a Sunday morning.  Until recently, I haven’t been so antsy.  I knew it would be a long haul, and I had settled into that idea.  But now, my parents are in Bangkok, and have been since Wednesday night.  And here I am in Suphan, struggling through the longest day of all time.  It is just one day.  One measly day.  But with each passing moment I become more anxious, more impatient for the bell to ring so that I can hop the first van to meet them in BKK.

And how sweet that bell will sound.  Not only will it mark the end of summer school (with the small and painful exception of some meetings next week), but the start of a month of family and travel.  I am so amped to see my mom and dad, followed by sis, bro, brother-in-law and cousin, and show them everything I love to see and hear and say and eat and do in Thailand.  Here’s how it’a all going down:

*HUA HIN this weekend with my parents for fresh Thai seafood, beach bumming, bike riding, Muay Thai-watching, St. Paddy’s Day celebrating and (g-d willing) some real, flavorful, imported beer-drinking

*SUPHAN to wrap things up at school and show the rents my home digs. Pad Thai Lady, Noodle Man, som tam, and Cowboy Bar– they’ll be getting the full-throttle Suphan-X-perience

*SANGKHLABURI for misty river vistas, village wandering, elephant riding, and jungle trekking,

*BANGKOK to say goodbye :(, then onto

*CHIANG MAI for a few days of Thai lessons, followed by cooking lessons, temple visits, and hill-tribe treks with my siblings/cousin

*PHI-PHI ISLANDS, with limestone karst formations above and coral reefs below, and finally

*KHAO SOK to explore the world’s oldest rainforest.

*BANGKOK for some more goodbyes 😦

*annnd AYUTTHAYA for my obligatory 90-day Visa check-in

After that, I will go where the wind blows me.  I’ll have another week and a half before Summer School Part II begins, and I don’t know where I’ll be headed but I’ll try and keep you all posted along the way.

Okay.  I’m outty. Lataaaaa!