From August to the end of December 2019 (Monday through Friday) you can find me in a high school English Language Arts classroom learning the craft of teaching under the tutelage of master-teachers who have honed their techniques through decades of trial and error. There are definitely moments where I question if I have the …
Continue reading "90 Days (Part 2) — Bridging the Great Divide"To be honest, I didn’t want to come back to America. Who in their right mind would? Consider for a moment: I had respectful amazing thoughtful intuitive progressive Thai students, I adored my job teaching English at a government school, the city of Pathum Thani-Rangsit was a thrumming inclusive environment, there were an infinite supply …
Continue reading "90 Days (Part I) – Religious vacuum leads to reverse culture shock"About a month ago, I was sitting at my desk in the Foreign Language Department at Suankularb Wittayalai Rangsit School preparing my lesson plan for the day. I recall it was a Monday and the AC had kicked on cooling down the office in preparation for the humid day. I usually arrived early to organize, …
Continue reading "Entering Eden (An adventure on Koh Samet Island)"For the last three months, I have experienced Thailand from the perspective of my external senses and internal ideology. This reality changed dramatically with the arrival of my son and daughter. Prior to their arrival, I made a detailed list as though I was Chevy Chase in European Vacation. The “To Do list” grew to …
Continue reading "Shared Experiences (The Speakeasy Rooftop Bar)"The pulsating sting of change has been pricking that area where I normally seek solace and shut everyone out. But that is NOT my story. In one day, I left colleagues and friends who I grew to respect and love, students who showed me what it means to build honest-authentic student-teacher relationships, a culture that …
Continue reading "Sting of Change"The past week has been a joyous remembrance of new beginnings, a life worth living, experiencing a culture that I have dreamed about for decades, and finding my niche in this thing we call life. My sadness at the thought of leaving my 288 students was real and tangible as tears flowed without constraint during …
Continue reading "Round Two, Sak Yant Tattoo with Ajarn Sak (Bangkok Ink)"I never thought or had the inclination to visit a cat cafe. But when you’re in Bangkok and the world seems to open before you like a can of tuna (cat…tuna-not funny. I had to try!?) then you go for it. A colleague in the foreign language department told me I had to visit this …
Continue reading "Caturday Cafe — Meow"With my K+E Coffee mug filled to the brim with black gold sitting on the table to my right, my lap top computer fully charged in front of me and the Pathum Thani sunset waning in my peripheral vision; I popped my earbuds in, dialed up two renditions of “Foggy Dew” by the Blaggards and …
Continue reading "Three Temples, Three Spiritual Truths"I confidently declare to the world that I have won the war that 2.5 months prior, I affectionately named: The Pathum Thani-Rangsit Night Open Air Weekend Market Seafood Stand Battle. Every Thursday to Sunday night there is a weekend open air market that springs up in the parking lot of a strip mall near my …
Continue reading "Battle Pathum Thani-Rangsit Open Air Weekend Market Seafood Stand is officially over – I win!"I just added a Media Gallery link at the top of the page that has a large collection of photographs all in one place from my time in Thailand. Enjoy. A long lost (well maybe not exactly lost, knowing him he was probably waiting for me) good friend of my mine kindly and gently informed …
Continue reading "I blame my behavior on Dead Poets Society"