Tributes to Thailand- #30

As much as I hate looking too far into the future and not living in the here and now, my time in the village of Pla Pak and the honor of being Khru Bai Tuey, is coming closer and closer to an end. With a little over a month left of teaching I can tell emotions between myself and the other volunteers are getting a mix of pure anxiety, sadness, and excitement to where ever our next steps in life are taking us. Some volunteers already have jobs or graduate school to go back to while the majority of us are going into mom and dad's house and even one volunteer is continuing his time as an english teacher in nakhon phanom provience. Anyways over the next 30 days I want to bring light to some of the big and little aspects of Thailand that have made this experience so unique and why I will forever hold a special spot for Thailand. I figure my last 2 weeks in the village are going to be a fury of emotions with goodbye parties ( my roommate Amanda leaves me a week early) and packing up my life from the past year and there won't be much time for fiddling around on my blog. This time will be much better spent with the people who have made my year so fulfilling. So here we go...

# 30 (these are not in order!)

SAWNG-TAO

For the past year I have not driven a car but have relied on the Sawng-tao, a pick-up truck that serves as the local transportation in between villages and cities. The picture to the left is taken almost a year ago of our group's first sawng-tao trip to the city. I have grown to enjoy my hour sawng-tao ride to city as it is a great way to interact with the local village people who are always surprised to see a farang. It also can be very peaceful, passing the dozen and dozen of rice fields, roaming water buffalos, and watching families on motorcycles whizzing by. The sawng-tao has also played an important role to my independence in Thailand. Relying heavily on my co-teachers, thai friends, and pi yok for most of my daily living, the sawng tao is something that I can do by myself and allows me quick and easy transportation out of the village. And for that I am thankful for this truck and inexpensive ride! Only $1.25 into the city