Home

I decided to head back to the U.S. for a portion of my three week teaching break.  I knew going back was going to be strange and it most definitely was, initially.  In the beginning there was some reverse culture shock: everything moved at a different pace, y'all drive on the right side of the road, and everything was louder.  I remember a conversation with a friend about if it was louder because I could actually understand the ambient noise and eavesdrop a bit instead of simply tuning out conversations or if it was indeed louder, who knows.

After that all settled down and I stopped pooping, yep that happened, I was quickly shown why I came home back.  One evening I looked around the room and saw long time friends that drove multiple hours to just come have a beer and a burger and shoot the shit.  Seriously though, one party drove three hours, multiple other parties drove at least an hour, and my brother flew from California to Colorado.  It wasn't only that night though.  Over the week or so I was home back I saw college friends, Fort Collins friends, beer brewing buddies, some friends I've known since grade school, and even a good friend I roomed with in Thailand.  The group of people I call family and friends have always made me feeling incredibly blessed.  I always consider myself to have a large family because my friends are family to me.  Being back in Thailand now and preparing to teach tomorrow I have my batteries recharged and my confidence renewed and it is because of all of you.  Thank you.

There was 8 pictures taken here but this was my favorite, it tells the story of all us fools.  You can hear Keefe, WTF?

It wasn't home though.  I'm back home now.  "Home is where the heart is," "Home is where you lay your head," no, home is where you feel most comfortable.  I feel at home in Chanthaburi because I let go more.  I feel free and as if I control more of my own decisions.  The anonymity of being a wandering traveler lets me feel as if my petty actions and my mistakes don't matter as much.  People write you off as a foreigner who hasn't figured it out yet if you do something atypical or abnormal, and I like that.  I need to work on transferring that notion of don't sweat the small stuff to a 24:7 mentality if I ever have a chance of making the U.S. my home again.  However, now I know it's more of a when than an if because my family is overseas and I miss you all.  Again, thank you.

**The Notables**

1) Through the course of some odd time changes during the flights and jet lag I saw the sun come up six times over break.  An absolutely stunning feeling.  Here's a pretty terrible photo of it from the JFK airport.

2) I was fairly lost in Bangkok after a night's rest before I continued home.  I stopped, took a deep breath, and reveled in that feeling.  There is something oddly familiar now about being lost and confused.  That sense of adventure and discovery was fresh again and it was good to be out of my element.  

3) On my last day I was fairly bummed I never made it up to the mountains.  One of my favorite things to do is hike up in the wilderness and I didn't do it once!  Then my little sister came through in the clutch and took me for a good hike.  Thank you so much Bean, you are awesome.

4) It was such an impromptu trip and it went by so fast.  I planned poorly and things came together haphazardly.  I apologize to those I didn't get to visit with and those I didn't spend enough time with.  I will be back in eight months for a two crazy weirdos' wedding and will see you soon.  Who gets married these days?!  Better yet, what dumbass would marry these two?   : )