Re-Focusing

Ok so things haven’t gone as planned because I haven’t been able to get internet every day. My connection should be more stable. I just moved from Lampong to Chiyaboon. Chiyaboon is in the middle of nowhere but I’m getting way better reception here.

I want to continue to be dedicated to writing this blog, but to do that I need more time to focus on finding things to write about. Also I just need some time to write lesson plans. So we are re-odering the posting schedule in order to continue the blog. The blog will now update 3 times a week: My Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday? This is Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in America. We will see how this turns out.

The drive from Lampong to Chiyapoon took 12 hours. I was able to see a lot of the country on my travel pretty much across it. I also ran into a lot more of the military. There are military check points in between all the major cities. Most just wave you on through, which seems to defeat the point of a check point, but Mai Pen Rai. A few stopped us and shone a flashlight into the van. One opened the door. It’s a bit nerve racking to have a military man open the door to your van, but they were all smiling. They might have just wanted to see the weird American students our driver said we’re in the back, going to chiyaboon of all places. I don’t really have any great insights to say about check points.

I think I might want to say something about the importance of infrastructure though. There are so many people in Thailand who live secluded lives away from the rest of the larger cities. We passed by so many people selling items on the street in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere and walking down dirt roads that seem to lead into a world lost to those of us who spend our entire lives in the city. I mean my father is from Bamberg, South Carolina, so I know dirt roads, but I’ve never seen anything like what I saw yesterday. The highways here are the only things that could offer them a change of life. I’m not saying that they need to change their lives, or that they should be ashamed of the way that they live. But as a country, there is a responsibility to give them that opportunity to do so. The upkeep of roads is only one example of the needed infrastructural investment in Thailand. I will do a longer post concerning internet, schools, and pluming a little later.

So remember new posting dates: Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday,