Hey hey, back in the USA!

Hello from sunny Seattle!

I am sitting on a couch, listening to "Marco Polo" by Bow Wow featuring Soldier Boy (thanks to my little sister's music selection after returning from her first year of college). I guess you could basically say I am back in the swing of things here...somehow...! I have been home for a week, and it has been great all in all. I've been spending time with Maddy and my mom, and with a variety of college and high school friends. I've already been to a Storm basketball game, to the Seattle Center Folklife festival, to delicious Mexican and Italian restaurants, to the post office and the bank, to Starbucks, and to Greenlake for lovely morning runs...phew! I've also done lots of laundry and am pleased to say that some of my clothes are finally clean after eight months! This weekend I am going up to the San Juan Islands to visit my dad and that will be a nice trip.

My flights from Bangkok to Seattle (via Tokyo) were fairly uneventful and I caught up on some Hollywood movies and some sleep...My sister Beth left Bangkok the same day as me and that worked out well. We had a tremendous two weeks together in Thailand...here is a little overview.

When Beth arrived we toured around Bangkok for a couple of days, going for runs in the lovely Lumpini Park and around National Stadium, visiting the Grand Palace and other famous attractions, eating scrumptious street food and drinking cheap (especially now that I am back in the US!) iced coffee and chai yen- milk tea. From Bangkok we took a bus northeast to Pak Chong and Khao Yai National Park. We spent a full day hiking through the national park and saw some cool animals and bugs and also enjoyed a refreshing waterfall and river! From Pak Chong we ventured to the island of Koh Samet (via Bangkok) and spent a relaxing weekend swimming, reading, running, and talking. After Koh Samet, we took a VIP sleeper bus to Chiang Mai and Beth got a little taste of Northern Thailand. The Chiang Mai night market was also a good venue for some last minute souvenir shopping.

Sawankhalok, my home for six months, was our last stop in Thailand. School was back in session so I got to see former students and co-teachers. I also got to show Beth my town and introduce her to friends and we did a lot of the activities I used to do when I was living there - like biking to the community pool and going to the market for yummy treats. It was so amazing to reconnect with friends and teachers and they were so happy to meet my P'Souw (older sister). I also put together a bulletin board with pictures and profiles of Katie's students and school in Samarinda, Indonesia that we had organized while I was visiting her. It was quite a hit, and I noticed many of the Thai students interested in reading more about Indonesian students their same age.

Thanks so much for reading/keeping up with this blog and my experiences. It has been really awesome to keep this "online journal" and I am looking forward to reading posts from those early months when I was just arriving in Thailand. WOW! I really am still so amazed that my time in Thailand went so fast, and I think it will still take a while to process it all. But I can definitely say, without a doubt, that it was a year to remember and I am excited to bring all I learned into my next life adventures.

Kithung Louw Muang Thai! I miss Thailand already!

Love from the Northwest,
Kate