They Can't Take That Away from Me

Juice-in-a-bags:

Hello and welcome to my last entry from Thailand, at least for now.

I sit here, in my regular internet cafe in bkk, awash in emotions of excitement and fear at what is to come in the next few weeks. Most of my goodbyes are said and done, the hugs hugged and the awkward pats-on-the-shoulders exchanged. The tears were all spent three months ago when I left Sangkhla it seems, but I have a suspicion they will flow as I depart from one of my best friends here tonight, as I check bags at the airport, at inopportune moments on the plane-- over a piece of gooey, perfectly cut plane-cake, or maybe when I see that the majority of the people on my British Airways flight are white and realize I can understand eveything they are saying.

Wow. I can't believe it's actually happening.

I'm ready and not-- ready to bid the teens yelling "falang! bai nai?!" (foreigner! where are you going?) adieu, ready to say bye to the mangy street dogs threatening to bite, ready to stop seeing women in bkk wearing numbers outside a "bar." But there are some things I will just never be ready to part with: my students from sangkhla who continue to feel much like relatives more than students, papaya salad and sticky rice, the Burmese/ Thai culture of sharing, the eloquence of someone who has been through the political and human rights crisis that is Burma and shares their experiences, the foot-high stools in Burmese tea shops, the excitement when I bust out in burmese at the market, and so much more...

As we travel this earth, be it 2 miles from home or thousands, there are some things that just seem so good and so right that we will never be without missing and longing, will we? It's like the song They Can't Take That Away from Me: "We may never ever meet again, on the bumpy road to love, still i'll always always keep the memory of..."

So lucky me, lucky you, lucky world. Adieu to this adventure, hello to the next, whatever curves and bumps may appear.

Love!

Laura