Things that brought me joy one day...

Some of you might have seen a few of these photos on facebook but for those who didn't here are a few recent things that have been bringing me joy recently...

Making the amazing discovery (and I mean amazing, literally second only to the wide expansive love of Jesus) that geckos love coffee. As soon as I sat down to enjoy a cup of coffee in the front living area of the garden house I am staying (and where this view - 1st pic below - brings me inordinate peace and joy), FIVE of them started scampering skitterishly toward me. They literally smelled it across the room and they kept building up courage to come take a lick or two. I have since discovered that tea even with milk and sugar does nothing for them. I thought I was coming to Thailand to grow rice, but I’m thinking about perhaps training a gecko troupe instead. The most I have had hanging around the cup and saucer is eight - but never all at once – fights frequently break out even with 2-3 on the table at the same time.

this view...

...creeping...

closer...

...IN!

toes do not produce coffee but they are also very curious about them...

Finding larger size critters (just a little larger) hanging out in and around the river that I used to cross daily before a bridge was built allowing farmers much easier access to their gardens and fields on the other side.

This guy eventually submerged himself completely (hippo-esque) and floated down stream a little...they don't get their names for no reason!

Walking old trails and paths that I used to run and ride my bike as a kid (pre concrete), gathering some fallen mangoes (mostly) along the way and by the time I got back to the family I am staying with, Auntie Youie already knew I had been ‘gathering’ mangoes - eyes are everywhere:-)

From Bangkok with Gratitude

View from my room in Bangkok (note the many AC units on lower building in front)

I admit to being somewhat surprised at the enthusiasm, encouragement (and let's admit it - a little envy) that has come my way when people find out about this rice growing season. I am grateful for this, grateful that there are those that 'get it.' Grateful for those that will check in with Andrea while I'm gone. It's been fun having conversations with many about the plan - ranging from clients to colleagues, to Alex (the guy who cuts my hair) who grew up in an area of  South Vietnam where flood waters quickly cover the land during the rainy season. He described a kind of rice that grows fast enough to stay just ahead of the rising flood waters. I'm grateful for the unexpected blessings and words people have spoken about this season - a season of cultivation for sure as I plow and plant in the mud but also hopefully a season of cultivation in my soul.

Parting gifts and words from friends that I'm carrying with me

And I'm grateful for warm days before I left DC getting ready, connecting with friends, making sticky rice and mango and sticky rice and chicken (because if you're going to Thailand, you should practice eating what you'll be eating!),  making sure the house was good to go and enjoying the garden, harvesting some broccoli...you know the important things you do before leaving for two months. 

Practice and Preparation before leaving...

All my flights were good. Flying is when I catch up on movies and there usually is a theme. Sometimes I will watch several films with the same actor in each. This time I watched The Hate U Give and Vice, two powerful movies that seem to kind of sum up the world I am leaving for a few months. And then I watched We Bought a Zoo and a German movie called As Green as it Gets which were more symbolic of what lies ahead. 

Bangkok view at Benjakati Park

Crazy Terminal 21 Mall where every floor (including the bathrooms) is themed after a different city... (Golden Gate Bridge visible here)

Today is a national holiday in honor of the new (very new) Queen's birthday. I admit it is different to see her image everywhere. Some things change. Some things don't. The lady who I always buy my sticky rice and chicken from here on Soi 12 is still here. She provided my first meal of course! Tomorrow evening I'll catch the overnight train up to Chiang Mai. Some more of her sticky rice and chicken will be stuffed in my already overflowing bags!

The real sticky rice and chicken first meal...yes Thailand still is drowning in plastic bags.

Duncan

Rice Rice Baby

The wandering continues...

In the coming days I'll be heading to Thailand to pursue a long held dream of mine: to 'do' the whole rice growing season (or most of it anyway!) As a kid growing up in the hills and valleys, fields and forests of Maehongson, I was always home from school for summer vacation/holiday and so I've witnessed the initial field preparation, the plowing and harrowing and transplanting of rice. I've more than once fallen off the edge of the field into the mud. Before most everyone switched to plowing their fields with large oversize roto tillers, I would often go out with my neighbors and friends in the late afternoon and bring home the water buffalo that used to be used for plowing. But then I went back to school and I never saw anything  else...the growing... the actual harvest. 

A trial run 10 years ago in Napajat

So this year, I'm going to do it. 

Just because. 

First, I'm only able to to this because Andrea has given her blessing, and knows that for whatever reason, this hair brained idea/scheme/dream is important to me. For this I am grateful. It is not without some significant sacrifice.

With my recent job transition and the ability to work remotely I can do some virtual work for KonTerra so I'm not completely living off Andrea's continued full time labor while I'm 'outstanding' in my field:-) (She is also outstanding in her field by the way!)

After seven years of pretty intense work here in DC and around the world, I can tell I'm needing a bit of a break and breather. So I'm treating this as sabbatical and rest - even though I'll still be doing some virtual counseling work and a whole lot of physical work - which I think will be helpful for me. I'm hoping a few months away from living in the epicenter of craziness will help neutralize (?) and work out some of my angst at our current political climate and I desperately just need a break from it. This will serve both purposes nicely.

And let's face it, at some point, my young youthful body won't be able to do this as easily. Rice growing is backbreaking work - there's a song I learned in Tagalog that is translated - planting rice is never fun, you can't stand up, you can't sit down. 

And though I didn't think about it when deciding to do this, I realize that perhaps I can model what self care could look like to others. Maybe it won't be growing rice, but what does it look like to take a break every now and then, to be replenished and rejuvenated - even if in mid career?

And it's a chance to go to a place... places... I call home. 

A little blurry, but this is it, one of the places I call home (PaTyng) and some of the fields I will be working. 

So for all these reasons. It's time. 

That's the plan. Follow along here on the blog or on facebook. If you're the praying kind, I value your prayers for rest and grace in all I encounter, that I don't lose a toe, that the snakes stay away, you know the usual things. 

 Duncan

Israel

A last minute work trip took me to Israel for a week in March. The ticket was purchased Wednesday and I flew out of Washington on Friday via JFK to Tel Aviv, arriving Saturday evening and then departed the following Friday, arriving back in DC Saturday morning. Given that I only had two days notice, I hadn't done any research about anything so I quickly scheduled a one day tour of Old Jerusalem and Bethlehem for the day after I arrived, before the work week started. I wanted to take advantage of being there for sure!

I've known many people who have visited Israel and it has been a transformational life highlight, after all, this is the sacred center for three major faiths of the world. I didn't know what to expect, but I was expecting (perhaps hoping) to feel something...and... I really didn't. Whether this was because of the last minute nature of my trip and not having spent time reading through Old and New Testament scriptures in preparation or the reason for my trip (hello US politics - I could write a whole post about that) which certainly added a weight to the trip, clouding any spiritual/faith discovery, I don't know, but it was interesting to not really feel much of anything.

I will say one of the places I felt something was when we were at the site of the upper room and last supper. Our guide took us in and sat us down, read the passage of scripture and I thought, yes, I can imagine it. Then the guide said, ok, now I'll take you to the 'room' which was next door! We weren't even there yet! So much for my feeling anything! The other place I felt something was on the Via Dolorosa at the spot where they say Jesus fell and Simon of Cyrene was forced to pick up the cross and carry it the rest of the way.

I also appreciated Bethlehem as a town (actually more than Jerusalem) but the Church of the Nativity was too crowded and we had to wait too long and I was over it and wanted to go. Even as I write these words almost two months later, I think, wow, I was at (in theory) the exact place Jesus was born...and that was my reaction?! So perhaps a visit back to Israel is called for at some time in the future when I'm not working and have had time to prepare and the politics and backdrop of the current US administration don't spoil the reason for being there. Or maybe I need to reflect on all I saw and be grateful for having the opportunity to see a place where a brown skinned, refugee teacher once walked, setting an example of love and peace that will long outlast this current politics and also gives strength to persevere in the face of all that is going on in the world at this time.

The other place I really enjoyed was the ancient port city/town of Jaffa (Joppa). This is the port where the Cedars of Lebanon passed through to build the temple. It's the place where Peter had his dream that carries so many significant theological ramifications about what is labeled clean and unclean. I felt something here - the example of accepting something to be true that you previously believed was not true.

Many more thoughts, but that's all for now. Enjoy the photos. Hope it gives a flavor of what I saw and experienced. (Hotel review as always on Trip Advisor here)  - Duncan

Tel Aviv - city view from my room

...or if I looked toward the water...

Tel Aviv

Do you know what this is? Outside of many doors including my hotel room - see Deuteronomy 6:9

Starting point in Jerusalem - looking out to the Jordan hills

And then from the Mount of Olives - looking toward Old Jerusalem, graves in front

Graves - it is tradition to leave a stone on the grave when you visit. Though not at this cemetery, Oskar Schindler's grave is covered in so many stones as it receives so many visitors.

Where they say the 'Upper Room' was...

I believed it, and could feel I was there...until the guide said, ok, now I'll take you to it! What?! I thought this was it!

No, there has to be a church marking it...

Any guesses what this is and why it is there?

Western/Wailing Wall with a convenient diagram explaining what you are looking at...

Belize - Third time's a charm (- not that the first or second times weren't!)

January saw us getting out of DC's winter for a week and heading back to Belize, the third time we have been able to visit this lovely country. See previous more comprehensive post here. We were able to find really good mileage awards on Delta and bonus...got upgraded on all our flights! Frequent travel status paying off! We stayed at Treetops Guest House on Caye Caulker which is where we stayed our very first time in Belize fourteen years ago. When we were last on Caye Caulker, we were a little put off by some aggressive touts but this time, in spite of even more development, we found this lovely island back to it's charming self. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was so good to be warm, watch the water and sky through the coconut trees, do a lot of swimming and snorkeling and be far far away from Washington.

The view from our room

Our room

How every morning should start...

...followed by a walk along the water...

...to Glenda's where they still serve great Cinnamon rolls...

Continuing your walk after breakfast, you might pass this mural...

...or see these friends...

...and this colorful boat

If you arrive at the split, you'll notice some changes, it's all be fixed up!

Back to Treetops and some hammock time on the roof...this is your view