Journaling Life in Thailand

I’m clinging to my coffee today like it’s a lifeline, my one-way ticket to salvation. If we were really meeting over coffee today, I’d have the french press filled up to the brim and I’d set it right between us so we wouldn’t even have to get up for a second cup.

But before I get ahead of myself, I should relay the news that the lovely Amy of Lucky Number 13 is no longer hosting Virtual Coffee chats, at least for the next undetermined length of time. I wish her well on her break, but me? I love these coffee chats. I NEED these coffee chats. A little breathe of peace in between here and there. So I’m a gonna’ hold on to my coffee, and if y’all want to join me, there’s a seat here just waiting for you.

So how’ve you been? Last week was stressful at work, the kind of stress that just isn’t worth talking about because I’m just going to get all worked up again and say things I probably shouldn’t. It was HOT, too. The kind of heat where fans do nothing more than just push around the steaming air. One of my coworkers was explaining to me how silkworms produce less in the cold season; as it gets colder they work slower and slower. And I was thinking, I’m just the opposite. The hotter it gets, the slower my brain functions. In the dead of those afternoons, I’d literally feel my brain cells come to a full and complete stop. Please exit the vehicle to your left, and thank you for the ride.

We were hoping for rain to cool things down. Well, we got rain and storms enough to put out the electricity and bend trees over. But it was still hot. I was taking cold showers up to three times a day just to cool down my body temperature. Doing that always reminds me of being a kid and being sick with fever and my parents having to put me in a cold bath to get the fever down. I still remember how much that seemed to hurt, and how sorry my parents seemed to have to do that. I’m sure it probably hurt them more than me.

However, the good news this week is: WE’RE GOING TO EUROPE! We’re heading out for a month to go visit Toby’s family in Berlin. We’ll be there most of the time seeing loved ones we haven’t seen in a year and a half. Plus it’s Toby’s dad’s birthday, so we’ll get in some extra celebrations. But we’re also taking a side trip to Krakow and Prague. It’ll be our first time exploring bits of Eastern Europe.

Part of the reason we want to go to Krakow is because we’d like to see Auschwitz. Well, I don’t know if one can say one would like to see Auschwitz. It’s more like we feel it’s important to see Auschwitz, given the opportunity. Such history sometimes seems so long ago, and yet it isn’t really. Toby’s grandfathers, one German, one American, fought on opposite sides of the war. And the nanny who helped take care of Toby’s father and his brothers, when she was just fifteen WALKED from Poland to Germany, in an effort to survive through the war.

But we’ve also been hearing good things about visiting Krakow. Several friends who have traveled there have really enjoyed the city so I’m excited to see what’s happening there.

Truth be told, though, I haven’t even looked up the slightest thing about Krakow or Prague. We totally do not plan in advance when we travel. We get the basic things down (like flights)…and then pretty much just wing it. Do you wing it when you travel, or do you plan out detailed itineraries? When I arrive, I might put together a list of things I’d like to see and do (and places I might want to eat) while I’m there – and if I’m really organized, I’ll mark out what’s in the same general area to be somewhat efficient about travel time from place to place. But the rest of it is subject to time, energy, mood, and whatever else comes along that sounds interesting.

Even on our honeymoon in Costa Rica, we just booked our flights and our hotel for the first two nights so we didn’t have to be harried and rushed finding a place upon arrival. The rest of the nights in various cities, we just called around when we arrived to see what was available and left things flexible for recommendations from fellow travelers when we were actually there.

But as excited as I am to jetset it to Europe, there’s one thing that makes me sad: leaving Dot for a month! I’m sure gonna’ miss this puppy face.

We’ll leave her at a kennel for the month (which is actually more like this elderly British gentleman’s yard that has a bunch of dogs running around than a kennel), and I know she’ll be fine, she’s not going to die or get lost. But I still feel a wallop of sad and a thwack of guilt every time I think about it. A WHOLE MONTH. {ugh}

But she’ll be fine.

{…right?}

Anyway, I’d better get going. Lots of loose ends to tie up still before we leave tomorrow night. Oh yeah, did I mention we leave tomorrow? Because yeah, we leave tomorrow! Have a great week everyone and the next coffee chat will be in Berlin!

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