Happenings

This past week has really been kind of strange. We are a different semester schedule than the rest of everyone studying at Payap because we follow the US system. The thai students have the rest of October for vacation. So this past week has been exams for everyone else and packing up bags, moving around, etc.  It's already weird walking around campus with so little people around. 

Also a really tragic thing happened a few days ago. This boy who lived in the dorm where I am named Andrew was driving on his motorbike just outside of campus and was hit and killed. He was actually wearing a helmet (which many people in this city don't do) but I guess that the force was too strong. Andrew was a Korean American who grew up in California and had a pretty rough life before he came here. I didn't know him well at all... I had only seen him around the building and campus but whenever I saw him he smiled anyway. There was a service for him on Friday. It was really nice... so many people came, the place was packed. He was a devout Christian so the service had many religious songs and some passages were read. Towards the end people had the opportunity to go up and say things and everyone talked about how genuine, generous and caring he was. People spoke about how he really took the time to greet people everyday and help them out with anything they might need. It never ceases to amaze me how someone can be there one minute and not the next. It's just so easy to forget how impermanent everything is. But he was a person full of faith and his death I think reminded everyone to just take more time with each other. At least for me, even though I did not know him well, he reminded me to just appreciate people as people and not worry about where you are going next or what you need to get done before the end of the day. Because when I think about it, the people I admire most in life are the people who are not afraid to spend time with people and really look at them and listen when they talk.

My really good friend here named Kali is leaving this week. She is from Vermont but was on a different program here so she started her semester in June and is now finishing. But here mom just got here beccause they are going on a 2 month adventure excursion because Kali does not have classes until January. They have some money tucked away and a couple plane tickets but they are starting here, then flying down to southern Thailand to the beaches and then they are going to Malaysia, India, Morocco, Amsterdam, Ireland, and I think there are more. I am sooooo incredibly jealous of them. I wish I could go on a 2 month trip with my mama! But I am going to miss her so much. It's going to be so weird not having my right-hand-woman around. But luckily we live close enough that I will be able to see when we are back in the States. 

So things have been shifting a lot this past week. In a couple weeks we are going to Sukhothai- the ancient capital of Thailand. It is supposed to be a really interesting place so I am looking forward to that. That's all for now. Hope everyone is happy and safe.