Across the world from Chicago to Chiang Mai, we are transplanted travelers living amongst the gracious Thai, settling into a 700-year old city in the shadows of Doi Suthep, sampling new cuisines & living an expat's sun-drenched dream... Instruments in hand & our puppy in tow, looking for a yoga sangha to grow, we offer up this window into our lives, knowing we've arrived home though it feels so strange; so we chronicle this process of how we evolve & change...
I do my yoga practice in the evenings after the sun goes down and the heat feels more like an illusion...I keep the house dark and light candles all around, I practice trataka while Baxter keeps watch next to my mat. I feel my senses come alive as I breath & move and the sweat begins to form. I smell the sweet flowers from our garden outside the window, I hear the cacophony of frogs & geckos. Mostly, I hear & feel the flow of my own breath
I do my practice and know that all is coming.
I practice and I heal...
I practice & it is revealed to me that I need to forgive others & myself...
My breath flows & my body gives way.
I practice and everything becomes clear...even if just for a moment.
The warmth spreads from the inside out & I stir from savasana with new awareness,
my hands & feet alive.
Then, I practice being still...and knowing...that everything is as it should be...
I give thanks for this body, this breath, this time & place.
I give thanks for this blessed & charmed life.
Fresh out of the shower on a piping hot afternoon...It's been awhile since I've blogged...I guess we're falling into routines and less is seeming "blog worthy", but we've just had a wonderful weekend and I thought I'd share.
Friday night we headed to the theater at Central Airport Plaza to see Hunger Games. We went with 2 friends from school, fellow teachers, Liz (elementary art) & Yara (kindergarten), all of us (expect Fuad) had read the books and we were pretty excited to see it.
Saturday I woke pretty early (7:30) and made a request to my overworked husband that he take a day off. After skyping with my folks & working in the garden for a bit, then relaxing on the porch (swinging in the hammock) we headed out...lunch at Khun Churn, a vegetarian restaurant (delicious!) then up to Doi Suthep (the mountain) to chill our toes in the cool, cool water of one of the waterfalls. It's getting hot here lately (ranging between 97-100F), so keeping cool is a must!
Next, a 2 hour Thai massage, then dinner at a delightful French bistro (complete with crepes & fondue on the menu). We headed home to watch Battle Royale (Fuad insisted, since he believes that Hunger Games is a direct lift from this 2001 Japanese movie).
This morning (Sunday) we headed over to Wild Rose Yoga Studio for a class with Casey Gramaglia where I had a great practice...I'm so grateful to have made a connection with Casey, he's a breath of fresh air & a familiar presence. He's a New York yogi trained at Jivamukti who has been living in Thailand for 12 years. As a fellow former city dweller yogi transplanted to Thai soil, the conversation never runs dry!
Practice this morning was hot & sweaty! I think it was already 80 degrees when we got up at 8:00am and today it easily reached 100. I love the heat for practicing yoga, but not really for anything else and I'm learning to balance the pitta dosha part of me in this heat. Why is it...hot places love hot food??? Not a good mix for me!
After brunch...
More work in the garden! Today I've transplanted my tomato plants! My little seedlings are ready for their permanent home! I'm so excited to be growing things in our yard! The beautiful part...I can do it ALL YEAR LONG!
In other news...
Pollution. I'm not gonna dwell on this one...but it's bad. I will never take clean air to breathe for granted ever again. On the days when it's really bad I spend the day wondering why I feel so lethargic and then remember...the air has no oxygen in it! It also puts a damper on my gardening. boo! Here's a video taken earlier this month to show the contrast with & without the pollution.
And if you're wondering why there's so much pollution watch this one...
We're pretty excited to get out of here for April Break! In 2 weeks we're taking a big trip, part Cambodia (Siem Reap & Phnom Penh) & part Sri Lanka! (Colombo, Galle & Sigiriya) Whoa! I can't wait! At this point, let me acknowledge my blessings...that we're able to live such a comfortable life in Asia, working jobs that challenge & validate us...where we are able to see so much of the world...more than I ever imagined possible.
If you're reading this are you're far away from us...reach out, we'd love to hear from you! Not a day goes by that I don't think of my friends & family back home.
Much love from our corner of the world to yours...xoxo
"No light, no guide, no come back." Our smiling guide repeats this mantra to us at regular intervals, each time she gestures at one of the myriad stone passageways leading through the cave complex. We've wandered into the Chiang Dao caves on a friend's recommendation, and after paying a 100 baht fee for a guide armed with only a single gas lantern, we're in the process of crouching, crawling, and easing our way through narrow stone passes into chamber after chamber of absolutely pitch black stones. Each cave is covered in incredible limestone formations, with stalactites, stalagmites, and all kinds of strange rock formations covering every visible surface. Bats, spiders, and strange scurrying insects crawl around in the dark, and as we pass from room to room the claustrophobia starts to set in. You could die in here in a second, with one misplaced foot, and there no way to get you out. The darkness is oppressive, and as we wander from room to room, half enthralled and half petrified, I begin to think about how old and ancient these caves are... The cave network is said to penetrate 14 kilometers into Doi Chiang Dao, a huge hulk of a mountain, and although we only venture a few hundred meters into the caves, you can tell that we barely skimmed the surface. From a website on the caves, I found this local legend:
One legend holds that the caves are inhabited by an Indian recluse who has lived there for more than one thousand years. Another, more complex, tradition tells how a group of hermits who live in the caves once called a meeting of deities and angels to create seven sacred objects. A demon called Chao Luang Kham Daeng Khun Yak was appointed to guard these sacred artefacts which are hidden beneath the mountain. Local people say that if one penetrates deep into the caves, the first thing encountered will be a stream which flows from the pedestal of a golden Buddha. Still further in is the legendary town of Laplae, where may be found the cloth of the gods, a great lake, the divine city of the Nagas, heavenly food, a sacred elephant, and the resting place of the hermits themselves. Here, too, is the great golden Buddha from which the stream springs.
These caves are straight out of an Indiana Jones movie... The air is quiet and moist, random terraces are covered with deities and guardian statues, and there's is a foreboding sense of time that pervades through every passageway. Underground waterways have carved out these caves within the mountain, and beneath the earth, streams flow outwards to fill the temple grounds, where huge fish lurk just beneath the surface. The caves themselves call to mind Tolkien's description of Moria, and as you delve deeper into the darkness you start to wonder what else might live down here... It's not a thought you want to dwell on...
We only spent an hour in the Chiang Dao caves, but they were truly mind-blowing, and we highly recommend them to anyone visiting the area. Very rarely do you get an opportunity to visit something this ancient, mysterious, and steeped in myth and legend. I hope to go back again... Next time we'll have a better idea of what we're getting ourselves into...
Some days are better than others...taken away from the familiar, the routines, the friends, the environment you're used to and placed into a new environment where everything is different...some days are better than others, didn't our Mama's teach us there'd be days like this?
This has been such a lengthy lesson for me. Who am I without Chicago?
Some days I love it here and other days I'm still absolutely overwhelmed and I'm starting to wonder...how long can I continue to say that I'm new here? We're at 7 months already! The school year is quickly approaching the 4th quarter and Spring Break is just around the corner, I've finally finished my 30 hours of Thai language class (thank goodness!) and yet there is still a part of me that is resisting...I think I'm actually making it harder on myself than I need to.
So let me focus on some of the things I'm grateful for these days...
*my students. Sometimes I look at their faces, so diverse and I feel so much love and gratitude. I've discovered that the world is not so big a place...here we are in Thailand and the kids are pretty much the same as in the U.S. only here, instead of feeling frustrated with the system and the environment and so many things that are beyond my control...I get to smile & laugh with these children, and teaching has become fun again.
Here's just a small sample from International Day
Philippines
Korean
Denmark
The cutest Thai dancers you'll ever see!
I'm also grateful...
*that for the first time in my adult life, I have a home with outdoor space. Our yard has become my refuge and I love coming home from work and fiddling around! It's become a passion really and I acknowledge that I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm giving it a try! Everyday I learn something new. I now believe that gardening is in my genes. I find myself thinking about my Mammie and the time I spent with her at her house on State Street in St. Joe, I think about her garden and the way she did things (I really didn't understand at the time). I've planted all kinds of new stuff in our yard, a few vines, a rose bush, some flower seeds (none of those have come up yet), I've started using our compost to make the soil healthier (it's mostly sand), I have tomatoes sprouting, snow peas coming up, a papaya tree seed growing (so exciting!), lemongrass thriving, orchids, poinsettias that are still going strong from November, 2 kinds of basil, mint, aloe and a hot pepper plant. This past weekend I had so much fun hunting for vintage items that could be used as planters at the antique market near my school.
After I work in the yard relaxing on the front patio in the hammock is even more enjoyable! (Which is where I sit and type this right now).
Here's a few pictures of our garden...
Herb garden...aloe, lemongrass, basil, hot peppers
Tomatoes, papaya, snow peas
Recycled hanging planter with cilantro seeds (idea found on pinterest!)
Experimental...tomatoes seeds coming up in egg carton & TP rolls!
Side of the house, this area is growing very well!
Mini rose bush
Climbing plant, it'll go up the fence and provide some privacy, this vine will also produce fragrant flowers.
Orchids attached to the tree with coconut husk.
I got these containers at the antique market near my school. Waiting for the flower seeds to come up.
Another climber...this one has beautiful orange flowers that will bloom.
Grow seed, grow!
I love sitting out on our patio.
Dad's advice, to cut back these shrubs so they can fill in. The poinsettias are still going strong from November!
I love these interesting flowers....
These yellow flowers seem to attract a lot of birds.
