Journal entry by Al Negstad — 18 minutes ago
In about two weeks I'll leave for my 11th year of teaching school in Thailand. Joanne had a significant role in this teaching. When L went to work in Cambodia in the early '90s, I went to visit and got hooked on SE Asia. After I'd traveled there several times Joanne said, "If you're going to go there, do something worthwhile." That was the impetus for teaching.
Joanne made one trip while L was living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After some days in Cambodia, L arranged for one of her drivers to take the three of us to Vietnam. We walked across the border and caught a taxi to Saigon. We also flew to Hue and Hanoi. Joanne enjoyed the trip but had no interest in returning.
The Asia experience, therefore, has been largely my thing. Joanne and I would email daily and often talk on the phone. Preparing for traveling to Asia is familiar, yet, different. Preparation is an easy routine but yet it seems very different without Joanne standing by. The last few years she's spent most of time I was gone with a friend in Arizona. It's that presence of absence again, which will even by a reality in a place she seldom visited.
Blessings,
Al
Picture: The Thai school in which I teach.
Joanne made one trip while L was living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After some days in Cambodia, L arranged for one of her drivers to take the three of us to Vietnam. We walked across the border and caught a taxi to Saigon. We also flew to Hue and Hanoi. Joanne enjoyed the trip but had no interest in returning.
The Asia experience, therefore, has been largely my thing. Joanne and I would email daily and often talk on the phone. Preparing for traveling to Asia is familiar, yet, different. Preparation is an easy routine but yet it seems very different without Joanne standing by. The last few years she's spent most of time I was gone with a friend in Arizona. It's that presence of absence again, which will even by a reality in a place she seldom visited.
Blessings,
Al
Picture: The Thai school in which I teach.
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