Thailand Again

    On January 9, 2017 I will leave for Thailand.  This will be my 9th year of teaching there.  The first two years I taught at Wat Salapoon.  However, the English teacher retired after the first year, and with her, much of the welcome I felt at the school dissipated.  The teacher who replaced her had little imagination for how I could be helpful and my role was quite restricted,  Fortunately, I was also connected with the school Wat Klang, so, that second year, I taught at both schools.
    My presence at Wat Klang was whole heart-idly welcomed by the entire faculty. Therefore, I look forward to returning  there for my 8th year.  As I depart each year the teachers implore me to return. Perhaps they are motivated by the fact that I return.  Other volunteers come from time to time but, after a brief stint, they leave and are never seen again.  Someone said "much of life is showing up" and I keep showing up at Wat Klang.
    Returning poses a conundrum.  It is rewarding to return to established relationships both at the school and with the family with whom I live,,,this will be my 7th year in their home. I also have long term relationships with neighbors, tuk tuk drives and others established over the years.  But familiarity breeds a kind of complacency.  What once seemed exotic, interesting, different, colorful...now is "old hat".  Elephants walking down the street, storks feeding in rice fields, huge loads on small motorcycles, elaborate temples, water buffalo in the front yard, acres of ancient ruins...hardly occasion a second glance.
    It would be grand if I could take my students from Noble Academy, where I volunteer here in Minnesota, with me so I could "see" sights through their eyes.  In past years some Noble classes have given me "I spy" lists of curiosities  with which they want me pictured.   This has helped to be aware. Pay attention...for a deep introvert like me I am tempted to focus too much on what's happening within me and too little on my external surroundings.  Hopefully, I can return to the familiar, pay attention, and use the familiarity, to see, both the externals and their significance more deeply.