Monday, December 8, 2014

Compassion

Hi,

It's feeling more like Spring than Winter here in Chiang Rai.  The mornings have warmed up and the days are hot. Clouds appear, only to tease us and run away.  Things are turning brown in some areas so maybe winter really will come.

The 'Old School Friday' song was "The Glory of Love" by The Velvetones.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59RwZFbh1QI  Thought you might like to hear it.   It's time for 'Easy Monday' and a song we all know:
"Try to see it my way, do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?  While you see it your way, run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone. __ __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __ __."  Hint:  An easy one from across the pond.  About the art of negotiation, compromise, and listening.  Blah, blah.

The day after a holiday is always busy around town.  Saturday got a double dose of busy since it was the first Saturday of the month.  We didn't let that stop us from tackling Big C early and then on to the mall.  We bravely walked into an almost empty store, did our shopping and left just in time to drive across the highway to the mall as they unlocked the doors.  It was brilliant.  I was surprised to see how fast the mall filled up.  Many people spend 'Father Day' with family so this was a real 'get in the street' day.  

Sunday morning Blue, Lisa and I went to Art Bridge to take some photos of the exhibit while the gallery was empty.  When we went upstairs one of our artist friends, Khun Yai, was there with one of his students and her father.  They were watching the video of Joe explaining the cast acrylic print process.  A little later another student and her family arrived.  Yai had them meet him at the gallery to see the exhibit and inspire them to try new things.  It was heartwarming to see.  Blue took a lot of photos from different view-points so we will have a nice record of how the whole thing looked.  We returned to Art Bridge in the late afternoon for an "Interview with the Artist" whose work is featured in the downstairs gallery.  A translator was provided so we could follow along with the whole affair.  We learned some interesting things from the interview, about the artist and about art.  What was really cool was the translator.  He's an American who is here on a Fulbright Scholarship, studying Thai Buddhism as part of his PhD program in Asian Religions.  He speaks fluent Thai and we hope to get together with him and his wife in the future.

At Cat's school many of the teachers are now required to teach in English.  This would be great if they spoke and understood English with a degree of accuracy.  Cat's biology class was taught in Thai, but tested in English.  Some of the teachers studied the language when they were in school, but that was years ago.  Now they are having to try to relearn and use English at the same time.  Fortunately, Cat's English is good enough that she knows how to figure out what is being attempted by some teachers.  It's an interesting time for a high school student.

We have noticed that every time we get to the main road during rush hour, there is a much larger volume of traffic than when we moved here.  I wanted to know where they were coming from.  Curiosity got the best of us.    This morning we took a little trip up the main road near our house.  We traveled up the winding road for about 10 kilometers, just to see what was happening.  There are little villages that have grown in the last few years, new houses on hillsides, and more small shops along the way.  The countryside still has lots of open space, but it's easy to see where all the cars and trucks are coming from, and why the traffic in town is growing.  Oh, the price of progress.

Today's photo was taken by Blue from our front yard last week.  A member of the Ultra-Light club was in the neighborhood.


Have a Great Week.

                Peace,
                          Danny

"If you want others to be happy,
practice compassion.
If you want to be happy,
practice compassion."
~Dalai Lama

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