Education

Hi,

The weather?  Yep, same as it ever was.  Cool mornings, sunny skies with warm days and slightly cool evenings,  realizing of course, that these are all relative references.  In a few more weeks, I’ll be screaming about freezing cold with highs in the 60’s.

The ‘Easy Monday’ song should still be easy.  The chorus is almost like an anthem for football (soccer) teams.

“__ __ __ __, my friends.  And we’ll keep on fighting till the end.  __ __ __ __, __ __ __ __, no time for losers ‘cause __ __ __ __, of the world.”  Clue:  Group performing this tune is named after female royalty in their country.  

On Sunday we went to the 60th birthday party for our long-time dear friend Supalak.  It was held at the Grand Vista Hotel.  This is someplace we’d never been before, so there was a bit of adventure in that.  The ballroom was on the third floor and this told us it was not going to be an intimate party.  When the doors opened there was a Happy Birthday banner with balloons and a big, throne-like chair.  The guest of honor was looking magnificent and after a warm greeting, she showed us to our table.  There was no one else there, but that would soon change.  She had a plan.  A man with three children came to the table and Supalak motioned that they were to sit with us.  It turns out he spoke very good English and she wanted us to feel comfortable.  After introductions, we learned that he is the owner and CEO of Miss Grand Thailand (Bangkok and Chiang Rai), and also owns a chain of laundromats.  You may remember me telling you about the very tall women we saw at Central Plaza Mall one day, that happened to be beauty contestants.  Well, they were his ‘talent’.  Beauty pageants are a big thing in Thailand.  Our table companion has lectured on business practices at the local university and knows our friend Sutheera, who is a professor in the Business department.  He also was very interested in art.  A little later, another guest came to our table.  He didn’t speak as much English, but the two men were friends and he was also a major businessman in Chiang Rai.  He owns an eye-care chain that is huge.  In fact, we’ve been to several of his locations over the years.  They helped pass the time with questions as well as laughter.  After almost 2 hours, it was time to gracefully say our goodbyes.  Some of our friends that we’d hoped to see didn’t arrive until late.  They had been in a bicycle race (120k) around the city.  

Today’s photo was taken yesterday at The Wanderer.  Mercy was just hanging out, resting her chin on the rail, watching us.  That’s Joey next to her.

We spent this day inside the walls.  It was a 'recharge the batteries’ day.  Tomorrow we get back out there and ‘do’ things.

Have a Happy Tuesday.

                        Peace,

                                  Danny

“Education must not simply teach work,

it must teach life.”

~W.E.B. Du Bois