Gone Til November

When you find yourself living on the other side of the world, visitors are a rarity. You’ll hear any number of excuses including – the flight is too expensive; I’m scared to travel alone; I don’t have the time; the flight is too long; or my personal favorite, I’m afraid I’ll shit my pants after a week of spicy Thai food. You can write out personal invitations until your hand falls off, I can guarantee you that almost everyone of those RSVP’s will say something like, “I regret to inform you that my digestive track can’t handle the trip half-way around the world because it’s too expensive and I don’t have the time.” That is why I am so thrilled that my brother will be coming to visit me at the beginning of October.

As some of you know, my first semester of school is finished at the end of this week. It’s odd because I feel as though I’ve just started to get the hang of some of my classes, students, and curricula, but alas, it’s time to end. Either way, I am finished teaching until the beginning of next semester, which starts November 3rd. The past few weeks have been nothing but finals, grading, finals, grading, and more finals and more grading. My official vacation begins on Tuesday, October 7, when I will be traveling via train to Bangkok International Airport. Here is where I will meet up with my brother, and we will begin National Lampoon’s Thailand Vacation – only this time, there will be no Beverly D’Angelo.

During this time, I will find myself almost entirely disconnected from the world. I will attempt to update my Blog, but given that I will not have my laptop, I am limited to Internet cafés and my desire to leave the white sandy beaches of Thailand (forewarning – I don’t leave the beach for much of anything). Not to worry though, I plan to bring my old fashion writing tools – a notebook and a pen. This should prove useful for journaling, which can transfer to Blogging upon my return. Should it be an emergency, you can always reach me on my mobile. In any case, I bid you a fond farewell as I depart for my much-needed vacation; in the words of Wyclef Jean, “I’ll be gone til November.”