One week and one day in Thailand

One week and one day in Thailand, and it is being quite an experience.  A good experience that is.  It is, of course, absolutely beautiful.  We are in Thai Meung, which is right on the water.  The beach is a short moped ride from where we are staying, and a wonderful, cooling, way to end the days, which are quite warm for us.  The people have been very friendly, and helpful, which is nice.  Of course, every time I start up the moped, or start to drive, I appear to provide them with some amusement, but I think they would be friendly and helpful even without this.  I am teaching at two schools, one fairly close to our residence, and another a little further away.  Both are primary schools, with children up to the P6 level, which is supposed to be about 12 years old, but at the second school some of the children are somewhat older, as they are primarily children of Burmese  refugees and therefore started school a little later than what is typical.  Teaching these children has so far been a very pleasant experience, the classes are small and the children are eager to learn.  The classrooms are decently supplied, and it is easy to forget the hardships many of these children face in their lives, at least compared to the vast majority of children from where I come.

We have established a bit of a routine this week, which is comforting and helps with our adjustment.  The mornings are spent teaching, and the afternoons reviewing that morning's lesson, planning the next day's lesson, doing my son's lessons, and then finishing off with a cooling visit to the beach.  Yesterday as I was sitting on the beach watching my son play in the sand I was struck again by the beauty of the location, and how this experience, of being able to sit back and appreciate the beauty of our world, should be available to all.  There is no reason why in this world we are in now this experience, of being able to sit and relax, in a  clean and safe environment, comfortable in the knowledge that we are not in danger, knowing we have a home to go to, with basic supplies such as clean water, food, and safety, with a future for our children, should not be available to all who desire it.  Wherever they may be, whether it is on a beach in Thailand, a mountainside in Canada, or next to the desert in India, this should be available to all.  Why do we not make it so?