One Month

The sun is setting as we drive past a bonsai tree farm; one hundred or more tiny trees nestled safely in pots that stand in straight lines, as if they are the ranks of a tiny army. We keep driving. The houses here are spread apart and as we zip past I look down the long sunlit gravel drives.  Tufts of grass grow in the less worn places of the drives leading up to the wooden, ramshackle houses. They are falling apart in places and almost always tilting to one side or the other, but the fact that they are run down doesn’t matter… it’s more the surroundings that I’m interested in. I drink in the views of large open fields, groves of trees and brown dirt.  There are plants here, open spaces, earth, clean air.

Later as we are driving home in the dark, I can just make out trees lining the fields which one day in the coming months will be full of corn or sugar cane. I long to stop the car, to jump out, flip off my shoes, spread my arms wide and run into the darkness. I long to feel the earth between my toes and breath the fresh air. I long to lay down in the grass and stare up at the sky, but I find myself speeding towards the city instead. Back to Lop Buri, back to the place that one day I hope to call home.

Today marks the day that I have been in Thailand for one entire month. In a way it feels like forever and in a way it feels like no time at all. This month has been full of emotions, good memories, laughter and tears. It’s been exciting, strange and rough at times.  But even with it’s ups and downs, I don’t think I could have asked for a better start to my life in Thailand. So to everyone who supported me, encouraged me, gave me advice or wished me luck, thank you!

-Kearn