I love my life!

**I started this post a couple of days ago, and plum forgot to finish it, so here goes:

I'm remembering that song that played repeatedly in Haiti, "I Love My Life", and having to think it's a good fit. I feel like I have to pinch myself sometimes, to see if this is real- I'm eating breakfast here on the deck, looking out at elephants in the field by the river, with misty mountains in the background. The sun is just cresting the hill, making me squint as I key this in. No complaints, of course!

I feel so fortunate- this trip to Turkey & Thailand was a gift from Ian & Ainslie, and the experiences here are so rich, so diverse, so filling. And time seems to be doing its magical thing of going by just at the right pace- not to fast, not too slow, but juuuuuuuuuuuuuusssst right.

I'm tutoring Isaac while I'm here, and we have found mornings to be our best time. See, speaking French DOES have lots of benefits! However, changing the spelling of your name informally doesn't, as I was to find out when I checked in back in Ottawa. The rest of my family spells my name 'Therien', and I changed the spelling (not legally) to Therrien- my grandfather dropped one of the 'r's in the spelling of his name- I can only guess he was trying to anglicise the spelling, to 'fit in' more? So, since I speak French, and my French roots are important to me, in all of my casual (not legal) correspondence, and any articles or books I've contributed to, I use the two 'r' spelling. Well, not everyone knows that little bit of Tina trivia, so Ian & Ainslie purchased a ticket for Tina Therrien. In Ottawa, they had to phone their supervisor to get permission for me to travel with a misspelled name- which they got, but I must say, since I have an e-ticket, I was  a bit worried that there might be an issue in, say, Turkey, but no such thing.

There are countless day groups who go through the park, in addition to a group of about 20 who book in for either one week, two, or three week stays.

I can't help but compare Thailand to Haiti, and it seems (generalization of course!) as though people are better off here (that is probably a fact, given HOW poor Haiti is!). There is also more of a sense of personal space, of privacy here- in Haiti, whether in the city, or in the village, there was almost zero sence of personal space- if you were sitting quietly on your porch, you would soon be joined by people walking by, and if you were in your room, kids would flit in and out. The heat also seemed more oppressive in Haiti- really heavy, but in fairness, I was in Port au Prince in December, so to do a just comparison, I'd have to be in a city now, which thankfully, I'm not.  There are far less trash burning fires here, yet in Haiti you couldn't avoid that smell. Even with all of that, which makes it seem as though I may prefer Thailand over Haiti, there's something about Haiti that I'm in love with- maybe it is that burning garbage smell, or the stifling heat, the non-stop rooster calls, or the constant interactions with people. In any case, both countries now have a place in my heart, and as I said, I feel so lucky to have such opportunities in my life. I DO love my life!

Me in silhouette with the elephants in the background. Sighhh!