Keep Calm and Move On! Goodbye to My 5 Months in Thailand.
Contents – Open To Read
Ladies and Gentlemen, If you thought I just disappeared in thin air, you were wrong: I’m back!
I’ve been away from my baby blog for a while now, dealing with some major changes in my life.
Tomorrow I will say my last Goodbye to the lovely village of Map Ammarit in Thailand and the incredible people that made me feel so welcomed and home for the past 5 months.
WOW….FIVE MONTHS!
If I think about it, it seems like yesterday that I have arrived, and at the same time it feels like I spent a lifetime in here.
Let me tell you that this is going to be a very hard goodbye. Even if I complained about my isolation and lack of comforts (plus a few Scorpions and cockroaches here and there), the experience here has been one of the most intense and emotional of my trip so far.
I actually spent 2/3 of my trip in here. Not exactly a joke. When you stay for so long in a place, it becomes like your second home. You start creating a safe routine, people pass from staring at you (like you were an alien), to greeting you like one of them.
In these 5 months here, so many things happened: I tried what it feels like to be a teacher for a while, I challenged myself with Thai cousin a few times, including some very spicy encounters with red-hot chili peppers (no, not the band, unfortunately!) and even tried a very strange, soft fruit called “Durian”.
I’ve been happy and I’ve been sad, I had a couple of panic attacks (yes, they follow me even everywhere), I’ve loved and I’ve been loved, I laughed as there were no tomorrow, I got bored and I even missed home for a while.
But most of all, living here forced me to face my own limits as well as discovering my true passions. In all this isolation I took back my blog from where I left it, working on it like an obsessed workaholic day and night, getting some incredible satisfactions and opportunities.
And now I can say that I am officially a travel blogger!
Teaching ballet!
It is very challenging to give you a recap of what staying in here has been for me, I could list a million things, but would that be enough to encapsulate my experience? I don’t think so.
All I know is that I’m 100% positive that this experience will stay in my heart for many years. It changed me a lot, in ways that no one can see. Because it’s been real. I was not a tourist here. I was part the community and even during the hard times I am so glad that I stick to it for so long.
I have many images of my life in here, and tomorrow at the train station I will definitely cry.
MY GOODBYES:
- I’ll be saying my last goodbye to the house I’ve lived in, including my lovely toilet and cold shower,
- I’ll say goodbye to the school and to Teacher Pook and her husband Tong, who have always been so kind to me and welcomed me like a sister.
- I’ll say goodbye to my little princess Lita, Liya, Lisha, Cus, Mooky and all the other kids at kindergarten (even if I taught there for only a few weeks, their cute little faces will always be in my heart).
- I’ll say goodbye to the shy Tonpor, and to our good friends Noom, Pin and Manas (sorry Pin, not sure I’m writing the name correctly!).
- I’ll also always remember with a smile all the sweet girls working at the local seven eleven and the 5 aggressive bats (ermm sorry,Chihuahuas) who failed in the attempt to eat me alive every time I passed in front of their gate.
- To the sweet girl who kindly washed our laundry every week.
- To the streets, to the smiling old woman at the “rotten smelly-fish” market in front of the house and to many other things.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT FOR ME TO MOVE ON
It will be difficult to leave all this. But it’s also necessary. As a traveler I feel the need to move on, to reach other places and other people, to build new memories, to see new smiles and new beaches.
If you stay too long in a place, it all becomes too comfortable, too predictable and you start to lose focus on what your trip is all about.
It’s not without pain that I leave. Moving on is never easy, readjusting your life is even harder. It’s like to die and be born again. No matter how many times I’ve been trough this, it doesn’t get any better with time: It’s damn hard.
But I’m happy to feel the pain and the sadness, because it just mean that it was worth it, big time.
On a side note: I know that many people would like to know what’s going on here with my private life. I thought about how to deal with it, now that I have a blog, for a very long time.
Should I be transparent and talk about it? There are many brave bloggers out there who do so, and I admire them for being so open. But I decided to pass.
I will keep my private moments for me, also in respect for the other people involved. I think it’s fair enough to have a small private space, especially when you suddenly find yourself in the “spotlight”. I’m writing about my experiences for you after all.
I have no problem in sharing pictures and facts about the loved ones, but it will stop there, and I’m sure you’ll understand!
WHAT’S NEXT?
So where is Keep Calm Klelia headed next? this will be a very small recap as I want to dedicate a separate post to it:
25/09 –>03/10 BANGKOK
04/10—>30/10 ITALY (Rome and Sardinia)
30/10—>10/11 LONDON
10/11—>5/12 ITALY( Sardinia)
6/12—->8/12 THAILAND (BANGKOK)
8/12—->8/01 (2014) CHINA (Shangai/Beijin)
8/01—-8/02 PHILIPPINES (Details still tbc, as well as the precise dates, but it’s finally happening! whohooo!!)
From there on, God only knows. I think I’ve even planned too much. Let’s see what these months have to offer, but I will keep you updated!