You Speak With Art

For the first time since arriving in Thailand, I had some free time in which I could actually travel. The unit facilitators and myself, along with a few other people, decided to travel to Nong Khai, where some other people from the program had traveled before.

When I told Tom that I was going to Nong Khai, he asked excitedly if I was going to Laos. Nong Khai's claim to fame is that it is a good spot to cross the border into Laos. I said no, I wasn't going to Laos (because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of visa stuff). Tom was like "Why?" because literally the only reason to go to Nong Khai is to cross the border. 

This shows how exciting any trip away from our small area in Khon Kaen is. 

Highlights of the trip include: eating farang food such as pizza, pasta and grilled cheese. Getting to rent and ride BIKES! and biking to an amazing sculpture park. All of the sculptures were breath taking, mysteriously ancient looking (despite being made in the '70s) and often very large. I loved spotting Buddhist scenes that I recognized, and seeing other strange juxtapositions, such as a Buddha riding a peacock. 

Near the entrance of the park was a small temple. Since we were eating ice cream at the time we decided to go there last. From inside we could hear the reverberations of large gongs.

Inside, we bowed to the Buddha images, and then began to ascend the stairs. We were following these two ladies who rang each gong they came across three times. We were following them slowly though, so at the top, they were gone. No one was there except for this little man at a table

"Hello!" he said cheerfully. "Are you from America? From Texas?" his English was perfect.

He launched into telling us the history of the wat, how they came there in 1975 from Laos. Then he said he was a palm reader. We each shyly sat down and he grasped our palms in his thin careful fingers, peered at the creases with his large magnifying glass and began to speak.

His voice was so soft and calming. A reassurance.

To me he said:

You speak with art

You can sing a song... You can be a song composer

and sell your songs for money

Have you completed doctorate degree?

That will not be difficult for you

You can do the big job

You can speak in front of many people

You can speak for parliament

Then, the most amazing part:

Have you had an operation? No?

An accident then?

Death has been kind with you,

And has given you life beyond your natural life.

Diabetes?

I was so touched by his words. Without even knowing me, he was able to divine truths into my past and my present, and maybe my future? I'm doubtful, but if he was right about who I am now, maybe he's right about the future.

Despite being a religion major, I am skeptical about most divine-ish type things. But having this experience with the little man in a wat in Nong Khai might have changed some of that.

Because of being in Thailand, I was able to enjoy the sun and enjoy the breezyness of biking like never before. In difficult travel situations I was not flustered. I let the adventure take me where it willed, and it led me to this man, reading my palm.

With my diabetes framed as a gift, an extension of my natural life, I feel so blessed with the time that I have had here and now.

The urgency with which I've been feeling my homesickness is falling away, and I'm more comfortable living in this dual reality. I have a home in Portland, but I have a home here too. I can be home wherever I am, because I have myself, and I have my history etched into my palms.