This One's For Ann

I had decided before I came to Thailand that any free time I had should be spent learning about the history and culture of the country and seeing famous and historical sights. Most weekends I do just that and I'm planning to do some more soon. But nothing was planned for this weekend since we had a training session that lasted most of Saturday. A large part of the session turned into a "air your beef" session where teachers were allowed to air their complaints about policies and problems so that management had an idea of any difficulties. I know I closed my eyes once and just listening to the problems made me think I was back in my stateside school. Topics like cell phones and proper clothing/wearing uniform correctly, etc. Seems teachers the world over have the same problems. Still, it was a good chance for everyone to work together and even though we lost a day of free time, we did some group work and this is a teaching team that works together well. It was nice.

Afterwards I decided to take a bus to the mall to look for new shoes. Since my feet aren't made like Asian feet, this could take some time. No luck, so I left the mall and went out to the bus stop. Somehow I got on the wrong bus but found out from a passenger who spoke some English that it would take me almost to where I wanted so I just sat back to relax and enjoy new scenery. As I was looking out the window my eyes landed on a wondrous sight - a herd (is that the right word?) of zebras. I thought of Ann and quickly jumped up and hit the signal button to get off at the next stop. As I walked back to the tree where they were resting I thought of how surprised my good friend Ann would be to receive a zebra from Thailand. I took out my camera (it's always in my purse) and started snapping pix. I was really enjoying this until I realized that they were made from concrete and even the smallest of the litter would cost a fortune to ship to America. Sorry, Ann. I love ya like a sister, but I have to draw the line somewhere. I'll keep my eyes peeled for "lighter" zebras.

And lest you think I only see concrete animals in the city, I'm posting a picture of a real, live elephant that I encountered on the sidewalk of the busiest street in Bangkok last Friday night. I was so amazed, and then sorry for the poor baby. He was small - as elephants go - but still he shouldn't have to walk around in all that noise and smog on hot city sidewalks and streets. Still, I guess it's better than manual labor on construction sites which I have seen the elephants used for. Also saw some elephants in Ayuttaya 2 weeks ago. They were letting people have elephant rides around the park, but I passed. Looked like a really rough ride to me. I really feel bad about Ann's zebra though. And that I had to walk a long ways to get another bus. But you'd do the same for me, right Ann?