Home Safely!

I'm back in St Louis. We had no problems because of the protests. I apologize t0 those of you who were so worried...we were blissfully ignorant to the severity of the protests and the amount of US coverage of them while we were safe and far from Bangkok relaxing on the beach -- we saw fragmented news on TV in Thai, but apparently you occasionally need more than just pictures to get the whole picture and if I'd known more of the extent of the happenings in Bangkok and US embassy warnings, I would have tried to relieve more fears through an email or two.

Looking over Aaron's pictures for each day I was gone makes me wish he could have come to Thailand with me (for a multitude of reasons), but as I was there and would see amazing lush jungles and old women faces etched with the wrinkles of a lifetime of hard work and stoic temples filled with golden Buddhas and street markets lined with brightly colored produce and spices I would get sad wishing Aaron was there to capture it with his camera. Knowing that my crappy camera and complete lack of creative skills would not begin to convey the beauty and stories of Thailand, I wished he could be there to experience it in person of course, but also to experience things more permanently in the continuously improving way that he can with his camera.

I'll post pictures later and begin to attempt to reflect on and summarize the trip, but it is good to be home and weird to now begin this stage of transitition to leaving St Louis and starting residency.