What is this thing called Blogging anyway?

I'm back!

So much has been happening in and to my life since my last post, that I don't know where to start.  But first, a few words from our sponsor, as the old t.v. shows used to say.

When I started this blog, I did so because I found myself repeating my stories about Thailand and me again and again to family and friends.  I did not know the drawbacks of writing a blog when I started.  I did not realize how important it is to me and perhaps other bloggers to get a response back from anything I write.  Maybe that's only something one can get in letter writing or conversation.   I know I don't get that from my writings for this blog.  It feels more like keeping a journal!  Or maybe I am going about the whole thing wrong.

I shall continue blogging until it no longer makes sense to me.  My hunch is that most people prefer personal communications as opposed to published ones.  But then there is Facebook which can feel personal yet unless you take great care, everyone and their dogs get to know all of your business.  And for many today, that is quite all right!  When I first started using Facebook, I was often surprised when someone I had not written to responded to messages I thought were private.  It's a whole new world, baby!

So if you are reading this post, thanks!  And please give me some feedback in any way you'd like.  My preference would be for you to write a comment on a particular post.  That way I can begin to get a sense of what might interest you about me and my life in Thailand.  More often than not, one day on Facebook, I simply get a comment like "Read your blog. Loved it!"  That feels good, but it's not a whole lot of feedback that is useful to a writer.

Well, I said my peace and I feel so much better!

Today, if I can, I will publish a post I am working on called "My First Birthday in Thailand."  Only sad note is that I so wish Jimmy could have been here celebrating with me.  Of course he was here in spirit.  He has never left me in that sense, but oh! how I would love to be in his physical presence once more....

My Kids, Grandkids, and Great Grandkids!

Following are a series of photos of the family Amable and I created in our spare time!

But first, a sad note....

Jonathan, my first grandson

My Grandson, Jonathan Francisco Pinto,

February 26, 1986, to August 7, 2009.

We all miss you, Johnny.... 

Sandra and Jessica, daughter and grand-daughter

Me with Sandra (daughter) & Jessica (grand daughter)

David and Angelina, son and grand-daughter

My Son, David, with his daughter, Angelina

George, son

George, Jr., receiving his J. D.

Jimmy and Andrea, son and daughter-in-law

My son, Jim, and his wife, Andrea

Angelina, grand-daughter and David, son

My Grand Daughter Angelina with David, my son, her father.

Jessica, grand-daughter

Daughter of my daughter, Jessica

Jimmy, grandson

Jimmy, Jr., my grandson

Aiden, grandson

Aiden, my grandson, in Paris

Joey, grandson

Joey, my grandson

Sophia, grand-daughter

Me with my Grand Daughter, Sophia

Alaya, great grand daughter

Alaya, my Great Grand Daughter

Andres, great grandson

My Great Grandson, Andres

David, grandson

Flooding in Thailand

It's the end of the rainy season here, and it looks like Mother Nature saved her worse for the grand finale, but nobody here is celebrating.

Fortunately, where I live has not suffered from the kind of flooding that only occurs in Thailand every half century.  The country is ill prepared to cope with such massive floods.  Yes, I am fortunate, but it is difficult to feel any joy when so many of the people who have generously opened not only their country but also their hearts to me and my fellow ex patriots.

1000 Words...

 [To view this video FULL SCREEN, just left click on the picture at any time and it will take you, as if by magic) directly to You Tube where you can get a full screen view.]

Of course you can find more videos on You Tube, but these three give you a good overview of the devastation.  I believe that the spirit of a people always becomes vivid during disasters.  Perhaps you can appreciate the Thai spirit in these videos.  I remember how friendly and kind all were during the famous Blizzard of 1978 that hit Boston so hard.  Brought out the best in us, that's for sure!

Living With Icons

Buddha Indicating Earth as Witness

Again I preface my remarks by saying that I have done no real research on icons in Thai life.  I base my remarks here on previous knowledge and daily observations.  Of course being brought up Catholic, I knew what icons were, even if I didn't know the word or its definition.  Any Catholic recognizes the Sacred Heart of Jesus as more than just a depiction of the human heart.  We are brought up to respect and honor the Sacred Heart as a reminder of the compassion and mercy of Jesus, whom we called Our Lord.  Yes, I knew icons growing up!

And as kids, we often had to defend ourselves against the charges of idolatry, worshipers of statues, crazy people who thought that by lighting a little red vigil candle in front of a statue of the Blessed Mother, we would get all our wishes granted.  Catholics believe in magic!  That's what those kids would say.

I always thought there was some truth to that taunt.  We believed that when the priest uttered the words this is my body...this is my blood over ordinary bread and wine, suddenly, magically, they became the body and blood of Jesus.  Really.  If that's magic, then living in Thailand is living surrounded by magic!

Thailand is a place where there are literally hundreds, no thousands of icons, big ones the height of a three-story building, and small ones the size of a grain of rice.  The subject of most of the icons in Thailand are, of course, the Buddha and the various episodes in his life.

Reclining Buddha, enormous icon

I knew that bread and wine were changed to the body and blood of Christ sacramentally.  Later, in the seminary, I learned that a sacrament is a sacred sign that brings about what it signifies.  Water signifies cleansing; thus, it is the perfect vehicle for the sacrament of baptism where one is cleansed of the effects of Original Sin.  All seven sacraments can be understood in this way.

A busload of monks, living icons

When I saw that icons are another word for sacraments, all the statues, amulets, shrines, temples, even the Buddhist monks, made absolute sense to me.  What impresses me is not that Thais are surrounded by Buddhist icons, for this is a Buddhist country, but that the Thai people live an iconic life in the same sense that a Catholic might be said to live a sacramental life.

Buddhists believe that a properly rendered Buddha image is a an actual spiritual emanation of the Buddha, which possesses supernatural qualities. Although the Buddha is not a god, Buddhists seek to communicate with the supernatural world through Buddha images, making offerings to them and praying before them.

Buddha at his Enlightenment

Icons and sacraments bring the spiritual world and the physical world together.  Seeing and worshiping the divine in the mundane is truly a joyful way to live.  One-Not-One is how this belief, this insight into reality is expressed.

In conclusion I believe that the Thai smile is iconic:  being in the presence of a Thai when he or she smiles (which is almost always), very few  can resist smiling too and feeling blessed and good about being alive.

The Thai Smile

Could the Thai smile be a result of their centuries’ long devotion to the icons of the Buddha?  Do we become what we believe and worship?  One of the attributes of the Buddha, an attribute which must (in accordance with the Buddhist Cannon) be present in any image of the Buddha for it to be a legitimate and effective icon, is the Buddha's smile.  Since an icon is, by its definition, an emanation of the Eternal Buddha, of course the Thai people, surrounded by icons of the Buddha, would acquire the Buddha smile.

It’s not a big have-a-nice-day smile. It’s more like the smile of the Mona Lisa, a great icon in Western art. Or the smile on the young Thai above playing the guitar in the park on a Sunday afternoon. I was the only one listening to him, so the smile was only for me!  Of course had anyone else been around, it would be only for them.  But the Thai smile is an iconic smile, not a personal smile.  When you see the Mona Lisa smiling at you, it's not personal; it's just iconic.

The Iconic Mona Lisa Smile

The Buddha Smile.  It's iconic

I hope I live long enough here to acquire the Thai smile, the Buddha smile....

Meet Papaya!

Thais love nicknames!  And among nicknames, they have a certain fondness for ones in English.  Why?  Why nicknames and why in English?  My comments here are not based on extensive research.  Most of what I know, or think I know, comes from my own observations and speculations.  Here's what I find fascinating about Thais and their nicknames:

• Their nicknames are not so much names as they are things.  Just a few of Thais I know personally:
• Lemon  a young man
• Apple, the woman next door
• Mango, the guy who waits on me at the supermarket
• Earn, the woman next door's little daughter
• Small, the owner of a cafe

• And here are some of the nicknames I have come across in my travels:
• Coke
• Pepsi
• Game
• Dollar
• Nut
• Chevolet
• Honey

So it shouldn't be surprising that often after meeting me and trying to say my name (George is very difficult for the Thai person to say with any kind of confidence), they will ask me, "What's your nickname?"  Thais just assume that everyone has one.  They all do!

After tiring of saying I don't have a nickname, dealing with the expression of complete befuddlement, trying to explain that only a few Americans have nicknames into their adulthood, I have chosen a nickname for myself:  Papaya.  Yeah, the tropical fruit papaya.  Why?  Well, Thais commonly have names of fruits for nicknames and also many already call me Papa, the Thai word for grandfather.  Thais will always try to figure out who you would be to them if you were a member of their family.  Actually, for a Thai to give a foreigner a title reserved for family members is a great honor.  It doesn't take long before I become Papa.  The name brings to mind Papa Hemingway and Papa Doc.

Now why do Thais have nicknames in the first place?  Two reasons:  First, the name they are given at birth is a traditional one often from the Sanskrit, difficult to say and difficult to write; Second, there's an old and sometimes present belief in the presence of evil spirits, ghosts, walking the earth looking for you by name. If you don't use your birth name, the ghosts never find you.  There's another reason based  on speculation:  It's fun to have nicknames!  For the Thai people, if something isn't fun, it's just not worth doing.

It's Official: Thailland Gave Me the Retirement Visa!

My good friend Tdaw at the Temple of Dogs.  What a smile!

Now I have a visa that is good for one year, renewable at the end of every year I live here.  Thailand wants and likes having foreigners come and live among them.  Basically, a foreigner living here contributes much to the Thai economy.  There are whole areas where if suddenly there were no foreign residents, houses would become empty, new construction would stop, and the local economy would become pretty much non-existent.

But Thailand in no way caters to foreigners as some countries do.  Foreigners who live here on the Retirement Visa are not allowed to work or to own property.  And every 90 days we have to report our present address, as well as our intention  to Immigration to continue living her for another 90 days.  Actually, only Thais can own property in Thailand.  A foreigner can own a house, but not the land on which it sits.  There's a reason why in all of Southeast Asia, Thailand is the only country never occupied by any Western power.  Never!  Japan was in that category until it lost World War II and became Occupied Japan.  I remember as a child looking at a toy and seeing the words Made in Occupied Japan.  The year was, I believe, 1950.  I asked by father what that meant.  His reply?  The Japs lost the god damn war for Christ sake!  That's what happens when you lose a war!  We won so we get to occupy Japan!  Dad was the master of the short but emotionally charged answer.  I got the message:  Don't lose the war!

Thailand was never occupied because of two characteristics, I believe.  First of all they would rather all die than have their country controlled by anyone other than Thais.  And secondly, they are master negotiators.  I think their strongest negotiating tool is their charm.  You have never really seen a smile until you have seen the Thai smile.  The Thai smile involves the whole body, mind, and spirit.  And they are not at all selfish with their smile, their charm.  Passing a Thai person on the street, a perfect stranger to you, without saying a single word, that Thai can make you want to do anything to please him!  And I don't think you have to be a people pleaser for the Thai to have that effect on you.  It happens to me every day, dozens of times.  Hundreds of times if I am out long enough!  I want to return the smile, but although I am genuine, I am not sure that my smile, like that of all the foreigners I know here, is not just my version of the have a good day smile!  It's not phoney.  It's just not as full bodied as the Thai smile.  Land of Smiles!  Thailand certainly deserves that title!

Owner and daughter at a cafe in Chiang Mai.  Thais cannot not smile!

And I live here! A full-blooded resident!

How happy I am that Thailand is so generous to the outsider. Who wouldn't be happy to live in paradise on earth!  Is Thailand perfect?  No, of course not, but it's damn close, at least for me.

Thank you Thailand!

The New Old George!

The New Old George! Pensive in Thailand and wanting to share my new life with family and friends. Why the beard? Here a bearded Westerner is VERY SEXY!

Yes, family and friends, I've done it again, something I do about every seven years:  I've made the changes in me that I have been thinking about, imaging, and contemplating for the last seven years.  One of my basic questions in life:  What's next?  Those who know me well know that from one decade to the next, I am not the same.  Except that I am the same.  How's that?  I am always changing, attempting to manifest in the exterior world the changes, actually the realizations, going on in the inner world.  That's me!

Following is a mix of other photos of the Bearded One, including ones I've dug up of me when, at another time in my life, I sported a beard.  Also, a photo of me and my friend Peht (Diamond) at Elephant Village and a photo of my twin when he put on his Claude Debussy look.  Enjoy!

Mom, Pat, and me enjoying a good time together c.1980

My good Thai friend, Peht (Diamond), at Elephant Village

You know I am ready for a change here!

In Jamaica Plain, c.1979

Jimmy, my twin, at about 25 years old

The Thrill Goes On

B. B. King does a signature song of his called The Thrill Is Gone.  He’s singing about a love of his, and he’s lamenting the fact that she “done him wrong” and now the thrill he experienced when he was with her is gone for good.  It’s a great blues classic.  Singing about being done wrong is pure, classic blues.

We must remember that the purpose of singing the blues, singing about hard times, is to create an antidote to the power of hard times to bring you down.  The blues are magical incantations to ward off the blahs, the heartaches, the sorrows, the disappointments, all the hard times that are part of every life.  Sort of a prayer, a prayer that makes you feel better when you are feeling worse.

Living in a small community of elderly and disabled, in a small New England town, as my health returned to normal, the blues set in for me.  No, I was not done wrong by anyone.  I was done wrong by the fact that I had finished my stay in Natick.  I had recuperated my health.  Every minute one stays where he can no longer live his life fully is a minute that does him wrong.   Chiang Mai, Thailand has become my song for chasing the blues away.

The Thrill Is Gone?  Yes, the thrill of all we did at Cedar Gardens, Natick, is gone.  But the thrill goes on!  What is the thrill that goes on for me, my Blueberry Hill, my theme song that I sing with full heart here in Thailand?  For me, it’s what the ancient philosophers called my tabula raza, the blank slate upon which I can write whatever moves my spirit.

Here I sing my song, where I know not the language and am surprised every day by what I see, hear, and feel.  A child again, with the experience and wisdom that comes from many years of experiencing and reflecting on life.  In the 73^rd year of my life, I find that all the habits, means of evaluating truth, and assumptions that have so often worked for me, everything from what a smile means to what kind of fruit I’m eating, no longer perform their expected functions.  Yes, I am a child again, trying to figure out just what a kid is to do in just about any situation I encounter.

I had become bored with knowing too much about where I was.  Actually that has occurred five times in my life.  Even more so, I was missing something vital to my happiness.  What was that?  The opportunity, indeed the necessity, to learn something that would require all my resources and energy, something which I dearly wanted to learn.

It is my conviction, after 42 years in the educational profession, that a human being will learn best that which he believes will lead him to what he so wants with deep, deep passion.  The stronger the passion to have access to something, the greater the passion to learn that which will bring about what is so deeply desired.

The Buddhism I follow teaches that “desires equal enlightenment.”  Desires as such are based on illusions, and they are, according to traditional Buddhism and the common understanding of Buddhism, to be avoided.  However, the insight of “desires equal enlightenment” is that the passion one has to stir up in oneself the desire to attain the thing desired is itself the very end and, indeed, beginning of Buddhist practice: Enlightenment.

One way to think of enlightenment is as the state of happiness, what B. B. King calls “the thrill”; that is, a happiness which one hopes will never be gone.  But, as the song laments, when “the thrill is gone,” one is left “singing the blues.”  The Buddhist thrill and the thrill sought in all spiritual practices, however, is for an absolute happiness, a happiness which nothing can disturb or take away. Ever.  But a thrill is a thrill, whether temporal or eternal.

Once the great Catholic theologian Theresa the Great of Spain was asked how it is the she sings and dances yet aspires to be a saint.  Her response, “If one does not know how to enjoy the joys of live here, how can she ever expect to enjoy the joys of the hereafter?”

In reality, one thrill is gone only to be replaced by yet another thrill.  In George in Thailand I will continue to share my new thrills in life with my friends and family.

My Trip to Myanmar (Burma)

It was eight hours on a bus just to be in Burma (officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar) for five minutes!  Yes, I went to the town of Maesai, situated at the border that separates Myanmar and Thailand, on what is here referred to as a "visa run."  Just before the expiration date of one's visa to visit Thailand, hundreds of foreigners run for the border to get a new visa.  I should say run for a border because Thailand shares its borders with four.  To the northwest there's Myranmar (Burma); to the northeast, there's Laos; to the southeast, there's Cambodia; and to the south, there's Malaysia.

He studied me and I studied him...

The bus I caught was a big V.I.P. Bus, as the sort of bus one would board to go from Boston to San Francisco.  But for my trip back to Chiang Mai, I bordered a very local bus.  Difference in the price of a ticket?  Big VIP Bus, $10; Local Bus, $2.  Of course most foreigners will opt for the V.I.P. bus, as I certainly did.  But for the return trip, all seats on the big one were occupied. At first I was a little upset and frustrated they won't let one purchase a round-trip ticket.  But then I thought:  Didn't I come to Thailand to have such such adventures? which brings to mind the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for!"

For me, the journey was the adventure, not the details of being officially signed out of Thailand, crossing the so-called "no man's land" bridge that joins Thailand and Burma, asking for and paying the fee for a visa to enter Myanmar, then crossing the bridged back to Thailand.  Thus I took no photos of anything but the trip itself.   Here are some more photos:

All monks travel free in Thailand

Monks get reverential treatment in Thailand. Almost every Thai man enters a monastery if only for a week or a couple of years.  They take the traditional  vow to follow the 227 Precepts laid down by the Buddha for monks.  Breaking one of the Precepts (rules), is called a pacittiya, something like what a Catholic would call a venial sin.  The Precepts are practical rules of behavior in the monks daily life.  They are not like The Ten Commandments in some Western religions.  There are no commandments in Buddhism, just as there are no commandments in any philosophy of life, only practical guidelines for living the Good Life, as Socrates might espouse. 

A rice field in the land that exports the most rice in the world

This photo only hints at the beauty of a field of rice in the tropics.  The green under the tropical sun appears as silk.  Rice is the national staple food in Thailand as it is in all of Asia and Latin America.  I don't know, but I suspect that only the English-speaking people of the world do not eat rice on a regular basis.  Here, as they do in Costa Rica, people eat rice at every meal.  I recall reading somewhere that the Thais were the first people to cultivate rice hundreds of years ago.

Another encounter with the foreign. We are a curious species!

So now I have a new visa, valid until July 9th.  Then I can get a 30-day extension.  By that time, I expect to have my Retirement Visa.  No more "visa runs."

My New Home in Chiang Mai, Thailand

My townhouse in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Welcome to my home in Chiang Mai, Thailand!  I'm like a little kid with his first big toy.  Sure I have owned or rented houses and cars and lots of goodies, but somehow my new home in Thailand is like the first place I call my own.  It's a house!  And I am the only person living here.  This only happened one other time in my life.  When I went on my Peace Corps assignment in a small rural village in Costa Rica, the United States Peace Corps in Costa Rica made all the arrangements.  I just moved in.  They even got a horse for me!  But this place I got on my own, with lots of help from my good friend Taq.  Here I can live better and cheaper than in public housing in the United States.  Not that I am against public housing.  On the contrary.  I simply make the comparison in cost of living here and cost of living there.

One of the things I like most about my place is that it's a two-story house divided into three sections without walls: Going from the front door straight to the back door, the layout is Living Room Area, Dining Room Area, Kitchen Area.  The Bedroom Area is above the Dining Room Area, so the Living Room and Kitchen have 2-story high ceilings, while the Dining Room and the Bedroom have only 1-story high ceilings.  Nice!  What I like least about the place are the stairs.  Very steep, as you can probably see by the photos.  Also, the bathroom is downstairs while the bedroom is upstairs.  So I get walking exercises not only during the day but also during the night!  All in all, though, I love the place!

The Living Room:

In the first photo is a photo of one of the most beloved kings of Thailand.  The former tenant left the photo, so I have decided to keep it.  Living in a kingdom means learning to honor the kings treasured by the Thai people
The reflecting tiled floor is not only beautiful, but it is also of a high quality, so it is easy to keep just the way you see it here.  I feel like Fred Astaire every time I see my reflection in it!  Where are you, Ginger!
The townhouse comes with basic start-up furniture.  Here you see the entertainment center, although until I get the appropriate piece for my Buddhist altar, it serves my practice well now.  Actually shortly after this photo was taken, an American teacher friend from Indiana sold me a nice big Sony T.V.  So now the Sony and the Buddha share the same space!

The Dining Room:

Stark, isn't it?  I am actually considering leaving my place with a very stark, sparse, New England Puritanical look.  There's something very calming about having lots of open space within the closed space of a house.  I do not like the crowded look some old Boston Beacon Hill apartments have.  Like the desert, open space invites a contemplative response.  I just do not feel like "filling it up."

The Kitchen:

A student of mine commented on Facebook, "I like the Pink kitchen."  I do too!  Actually, pink is the color of the King of Thailand.  You see a lot of pink in Thailand.  In Bangkok you even see lots of pink taxicabs!  I find that in the tropics, bright colors and pastels are very popular.  After all, here one is surrounded by the most beautiful and varied colors Mother Nature has created.  A plain brown New England house would be lost in the background here.  Since I first hit the tropics in 1962 in Puerto Rico, I have never ceased to be impressed by all the shades of green that exist in nature.  Amazing!
By the way, in the long shot of the kitchen, you can see the door to the bathroom (to your right) and the start of the staircase next to the back door.

The Bedroom Staircase:

It's six steps to the landing and then 10 steps to the bedroom door.  Like all stairs in any building I have been in either here in Thailand or in Taiwan, the stairs are very steep.  As most of you know, nature calls more frequently as one gets older.  In this case, she's calling me from 16 steep steps away!  It's a test of bladder versus will.  Luckily, I never sleep through the night, and as I have nothing urgent to do the next day, like teach classes, often I just stay up for awhile watching t.v., using the internet, reading, or praying.  It's a good life, really!

The Bedroom:

It truly epitomizes its name, for the bedroom is occupied almost entirely by the bed!  Not crowded, mind you.  There's space for a bureau along with the wardrobe that comes with the place.  But, for now, I'm not adding any furniture.  It's the only room with air conditioning, which is fine with me.  I put it on for a couple or hours before my first trip to the bathroom.  When I return, I switch to the fan.  Then after a few more visits downstairs, I switch off the fan and go to sleep with a wonderful tropical concert provided by critters I recognize and some which I think I'd rather not know!  The volume and quality of sound is worthy of Carnegie Hall!  I cannot describe it.  If you ever get to see the Thai movie, Tropical Malady, written and directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, you'll hear what I mean.  It's used as a soundtrack in one whole section of the movie.

There's a window on either side of the bed.  One looks down into the kitchen and the other looks down into the living room.  Cool!  They are windows not opened directly to the wind, but only indirectly through the front door and window and the back door and window.  It's like living in a tree hut without the tree!

The Carport

So what!  It's a carport and I have no car or any vehicle.  It's purpose, for me?  It's a nice "buffer zone."  Neighbors will come up to the gate and call out my name.  Even if the gate is open, no one will enter.  So no one actually comes to the front door, yet they are obviously there!  It's a big piece of real estate, though.  What shall I do with it?

In the photo below, notice what's at my front door: sandals and shoes, as footwear are removed when entering Thai homes; insect repellant, it's the tropics, baby; bottles, all consumed water must be from bottled, boiled, or chemically treated water; and a drying rack, no need for a clothes drier with the tropical sun available for free!

The Neighborhood:

Old Townhouses!

An abandoned business.  I think it's abandoned!

"The Soi Where I Live"

The corner of my soi

 Thanks for visiting my home!  Please do come again....