January 23

I've been sick, behind in work, and feeling a little burnt out lately. Just taking it one day at a time. Each day no longer holds surprise, and the monotony of it all brings comfort. I was finally clearing the bulletin board of pictures the kids drew for Christmas, and I found a picture Chard drew of him and I around the Christmas tree. We both sort of looked like middle-age men, in stick-figure form, but I knew whom it was of, because he drew arrows and labeled our names. I smiled inside. I want to go to Psar Thmei and buy Naro a new pair of shoes. He wears a pair of imitation Pumas that are 5 sizes too big for him, but they’re all he’s got. Someone gave them to his older brother, who gave them to him, and he’s sort of cute and funny, as he shuffles around in (on him are) gigantic clown shoes, the sound of them scuffing the floor a whimsical prewarning he's about to enter the room. His father is the night guard and his mother sells cakes in the marketplace, but its not enough to pay the school bills and the rent for their 7 children, and send them much to eat for lunch. His once white shirt is brown, he always smells endearingly unbathed, and the button on his pants has been broken for weeks. He’ll tie them with reeds or string he’s found on the floor, but sometimes his junk’ll fall out all over the place when he’s jump roping in PE. So he needs new shoes and a new school uniform, and it’s less than $10 to buy him all of these new things, so I plan to.

I also plan to go to Thailand in about a week and half. Liz, and I. Maybe around 8 days of it, half spent in Bangkok and the other in whatever island or coast that sounds most appealing at the moment. I’ve read into several cafes, discos, cinemas, music clubs, aquariums, night markets, zoos, and other such fun. It’ll be a nice change of pace. I can't wait.