Tuning in....

It was a pretty rough stretch last night; between the exhaustion and the heat and the recriminations a la 'what the hell am I doing here?', I got into a pretty unhappy state. Even managed to allow myself to shed some tears, alone in another cheapo room under a cheapo fan, is this my fate? (he wondered sadly). I was definitely into Hank Williams territory, along the lines of 'I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry'. (so that's what I did) (and it's a good thing, somehow, allowing myself that freedom)

Am I looking for sympathy? Not a bit. This is mere reportage of the fact that damn, it's hard to travel around the world; it takes it out of you, of me, rather. But things started to turn in the middle of the night. I did some reading, currently into a book called 'Tales of a Female Nomad' (Living at Large in the World) by Rita Golden Gelman, who definitely shares my perspective that there's a much bigger world out there than the American viewpoint. And I grabbed my guitar which is beginning to cooperate and stay in tune. Its insistance on getting out of tune was definitely a blow the other day; I guess I count on the ability to transform feelings into music, and when the guitar won't allow that, YIKES!

I ended up writing my first song of this trip this morning, a samba tune that is based on Desafinado, which I alluded to yesterday. Jobim slips a cool dissonance into that song, which is a dominant chord with a flatted fifth, and I 'borrowed' that harmonic idea and placement to create something nice. Once I got it rolling, the tune came quickly (just like I used to do, but I digress:-), and within a few minutes, I had a nice progression, a cool bridge and voila, a real nice jazzy song. It was one of those that I needed to write down, lest I forget the specifics, so that's what I did this morning, under the watchful eye of 'Prem' who is the owner of the place I'm staying. What a mensch he is! He brings me a cup of tea as I'm working and is delighted with the music and the process. (as am I)

Afterwards, I started teaching him about tablature, which is a simplified way of learning melody on the guitar. He has a little guitar and a song book full of typical Thai folk songs, and I showed him how the system works. It was a wonderful interchange, and I'm really glad to be staying at his place. He takes it seriously, wanting to make sure that his guests are taken care of, including keeping a watchful eye on the place. He doesn't want any ripoffs, which tend to happen around the 'full moon party' when the town is full of drunken foreighers. It's easy pickings for the criminal element, and if I was a pickpocket or other type of thief, this is exactly where I'd head.

Another great interaction was at the restaurant where I started my foray into the town. I had a bowl of soup (amazingly delicious) and spent about 45 minutes doing a language interchange with two of the women who work there. It was early and the place was quiet, which gave us a chance to learn from each other. I was writing down some useful Thai expressions (which I need to practice) and they were working on their English pronunciation, which is usually very difficult for people from here. It's the dipthongs, apparently. A word like 'flood' which is easy for us, is pretty impossible for them. We made a joke about it... a Thai person saying excitedly 'The freud is coming' (that's about as close as they could get to the FL sound. 'A Freud is coming' What, I don't understand. 'A Freud is coming' I don't understand..... Whooooosh, inundation. We were cracking up and it was a lovely scene to share laughter across cultures.

And that's the point of the book I'm reading. The joy comes from connecting with people, plugging in, giving and taking and sharing the gifts. I'm totally on board with that idea, and one thing I can really offer is help with the English language, which they very much appreciate. So today, after a long and unhappy night, things feel brighter and more in tune. I'm very grateful about that. My trip has begun.