We spent our Leap Day exploring Thailand. We like the idea that on the next Leap Day we expect to be very much at home in Thailand. That’s a pretty great use of a bonus day!

As we put these thoughts together we are making our way from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport (we had to practice the pronunciation) to Vancouver International via Hong Kong. There’s a lot of sitting which awaits us in the immediate future! The modern miracle of travel often doesn’t feel so miraculous, but it does afford a great opportunity to reflect as you are between places. Not there. Not here. Travel is somewhere in between. Perhaps thoughts can go further when they are not grounded in any one place.

The time in Thailand puts us 15 hours ahead of PST (Vancouver), 12 hours ahead of EST (Toronto), and 6 hours ahead of CET (Warsaw, Bratislava). Amber commented how being so far in the future gives her a sense of superiority over those still living in the past: “how’s yesterday you peasants in the past?”. We laughed a futuristic laugh you haven’t caught up to yet.

It is said that when you learn a new language that it is not your mother tongue which gets in the way, but the last language you learned. While learning Slovak, our French recall was astounding. While learning Polish, at first we couldn’t distinguish between which word was Slovak and which was Polish. We can only imagine what abomination of a hybrid awaits as we inevitably create Pol-Thai-ish.

Living cross-culturally has given us tools that we bring to Thailand. These principles can help guide us, and certainly bring an added layer of self-awareness, but the Slavic and Thai worlds are different in so many ways. We have a number of initial observations, but for now we’ll summarize it as, “we’re not in Kansas anymore”.

And so we begin a journey that will one day seem familiar to us. Look out Past Peasants – we’re coming to rejoin you!