Here I am

You know, Istanbul was just such a great experience for me. It was one of those places that just struck me and it just stays with me. I am back in Bangkok three weeks and I feel that a part of me is still back there in Istanbul. Not very real?
The reality is here I am back in Bangkok and my life goes on. Istanbul remains more than a dream but it is a long way from a Bangkok. Actually anywhere could be a long way from a Bangkok. It is a huge Asian city, full of traffic and pollution but one that has its own charm and attractive qualities as well. A Bangkok can take you in while it is not one of the most liveable cities in the world. There is something about it? Or is it rather that there is something about Thailand while you see and experience so much of the anomolies of life.
I say all the time that Bangkok is a place where you life can change in 24 hours and that is something I experience so often. It is not an easy place to live with its harsh environment - the heat, the humidity, the lack of trees, the ever present traffic and the time you watse travelling - and it all takes its toll. It is a place where you constantly experience the extremes of humanity and life. In the same day, you can go on the rollercoaster of life, experiencing the very best and the very worse of humanity within the same day. All up life can get tiring.
You may ask then - Why do I live here?
The answer goes back to 2002, I was on sabbatical and I wanted to see the plight of refugees. So the closest and easiest place to do that from Australia as a Catholic priest, I thought, was to go to Thailand and connect with Jesuit Refugee Services. So I had two weeks here and went away knowing that this is where I wanted to be, where I needed to be in life. I fell in love with Thailand and felt this strong call to working with refugees. I went home and asked my Provincial about conming here and after three years of hard work and continually pestering my Provincial I finally made it, arriving in Bangkok on 5th October, 2005. I don't know why I remember the date but I have been here ever since. I never made it to the border and the refugees there but here I am where I need to be for now doing some good work, I hope, and trying to make sense of all that I see along the way.