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Simple moments of consideration hold the most value.

Next week I’ll be heading to Bangkok to give a talk on my dissertation work at the International Symposium for Biodiversity and Ecology of Wildlife in Thailand at Chulalongkorn University.

I’ll be in Bangkok for three days with the students and professors for the symposium, and then in the following days we will travel around the country to visit some field sites to see long-tailed macaques, stump-tailed macaques, pig-tailed macaques and gibbons.

I’ve been in the house most of this month concentrating on compiling some data to present and putting the presentation together, so I’ve been working late into the night and sleeping in the mornings. My schedule is kinda wonky and I haven’t been spending much time with people around Khao Yai. For the past two nights, I actually had dreams that I was trying to talk to my friends around here, but other people kept interrupting me and causing distractions preventing me from communicating with my friends.

This morning Jambee came over with an iron.

She said, “I haven’t seen you for many days, I miss you.”
“I know, I miss you too, I've been working so much lately." I said.
“When will you go to Bangkok?” She asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon,” I said, “I will be there for 3 days, come back for one day to go into the forest by myself, then the students will come visit.”
Then she said, “You will need to look good for your work, so we must iron your shirts.”

Jambee set up a blanket on the floor and plugged in the iron, while I got three ‘dressy’ shirts. She ironed all three meticulously while humming to herself and occasionally murmuring “three shirts for three days.” She told me to hang them up now and pack them lightly tomorrow so they don’t get creased too much, and asked if I had anything else to iron. I said no, so she went to look at all my clothes to verify.

I thanked her profusely and we set a time to go running together this evening.

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