In five days, I am leaving for five weeks in a country halfway around the world and these words, sawatdee kaa or hello, seem to be the only thing I can say with confidence. I’m a bit nervous.

Along with four other people from central Illinois, I am embarking on a cultural and vocational exchange to Thailand through Rotary International. (Who would have ever thought that I would be an emissary of world peace?) I am going to be leaving the safe confines of the Journal-Courier newsroom annex (where I typically bring you all the news that’s fit to be commented on later in Open Line) to go to a country where, I hear, I might occasionally have to pee in a hole and supply my own toilet paper all in the name of cultural understanding.

But what good is cultural understanding if I can’t share it with you, the Journal-Courier readership. So that is what I will be doing through this blog for the next five weeks. At this point I can’t quite say how often I will be sending you updates from around the world. Without a guarantee of Western toilets and hot water, it is even less safe to assume that I will have Internet access. When I do, however, you can be sure you’ll be the first person I write.

So for now, lagon or good-bye. (Hey, look, that’s a second word. I’m smarter than I thought.)

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