A random week...

Yup, that's me...maybe not the most flattering picture, but not the worst!  I am down about 30lbs! Woo hoo!  Let's keep on truckin...

Written May 26th

It’s amazing how much more gratifying it is to eat macaroni and cheese that you had to sift through to get rid of ants, than it is to easily just pour it out of the box into the pan.  I know, I know…I talk about ants (and rain) a lot, but such is my life.  I mistakenly thought that my mac & cheese would be fine just sitting on a ledge in my room.  I mean, why would ants want dried noodles.  The cheese was safely stored in its own wrapping, so there is no reason for ants to infest my perfectly tasty box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese…boy, was I wrong.  A whole colony of ants made its way down from the ceiling, scampered up the sides of each of my boxes (5), and entered my precious (*creepy voice*…’my precious’) boxes of cheesy noodles.  Unlike the time when the ants ate some kit-kats, or when they infested my Girl Scout cookies, I was not going to let them stop me from eating this (chocolate covered ants just did not sound appetizing at the time). 

Unfortunately, this means that I was not able to wait until moving into my own place to eat these boxes.  I had put the boxes in zip lock bags, but the damage had already been done.  Ants were now trapped inside the bags with the mac & cheese, and they continued to feast.  So, how does one go about eating these?  Well, first you have to pour the noodles into a bowl.  Then you toss the noodles just as you would a salad.  This scares the crap out of the ants, forcing them out of their playground of tubes and slides.  You have a choice at this point.  You can patiently wait for them to crawl out of the bowl, or you can kill on site.  Me, well, I chose the direct approach (the American way).  I killed every little ant that I saw.  You can use any object that you want, but I figured out fingers, especially thumb and index, work best.

Now, at this point, you would think the job was done.  But, of course, it is not.  Ants do not only have the ability to enter things through small holes, they have the ability to make those tiny holes in the objects that they want to enter.  So, my cheese packets that I thought were so safe were not.  I will tell you now, this did cause me to pause.  Back in the states, I would not have eaten my mac if I saw any sort of ant even entering the box…now I am contemplating eat it when the ants have not only breached my box, but also breached my precious (again…*creepy voice*…my precious) cheese.  Screw it!!! I want mac & cheese and I am going to eat it. 

Again, process goes as follows.  First you have to dump the cheese into a bowl.  This time, instead of tossing the cheese, you have to carefully sift through it to find the ants that were buried during the dumping.  As you sift through, you carefully remove the ants with a spoon, then kill said ants with your fingers. 

Step 1 and Step 2 of preparation are now complete…and macaroni tastes delicious.  I am now down to my last box and am contemplating whether I will eat it tonight, or save it for the weekend…hmmm….choices, choices.

On another note, I turned in my suggestions for the Tessaban budget for next year.  I was super nervous about what they would think about my suggestions and was anticipating them coming to talk to me about it.  I put in 2 suggestions for what I would like to do in the next year.  The first was a World Map Project.  This is something that many PC volunteers do, because it has been discovered that geography is not something that is taught very much and it is a good way to teach students and adults alike about the world.  Pretty much, it entails painting a large world map in a public place.  It could be at a school, public health station, community gathering place, etc…  It gives the community a chance to work together to create something, while creating a lasting map of the world that they can look at.  The second project is a Life Skills Camp.  These are camps for youth that can be geared to hygiene, STDs/AIDS, leadership, etc…  I am planning on doing a leadership and empowerment camp.  My balot (supervisor) liked the idea so much that he decided to double the budget I suggested and stated that we will be going to a resort for the camp.  He already has ideas on speakers and other things to include.  I will probably still need to find more funding for the camp, but I am very excited that they took my proposals seriously and that we have some solid plans for the next year.

One of the village leaders came and talked to me yesterday.  He came, sat down at my desk and straight up asked me why I wasn’t at the dtalot (market) more often.  This is a central part of my Tambon where everyone comes to buy food, clothes, and household items.  He proceeded to tell me that if I was there more, than my Thai would get better and I would get to know the community more.  You know what, he is absolutely right.  I know that I need to put myself out there more and talk with the people more.  I originally had a schedule set up for myself to do this, but it got destroyed when I discovered that a lot of my headaches were caused by the sun and the heat.  I need to re-establish a new schedule to encourage me to go out in the community to do my job.  I can only do so much at the office, my job is the community; building the community.

(Side Note:  You may be confused about the whole ‘my precious’ business throughout this post, especially if you have not seen Lord of the Rings.  There is this dude, can’t remember his name, but at the beginning, he seems like this adorable little goblin guy.  Throughout the film though, he gets creepier and creepier, and I cannot stand it when people try to emulate his voice ‘my precious.  Makes me shiver and creeps me out.)

Written May 27^th.

Happy Birthday Dad!  Ok, well, it is still the 26^th back in TX where you are.  Hope you and mom had a good walk.

Anyways, yesterday was great.  It had rained the night before and clouds still covered the blazing hot sun, so I decided to drop off my computer at home in the afternoon and take a bike ride around the Tessaban and beyond.  It was wonderful.  A cool breeze (powered by me and my bike) brushed past me as I peddled down the road.  I decided to do a little exploring onto roads I hadn’t been on before.  I saw rice fields in different stages of growth (dry and cracked, to almost ready to harvest), I found a banana tree farm, a couple more wats, many people willing to wave and shout hello, and finally, I found myself lost.  I really thought I had kept track of what direction I was going the entire time.  Apparently, my internal compass is not as grand as I had hoped.  When I finally resigned to the idea that I had no idea where I was, I decided to just stay on one road and ride until something looked familiar (or I saw a sign with a little English advising me where I was headed).  Yes, this isn’t the brightest idea, asking directions probably would have been smarter, but it was still early enough in the afternoon that I would be able to turn around at any time and make it back to my village within an hour. 

I continued to pass stores, homes, schools, and children along the road (none of which I had seen before).  I would wave and smile at people acting much more confident than I was.  I was not ready to admit defeat.  I was about to give up when I saw a road ahead.  As I neared it, I saw a school that finally looked familiar.  Woo Hoo!!!  I knew where I was.  Success.  I am a genius…see I wasn’t lost, I was just misplaced for about an hour.  I decided I deserved a victory break and bought myself an Orange Fresca (Orange soda is my new thing out here) and went to the lake to chill on some steps for a while.  Ahh…relaxing.  Not too hot, no sun to hurt my eyes, and I can feel myself being content with where I am…and then it rains. Darn!

Banana Tree

Banana Tree farm

Rice field after its been flooded

Another rice field after its been flooded.  It rained the day before I took this, check out the deep grooves the rain made in the dirt road

 

It was a great afternoon.  I can’t wait til I have a chance to do it again.  Maybe today.  It rained a lot last night, so today is quite cool as well.  I just have to hope that the looming clouds doing hold a nice wet surprise for me.

Written May 30^th

That was a great weekend.  I slept in until 8am each day (ok, that is only 30 minutes, but it is much more gratifying to wake up on your own than by your alarm clock, right?).  On Saturday, the sky was coated in clouds.  Without the sun blaring down on me, I decided it was a good day to take a walk and go do some reading out at the lake.  I ended up sitting at the lake for 4 hours on a bench under a tree reading.  By the time I left, the sun was out and it was definitely time to  go.  I had gone through 2 liters of water just sitting out there.  I was in the shade most of the time, but discovered that my short walks gave me back my tan that had been diminishing since I have been indoors so much. 

Some kids discovered me while I was sitting out there, and I think they got a kick out of the farang sitting doing nothing except reading for hours (you don’t see this widely done here).  Each time they would pass me, 3 bikes, 2-3 kids per bike, they would shout out something and giggle:  “Hello!”, “How are you?”, “What is your name?”.  They wouldn’t wait for a response as they passed, just continued on giggling.  On each return trip, I would answer their last question.  Super cute kids.  I am sure that I will be seeing them again.

Sunday.  (Happy Birthday Mom!) This was also a nice relaxing day of reading and just hanging out.  I had thought about going into town this weekend, sitting at a coffee shop and reading, but I figured that I should wait at least one more week before I headed out of town again.  I want to make sure that I am in my community as much as possible (at least not look like I am trying to leave it).  Read a book (yes, the entire book), hung out in my room, and took nice walk.  Last night I fell asleep to the pounding rain on my roof…yes, tomorrow will be another cool day.

May 31^st

Final day of the month…another month down in Thailand…wow.  Crazy

This is the house I have been staying at for the last two months.

 P.S.  I am LOVING my Toms that Denise got me...wear them almost every day...Thanks Denise

Written May 20^th

It was a cool 96 degrees yesterday, so my room was a nice balmy 103 degrees when I came in at about 3:30 in the afternoon.  In the dark (because it takes 10-15 seconds for the lights to switch on), I went in search for the remote for my A/C unit.  Luckily, I found it on the pillow of my bed where I dropped it earlier in the morning.  Hitting the ‘ON’ button, I anticipated the cool hiss of air entering my room (bringing the temperature down to 77 degrees where I could huddle under a blanket and pretend it is a cold winter day).  Instead, a noise erupts from the unit that I couldn’t even begin to describe.  My face drops in fear that today may be the first day of me not having A/C at my new site (I was not anticipating this happening until I had a home to my own).  I watch the A/C unit open and pretend to shoot out cold air as the noise continues.  Then, it also decides that it knows it is going to die and starts to turn itself off.  That is when it happens.  Something drops out of the opening (of course I scream because I was not anticipating this) and lands on the rail of my bed.  First thing that I notice, the death noises of the A/C unit are gone, and cold air has started to come through…fabulous.  Second thing I notice…whatever fell out is still stuck to my bed.  I lean down expecting a leaf or something of the sort to be down there.  Nope, sitting on the side of the rail is a frog about 2 inches long.  He was there….and then he wasn’t. So, somehow, a frog jumped into my wall unit A/C (about 8 feet off the ground), ended up inside my room, and now he is exploring my room (and hopefully eating all of the ants).

I don’t mind having a frog in my room; he was kind of cute.  But, I do not, I repeat, do NOT want to accidently squish him by standing, sitting, or laying on him, and I don’t want to find his dead body being eaten by ants…so please Mr. Frog, if you can just avoid these things, I will share my room with you as long as you want.

Later that night, I was going for a pair of shoes, one that I don’t wear too often, when again I jumped back in surprise (I didn’t scream this time, promise).  Inside my shoe was a baby gecko, about 3 inches long.  He was super cute, but he had to know this was not his home.  I dumped him out and proceeded to put on my shoe.  Note to self: Remember to always check the insides of your shoes from now on before putting them on, you don’t like squishy things touching you and you definitely don’t like to clean them up.

This morning, I was moving some stuff on the floor (Yes, I know things are not supposed to be on the floor in Thailand, but I just don’t have enough room for all my stuff) when a spider decides to scurry out.  Again, I didn’t scream, but you better believe I reached for the heaviest thing near me and went in a frenzy to kill this thing (again, sorry, this is not the Buddhist way)…unfortunately, he was fast.  This wasn’t the biggest spider I have seen (in pictures) in Thailand, but he was a good 3.5 inches across…I lost him.  I will be moving slowly in my room the next couple of days in search of him…he can stay as long as I can’t see him and he kills the bugs…otherwise, we have a date with the next heavy object I can grab.

Tonight (5 minutes ago), I head to the bathroom to do my thing (Thanks for the mac & cheese Amanda!!! – loving the dairy J ).  I turn on the light, close the door, give the light a few seconds to turn on….and what do I see??  A huge beetle with inch long antennas flying out from the toilet…crap!  There is nowhere for him to go.  Now, you would think that the beetle would have some sense and would try to hide from the human, but no.  This beetle is a special one…he is a samari that laughs in the face of danger.  So, what does he do…he charges me!  He comes running straight at me causing me to jump in the air (quite high might I add) and try to get out of his way; but when I switch directions, he follows me.  Now, I had no qualms about killing the spider earlier, but beetles will make a crunching sound and then its guts will ooze out, this is not something that I really want to handle right now, and those guts would be all over my shampoo bottle, because that is the only object in the room other than my bare foot.  So, I guide my new found enemy away from the door, and then I have an opportunity to reach over to open the door and jump into the doorway.  The beetle follows me, then, luckily, runs through my feet into the darkness.  I slam the door shut, and finally, have the opportunity to do my thing. 

Long story short,  I really thought there wasn’t much wildlife in Bangrakam except mosquitos and other pesky, annoying bugs, but within 24 hours, within a 15 foot radius, I found a frog, big spider, baby gecko, and a big @ss beetle…luckily, only 3 out of 4 of these are in my room. 

P.S.  I turned in my proposal for the budget today to my supervisor (Balot).  He was happy but looked surprised when I requested 24,000 baht for 2 projects.  We will see what he thinks of it once it is translated.

Written Today (May 23^rd)

This weekend was a very relaxing weekend.  I actually slept in until 11am on Saturday.  I have no idea how I accomplished that, but it was much needed.  Lately, I have been having issues falling asleep, so I have been getting behind in it, so this weekend helped me catch up.  Unfortunately, when I woke up I had a headache so I decided to skip out on the futbol game and relax in my room.  Going out and running around in the sun was not going to help it get better.  I read a book (finished reading ‘Hot Zone’ and moved onto ‘Life of Pi’) and watched some TV (started back on season 1 of Bones).  It was great.  Sunday, I didn’t get to sleep in, but it was a cooler day.  Again, I read and watched some TV, but I also took a walk and spoke with some of the neighborhood men I pass every day and say hi to.  We finally did some formal introductions and I got them to laugh when I told them that I do NOT want a fan (not the fun, blow air on your face kind, the one equivalent to a boyfriend in the states).  Technically, it is not proper to say that I do not have a boyfriend and that I don’t want one, technically, I should be saying, “I don’t have a boyfriend yet” meaning that I am searching and waiting to find one.  But, the old men got a kick out of the fact that I said “mai mii fan, mai ao fan”.  I think I made their day J.   

It had rained a little bit last week (we are right at the beginning of the rainy season) so it was a cooler weekend, I think in the low 90s probably, which was very nice.  I was hoping that would last through today or tomorrow because I really want to go out and take some pictures, but we will have to see.  The sun looks like it is out in full force this morning. 

Side Note:  In case anyone wonders, or ever needs to find a new way of cooking Mac & Cheese, it can be cooked in a wok.  Since I am still with my host family, I don’t have my own stove or anything.  I advised them I got some noodles in the mail, but I was going to wait until I moved into my own home to actually eat them.  My host family was having none of that.  They wanted me to cook them there.  How did I know this?  Every other day, they would ask if I was going to be cooking them.  Every other day, my mom would insist on me using their kitchen.  It wasn’t until my mom brought a portable, electric wok upstairs that I realized that I was going to really have to start cooking some macaroni in this house. 

Turns out a wok can make VERY good mac & cheese…YUM…I don’t even care that it is not as cheesy as I normally made it in the states because it is cheese…I get to eat cheese…so, I have now cooked it twice, and I have figured out why my host family was insisting on me cooking it…they wanted to watch.  They had never seen any American food made before.  My host mom and sister watched me cook the noodles and I explained how the cheese packet and milk (I skipped the butter – too expensive) make a creamy sauce.  Of course, when it came time to eat, they both said they didn’t like it without even trying it (I try all of your food – even when I know it will be gross ahead of time, why not try mine?).  That was ok, more for me…and I think they were trying to be nice and not eat my American food.  But, anyways, just for future reference, mac & cheese + wok = yumminess.    (Amanda:  Your pot is still bright and shiny clean, it will be christened once I get my own place)

On another note, my host mother gave me the best bananas.  They are amazing.  They are called ‘gluai home’.  They are my favorite type of banana out here.  Thailand has many different kinds of bananas; each with their own distinct look, smell, taste and texture.  Love them.  It’s always fun to try a new banana.  I have also learned to really like pineapple out here.  I don’t like it in the states (unless it is just a favoring in something), but eating fresh pineapple out here is very refreshing on a hot day.  And, you have to love that the people that you buy it from will cut it up for you…all the work done and you get a cut up, fresh pineapple for less than $1.  Yup, this is the life.

Picture Gallery:

This is a cup of water in my room.  I left it out and open for a few days and ants decided that they had the ability to swim and thought they would enjoy it.  The dark glob in the center of the water is a pile of ants.

 This is a monitor lizard that I was trying to get a good picture of.  Of course, a dog had to run up and scare it, so its not too good of a picture.  He was about 3 feet long.

On the local bus in Pi'lok headed to my relaxing weekend 

 Hotdog anyone?  This one has been sitting at room temperature for hours.  I think Thai people like hotdogs more than Americans, and they know how to do a lot more with them

 

 Finished getting ready for a night out

Home Sweet Home

The air smelled heavy with rain.  Wind bent the trunks of small trees and leaves waved as my bus passed them.  I knew that the rain would fall soon.  I was right.  Streaks of it slid across my window as I looked out.  Rice fields passed one after another and the lady sitting next to me simply said ‘fon-dtok’ (it’s raining).  

I wasn’t expecting to exhale a sigh of relief when my bus took me over the bridge that brought me to my village.  I had just finished a 3 night stay at a fabulous hotel in Phitsanulok.  My hotel included a full room (including bath and shower with hot water), a pool, a mall, a club, grocery store, and a few places to eat such as the Pizza Co. and KFC.  We were in heaven.  No one quite knows what it feels like to take a hot shower (with water pressures) when you use a bucket shower and/or take a cold shower every day. The feel of the water pounding on your body is amazing after not having that experience for months.  I slept in a bed that was made out of a real mattress, not the broken board that I sleep on now, and I was even able to sleep in until almost 9am one morning.  Again…heaven. 

This was a much needed break.  We were able to relax, visit the local night market, and get a massage (my second one in a 2 week period).  After taking a dip in the pool we would head back to our rooms to watch some Law and Order or go to the pizza place for ANOTHER pizza or pasta.  Relaxation was the goal of the weekend and I think we succeeded. 

Heading home on the local bus, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to go back.  I kept thinking about the warmth of the bed against the coolness of the A/C room and the feeling of togetherness that you can’t quite achieve with people who don’t understand exactly what you are going through being the only farang around.  I wasn’t sure if I was prepared to be thrown back into it all.  On the bus, I carried on a short conversation with a Thai woman about why I was taking the bus to a remote town instead of heading to BKK like all of the other farangs, and what I was going to do in Thailand for two years.  It wasn’t until I reached my village, that I truly understood that I was home.  I was ready to be back.

It is strange that there is a city 30-40 minutes from my village where I can find other farangs, eat farang food, and almost, just almost, feel like I am back in America.  It is strange that there is such a large difference with just a short drive.  About a 10 minute bike ride from my village the differences that you see are even more drastic.  Most people that I live near get the luxury of living in a cement house, and many are able to install some sort of shower head if they choose to.  A few minutes away, the houses are all wooden.  Holes litter the floors and walls, and the walls stop short about a foot from the ceiling.  In the evening, bugs infest these homes, and in the winter, the river rises and knocks on their doors.  But, 40 minutes away, people have steady electricity, running hot water, malls, spas, and they live a western way of life.  It is hard to imagine a transition that drastic at such a small distance.  

The wonderful thing about Thai people, though, is that they don’t dwell on what they could have, should have, or want to have.  They are content and happy with where they are in life.  They know that they have their family, friends, and health and they are content with that.  The people that I see happiest here are the ones that seem like they have the least.  One thing that I think Americans (including myself) forget often is that money doesn’t solve everything.  Money can be what leads a person into a depression, money can ruin lives.  I understand that we all need money to survive, especially in America, but we need to learn not to focus so much of our happiness on it.  We need to look further.

So, how do you make friends in the Land of Smiles:

Step 1: Smile at someone (they will ALWAYS smile back)

Step 2: Ask: Gin kaao lEEo ruu young (Have you had your rice yet today?)

Step 3: Talk about food…any food, doesn’t matter

Step 4: Eat…doesn’t matter if you are full already, eat with them anyways

Step 5: Buy some kanoms (Thai treats or fruit) to share

You are now friends

I was joking with Ron Muay the other day about how when I say that I am full (im lEEo) I am truly and utterly full (unless they are eating something gross – then I might lie).  But, when I Thai person says they are full, they are just full of that one thing, they are just ready to move onto the next.  Ron Muay explained to me, that Thai people have 4 chambers in their stomach.  The first is for the rice.  The second and third chambers are for the main course and some fruit and the final is for desert (kanoms).  They always have room for more.  I have yet to meet a Thai person who is truly full…because even after they state ‘im lEEo’ four times, they always seem to go back for more.  *I wish I could do that and stay super skinny.

Anyways, life is good.  I have been invited by the police chief to play soccer (futbol) with him on Saturday, so that will be interesting since I understand the main concept of the sport, and I will watch it, but I have never really played it…we will see how that goes.  I am about to turn in my budget to my Tessaban so that will be a relief when it is finished, and hopefully, in the next couple of weeks I will get more news on my housing situation.  I have a couple more invites to go out of town, all in the central region of Thailand, but I may be planning a trip to head to an island in a couple of months.  Hopefully, everything will work out.  

Ants

Last night I walked into my room to see my toothbrush and toothpaste in a swarm of ants.  Apparently, I had not cleaned my toothbrush off thoroughly that morning.  I looked at this in disgust knowing that I would still be brushing my teeth with that very same toothbrush in the morning.  

I never really thought about ants before and the dynamics of how they work together to survive.  This week, I received a package in the mail.  I was waiting to open up the box.  It was sealed shut with masking tape, and I knew that as soon as I opened the box, ants would catch on to the goodies that I was hiding from them.  I was debating on whether I should open the box now or if I should save all contents of the box for when I moved into my own place.  I had finally decided to wait when I noticed the thin line of ants making there way up the side of the box and into a hole created during transport.  Uh oh, this could only mean one thing…something inside the box had opened up.  I was going to have to dive in and find out what.  

In this package, amongst other things, was a box of chocolate rice crispies. The box had been crushed sometime between the time it left the post office in Washington and reached my office in Bangrakam.  When the box was crushed, it compressed the bag inside causing it to open up and spill out some of my precious cereal.  L Sad.  Luckily, because the ants were going for the readily available cereal, the rest of it was safe…I was still going to be able to eat it.  YAY! J

By this time it is about 8 o’clock at night.  I empty out the contents of the box, inspecting everything to see if I can find any other holes that might entice more ants to infest my room.  I determine that there are none, and worked my way back to the box.  I am out of plastic bags in my room, so I have no where to put the cereal that spilled from the bag and I don’t feel like walking down the road to find the closest trash can (Yes, amazingly, I live in a village that has trash pickup service) so I decide to wait until morning.  I mean, the cereal is all the way at the bottom of the box, I don’t need to really worry about anything.

It was 2 hours later when I look up from watching a True Blood (I am currently in the middle of season 3) episode on my computer to see a piece of cereal making its way across my bedroom floor.  A couple feet back from that one, I see another.  Then, I look at my box.  There are is group of 20 ants or so, making their way down from the top of the box, carrying another piece of cereal.  I am in awe at the coordination and teamwork that these ants will go to so they could take my food back to their home to get a sugar high.  

I think the Thai people are a lot like these ants.  Ants are communal.  They share everything, they help each other, and it is just a way of life.  Thai people don’t completely understand when someone says that they want to be alone.  They can take offense to it if they think that you don’t like them.  They enjoy living in big families, having large celebrations, and being together.  Thai people also work very hard.  It doesn’t always seem like it with all the holidays that seem to crop up, or the parties that interrupt the work days on occasion, but when it gets down to it, they put all of their efforts into their work.  Farmers wake up before the sun to go work their fields.  They often are working in the blistering sun without any shade or machines to help them make their work easier.  I continue to be impressed by the passion that goes into each person’s job and how much they seem to enjoy their work.  

Unfortunately, last night, I discovered another hole in the bag carrying my thoroughly melted, yet scrumptious kit-kats.  One of the kit kats had opened and I had a slew of ants roaming around in there as well.  I threw away a few kit kats and then a box of Tagalogs (ants got in there too).  Overall, the package was a success.  Almost everything that arrived made it, and I will be able to enjoy every last bit.  (Side Note:  The people at my Tessaban seem to really enjoy the Thin Mints, but when I attempted to offer the Samoas they looked at them in disgust and gave me a polite response when eating them – Good!  Cause now I get them all to myself)

I should feel lucky that ants are my biggest problem (along with the infestation of dengue mosquitoes around my desk at work – I was specifically told yesterday that I am going to end up in the hospital with break-bone fever).  In other parts of Thailand, I have been hearing about centipedes that are 10 inches long, cockroaches that infest bathrooms and bedrooms, spiders that are larger than your hand and sometimes hide in your toilet to scare you in the middle of the night, rats that sit on your bed watching you sleep, and large scorpions that sting you in the middle of the night waking you up and causing a portion of your body to swell up.  Yup, I feel very lucky that ants are my only issue at the moment.  

BKK Weekend

Bangkok was a blast.  I stepped off my bus at about 7:30 pm on Friday and was ready for action.  Liz and I (we travelled together) went straight from the bus station to jump in a cab to take us to the closest BTS (monorail) station to make our way to our hotel where everyone was waiting for us to go out.  Already, you could tell we were no longer in rural Thailand anymore.  Cars were honking, our taxi got stuck in traffic, and we were swarmed by people getting on and off the train as we pushed our way on.  Bright lights whipped past us as the BTS train gained speed in between stops.  In about 15 long minutes and 1 transfer, we had made it to our hotel.  

The girls all met up in my room before we headed out the first night

We had about 10 minutes to change our clothes before we were rushed out the door to start our first official evening in BKK.  We went to a bar called Witches Tavern and met up with another group of PCer’s from the group that got to Thailand the year before us (122er’s).  Since it was the day after Cinco de Mayo, I had some margaritas, some other people had a few tequila shots, and drinks were passed around.  The evening had begun.  Since I had not eaten since boarding the bus (we were provided a meal, water, and desert shortly after starting our bus ride), I was starving.  I ordered a cheese burger and fries to go with my delicious margaritas.  In all the shuffle of getting drinks for everyone, they forgot to make my burger, but an hour and a half later, I was eating one of the best burgers I have had since getting to Thailand.   The only thing that could have made it better was if they threw on some bacon and BBQ sauce (YUM!).

Dom and me (sorry, horrible pic) and dancing at a clue in BKK

Some people had arrived the night before and already had a night on the town.  They had gone to a club and met the owner who invited everyone to come back with them.  So, we left Witches Tavern and made our way through the streets to the next stop on our adventure.  I think it definitely can pay to be a foreigner in a city that likes American’s.  We had a whole section of the club reserved for us and were provided with a bottle of whiskey that was served for us by our personal waiters.  We danced, we laughed, and we let loose of all the tension that had built up from needed to be “on” all of the time at site.  It was definitely a fun time. 

The next day, Saturday, was nice and relaxing.  A group of us found a place that served an American breakfast called Bourbon Street, and had a late brunch.  We split up then and I ended up heading to a mall called MBK to check it out.  The only way to describe it is massive.  I believe the mall has eight levels with one store leading into another.  It felt like the Christmas season in Seattle with how many people were packed into the small walkways in between stores.  It was definitely overwhelming compared to my site.  On the 5^th floor I was able to find a small coffee shop with comfortable chairs.  This is what I have dreamed about since coming to Thailand.  A place where I could just sit a read for an hour or two.  I ordered a drink, got out my Kindle and just sat there for an hour.  I forgot about everything.  I was in my own little world for a short time.  It was wonderful.  Before leaving the mall, I got a much needed hair cut and purchased a new shirt for the evenings festivities.

The criss-crossing escalators at MBK mall

Some of my friends had heard about a Mexican restaurant that had ladies night that night and would serve margaritas to ladies for free from 10pm-midnight.  So, we planned on going out to dinner, getting ready and heading back out on the BTS for another fun night out.   There was a little pizza joint right outside of our hotel, so we decided to stop there.  I split a pasta dish and salami pizza with a friend.  AMAZING!!  I will definitely be hitting this place up again the next time I am in BKK.  After changing we headed out and did some exploring of Bangkok before descending on the Mexican restaurant.  We stayed there for 2 hours chatting, laughing, and of course, drinking our free drinks.  Because we were all still tired from the previous evening, and a few of us had to wake up early to catch our buses the next day, we decided to head back to our hotel and hang out there.  After hanging out for another couple of hours, my time in Bangkok was wrapping up.  I headed off to bed and woke up the next morning in time to pack and head to the bus station.

Last night on the town before heading back to site

I would have to say it was a successful mini-holiday.  A much needed time to re-energize, talk to friends out their experiences that they have had over the last month, and get ready for whatever is to come at us next.

Back home (Bangrakam):

I left my site on Friday believing that I would be viewing a rental house today to potentially move into.  I had a lot of faith that this would be the house for me.  This morning, about an hour ago, I was advised that this home was no longer available.  I would not be able to move in there, and I will be staying with my host family through, at least, the remainder of this month.  There is another man building some homes right now that will be completed next month sometime, so there is a chance that I will have a place in the near future.  

This was a blow for me after this weekend.  I was sure everything was on the right track.  But, I have to remember to take a few deep breaths and remember that I can’t expect everything to work out perfectly.  I have to remind myself that getting my own home is not my purpose for being here, and that I really do like the host family that I am staying with currently.  I can get through this.  I can adapt, and I can do this…this is just an obstacle that I need to find a way around.

Biking through the butterflies

I had hoped for some thunder showers while at work this week, but I settled on biking down the road with butterflies weaving their ways across my path.  There are all sorts of butterflies out here right now and they seem to enjoy accompanying me on all of my bike rides.  Each butterfly will stick around for 10 to 15 seconds before it is replaced by another.  It makes me feel like I am some sort of movie; you know, the perfect scene where the girl is biking down the country road with butterflies flitting about?  Well, I am sure in the movies, she would have a woven basket on the front of her bike (not a misshapen metal one), a banana seat (not a men’s seat), skinny little tires, and handlebars with tassels on them (not a mountain bike that can’t make its way through a muddy road), but none the less, I did feel like I was in a movie.  

I had a little bit of a down week with potential houses falling through one after another for various reasons.  I am hoping that the one I will be looking at next week will be the one and that I can move into it shortly after saying the hopefully inevitable “YES” when they ask me if I like it.  In the mean time, I am raising my spirits with a holiday tomorrow (sleeping in ‘til 8am) and a road trip down to Bangkok on Friday to meet up with 20 of my new closest friends for a nice American weekend.  Can’t wait! 

Things are going well.  I feel a little bit behind others in the project department, but I know that I can catch up with them.  Next week will probably be spent out in the community asking questions and developing my potential 1yr plan for my Tessaban.  I need to work on my surveys a little bit more and get my translations down before I head out though.  I think it can be done.  – Well, it better be ‘cause I have a deadline looming in front of me J

Anyways, as usual it is still hot maak maak (very hot) in Thailand.  The rainy season is expected to start in the next month or two so we will see what that brings, but for right now, I am enjoying my solo bike rides, my American movies on my hard drive, and meeting all of the people in the Tessaban that I live in.  Life is pretty normal right now, nothing much to write about, but hopefully, this weekend will bring an adventure to report.

Sidenote: What do you call something that is made of Ice, condensed milk, and flavors of some sort - fruit, oreos, etc...  It's not a smoothie because it has milk (well, sort of), and its not a milk shake because it has ice.  I don't know what its called, but if you make it with oreo's and strawberries its very good.