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