Thai beau???

Still Feb 25

Also side note about site: I just told my family and I forgot to mention that when I told them they kept saying things like it would be cold there and there will be mountains(which is won't and there won't be) so I was all confused because I was pretty sure I was on the beach and southern but I just looked and them kinda confused thinking well maybe I got it wrong.  Maybe when my ahjaan told me where to stand on the giant map they made on the floor they got it wrong.  OR maybe when they handed me a folder that included all of the names of the people I will be working with and a map with my picture on it in eastern thailand, maybe I got it wrong.  Anyway after a good couple minutes of doubting myself I said I'm pretty sure its not cold, I'm pretty sure its warm and near the beach.  And they say, oh of course you are going to Trat not Tat(or some other thing that sounds like Trat but without an R).  So then I had to go through a good couple minutes of my family practicing how to say R's with me, which is mostly hilarious because my dad was sitting there laughing at me and coaching me but for this entire time he's been calling me losie. So yeah, it is what it is.

Feb 27

Today is once again HOT AS BALLS!!!!  Thats pretty much all I can think about right now.  I'm sitting in front of my fan with prickly heat all over me just sitting here waiting for it to get cool enough to toss and turn all night.  Also Snake Brand Prickly Heat is pretty much the best thing ever.  I'm pretty sure I must have mentioned this before but srsly its like my new (or old, or whatever) god. I don't go anywhere without it and whenever I get off my bike I basically just sprinkle about a 1/3 of a cup down my shirt and it feels like my skin is being frozen off.  Its amazing.  And yeah, I know there are a bunch of you saying it probably has something in it the gives me cancer or something and ya know what, you are probably right.  I have actually developed a rash once or twice from it but I have neglected to tell the doctor (that I am required to have on speed dial) because I don't want him to tell me that it's bad for me. Mostly because its not like I'd stop using it but then I would knowingly be using something that is bad for my health and peace corps might get mad at me. 

Also today we were in class and we were asked how many weeks we had left of PST and we all said all sorts of different answers but it turns out it 2 weeks. In 2 weeks I'm gonna be living in Trat and getting to know the community that I will be in for the next two years.  I can't really believe that this is happening.  Also its 37 degrees (100 F) right now at 8:30 pm in Si Prachan and its 3 degrees(37 F) in portland at 5:30.  

Feb 28

I realized today that I spend more a taco bell getting a meal than I do in thailand getting a meal.  Thats disgusting.

I also realized while writing that that I really need to clean my computer screen because on any give night I kill about 20 bugs by pushing them against my screen just hard enough to kill them but not enough to get enough of their guts on the screen so there's a mark.  So basically I have a great film of undetectable insect guts on my computer screen. and all over my hands for that matter.  and I wonder why my face breaks out.  

Anyway. another fun story about eating for you.  So today was fine but nothing too exciting happened so I'm going with this instead.  About a week or so ago I got a text from my friend Andy and it said, "chicken intestines for dinner - aroi maak maak".  I was super intrigued the next day because I want to try everything(which made me think of the Pink egg story and hopefully I will remember to tell it) so anyway I'm asking him about it the next day and he says its cylindrical and cut into about 1.5-2 in tubes and at the end of the tube it looks kinda like its folding in on itself again. This starts to sound kinda familiar and I start asking some more specific questions.  Is it kinda white and then in the middle have a slight brownish color. yep. Does it often come in an unknown broth? His did, but he's not sure what it usually comes in.  So it turns out this is something I have eaten almost every day that I have been in thailand and for breakfast no less.  I have gotten so comfortable with blindly eating what I've been given that I literally have been eating chicken intestines for a month and a half without realizing it.  It seems a little weird to get all weirded out now and to be honest they are pretty tasty so I'm just running with it. 

Oh so the Pink egg story though.  So I went to the market with my mom to get some sugar to make the kanoms we made last week and she got two bright pink eggs.  I know my fair share about eggs and there are naturally pink eggs(as in came out of a chicken pink) and these were not those.  Not only were they as hot pink as an egg could ever get but they also almost looked like they had paint on them or something.  I asked her what was different about these eggs. Were they already cooked? Is that why they painted them pink so everyone would know? 

---

interjection: this is one of those things that you are supposed to try not to do as a PCV.  You will try to make sense of a situation using this thing that you call Logic.  That thing doesn't exist here. Or it's does but it looks nothing like your Logic. Its your Logic flipped upside down and sideway and beaten up until the only thing that is really the same is the name.  So yeah, I don't know why I tried to feed her the answer in a nice little package that made so much sense to me.

---

So low and behold she says, yes that's why they are already cooked.  I give myself a nice little pat on the back thinking I am so smart and I figured it out and I did it all in thai.  GO ME!! So we get home and we start to unpack the groceries and start back in on making the kanom's and she tells me to get the eggs. She takes one and hands me one and says 'gin daai mai' which is 'can you eat?'. Knowing that I'm not a huge fan of hard boiled eggs but not wanting to refuse what she obviously bought as a snack for us I decide I can take one for the team (and by team I mean me) and eat a single hard boiled egg. So the next thing I know I look over and my mom has what looks like a hard boiled egg thats yolk is made out of blood. Its kinda see through, dark red and coagulated just like a hard boiled egg would be but its dark dark red.  So ya know given my experience with blood before I asked is it blood? She cackled and cackled but assured me it wasn't blood. At this point I opened mine as fast as I could so I could inspect it further because her's was almost done. So I was just in awe for a while and then I opened it up. The yolk had the normal consistence on the outermost rim for about a quarter of a centimeter and then the inside was a bright orange pudding like consistency.  Now knowing that I want to try everything and being terrified to try this I decided that if I was going to do it I had to do it now and not smell it or anything because at every moment it was looking more disgusting.  So I ate a bite.  Honestly, it wasn't bad.  It kinda didn't really taste like anything.  I sat there chewing it, thinking about it and realizing that I really wasn't tasting much. But I was still unsure because I was looking at this disgusting thing knowing part of it was about to go into my stomach.  So I decided to take another bite and make sure it was as unassuming as I thought it was.  Immediately I almost vomited and honestly I can't tell you why. I mean besides the obvious.

Oh also today I read a hilarious headline in the bangkok post that was Meatballs pulled amid Horse Scare. Apparently Ikea had to pull all their meatballs off the shelf in a couple countries because there was some fear that they might contain horse meat.  But more importantly apparently Thailand has Ikea, which means Rosie has meatballs.  And considering the other things I've unknowingly (or knowingly for that matter) eaten I really don't think horse meat would even be in my top ten.  YAY FOR MEATBALLS!!

Feb 28

Recently I realized I talk to myself a lot.  I mean I guess I always knew that but it's become more interesting now that I don't have Punky to excuse it. The other day I was watching a tv show on my computer and I was alone in my room watching an american tv show and I out loud said, 'duai'.  This is concerning for a multitude of reasons. 1) I'm talking to myself. 2) I'm talking to myself in Thai. 3) Thai houses are small and when you randomly say duai(which means 'also') at 10:30 at night when everyone else is half asleep you probably sounds totally batshit insane.

Feb 2

Okay so I've been at my site for a full day now and I am crazy excited. Yesterday I went into Bangkok with 49 other PCTs(for those of you keeping count, aka no one, yes we did loose another PCT, her name was Allison and I cannot even lie and say that I will miss her. mostly because the only interactions that I had with her were annoying. so yeah, it sucks for her but oh well). Okay so we all go into bangkok and take a tour of the gorgeous PC office which is in an awesome 300 year old house in bangkok.  And then we are all off on our adventures…well kind of.

First we all sit in the parking lot like a bunch of idiots trying to figure out who needs to go where and how to get there and who needs to eat before hand and what they want to eat and how to get there and then where they ACTUALLY want to go.  So yeah, I'm about to shoot myself in the head, not because its all so dumb, because it's not really, I just want it all to be done already.  Also we are 49 sheep and we have been carefully herded and contained and told where we were supposed to be for every minute of every day for the last 2 months and then they literally say, okay, you're free and we have absolutely no effing idea what the hell we are supposed to do.  So anyway I end up with about 9 other people of those people I am sure there are at least 20 different plans in different peoples heads so I decided we should probably walk outside the peace corps building and get on our way.  I figure the impetus will make someone make a decision and that will force everyone to choose to either do it or not(keeping in mind we are sheep).  So yeah I start walking outside and it works and then we are all outside.  A couple of us talk a bit about getting a taxi and continue walking because we are on the wrong side of the road. We cross the road and we continue walking.  Then someone points out that we still want a taxi and we realize we have to walk up to the next block because this block is only busses.  So we end up walking a couple blocks and thinking we can see victory monument where we can get on the Skyway(above ground subway) which will also take us where we want to go, so we keep walking.  After about 10 blocks in 100 degree heat with bags we realize we were wrong so we should get in a cab.  We have 10 people so we get 2 separate cabs. At this point my friend Phil is taking the lead because he lived in Bangkok for a year and I trust him.  So he talks to the cabbie and we all get in and I have already looked at the map and have a general sense of where we're going.  However, we picked up the cab on a one way street going north and we wanted to go south east so we go north for a bit and our cabbie passes a few little streets and I double check with Phil to make sure he double checked with the cabbie on where we were going.  He did.  So we turn east finally and I feel relieved and on the next street the cabbie is in the turning lane to go north.  So yeah apparently Morchit(pronouced basically like More Shit) sounds a lot like Pleonchit (apparently pronounced like something close to More Shit). Anyway, so yeah we figured it out and turned around and it turns out we arrived only about 10 minutes after the other taxi.  

So that was the adventure of the day and then we ate mexican food, which was awesome for bangkok, but really just made me want the food cart that used to be at 34th and Division. And then I started getting worried because I am a worry wort and it was 12:30 and my bus was supposed to leave at 2 and it was a friday and Trat is a fairly touristy area and there are lots of ferries to the islands and and and basically I snowballed and got worried that the bus was gonna be sold out.  So my friends Joel and Andrew and I made are way the 6 whole stops on the sky train to the station. Side note the sky train is cool and not really what I expected but hard to describe the closest thing I can relate it to is the BART. So then we get to the station which was also not what I was expecting. I guess I was expecting more of a building. I'm pretty sure the one 'room' of this bus station didn't have any walls it just had ticket counters that kinda sorta served as walls.  Anyway, I bought my tickets and I asked what time it left because I hadn't specified a time. And boy am I glad I asked, because I would've taken my sweet time at the 3 or 4 market stalls in the station and gotten myself some treats for the 5 hour trip, but my trip was leaving in ten minutes. So I say bye to the boys and run to the restroom to pee before being locked in a bus for what will probably be more like 10 hours.  And low and behold I get on the bus and who is sitting in the back waiting for me, Joel and Andrew! It made that 7 hour ride way more fun to have friends for 5 hours of it. 

So. Site.

It's interesting.  It is very developed.  I don't think there will ever be a time that I will known here as The Farang and thats because there are too many of us.  Today I saw more farangs than I have in the entire time that I've been in Thailand. I have so many awesome opportunities and I think its gonna be an unbelievable post but I am also very sure it will be nothing like what I thought(even with my adapted expectations given thailand).  If I choose to live in the house that I am currently in(which is awesome but has some interesting downsides) then I will be a kilometer from work, 2 kilometers from a telco/lotus(the equivalent of a target or walmart), 5 kilometers from the hospital and wat/school that I will work with and about 7 kilometers from the school for autistic children.

March 3

So the motto of my district is 'Mangosteen fruit yield big cocks. Traditional Boat race. Courtesy unity.' 

Too good for too many reasons. Mangosteens, big cocks, road races and courtesy. This town was made for me. Also, for real though there are big cock statues everywhere, as in chickens. And its because Trat's animal is a fighting hen, or so my new meh said, but then when I asked if they fight she said no, so I'm pretty sure there was some miscommunication there somewhere.  

The more I stay here the more I realize how challenging it will be in a large part because it is a tourist area.  Getting to be a part of the community will be that much harder because everyone will always assume that I'm a tourist. In a lot of the smaller towns once they know there is that farang in town everyone is excited to meet them because they want to see them and practice their english and whatnot. But here they have a lot of farangs around anyway so none really gives me the time of day because they assume I'm just passing through.  Also, another thing that I'm really interested in is the home stay situation because the house that I'm in right now is very centrally located in terms of my work and stuff but it's on a main highway so I will have to bike on a 4 lane highway everyday which is a little nerve racking. But more importantly, there isn't really a community around the house.  There's no real village feel.  I'm not sure if thats true of all of Trat but it seems like it couldn't possibly be.  I just think that as much as this house is amazing and the post is amazing. The mental images of me inviting the local kids over to do arts and crafts in the afternoon after school just doesn't really seem feasible anymore, for a multitude of reasons.  I am now more interested in seeing the other home stays because of this fact.  

Also we had a water buffalo beauty contest last week.  

I just got a phone call from my home stay family in Suphan Buri and it was the cutest thing ever.  Shhy called because my mom missed me and they wanted to check in on me and see how I was doing.  I'm in utter awe.  I have been thinking that this home stay was wonderful and everything but it was a little lacking in the family part, which is totally true and I think that's why they didn't originally offer to be my home stay family. [backstory: I am currently staying with the roong nayok or asst mayor who will be one of the people that I work with once I'm at site. Most PCTs for their site visit are staying with their counterparts and simply visiting the possible home stay families.  I am planning on doing that tomorrow.  I will meet the three official home stay options that I was given. However, before I left for site visit I talked to the head of safety and security and he said that I could stay at any of the three houses but he recommended pretty strongly over the other two.  One is a very wealthy man with a very large house but they found out on the last visit that he has two wives so Panyutat didn't think the best of him. The other 'bad' option is bad because the bathroom is not attached to the house and so that is a security risk in Panyutat's mind.  The interesting thing is that my counterpart told me that the remaining house is in a gambling area and so she is a bit worried about me biking alone there especially if I'm going to bike at night.  Now, I have been here all of two days and there is no way in hell I would be biking at night unless I was downtown in the faring area because out here houses aren't close together and theres a big highway and only a crazy person would do that. So yeah there's one good option left and I don't know anything about it, but I suppose I will find out tomorrow.] anyway that was a long backstory and I'm pretty sure I didn't even say what I wanted to.  But the point is I miss my suphan buri family and I miss having family around.  One of the possible home stay families has a lot of people and I think I will probably choose that one no matter where it is because that will be really good for my sanity.  I like the people in this house but I think if I stay it in I will go crazy. Partly because of my 40 year old brother who I may have inadvertently been on a date with last night.  Also, every time I'm with him he's just a little too attentive and he translates everything for me and often speaks for me. Also because his mom is my superior and has the office next to mine and might be my language tutor, so basically she will be in my life no matter what and I have decided(it seems as though I'm still trying to convince myself, I know) that I am not gonna live here. 

Okay anyway today we went to a fishing competition.  Now this in and of itself seems fairly boring as fishing is not the most active of activities.  So I was assuming this would involve more of a picnic kinda thing and hanging out while some people go fishing. So I happily go with my new meh/the rong nayok/Vilai and Paap(my 40 yr old bro who I might be dating) and we drive the half mile down the road to park at the Tessabaan and meet some of my future coworkers. And we all get on one of the 25 bright pink tessabaan owned bicycles which are totally adorable and we bike the quarter mile to the fishing site.  So now, this fishing site is a thing to behold.  It is a large manmade hole in the ground, about 200 ft by 100 ft with slanted sides and special grass at the top so that the walls of this 'lake' will not slide down. It doesn't seem like it is that deep because there are about 10 feet of the walls of this lake showing so I can't imagine its much deeper than about 5 feet.  Now first I get introduced to all of the people who are sitting and watching this event which includes two puyaibaans(village chiefs) and some of my coworkers in the tessabaan(it's gonna be terrible when I actually have to remember all their names and what they do). One boy was pointed out as the head student of the community college and Vilai said I could work with him.  He seems a bit shy and joked it off and then with his friends said that he's single which they chose to continue to tell me. Thats pretty much how it works here. Just this weekend I have been asked 4 times if I have a fan(bf), I almost want to make one up so I don't have to keep explaining that I don't want a bf but I think Thai boys are nice and handsome but I just don't want a boyfriend. Its a hard concept for Thai people.  Anyway, so we go around to each of the 10 groups of people checking out their catch of the day and the first couple haven't caught anything and then we get to the third group and they have caught one fish but for some reason its still in the water but they have it leashed to the side.  So its apparently a predator fish and eats the other fish and just to make matters worse you can't eat it.  So they tied it up.  Its at this point that it occurs to me that this is a man made lake and there doesn't seem to be any pipes running water from some other natural source so I ask how the fish got here. So this competition is made up of guys fishing in a man made lake thats about 5 ft deep with pre-caught fish and there are probably at least 40 poles in the water and no one has caught anything.  But wait.  This is where it gets exciting. The announcer on the loudspeaker starts to get all excited and I'm pretty sure somethings happening and low and behold someones got something on the end of the line and slowly slowly he reels it in only to find out that it is someone else's line.  

Also

March 4

So yesterday I got distracted and stopped writing apparently.  But today was awesome. I went around to everywhere again but this time there were people there. It was fantastic.  The highlight for me was what they call the autistic center.  Now from what I've seen there aren't very many autistic kids there but they are a bunch of disabled kids and it was the first time I felt genuinely comfortable since I've been here I think.  I totally forgot proper protocol and what not and immediately sat down on the floor with the kids and started talking to them. One of the girls was fascinated my me and eventually told me her name which I totally couldn't understand but it was already a break through.  I found out a lot about the place because there was another farang that was there with his 3 year old hanging out during physical therapy aka lets play on some foam pads.  It was totally awesome and I already want to spend all my time there.  But that said I also have a lot of other awesome stuff to do and I was taken to the office today and they showed me my very own desk.  Its crazy. It's right outside the nayok's(mayor) office. It actually kinda looks like I'm his secretary, but I'm not.  The nayok is totally cool.  Its interesting because I met lots of people with my host mom, the rong nayok, early in the day and then in the afternoon we didn't really have anything to do so the two girls that do the social coordinating and had been running around with us all day took me around and reintroduced me to everyone. Everyone was completely different and it was great to see the fun that will be had in the office.  So for instance, everyone who is an officer wears a tan colored uniform and depending on your post you may get some pins and stuff.  It looks very similar to army uniform with the flags on the left front breast and whatnot except that its tan.  So anyway everyones wearing those but everyone takes their shoes off at the door so everyone is wearing super formal uniform with slippers or socks or silly painted toenails or(my personal favorite) bright green crocs that look like monster feet. Its awesome and they wear these into the most formal meetings at the tessabaan.  It's awesome.  

Oh also I saw some of my possible home stays today and its a real toss up. Okay well, first the one that Panuthat thinks is the best my host mom decided wasn't good so she wasn't going to take me.  I told her I would probably agree especially because she knows what she's talking about but I would still like to see it so I can talk to Panuthat about it.  So she calls and the dad is in Chatanburi cockfighting and the mom is not ready for guests.  So oh well.  Then we went to this other house which seems like it would be awesome as an apartment after the three months because it is a huge bedroom with a little living room area and its own bathroom that is attached to the main house by a wall but is totally separate. That one seems awesome but I could see myself being isolated just like in this one.  The one I like the best, which is totally like me, is the one with the big family and the totally nondescript room.  I think it will be awesome. There's a ya(grandma), a dad, a mom, two school age girls, a girl who is 29 and a coworker who seems like she's around my age but for all I know she could be 20 or 40(I'm getting better but sometimes I still have no idea how old people are). They also have all the fruit trees and they have something that they were trying to describe to me as purple potato but they wanted the english name for it. I have no idea what it is except that I think I had at the market in suphan buri and I called it purple potatoes. It kinda tastes sweet like yams but it's purple and a different kind of sweet.  

Oh also I just remembered. When we got to the tessabaan this morning the nayok called my mom to say that he was very sorry that he couldn't be in the office to meet me but he was very busy helping the community.  It was windy today and so a roof fell off so he had to go help.  That's how this government works.  Isn't that insane?  I feel like I can't remember the last house I lived in where I knew my neighbors name but let alone have my roof blows off because of the wind(okay given the setup is a little ridiculous for the comparison, but still) and in comes Sam Adams.

Okay headed back to Suphan Buri tomorrow early morning and I'm excited for a night in a hotel, although having AC has been the equivalent of being in a 5 star hotel.  I'm also really excited to get back to my family because I had no idea I would miss them at all but they've become such a part of my routine and not having them has been really weird. Also this family eats too healthy and every time I want something my older brother tells me why I shouldn't have it.  He's kinda a brat. A 40 year old brat.  Anyway, yay bangkok and yay suphan buri and yay for hopefully not getting lost.

Only Thaim with Tell

Feb 19

okay. my relationship with thai is official over.  Its the most simply structured language and it often makes so much sense but then they do things like have the verb to ride be the same as poop but with different tones.  This past weekend in a tone workshop they had us say, Di-chan choop kii maa, dtee mai choop kii maa.  I think I explained this before but the sentence is supposed to read I ilke to ride horses but I don't like dog poop.  Most of us said something like I like horse poop but I don't like dog poop or I like to ride dogs but I don't like to ride dogs.  Ya know something that doesn't make sense but is funny anyway.  BUT back to today because srsly I think I have to give up.  Today we were learning about directions. So we learned near(glai), next to(dtit), across from(dtrong-kaam), and in between(ra-waang) and as natural progression would have it we asked what do you say when there isn't anything near.  So I was already having a tough time in todays lesson and this is where I almost walked outside and just started banging my head against a wall.  So we are told far is glai.  Okay now I just want you to go back a couple sentences and read that all again.  

THIS IS INSANE.  Why the hell would any sane person make two opposite words the same word.  It's terribly mean for all the people in the future that will try their hardest to learn this stupid hard nonsensical language. ARGGGGGHHHH.  so yeah near is glai and far is glai.  and yes there is a difference because there has to be but then of course then we went through about 10 minutes of my teachers saying 'no, glai, not glai'. 'No, not glai, glai'. It was terrible. It turns out the tones are different the near glai is a falling tone and the far glai is a mid tone. Because I can TOTALLY tell the difference when a thai person is speaking to me at the speed of light and I will OBVIOUSLY remember which is which every time AND use it correctly in every instance.

So yeah, we're taking a break at the moment.

On a lighter note today I got my midterm language evaluation and in order to qualify for service I have to be at intermediate low by the end and I found out that today I have already achieved that so thats awesome.  That said I totally have to keep practicing and I have to keep up motivation because I'm definitely hitting a wall in the language department. Between changing ahjaans and it getting more difficult (and the above insanity)it's been pretty rough this last week.

okay also sometimes geckos fall from the ceiling right next to you and it scares the shit out of you but then you realize that its eating an unidentifiable thing and you realize you've made a new friend and you love geckos.  also by sometimes I mean that just happened.

Another random thought I had today. So everyone know that in thailand they eat rice with every meal right? Its rice and noodles. but mostly rice. Even if you do have noodles most of the time its noodles and rice.  Anyway, so today as i was eating my mid afternoon ice cream treat that I get when I have class at the market I remembered that not everyone eats rice with their ice cream.  Yeah. Not kidding.  I thought it was super weird too and it's a little weird but you get over pretty fast. So usually you have two different options: ice cream sandwich or cup of ice cream.  If you go with the ice cream sandwich it is on a roll about 2x2x4 that kinda tastes like challah. They peel it half open like a sub roll and put three mellon ball scoops of ice cream in it and then three mellon ball scoops of sticky rice and then three more scoops of ice cream and then some sweetened condensed milk and then a spoon full of peanuts.  The cup is the same but end up being more layered because its easier to layer better.  but yeah every meal has rice in it.  even dessert. About half of the desserts that I eat are actually rice based.

Today I got so excited during an activity that I was clapping my hands on my legs and now I have a full hand print in broken blood vessels on my leg.  Too excited!!!!

Also on Thursday we are running a life skills camp for 160 kids in Suphan Buri and I'm super excited.  I also get to be MC with my friend Joel and so basically I get to spend the entire day just acting silly and trying to get 11 yr olds to get into playing games.  I'm super stoked. Also we're dressing up as thai youth so we're trying to find thai school uniforms so that we look the part.  It's a little rough because I only know 16 yr old girls and not many of them wear my size.  We'll see though. I hope it all goes well but either way I think it's gonna be super fun. and I will get lots and lots of pictures.

Feb 20

Best birthday party ever! In thailand awkward is the name of the game and we win at that game. Its full of dancing and cowboy hats and music with speakers and microphones and lots of thai people wanting you to do karaoke but not having any of the things necessary for you to do it. Mostly meaning english songs.  We also all got presents from the Pu-yai-baan.  Also there were two tables full of food.  like there was not any space on either table for anyone to put anything down because there was so much food. 

Also, side note, I don't know why any of you are friends with me if you've seen me dance.  I saw myself dance tonight and it was a terrible terrible experience and I feel as thought I should reevaluate my friend choices if you've seen that and think it's okay.

Yeah. that was amazing. I wish I could explain it better because it was hilarious and super fun and I think the best part about it was the fact that there were all these really conservative people hanging out and being super silly and letting loose with us crazy americans.  Anyway, I've gotta get some rest because tomorrow is the english camp that we're putting on and I've gotta be there at 6:45 because I am MC and so that means I'm part of the logistic team.  Hopefully I won't be too beat to give you a recap tomorrow.  

Feb 21

Things I learned:

- Too many to count/I cant remember

- I'm getting really bad about my things I learned lists

Today I Mcd an english camp.  I was fantastic and amazing and crazy difficult and it was all planned with the amazingly helpful staff of PC and 50 amazingly awesome PCTs.  I know that we've all had an intense couple weeks and we are getting to know each other very well very fast and in a certain way.  Today was a good indicator of how well we can work with each other and despite the minor frustrations and mishaps we all came together and we pulled it off.  Considering we did this all in two days I think that's quite an achievement.  Okay that said I'm super tired and I'm gonna go pass out.  Oh yeah and it was super cute Joel(my co-mc) and I wore Thai school uniforms so we were also students and it went over super well with everyone and its was awesome.  Pictures to come(I will try to remember that when I post).

Feb 22

Today I realized I'm too comfortable here and I'm pushing the limits.  I've got to shape up because I only have two weeks left and I want the last two weeks to be really good with my family and recently I've been spending a lot of time with other PCTs as opposed to my family but I will have the next to years with them(at least kinda) but I really only have the next two weeks with my family so I want to hang out with them as much as possible.

Feb 23

It's 5:30 in the morning on a saturday.  I don't understand why I'm up.  

Okay I do know why I'm up but I don't really understand why I should be up. Thanks PC for taking me on a fun trip on saturday that entails me waking up at stupid o'clock.

Okay so now its 6 and I just finished breakfast and I was given octopus soup for breakfast(and a bunch of other things) but really octopus soup.  It's 6 in the goddamn morning who the eff wants to the smell, let alone eat, of fishy octopussy soup.  

Feb 24

So this was a crazy week and I've taken to updating less during the week and more on Sunday.  Mostly because I don't have time but also because it's a good way to debrief the week and remember moments.  

So this week was a doozy. 

I can't remember Monday, but it probably wasn't important and it was basically a year ago so whatever.

Tuesday I had a rough day in part because language is difficult(that whole glai glai thing and still irking me mostly because I feel like the thai language is just conspiring against me personally) and my new ahjaan is pretty frustrating in her teaching style.  In addition I don't particularly like her as a person which is hard because if I could want to like her it would be easier to make excuses for her but she's not a very good teacher and I don't think she's very smart and she interrupts all the time(in english and in thai) and she doesn't teach us what we are supposed to know and when she does we don't understand it.  And anyway. yea I don't like her.  So that is a thread that ran throughout the week but it started really irking me on tuesday.  

Then Wednesday was molly's birthday and it was hilarious and awesome and I took lots of pictures and decided that Andy kinda looks like the cowboy from toy story.  I also learned that thai people are adorable when they try to do a runway walk.  I don't know how it started but that was "dancing" for a bit and everyone tried to get their host parent to do it with them.  It was super adorable/the worst combination of runway walks ever(and I'm talking about PCVs also).  Also, its hilarious the things I do here that I would never ever do at home.  There were literally 40 people that I didn't know at that party and Molly and I started dancing. Also even the village chief was dancing with us.  He/his wife actually gave us each a little change purse thing.  It was super cute when I thanked him he was adorably awkward about it. I'm pretty sure he was worried I was going to touch him. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I handled myself appropriately and my mom was there and didn't say anything to me so I'm pretty sure I was okay. So yeah that was kinda a late night…I stayed up til about midnight…weeeoooow. Thats said I had a big day on Thursday.

So I woke up at 5 on thursday because on my nong saao Shy gave me a lecture on how 'All the thais shower twice a day. once in the morning and once at night' and proceeded to tell me that all my friends did as well(which I enjoyed throughly because I know that they don't so I suddenly put the conversation in perspective and simply listens and joked with her).  So I told her I would wake up early and do it.  So here I am at 5 in the morning and I go take a five to ten minute shower and it's amazing.  Not because it's actually amazing but because I'm actually cold.  like legit cold.  I'm pretty sure I had goosebumps. It was a terrible shower but I was so excited by the fact that I was cold that I didn't really care I just relished being cold.  Yeah so then I got out and its all of 5:15 and I don't have to leave my house until 6:45.  This is a personal problem of mine.  I can't figure out how to wake up early.  I like the idea of waking up and taking my time to get ready and all but thats not how I work in the morning.  If I am not hitting the ground running I can't really hit the ground at all. Hence my 15 alarms, I set them so that I know when a normal person would get up and then when a normal person who's late would get up and then when rosie should get up to take a shower and then when rosie should get up if she's not taking a shower and then holy shit rosie get the eff outta bed you have to be at work in 7 minutes and 36 seconds. But that works for me, and if I get up two hours before I have to leave I do things the only way I know how so I'm ready to leave 15 minutes later and then I just have to waste time for 2 hours but then I have the issue of what the hell you can do at 5 in the morning for two hours.  The answer is nothing. So I wait around until about 6 staring at my computer and pretending I'm interested in the new york times and whats happening with the pope until about 6 and then I decide to go to the camp early because I have nothing else to do.

So the English camp was a very long awesome frustrating tiring day.  It was super fun there were a couple mishaps but nothing too big and nothing that wasn't fixed within 15 minutes which was awesome.  Joel and I, as the MCs wore student uniforms which everyone loved and I'm pretty sure half of Suphan Buri now has a picture of me in some girls Thai uniform. The camp was super successful, we had ten stations half english teaching classrooms and half youth leadership activities and the kids seemed to really enjoy all of them.  By the end of the day I was pretty beat and it was one of those moments where if somebody asked me how I was I was pretty sure I was gonna burst into tears and not be able to control myself. Thankfully that didn't happen because I had good people to vent with after. Okay thats kinda a lie but I didn't bust out crying but when I went to thank Supaporn with Joel she started tearing up because 1) she always does and 2) she said she really was so proud of us because this was the best camp she had seen and she was so excited to see our progress and everything. It was too cute and basically at this point I feel like when she starts saying anything about us I'm on the verge of tears because she's on the verge of tears

The next day I don't remember.  We're on Friday, I think.  I can't really remember super exciting things happening friday but I'm sure something did. I don't know what day this happened but I'm gonna pretend it was friday because I wanna talk about it. I had my placement interview(now that I remember I think it was monday) which is i think mostly to assuage volunteers and pretend that they actually take into consideration what you want to do or where you feel you could live.  I was pretty sure it was pointless but during I started to talk to chaturon and the head of YinD program (can't remember name right now) and it was cool.  They asked me what I would be interested in focusing on within Youth in Development and Chaturon said he knew I was kinda interested in working with people with disabilities so would I want a project working with disabled youth.  Now this might be a pipe dream but that would be a dream come true and I can't think of why he would say that unless there is one of those available.  Now, I'm not getting my hopes up because I have no idea and I wholeheartedly trust them with their jobs but it just got me super excited again.  I also once again asked for more of a hardship position if that was available.  AHHHH now I'm just thinking about it and 24 hours from now I will know where I'm going to live for the next 2 years!!!!! Its crazy.  I don't even know what I'm going to do.  I feel like there's a good chance that I'm gonna hear where I'm going and not register anything because at this point I don't really know anything about anywhere anyway.  I know where a couple of current pcvs are but thats about it. 

Okay I have to stop talking about it because I'm gonna get myself all worked up and not be able to go to sleep.

So yesterday we went to a couple wats and the national museum and Samchuk, the 100 yr market or dalat nung roi bpii.  They were pretty fun.  The market was awesome and I got some awesome presents for people at home and then realized that I'm not sure how to send a package here so I'm gonna have to figure that one out but in time I will figure it out.  Also, I'm still working on gathering ally he supplies to make postcards from thai magazines so look forward to those in the future.  So far my favorite purchase for myself was a tshirt that is plain white vneck that has ALONE written across the front in black text.  I LOVE it.  I want to wear it all the time.  And don't worry there are other ones that you will see over the course of the next couple years.  

Okay then today I helped my mom make these mango kanoms.  I'm pretty sure they are gonna turn out like mango fruit leathers and its super easy to make them.  Well by super easy I mean it took us all day but nothing was extremely difficult for my meh.  Okay so most things were difficult for me and my mom and my aunt were like 50 feet up a tree picking mangoes for a really long time but every things relative and it was super fun and I think I could maybe sometime in the future do it on my own too.  We set one batch out to dry early this morning and mixed the other batch today so tomorrow morning I get to try them and maybe help meh set out the next batch. 

oh right and some things I learned this week:

 - if you look up grapefruit in a thai-english dictionary the translation is foreigner's orange because they don't have grapefruits here

- there are lots of different kinds of mangoes in thailand.  today alone I had 5 and most of those were the ones you 'don't eat' according to my meh

- teaching is super fun. you're basically getting paid to be an idiot and I already do that for free

***Also really happy I dont have rodents. I only have big bugs but when I'm in the shower and a bug flys at my head and I can tell its kinda a big one(horsefly size) I can just not look at it at pretend its not something that will hurt me because chances are it cant.  But I dont care what kinda of rodent you are I pretty much hate you and I'm pretty sure you are always trying to climb all over me and make my skin crawl(also that includes the dead ones, I don't get it either but I'm pretty sure when I touch them they will regain their life force and come at me with all they have)

Feb 25

Today was a crazy day.  First I've gotta talk about a really awkward  interaction I just had with my friend molly's family.  So her little cousin Om(who's the best little kid ever) was sick today and when we got to her house we were worried about him because he looked terrible and molly felt his head and he was burning.  WE asked what was wrong and they said he was not good(as in sick).  I asked if they had medicine because he seemed very hot and they showed me that they had given him some fever reducers and I asked when they gave them to him and I'm not sure they ever gave me an answer.  WE took his temperature and it was 104.  At this point he was tearing up and it was getting to the point that I was legit worried.  His family kept saying that he couldn't have medicine because he 1) already had some and 2) needed to eat before he had more.  At this point, I had to distance myself from the situation because I wasn't sure I could do anything and the family dynamic was weird and molly was pretty adamant about it so I figured if they would listen to anyone it would be her as opposed to me.  So she kept explaining that if he were in america we would take him to the hospital and that we were very worried about him. They insisted that he had to eat first so she served him a bowl of food and he could barely eat it and was crying while trying.  I'm not sure if he was crying because he didn't want to eat it or because he could or because he didn't want to or really any of the above but after about half his bowl molly was still pushing to be able to give him the medicine and so molly's brother gave him and just gave him the medicine.  

This is the kind of situation where I'm not sure what I am supposed to do.  I have the moral side of me thinking that I can't sit and watch a child suffer when there is something I can do about it. Then there's the accepting and openminded version of me that says maybe (just maybe) they know what they are doing, I mean they have survived this long and they've probably had a fever or two in their day.  And then finally I realize that if anything ever happened to that wonderful little boy because of my lack of action due to some saving face or polite bullshit I wouldn't be able to live with myself and so I'm glad today that Molly did what I wasn't sure I could do.  Anyway, I'm not sure how Om is now but I will check in on him in the morning and I'll give an update.

Okay in lighter news…..Today I found out where I'm gonna live for the next to years and its…….

Trat!!!!!!

I'm sure you're already googling it but just in case here's a bit about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trat_Province

One of the many things I'm excited about and the reason I got this post was because there are a lot of developmentally disabled kids here and there are two different schools devoted to developmentally disabled kids so I will be able to work with them.  I'm not sure how yet or really even how old they are but I will keep you posted and I will learn more this weekend when I got to site visit.  Also, in case you weren't planning on visiting I'm super close to Ko Chang Island now so you probably should.

Thaim flies when you're having fun

Feb 7

Today I had a conversation with my meh and (i think) she was telling me that she used to drink a lot but now she can't because she gets super drunk.  she acted out super drunk but closing her eyes half way and crawling around. Then she showed me some Hong Thong which I thought was Thai whiskey but apparently it's not its a mixture of things but basically its terrible whiskey. She said when we go to the wedding she will drink a little bit with me. I thought that was super cute. Also it was extra cute because it was just me and her in my bedroom. It was like we were having a sleep over and she was telling me her secrets.  

Also totally in the family now bc yaai has decided she can walk around topless for a while after the shower and its cool. Its happened multiple times now so I know its not just a mistake. However tonight she was a little embarrassed because she didn't have her teeth in.  Its all relative here.

Also my mom just came into my room and told me to put prickly heat(basically icey hoot. actually icy hot too good too correct it) on my boobs and then proceeded to demonstrate on herself.  I'm pretty sure I'm in.

Feb 9

Today I woke up at 5 am to fire crackers for chinese new year. New plan for waking up freshman during RF.

I just had to share with someone. It is 8:55 on Saturday night and I'm sitting in my room alone drinking  a warm 20 oz beer.  I am 27 and apparently I have to be home by 6 pm every night. I feel like I'm 12.

Feb 10

I went to my first funeral today.  Apparently I only went to the first part of the the first funeral today. Last night out neighbor died.  She was 80. so we went over there in the afternoon and said hi and I watched some guys play a card game a bet a bunch and drink beer all the while wish I could and also knowing there was no way in hell. Anyway we hung out for a bit, I got introduced to everyone and one lady tried to teach me to dance.  Some people tried to speak thai to me, most people started at me.  One kid told me his name and then was staring at me awkwardly for a while and then proceeded to do the universal sign for death, slitting his throat.  So yeah, I thought it was a really positive experience over all and came back to my house thinking that that wasn't like anyone else's experience of a funeral that I'd heard of but it was okay because it was fun and low key and actually didn't seem like a funeral at all.  Noone even talked about who died or anything.  Basically it seemed like we just went to a friends house that happened to have a lot of people over.  So I'm a little confused but I decide it doesn't really matter because I had a fun time and possibly experienced a funeral.  

So, I was wrong.  This evening there was a fairly sudden whirl wind of activity right around  when dinner usually starts and I was told to stop doing my homework and take a shower.  Unclear of what was going on and figuring I could probably use a shower I just decided to follow orders.  I got out of the shower and was told to go into bpaa's room and she was handing me white tshirts that looked and she was telling me I had to wear white or black.  This is the point that I realized that maybe that thing I went to earlier was not the funeral.  It was in fact just the house that the future funeral would be at.  So I got dressed after a 'conversation' between me, my mom, my bpaa and my saao that lasted longer than I would've liked about whether or not it was better to wear my black skirt and white polo (more riap roy for a funeral) or my brown pants and my white polo(not really funeral attire but there better protection against mosquitos). It was decided (for me) that I was going to wear the brown pants because I should probably wear the black skirt tomorrow.  This was the first I was hearing about multiple days.  I knew Thai funerals lasted multiple days(typically 3) I guess but I didn't think I would go to all of the days.  I guess I assumed there were multiple days so that everyone could come visit but I didn't think that anyone except very close people would go everyday.  Anyway, so I then have to put on mosquito spray and stuff and get ready to leave and my bpaa says I should change my shoes because they are too nice because we are going the back way, aka through the bushes. So basically we go over there and interestingly enough I am now not really introduced to anyone.  In total there are probably about 100 people there and over the course of an hour we all pay respect to the body(that is in a casket) by going into the room and wei-ing and lighting incense as an offering and find ourselves a chair.  Then the monks arrive and chant for about half an hour and we all are holding our hands in a lotus prayer shape(fingertips together but palms apart) for most of that time and periodically(I just took my cue from the people around me) we bow our head and raise our hands to perform a wei. Immediately afterwards we ate a bowl of soup and left. It was a very interesting experience and I'm interested to see what the other days of a funeral entail.

Things I learned today:

- My stomach is not racist because it hates fast food in thailand just as much as fast food in america but the french fries and the chocolate dipped vanilla cone were totally worth it.

- My uncle has a Canon D70 that the company bought for him.  So apparently my family is loaded.

I miss portland. Not like I wanna come home miss portland, but I do miss everyone and being able to go where I want when I want. And to be able to know what I'm getting before we've even decided where we're going because it will inevitably be one of the usual four closest/best places and I know their menus well enough that I already know what I want. But really I just miss having close friends. You all know who you are and you're irreplaceable but at this moment in time I really wish I had someone who could fill your shoes. And in all honesty I couldnt ask for anything more from my friends here. They are incredible. It's just that none of them know why I have a scar in the middle of my back let alone having been there to witness me falling into the bbq. So today I'm missing the people that just know when I'm not quite on and will check in.  I feel so silly even being sentimental at this stage of the game but here I am.

Feb 13 

Today was a good day.  Most days are good days here but today was especially good.

Language class was hilarious. between our ahjaan saying hip.p.p.potamus and mamie finding taint in the Target(our daily morning ritual) and Sasha joking about how even though she tried rubbing it(her seat cushion) it still didn't get hard I was laughing pretty much all morning.  So just a shout out to my language group.  you guys are the best and even with the switch up of our ahjaan I look forward to the daily giggles in our language group and of course the Target.  Also one of the things I learned today is that Andy is an Aquarius and I will not forget it this time (like he does EVERY morning).

Also today I learned my yaai loves beer and we drank a shot of beer together. It seems as though she drinks beer like americans drink hard alchohol.  She filled up a glass and took a shot and kinda swished it around in her mouth and swallowed it.  When I simply took a sip she looked very impressed and proceeded to have the last sip within the glass and that was the end of drinking for the evening.

Also today I had a conversation with molly's dad who usually doesn't really talk to any of us farangs.

Also today I taught Om(molly's little bro) the words hands, knees and feet. and he was super excited.

Also today I'm going to the fourth day of a funeral aka the fun day.  Full of dancing and food and beer and I am going to take all the pictures.

Also tomorrow I get to teach people.  I'm super excited.

Today I went to a way to celebrate a woman's life.  I went in with mom and immediately went to the kitchen with mom to hang out with the other women because the men were playing cards and drinking.  We hang out the ask questions that I'm not sure about. At one point I'm pretty sure they are asking me if everyone in america has big boobs. I responded with lots of people in america have big boobs but I don't have them so everybody doesn't.  They thought that was the funniest thing they had ever heard.  

During the ceremony I originally sat with meh on the ground but then all the yaais moved around so that I could have space on the one bench that they were all on(there were a bunch of people on plastic chairs too so I'm unclear as to why anyone was on the floor but I think it ws the front row seating). so once again we go through about an hour of prayer which I'm pretty used to now that I've been doing it for four days straight. I wei when the people next to me wei and thats pretty much how it goes.  Today was different though. About half way into it the monks stop for a break(normal) and then everyone starts talking(normal) and then the yaai's are talking about whether or not they are going. My yaai wasn't so I assumed I wasn't.  My arm was grabbing and I was pulled up to the area where the monks were sitting.  I followed the yaai that brought me up there and one of the monks kept pointing to me.  I thought that was weird and a little inappropriate not to mention very un monk-like. I quickly realized that I was going up there because I was going to be one of ten people at the funeral to give the offerings to one of the monks and he was really just helping me as best he could.  So I stood in front of him(already crouched because you show respect to people by crouching when close to them) and he mimed to pick up this decorative bowl kinda thing which I then placed on his handkerchief(It may be disrespectful to call it that and I'm not trying to be but I think it might've just been his hanky) and he accepted.  AFter that we sat down and with all the yaais touching the bottle we poured water from a bottle into a bowl while the head monk was chanting. the interesting thin about that was that we all had to be touching the bottle while we poured it.  Also I'm pretty sure it's like holy water because one of the women asked if we had this in america and I said, 'chai, dtee mai for buddhism'(I'm getting really good at my thailish) and she couldn't understand me(I was trying to say, yes but not for buddhism) So then I said christian and she looked at me with a blank look then I said chris tea an and they said, oooooh, chris tea an mii chai(oooooh christians have yes).  There are a lot of words like that here where you think they are the same words until you say them to a thai person and they have no idea what your saying and then you say it with weird pauses throughout it and they understand completely.

for example:

s traw brrr eeee = strawberry

s pain  = spain

aw pear ahhh = opera

Feb 14 

Today I realized that last night the reason that everyone was looked at me all weird when I said thank you and wei'd was because I did not in fact say thank you and wei.  Instead in response to you are very pretty, I said, 'family' and wei'd(bowed) to them. It made absolutely no sense and they all looked at me accordingly and then moved on.  I kept trying to figure out what was so wrong and I realized it last night as I was going to sleep. 

Feb 17

OMG my family is so cute. Its hard to write every day because as soon as I start writing I get all into it and want to tell everyone all the things that happened that day that were awesome or weird or not really important but a great little moment and then I realize it's 10:30 and I have to be up super early for another day of training or thai or teaching or whatever.  I keep thinking it will be better at site but I'm not sure thats true because I'm sure I will want to live my life and not simply write about what I've already lived. 

So anyway, I just had a really cute moment with my mom and sister.  Earlier today we were talking about coins because Shy loves coins and I told her that I have a bunch from America because I didn't clean my bag before I came here.  She was very excited and I had totally forgotten until dad cleared out his pockets full of change.  I got my bag of annoying coins and showed my mom and shy and they loved them.  I tried to give them the names of each one and how many cents they were and that 100 cents were a dollar and most of that went down the drain.  They liked playing the game of hey rosie here some coins how many is it? oh its 35 cents. now make it a dollar.  So anyway at the end shy came up to me and gave me 10 baht and asked me how many cents that equaled and I said about 33 and she asked if she could have 33 cents. I was already planning on giving them the whole thing and thought I had said that so I had to ask to make sure I understood her question and I said she didn't need to give me the baht because I couldn't use this money and I didn't want to carry it around for the next two years. Both Shy and mom would not accept it so mom gave me 20 baht which I accepted because it was the only polite thing to do and because I was pretty sure I gave them about 3 dollars worth of change that I didn't want anyway. Its the little victories like giving your heavy annoying change to people who get so excited about it.

Anyway, today I got thai-napped. Its a thing that happens in thailand.  At 9 am I was told we were gonna go to the market.  I was excited for a family outing so I hopped in the car with my wallet and phone and camera because I had a distinct feeling that I was about to be taken on a long a drawn out adventure.  So yes we went to the market. It was lovely and there were all sorts of funny things that I didn't need but should've bought. I passed up a white shirt that simply says 'ALONE.' in solid black times new roman.  WHY oh WHY would I ever pass that up? I'm actually serious. I think I might have to go back this weekend and get it because I haven't stopped thinking about it. Anyway there were other awesome things like this:

 and these

mostly I like the I am sexy

So yeah the market was pretty awesome even though a bit touristy.  Also just as a frame of reference, touristy here still doesn't mean anyone speaks english or ya know you see another white person, it just means there are a bunch of asians(not thais, but I'm unintentionally racist and don't know what race they were) taking a bunch of pictures with their iPads. Also, important side note here: asians or thais or basically everyone I've seen here is ALL about the tablets and taking them everywhere and using them as their camera.  I don't get it.

So anyway back to my real story so we leave the market at about, i don't know maybe 10:30 so I'm all stoked because I think maybe theres a possibility that I might get some thai studying and maybe even a nap in today, but alas the family has other plans. So we turn into a 'parking lot'.  Now this is in quotes because what we were driving on looked more like a back yard that had trees all over it but the family didn't want to have to deal with dirt so they just paved around the trees that were already there.  Now I think that would be fine and all for a yard, but for a parking lot it didn't really make much sense to me.  In part because there were trees everywhere.  Many times there would be only 3 feet between two trees that were on a diagonal so to optimize space was basically impossible in this garage.  Only just now did it occur to me that at the Indigenous Vegetable Garden they may not need to really optimize the space in their parking lot. While we were there we saw about 20 monks and an australian couple and that was about it.  There are a bunch of indigenous vegetables though and they come with a lot of indigenous gnats that really enjoy eating them and laying their eggs on the grass all around them. So yeah, we didn't stay there too long although the idea was cool. On to the next destination.

Okay, so now we arrive at the aquarium and the aquarium is very busy yet still has the same parking lot layout of cement flooring with many many utterly nonsensically placed trees. I have chalked it up to buddhism, but I'm pretty sure that isn't correct.  Anyway the aquarium was crazy and awesome and they have some crazy huge fish that I have lots of pictures of and I have an amazing video of a spotted moray eel that wont load but I'll put in on fb later. Along with a video of a disgusting amount of fish trying to eat the food I feed them...get excited.

Here a picture or the eel just for funsies though

Also a picture of my mom and I in the 'OK Love' heart leftover from valentines day.  Also, really, who wants 'ok love'?

Also at the aquarium with my sister.  I think this is a dinosaur but I don't know. More importantly I don't understand why this animal(whatever it might be) would be at the aquarium.

So yeah, thats was awesome.  And at this point its about 1 and I'm pretty tired and so (it seems) 

is everyone else.  My mom asks me if I want to go see the lions because we drove past a zoo earlier.  I told her I was a little tired but if she wanted to go I would go wherever.  So off we are to the zoo.  We went to BIG CAT LAND:

big cat land

where you will notice they have lions and tigers and cheetahs and meerkats and orangutan. In addition when you walk in you will be directed to the australian pony because that is also part of the big cat land.  Anyway, the actual zoo part was very sad because all the big cats that I saw were very hot and very bored and did not seem very well taken care of.  I also saw a tiger show and two of the tigers tried to strike their trainers and it just made me dislike the whole situation even more.  Meanwhile, my family is trying to do this nice thing for me so I am biting my tongue and trying to smile even though it's hard for me to even be near these animals without trying to hose them down and cool them off or just say eff it all to hell and try to break them all out. So, yeah, that was less than stellar. 

But then it all got better because I saw the light.  The magnificent magnificent light that is taxidermy. Taxidermy is an amazing thing and I think the best thing about it is that the worse it is the better it is. Check out these examples:

and my awesome mom

Also, apparently in thai zoos they have guinea pigs.  Like lots of them.  And bunnys.  I felt weird about it.

Also, I got this picture just for Molly. There is a video forthcoming on fb.

So yeah we left the zoo and went to eat because we hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was 4. On the way back to the car we went to my aunts friends house spent about 45 minutes there because that's what you do.  Or maybe it was planned, I had no idea, I just knew that at this point I was along for the ride and really hoped the ride would stop soon. Then after the compulsory do you have a bf question and my normal response that I do not in fact have a boyfriend and I don't want one because I think I have more fun when I don't have one(to which I always get a good cackle) we head in the direction of home.  I feel so relieved that I almost let out an audible sigh when the car slows about a minute later.  I learn we are stopping at the food market to get stuff to buy for dinner at which point I say that we've already eaten and they all inform me that yes we ate at 4 but that wasn't dinner. We will eat dinner when we get home. So here I am now.  this was an attempt to waste a bit of time until it was appropriate to go to sleep and now its 11:30 and I've gotta be up at 5:30.  I'm out.

also theres business and craziness and I hope I'll be better about being regular but I cant promise things. That said I will find out a week from today where in Thailand I will be posted so you will probably know soon too.  Or if you are like me you will hear it and have no idea and immediately go to google and google it and then maybe have some faint idea of what the hell I might have gotten myself into.  or maybe not. ok. for real. night.

Live Free or Thai Hard

Jan 24

-Pretty sure I have a mosquito bite on my taint and I don't even understand how that can happen let alone how it happened to me when I've slept in shorts every night since I've been at my house

-Also had a loverly visitor in my shower today.  Half way through I heard a gop and freaked the eff out when I saw a fry peeking out from being the mirror in the shower/bathroom.  oooh which reminds me about oops poops(my other blog that I haven't started yet that is only pictures of bathrooms).  Anyway pictures of that to come soon. 

Jan 26

I feel like even if I were crying, sweating, peeing, drooling, and snoting out of every orifice, I still should not be as gross and wet as I am at this moment.  It actually feels like I'm currently peeing my pants but it's just sweat. I'm seriously debating on whether or not I'm impressed with my body or utterly disgusted by myself. And once again I want to point out that this is the COOL season.  

Today i met the poo yai baan or the village chief.

I'm not sure I'm okay with a schedule that means that sleeping in on Saturday means getting up at 7 am.

Jan 27

I have noticed a couple of things lately that I don't understand:

1) every night at dinner we eat dinner and periodically throughout dinner(mostly after people are done but it's not required) people leave the dinner circle that we've formed on the ground and go over to the side fruit table and pour themselves a glass of water, in the one glass set out there, and then come back to the circle to eat. sometimes they bring the cup back but not usually.  Also they all drink out of the same cup yet they give me a different one(I assume they think I don't want to share the cup).  Anyway getting too wrapped up in details, I guess I just don't understand why they only have one cup and why it can't stay at the 'table' with us.  After any single person finishes then they can go over to the fruit bench and start eating fruit/drinking water and eventually when grandma finishes eating(because she eats like a horse, an adorable lovable sweet little horse) some of the fruit makes it to the main circle but by that time its mostly just handing it to grandma because everyone else who wants some is already out of the circle and eating the fruit.

I don't remember what the other things are.

Yesterday I went to a festival to celebrate the Thailand kicking Myanmar's butt a couple hundred years ago. They put on this play that had an epic battle on elephants.  I will try to post it on here.  Anyway to learn most about the Don Chedi festival and a little bit more about the history of the battle you can go here:

 http://www.thaifestivalblogs.com/festivals-of-thailand/don-chedi-memorial-fair.html

Also at the festival I ate bugs. Not sure what kinda. I think they were worms.  they kinda looked like larvae, but they tasted really good.  Also a little over a week ago I ate something that I thought was a cockroach but then I asked my Ahjaan and she said they didn't eat cockroaches here so we're still unclear as to what exactly it is.  Hold up.  I've got the internet at my fingertips. So I tried Non Pai which is a bamboo worm and I ate a whole bag of Non Mai which is a wood worm. Also the cockroach looking thing is a Maeng Da apparently.  Thank goodness for this website:

http://importfood.com/thai_insects.html

otherwise I'd have no idea what I was eating.

Jan 28

yesterday(i think) I went down our driveway with my bpaa(aunt) because she told me to and I didn't know what else to do and I ended up seeing my mom climbing the tree at the end of the driveway barefoot with a machete tied to the end of a long thing of bamboo. She was about 10 feet up a tree and with this tool she was cutting herbs off the tree that were about 25 feet up.  She's a badass but anyway thats not the actual story. So while up there the neighbor family's grandma came down our road to say hi and get some of the herbs too and she came up to me(like most grandmas do) and squeezed my arm a bit and pointed out how I was light and she was dark and then proceeded to simply hug my arm and not really let go.  I have gotten used to this because my yii does it all the time, but then this grandma went further to put her arm around my shoulder and put her head kinda on my shoulder.  I made the mistake of then putting my arm around her and she's not the tallest individual so suddenly her head was on my boob. again not even really the point of the story because as awkward as that was it gets worse. 

She then starts rubbing my back in a very sweet grandma way but continues to go lower and runs her hand over my butt.  Now I find this a little weird but she's a grandma and there is absolutely no sexuality to it and none else seems to think its weird so as weird as I feel I just laugh it off.  Also meanwhile the grandma, my meh and my bpaa are all having a full on conversation in thai about me. So then the neighbor grandma starts talking about my body and again gives my butt a grazing over and now she is looking at it and it seems that she is talking about it(but again, I have no idea).  She then proceeds to lightly tap my butt twice and they all laugh and continue to talk about my body and or butt or whatever while choosing not to even try to inform me in any way as to what they were saying.  So yeah, thai culture is a little different.  Apparently grandmas can slap my ass.

Also today after class I had a beer and it was fantastic.  However, it did get Molly in trouble. Not because we had a beer but because she was 15 minutes late home from school and her mom had already called all the other home stay families in the neighborhood and was waiting for her when she got home. So Molly's home stay mom is awesome and lovely and super helpful AND technically we are supposed to be home at 6 pm BUT we got home at 6:15 and the entire neighborhood had been called.  Honestly I left molly's house to go to mine and when I got home my mom said, 'hey you hungry?' because they had started dinner early. Not only was she not worried but they started dinner without me.  I feel like thats a good indication that I'm starting to actually become part of the family.

I actually had a conversation with my family today.  Yii went to Don Chedi, the festival that we all went to last night and bought a bunch of pasim's and two new shirts and a travel mug thing.  She asked to see my skirt that I bought last night at don chedi and then we joked about her trading me one of her pasins for my skirt. I said she looked very pretty when she held up my skirt to her. I also told them molly's mom was mad at her for coming home late and she looked really scary and they laughed and laughed at laughed. Then later they asked me if I was gonna shower and I said yet and they asked if I will shower tomorrow morning and I said no I don't like to wake up. I like to sleep and then they again joked that molly's mom probably makes her wake up and shower early in the morning. So basically today I learned that we can always make friends by making fun of people, even if we don't really know the language. Yay for making fun and friends!

Jan 29

Forgot to tell you I ate a cola popsicle that had a core of strawberry taffy.  I can't say I'd recommend it.

I have no idea what day it is.

Today I went to the Aww Baw Taw(I cant remember what it stand for in Thai yet) or SAO(Subdistrict Administrative Office) and introduced myself to the Nayok(equivalent of mayor) and Balat(chief administrative officer) and some of the other officials.  It went super well and it was really fun to speak Thai with them.  It was totally awkward at some moments but not nearly as much as I thought.  I think the worst was when I asked the Nayok if she had any children and she said no she wasn't married and everyone kinda awkwardly laughed when I said oooh. Oh well. The nayok also wasn't supposed to have a party or anything waiting for us but she totally took us into the official meeting room and everyone who was in the office came in and introduced themselves and were were given iced tea and mango with sticky rice and coconut milk and rice with coconut milk and black beans(it sounds weird but it was super good). She apparently spent all morning cooking for us and some other event she's going to. It was awesome. She was super sweet and lovely.

Jan 30

Today I learned:

- the type of plane (boeing 787) that we took to thailand had been grounded indefinitely by the FAA for battery issues. We had a two hour delay for 'a leak'.

- meh rosie uses roasted tamarind in tom yum soup and geng som(orange curry)

- the pu-yai-ban(village chief) also has a bird farm(we think its a quail farm based on limited language and charades) and sells insurance.

- My tambon, Tambon Wang Nam Sap (which is a sub-district of Si Prachan) has 7000 people. Each Tambon is divided into villages and my village has about 800. This is a rough guesstimate but I think my tambon is probably about 3 square miles.

- Our province has a support group for people with AIDS and it has about 100 members. 

- birth control is free here.  both condoms and the pill. they also offer the morning after pill but you have to pay for that(not sure how much)

- when you ask whether they have STD/STI testing, instead of asking specifically you just ask if they have AIDS testing because apparently that implies all of them.  I'm still not sure exactly what STD/STIs they actually test for.

- i keep forgetting my moms name because I just call her my mom but I asked tonight and her name is brateep

Jan 31

Things I learned today:

-I ate coagulated chicken blood today. I was surprising and kinda just tasted like tofu and really soaked up the broth of the noodle soup that it was in. I also learned how they make coagulated chicken blood. So basically you whip it (as my teacher says, just like eggs) and then it gets think and I think you shape it and then cool it.

-There's semon flavored chips

-There's a milk flavored taffy candy called Cougar. It will obviously be part of aurelia and my Twin Peaks Creamery. 

-I will probably have a problem sleeping in the rainy season because I just had my first experience with rain here and only then did it occur to me that most of the roofs are sheet metal or some kind of really loud metal. That said it does make me feel at home.

Feb 3

So it's been a while

a couple things

1) mom requested I write about the chicken blood so here goes:

I was doing some IRB(Intentional Relationship Building) with my group Andy, Mamie, Sasha and Aajaan Thanchanok and we decided to stop and get some lunch. We stopped at this place near Andys house that had noodles. So I order guiao-dtiao gap gai which is noodles with chicken and sit down at the table that they were nice enough to wipe down for us and put out glasses(That doesn't usually happen, but it's not uncommon for us because we are Farang). So anyway I sit down and Mamie, who was the next to order, comes and asks me if I got it with blood or without. I didn't really understand so I said "blood…like…blood?" she started cracking up and nodding yes and pointing to her vein and now I'm really confused because it seems to me that I might have inadvertently ordered blood soup. Which I would probably intentionally order because its crazy but I would have to work myself up to it.  So then I turn to my ahjaan and I ask her, 'so its gonna have like blood in it? like actual blood?" this is clearly so far out of my thought process that I'm really not understanding.  When my Ahjaan confirms there will be actual blood in my soup I turn to the obvious next question, "who's blood am I eating?" I mean we were right next door to a school and a wat that curiously had a funeral the day before.  I mean after accidentally ordering blood in my soup I didn't really want to assume anything else.  She assured me it was only chicken blood. Again, with every answer I seem to have more questions. So my food arrive and it looked like this:

insert picture here(I'm gonna bet a lot of money that I forget to do this) I didn't!!!

So the broth is dark but there's no obvious appearance of blood, right? I thought they must be mistake there wasn't actually blood in the soup but this tofu was really dark so they must've marinated the tofu in chicken blood.  The craziest thing about this I think was how much better that made me feel.  Why the eff would blood marinated tofu better be than blood in your soup? Either way at this point its a wash because those lovely things that looked like blood marinated tofu and really just soaked up the lovely broth were actually coagulated blood. I really just couldn't let this go so I asked my ahjaan how blood can magically become cubes.  She had absolutely no idea. She did, however, speak thai and ask the cook. The cook explained that 'its exactly like eggs[obviously], you just whip it til it gets thick[at this point I'm just imagining peaks of foamy blood. also wondering if she uses her electric mixer for baking and for blood only to realize she doesn't have an electric mixer and debating whether or not she even has a whisk]' so yeah I pretty much checked out after that but it was weird and now I really want to make it.  I also really want to bring it back to portland and market it as a 'meat alternative'. I'm a terrible person but I think I'm soooo funny.

also new things I learned:

-in thai the word for five is haa so thais text 5555 when they want to say hahahaha.  so smart these thais.

-ducks say gap gap in thai

more questions:

I don't really understand our bathroom situation.  There are a communal pair of flip flops outside the bathroom.  Initially I thought they were someones shower sandals, which made sense to me having lived in a dorm and whatnot. I realized however that every time anyone goes into the bathroom they wear these. I know what you're thinking: no this is not the bathroom with the squat toilet. This bathroom has a fully western toilet complete with water tank behind it.  So I ask you, why would you have a room in which none goes barefoot, everyone goes in alone and everyone wears the same pair of shoes? Wouldn't it be the same thing to just have everyone go in barefoot?

Feb 5

So I'm getting to that point that everything seems pretty normal and I forget that it's kinda crazy that I'm here in Thailand.  I know this will happen periodically over the course of the next two years but this is the first one. Today was just an ordinary day, which means I will tell you about it because you don't really know what my ordinary day(at this point) looks like.

So I usually set three alarms because I hate waking up.  I have one set for 5:40(that's obviously the one that is totally ignored) and then one set for 6:05(which is my actual alarm) and then one thats set for 6:30 (this is the 'oh eff, instead of hitting sleep on the 6:05 alarm I must've turned it off' alarm). Also, the first week I was here I really tried to get up with my mom and aunt around 5 but then I realized that 1) I had absolutely no reason to get up that early and 2) it was pretty awkward and weird to be up that early not doing anything except wishing I were asleep.  So anyway, yeah, I wake up and quickly take down my mosquito net and tie it up and out of the way and make my bed and depending on the day either pack or get dressed in my riap roy clothing(9 times out of 10 this means a skirt and collared shirt). I pack it when I can't bike in the skirt or if its super hot and I know I'm gonna sweat a lot on the bike ride. Also keep in mind it's probably about 75 degrees at this point. So then I go into the kitchen when there is usually the leftovers from dinner the night before on the table under a mosquito guard and rice in the rice cooker(debatably also from the night before) most mornings my mom or my aunt cooks an egg or two to have with breakfast.  Also without fail every morning my aunt brings out a loaf of bread and the jam that I gave my family as a gift and tells me I can have that.  I have tried to explain that its for them and that I don't eat bread for every meal but as thai's who do have rice as a staple food they don't really understand.

So yeah I eat dinner for breakfast(not as awesome as breakfast for dinner) and at about 7:10 I get escorted by either my mom, my aunt or my brother to the main road.  I only started getting escorted after a full week of the family dog and the neighbor dog barking and chasing after me in a VERY aggressive manner. So yeah, now I have an escort. So then I go to my friend Mollys house and pick her up and we have a little bike carpool gang and we go to pick up Bridgette and Mamie and Sasha.  Sometimes Jill comes too but most of the time she leaves before us. So then we split up because half of us are Youth in Development Trainees(YinD) and the other half are Teachers Doing Something that I only know the acronym for(TCCS).  So I go to language class with Mamie and Sasha and our friend Andy meets us.  We learn some language for 4 hours which usually if we are at our friend Chuans house means at about 10 AM she brings us iced coffee which is incredibly sweet and delicious and more like a frappachino then coffee and sometimes if we're lucky we get fruit too. So we do that til noon.

Then, right when it's the hottest part of the day, we usually bike to whatever we are doing in the afternoon. Most of the time that means biking for about 30 minutes to the main hub learning site and meeting up with the rest of the YinD group. There are 23 of us in total. We usually eat something in the market that is right next to the building that we have class. There are a couple of good stalls there. They don't have menus, you just tell them what you want and they tell you whether or not they have the things you want.  Most of the time they do.  Also often they get your order wrong or more likely I said something I didn't mean to, so basically I just eat what they give me and its usually great. 

So in the afternoon we learn something about youth. Todays afternoon sessions were the Stages of Youth Development and Life Skills Training. Last weeks were all about going into the community and interviewing different types of people like the mayor, administrators, doctors, health officials, teachers and youth(which I think I talked about already). So yeah then school ends at about 5 and Mamie and Sasha and I usually bike home together. Again about a 30 minute bike ride, which is much more pleasurable in the evening.  On my way home I usually stop to check in on Molly and her family because I ride right past her house anyway. Oh and now I have to because I need an escort to get past the dogs(I forgot about that). 

So i get home at between 5:45 and 6. My family is usually waiting for me and asks if I'm hungry and usually tries to get me to drink water and eat fruit. I rarely say no. Most of the time this is downstairs (which is outside because our house is on stilts) or actually outside at the picnic table. I'm usually sweating profusely from every orifice of my body at this point too so if appropriate I will try to splash water on my face but sometimes thats just not appropriate because we have guests who want to watch me eat or pretend to have a conversation despite the fact that I don't know enough thai and they don't know any english so yeah basically just watch me eat. So then at about 6:30 or 7 the TV goes on and we gather on the floor of the living room to eat dinner and watch our Thai soaps.  I have strong feelings about my Thai soaps.  I don't know what channel my favorite one in on but for the last week and a half we've been watching the one on channel 7 and it's really not nearly as good. So after soaps my mom always reminds me that I need to shower, not that I need reminding but I do get pretty lazy so it helps to have her say it so I get off my butt and go take a shower. Showers here are different. There is a ceramic tub thats filled with water, ours is about 4x3x4. There is a bowl resting on the side of it and usually a frog and/or a gecko and/or a cricket in the bathroom with you. You learn to love your shower buddys because there are also a buttload of mosquitos in the bathroom with you because the cement walls have small little windows to let out the moisture. So then you are standing in the middle of the bathroom and you pour bowl after bowl of water over your body until you are all wet. For those of you that have not been to a country that has these kinds of showers, I did not skip a step. I am taking a shower in the middle of the bathroom. There is no other shower area. I am dumping water all over the floor and it splashes on the toilet and everything.  [little interlude: so I hate sitting on a wet toilet seat because even if I was the one who just cleaned the toilet and I know that its just a little bit of moisture from cleaning it I can't help but have that feeling that I'm sitting on someones pee. So basically I just wanted to let you know that I have to deal with this almost every time I go to the bathroom at my house.] So yeah then I soap up and I splash water all over the room again and hopefully get enough on me so that I don't have any suds on me when I walk out. After shower I spray my whole room with bug spray and take down my mosquito net and set it up again and sit on my bed under my mosquito net with my fan going and do homework/check email and what not until about 9:30 and then I get tired and get ready for bed. Then I do it all again tomorrow.

I know it's a pretty lively life I live. Not everybody could handle it.  

Things I learned in the last couple of days

- Yii does not mean grandma. It means two. But thats also weird because I know the word for two is song. Anyway yaai is grandma. Sorry for the misinformation.

- I have noticed, in the limited number of news papers that I've read, that thai newspapers seem to allow more opinion and interpretation of the facts as opposed to simply reporting the facts.

- I learned a really great energizer that almost made me tear up. It's called 'touch someone who' or 'reach out and touch someone' and its a really good self esteem booster.  

- I relearned how much fun riding your bike with loud music on is.

- milk here doesn't keep well. the juice box milks cannot be saved in the fridge. 

- it is hot as balls and it's winter.  I seriously don't understand how these people do things all year round

- Rain is really fricking loud when the roof is tin. Okay not really something I learned today. Maybe, thais must sleep really well because when it rains it feels like there's a noise parade going on inside your room while you are trying to go to sleep, or for people who didn't go to reed it feels like there are 200 people banging pots and pans as loud as they can with whatever other objects will make as much noise as possible against said pots and pans.

Feb 6

Things I learned

- I miss the rain

- The biggest challenge here is to get cold.

- Its really hot

- Its was actually 33 degrees C or 91 farenheit but I feel like today was the hottest day ever. 

- I rode my bike about 12 miles today and I felt like I was gonna faint.

- I couldn't really eat today because it was too hot.

- I was slightly cooler than dying of heat when I was showering. Also on a related note I thought I would find the showering here to be even more annoying because you have to throw buckets of water on yourself and its not heated water and whatnot but it has now become my favorite time of the day and sometimes I even take TWO.

- Its 10 pm and its 88 degrees

- oh yeah did I mention THIS IS THE FRICKING COLD SEASON

So yeah basically today I learned I'm probably gonna die here because I will never ever ever get used to being this uncomfortable all day long. Ya know, either that or my body will adapt.