Baw Kaw Saw

So, since moving in, I've done a little of this, a little of that, and a whole lot of nothing at all. And it's been fabulous.

Yesterday I rode the bus (rot bawkawsaw - that means the bus without air conditioning that you don't want to ride for more than a couple hours, and the seats definitely aren't made for farang length legs, but they're AWESOME) kon diao (alone) to the provincial capitol to hang out with the other two volunteers in my province. We walked around a lot, ate pizza and ice cream for lunch (yup! Though I think most Thai pizzas start out frozen, and most non-veg toppings resemble chopped up hot dogs. I was bummed they were out of the veggie pizza which came with peas and corn) and found some oats at a grocery store. I was tempted to buy some peanut butter, but decided not to since, though I LOVE peanut butter and jelly sammiches, I've been doing fine without them, and I'd probably just be bummed when I ran out of it.

I've also been practicing the Thai alphabet with my counterpart's daughter, and I am EXTREMELY proud to say that after 5 days, I pretty much have all the consonants down and am reading and writing a tiny little bit. This was something that I knew I wanted to do, but did not think would be happening for a long time. Mad props to Kruu Na-rak.

I've been trying to walk or bike around at least a bit every day, to get my white face out there, and it's been good. I've played badminton a few times with a couple ladies up the street, and I hit up the market pretty regularly. It's a lot of fun to see peoples' reactions when I speak Thai (especially when they understand me, tone and vowel-length are extremely important, and if you don't speak right you will say "mustache" instead of "massage", or "horse vagina" instead of "snow." Seriously.)

I haven't seen or heard of any parties like the ones I went to during training, which is both a relief and a disappointment. Disappointing because my presence (and dancing) at those parties really helped boost my celebrity status. A relief because after going to one or two of them every week, they got a bit redundant/exhausting. I'll just have to keep my eyes and ears open. Maybe I'll check out the cock-fighting ring by my house.

I've been doing a pretty good job so far keeping my house clean (which impresses my visitors, as does the fact that I shower at least twice a day, a must for Thai people), and I've been enjoying watering my yard in the evenings. I feel like I need to come up with a project for myself, to do something cool and productive, but I'm not stressing over it. I've been spending a lot of time at my counterpart's house, and when I'm home, I've got enough things to do to keep me busy. I am sure that I will need to find more to do to keep myself occupied soon enough, so why rush?

I've been accepted as a member of a youth development committee, so I'll be going to my first meeting on that soon, which is exciting. I just got some more information on that, so I need to read up and make sure I can find some way to contribute. I am also looking forward to school starting up so that I can start doing some more work for the immediate community. They understand that is what I am here for, but I feel a bit weird right now since I'm not apparently doing anything. But I'm not worried, yet. I really haven't had much time to myself for the last 3 months (holy crap, today is my 3 month anniversary!) so I'm enjoying having some time to really kick back and take it easy for a bit and let myself settle into my surroundings before things get kicking again.

And I still need to get those obnoxious speakers.

Ek out!