Monday, June 05, 2006
On Monday's we Wear Yellow
We just got our "Kings 60th Celebration of his Ascention to the Throne" Yellow Polo shirts. SO HOT right now in Thailand. Yellow is the new black. I even went to the Nan market wearing it and I swear I got better prices on my Lemon Djroy (more about those magical drinks later)
Its kinda funny how big of a deal we are in this town. Its not weird anymore when someone calls our cellphones and says "hello" and that's it, you try to continue the conversation but the only english they know is Hello, so that's all they say. Or when we are sitting on our deck there is a steady stream of visitors who just come over and stare at us. Its almost getting normal, although I am thinking of having my first child in Namibia to get away from the scrutiny.
Speaking of getting stared at - I went to the huge Sunday market by myself! And sorted through the general crap to find lots of nice lacoste tshirts for $2 and a fabulous huge straw hat that is better suited for working in the rice paddies, but I think I'll wear it while biking around in the 45*C heat....(not to draw anymore attention to myself) I also have a new favorite edible treat. Slurpees in a bag. Well not really slurpees. They take sweet lemon tea and some crushed ice and put it literally into a small plastic bag, throw in a straw and BAMMO! You have the genius of Lemon Drjoy!! So great on hot days! That with the 1/2 chopped pineapple costing only 20 baht (36 baht = $1 CDN) I'm living a nice life up here.
This last weekend was really fun. The teachers took us on another surprise-demand trip to Nan that included going to Tescos! (basically the British Wal-Mart) So exciting. I even saw 2 other white people there. Then to a temple that gives you your fortune, but I don't know if its just the english translations that they wrote on them, but they're all horrible! Mine said,
"Like rowing a boat upstream your life is going to be very difficult with insurmountable obstacles. No legal success in the future. Future children will be male. "
After a lot of "phssss no worry Lau-la, it nothing" from the teachers we cheered up with noodle/crouton ice cream at the night market. On Saturday the other 4 GAP volunteers from Phrae (2 hours away) and Nan (30 minutes away) came to hang out in Wiang Sa. We did A LOT of bike riding to and from the bus station to pick everyone up. 6 white people biking through town sure makes a big scene. It was so fun catching up with other english speakers again - we even got to watch some English VCD's! It was fabulous. Uncle Jai and Pa Pian made an amazing dinner of Khao Pad (fried rice) and chicken, and Pad Thai the other night..mmmmmmmmm. The other volunteers were saying how lucky we are to have such a big house, COUCHES, and awesome food ;) On Sunday we tried our luck at finding some sort of breakfast food in town that did not consist of noodles or rice. Could only get a few apples and these thai style doughnuts. Not bad, but not good. When we got home there was a lady waiting for us to GIVE US MASSAGES at our house!! So great. And only 50 Baht/hour - $1.25 CDN (most massages are at least 200 b/h). In Thailand its legal to work up to 10 hours a day, so I figure 9 straight hours of Thai massages wont be too much to ask in the future ;) She said she would come by anytime we want. Ahhhh heaven, thai massages on-call.
All this week the Provincial Director of Education asked us to help run an English Camp in Nan (the city) for 16/17 year olds. We don't know much except we show up and run a few stations where, "You sing song play game fun fun." And we all know how much I love singing infront of 100s of people! I've learned that teaching English is really nothing if it isn't a lesson in humility! But at least there will be other English speakers there. There is this one woman who is about 50, from Oklahoma. She's been a missionary in Thailand for 30 years now, and I don't think I have heard anything funnier than her speaking Thai with a Southern US accent. Priceless!! A few girls from Princeton just arrived for a 1 year internship at a school in Nan, and there are some other Canadians helping out at this camp. Should be a fun week since Miranda and I have been put up in a hotel in Nan - and teaching lessons from 8am until 9pm at night!!! Then next weekend its off to Chaing Mai for lots of shopping, watting, and river boat cruises!!!
Its kinda funny how big of a deal we are in this town. Its not weird anymore when someone calls our cellphones and says "hello" and that's it, you try to continue the conversation but the only english they know is Hello, so that's all they say. Or when we are sitting on our deck there is a steady stream of visitors who just come over and stare at us. Its almost getting normal, although I am thinking of having my first child in Namibia to get away from the scrutiny.
Speaking of getting stared at - I went to the huge Sunday market by myself! And sorted through the general crap to find lots of nice lacoste tshirts for $2 and a fabulous huge straw hat that is better suited for working in the rice paddies, but I think I'll wear it while biking around in the 45*C heat....(not to draw anymore attention to myself) I also have a new favorite edible treat. Slurpees in a bag. Well not really slurpees. They take sweet lemon tea and some crushed ice and put it literally into a small plastic bag, throw in a straw and BAMMO! You have the genius of Lemon Drjoy!! So great on hot days! That with the 1/2 chopped pineapple costing only 20 baht (36 baht = $1 CDN) I'm living a nice life up here.
This last weekend was really fun. The teachers took us on another surprise-demand trip to Nan that included going to Tescos! (basically the British Wal-Mart) So exciting. I even saw 2 other white people there. Then to a temple that gives you your fortune, but I don't know if its just the english translations that they wrote on them, but they're all horrible! Mine said,
"Like rowing a boat upstream your life is going to be very difficult with insurmountable obstacles. No legal success in the future. Future children will be male. "
After a lot of "phssss no worry Lau-la, it nothing" from the teachers we cheered up with noodle/crouton ice cream at the night market. On Saturday the other 4 GAP volunteers from Phrae (2 hours away) and Nan (30 minutes away) came to hang out in Wiang Sa. We did A LOT of bike riding to and from the bus station to pick everyone up. 6 white people biking through town sure makes a big scene. It was so fun catching up with other english speakers again - we even got to watch some English VCD's! It was fabulous. Uncle Jai and Pa Pian made an amazing dinner of Khao Pad (fried rice) and chicken, and Pad Thai the other night..mmmmmmmmm. The other volunteers were saying how lucky we are to have such a big house, COUCHES, and awesome food ;) On Sunday we tried our luck at finding some sort of breakfast food in town that did not consist of noodles or rice. Could only get a few apples and these thai style doughnuts. Not bad, but not good. When we got home there was a lady waiting for us to GIVE US MASSAGES at our house!! So great. And only 50 Baht/hour - $1.25 CDN (most massages are at least 200 b/h). In Thailand its legal to work up to 10 hours a day, so I figure 9 straight hours of Thai massages wont be too much to ask in the future ;) She said she would come by anytime we want. Ahhhh heaven, thai massages on-call.
All this week the Provincial Director of Education asked us to help run an English Camp in Nan (the city) for 16/17 year olds. We don't know much except we show up and run a few stations where, "You sing song play game fun fun." And we all know how much I love singing infront of 100s of people! I've learned that teaching English is really nothing if it isn't a lesson in humility! But at least there will be other English speakers there. There is this one woman who is about 50, from Oklahoma. She's been a missionary in Thailand for 30 years now, and I don't think I have heard anything funnier than her speaking Thai with a Southern US accent. Priceless!! A few girls from Princeton just arrived for a 1 year internship at a school in Nan, and there are some other Canadians helping out at this camp. Should be a fun week since Miranda and I have been put up in a hotel in Nan - and teaching lessons from 8am until 9pm at night!!! Then next weekend its off to Chaing Mai for lots of shopping, watting, and river boat cruises!!!
# posted by Laura Davies : 9:02 AM
Comments:
<< Home
Lifa, good to hear how well things are going but with you, would it be anything different. My 6 months of vacation is now over and i got to work on tueday. but hey it isn't that bad, already planning my trip nxt year. Did you know that there is a train trip from beijing to moscow called the "Vodkatrain"!!! anyways, you keep writing, i'll keep reading, take care
Post a Comment
<< Home
