Monday, September 21, 2009

I put some more pictures up on Facebook. They are of our trip to Ayutthaya, the old capital of Thailand. It was so beautiful! The rest of the pictures are from a night we all went to RCA, a street outside of Bangkok filled with really posh clubs. We went to one called Route 66 and it was a ton of fun. Usually, the cover charge is 200 Baht, which is about $6-7 in US dollars, but considered a lot of money here in Thailand... but we found out that every Thursday there's no cover charge!

Things have been good lately. School is starting to kick in-- I already have a group presentation due tomorrow (Tuesday) about contemporary Thai art. I complained at first, getting so much homework the first week, but I think it's good because it keeps us busy when we having nothing to do. We only have one Internet hook-up per apartment, and there are about 12 people in each apartment... so we can't waste time online like we do at home. Nice change of pace.

I'm still not getting used the heat. When it rains, the temperature drops about 5 degrees and the sky is very overcast-- it's still hot, but it's extremely not to have the sun beating down on you. We always talk about how we never quite feel clean here. Even after you shower and sit in the AC in your room, the second you walk out into the front room of the apartment or outside, you're sweating all over again. Laundry is quite a task, too... the machines are across the street, don't always work, and no one uses dryers here. It takes a long time to wash and dry your clothes so I don't really do it too often. I re-wear a lot of clothes until they're just downright dirty which is why I never really feel too clean.

My landlord lives in the apartment next to me with his aunt and her daughter. The aunt's name is Yupin, and I thought she was sweet and cute at first... but now she's just getting on my nerves. The Thai people have no concept of personal space or boundaries-- I'll be sitting inside on the computer, and she'll just walk in, start speaking to me in Thai, and standing over my shoulder watching what I do on the computer. She can't read any of it since she doesn't speak English, but it's still really weird and frustrating. She always calls my name and rattles of in Thai, as if I understand her... then laughs at me when I have no idea what she's saying. Yeah, she's really starting to get on my nerves. I think she's really lonely so she enjoys having us around. I've never seen her leave the house and Dan, the landlord (her nephew), is really dismissive when we talk about Yupin with him. Weird family, weird relationships.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm going to try and find all the TV shows I watch online so I can catch up this afternoon. It's far too hot to do much this afternoon--over 90 degrees and no cloud cover whatsoever! No thank you.

Love and miss y'all! (ps. A lot of my friends have started saying "y'all" because I use it so often!)

1 comment:

  1. Sarah you're a great writer. As for the laundry: yuk. As for the little no-boundaries across-the-hall friend: maybe that's an energetic reminder - all rolled into one - of your friends and family back home, as in, like, ya-know? Like, maybe, as if, we're all right there at once? I mean, thinkaboutit: BerrieRachelCassidyJane, Molly, your mom, Aunts LisaDonnaCindyKateAnn, Uncles BillSteveJackErnieScott, friends EmilyBethWhitney, me, your cousins, and godknowswhoelse, including YOURFACE... all in one teeny Thai female person. A symbol from the universe, she is, of all that's heavenly in your life.
    Yeah, right?

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