Bowling

Later that evening, we went bowling! I hadn't been bowling since high school & it was a ton of fun! I'll let the pictures do the talking (well most of it, I'll add a few explanations).

Here I am wearing my GLAMOROUS bowling shoes!

Tara, Sarah & I

It was Sarah's first time bowling!

Melanie & Scott.

Tina & Liz

Scott showing off his dance moves.

I think they were trying to figure out what Scott was doing?!?

Maria & I
For once, Anton's ball didn't go in the gutter! ;-)


Becky, Sarah, and Tara

Kerry putting on her normal shoes.

Elephant Buffet

Every year, Surin (in Eastern Thailand) has a bug huge Elephant Festival. One of the volunteers lives really close, so a few of us went to check it out & I'm sure glad we did!

We decided to stay in dorm rooms (we're cheap volunteers after all...any way to save some money). We had 1 room for 13 people...here's a couple of pics.

I wish I would have gotten one of the bathroom because it was horrid! More so because we only had water 1/3 of the time! Which was first discovered by yours truly when she was taking a shower & the water stopped right after she had put conditioner in her hair & soap on her face (luckily there was still a trickle & I got the face rinsed off, but I ended up wearing conditioner in my hair for the rest of the night).

The first "event" was the Elephant Buffet...and no, you don't EAT the elephants (although Anton tried to convince me otherwise)...you FEED them! Here we are waiting for it to start...

And the elephant food.

There was a lot!!!

The parade floats were made out of fruits & vegetables!

The first elephant. And a LOT more! Let the chaos begin!

We decided to see if we could ride an elephant, so we walked down a ways to see if there was a ramp or something set up to get on the elephants. We stopped to watch a mom pass her terrified child up to one of the seats & all of a sudden, we heard police whistles. Moms were grabbing their children & running...so Peter & I decided it was time to get out of there. (I later found out that 4 people had been trampled by a hungry elephant...they suffered from some broken bones, luckily nothing serious).

We went back to our group & I was feeding an elephant when one of the mahoots (elephant trainers) asked if I wanted a ride. We negotiated & got him down to half what he was charging everyone else (way to go Maria). There wasn't a ramp or anything...so we had to climb onto the food tables then scale the elephant. Here's the back of our mahoot.

We sure got a bird's eye view of the goings on.Many of you know of my fear of heights...and the back of an elephant is pretty high! I took a "self photo," but I was too nervous to let Maria know...it could have been a really cute photo if I wasn't such a chicken!











After all the excitement, we had lunch at a "farang" restaurant.

Computer Update

So, I lost it all. All of my photos. All of my music. All of my documents. It's all gone.

I'm pretty upset about it, but I keep reminding myself that I still have the photos that I've posted here, and on Facebook & Myspace.

The next few posts will be out of order as I get photos from friends & post the ones I've recently taken.

Computer

This has been a really sucky week. On Friday, my computer did that automatic update thing that they tend to do before it shut off, and when I tried to turn it on on Saturday, I got an error message that said that a Windows file was corrupt & that I had to use the system disk (which happens to be in America) to re-install Windows.

I took my computer into a shop here in Nan, and made sure to tell them about my pictures & documents. There was also some discussion as to whether it should be in English or Thai. They told us 2 hours, but when we called later to check on it, they said that they didn't have the disk & it would probably be ready the next day (today).

Well, I just got it back, and my pictures/documents are no where to be seen. They did put a link on my computer for a web-driver & I just hope my pictures are there...but I have no way to check until next week. Here's to hoping that ALL of my photos from the last 2 years are not lost!!!!

Top 5's

So my computer has crashed (damn Microsoft updates) & I cannot access my pictures...which means I can't post them on here. (I'm not even letting myself think that they may be lost forever). So it's time for something a little different. I finished reading "High Fidelity" a month or so ago & just borrowed the movie from another volunteer. So with that & our upcoming Close of Service Conference at the end of the month here are a few Top 5's...

(And like the movie, these are in no particular order)

TOP 5 THING I'LL MISS ABOUT THAILAND
1. The food! I've become addicted to spicy food! If it's not spicy, it's just blah. Not to mention sticky rice. Luckily I was able to take a cooking class & I'm going to ask Pee Nuch to teach me how to make some other dishes (including sticky rice).
2. The people! Thai people are so kind & generous. They will go out of their way to help you & make sure that you are ok. I don't know how many times I've run into a casual acquaintance & they've completely dropped all of their plans to take me somewhere. Their kindness will be missed!
3. The fruit! Mangoes, papayas, mangosteen, lynchee, pineapple, guava...it's all delicious! And so cheap! I just bought a papaya for 6 baht (about 2 cents)...you could never find that in America!
4. The beaches! Islands, sun, sand...what could be better?!?
5. The scenery! I've seen the most amazing landscapes & the most beautiful flowers in this country...I'll miss the colors!

TOP 5 THINGS I WILL NOT MISS ABOUT THAILAND
1. Hand-washing my clothes! Enough said.
2. The roosters/rabid-werewolf-dogs/loudspeaker announcements that wake me up at all hours of the night & morning.
3. The Thai's general lack of planning. I don't know anywhere else where a Dairy Queen will run out of ice cream or a planned meeting will start 5 hours late or a deli will run out of bread!
4. Bus rides/songtao rides! No more 10 hour bus rides to get anywhere!
5. The bugs/scorpions/birds in my home.

TOP 5 BEST MOMENTS IN THAILAND
1. Swearing In! The Princess was there...pretty special!
2. Time on the beach!
3. Songkran in Chaing Mai! City-wide water fight...what's not to love?!?
4. Family/friend's visit!
5. Superbowl at the Patterson's. Pj's, Doritos, beer, and the Superbowl at 5am.

TOP 5 WORST MOMENTS IN THAILAND
1. Getting stung by a scorpion!
2. Waiting to meet my host-family! I've never been so nervous in my life. They were wonderful, but waiting to meet them was the worst!
3. First bike ride in Sakao! Many of you remember that email...an hour & a half of pure torture! I don't think I could sit properly for a week (which was unfortunate as I had to get back on the bike for that same ride the next day)!
4. 3rd Class Train Ride! Hot, crowded, wooden benches, and 16 hours long!
5. Nong Om's Wedding. I just wrote about that one.

TOP 5 FAVORITE PLACES IN THAILAND
1. Pagoda Inn/Chaing Mai
2. Kho Phi Phi
3. Kanchanaburi
4. Nan Market
5. Peace Corps lounge

TOP 5 THINGS I CAN'T WAIT TO DO IN AMERICA
1. Hug my family & friends!
2. Take a hot bath!
3. Do laundry the "normal" way.
4. Eat "real" pizza. I don't want corn, seafood, mayo, green beans, or cabbage on my pizza!
5. Drink real milk. No more boxed stuff that doesn't expire for a year & tastes like crap!

Here's to hoping that my computer is fixable & that I haven't lost all of my files! And if you haven't seen/read "High Fidelity" I would definitely recommend it...Nick Hornby is on my "Top 5 Favorite Authors" list.

Another Wedding

I was sitting at home reading on Saturday, when I got a call from Oye. She said that there was a party at Ron Pat's house & that they would pick me up in 10 minutes. As it was Saturday, I was in a tank-top & fisherman pants (the Thai version of sweats) & had no makeup on, so I quickly changed & was off to the party.

It turned out Ron Pat's daughter had gotten married the day before & Saturday was (as the Thais call it) the "wedding party." I knew I was in for a treat because a loud cheer went up as soon as I stepped out of the vehicle. I could tell that there had been some pretty heavy drinking going on. I have told the everyone at my site that I wont drink whiskey, but that I'll drink beer (self-preservation). I didn't see any beer there, so they poured me a glass of whiskey & soda water & I sipped that all night (just adding ice when it got low).

I started to feel a bit uncomfortable when the bride & groom came over. The made the groom sit next to me because he could speak English. But he sat a bit too close...you see, in Thailand, it's not appropriate for men to touch women who are not in their family. You get used to it...even shaking hands with a man is taboo (they wai). His legs were plastered to mine and his hands were all over me...the bride started out sitting on his other side, but soon moved to sit between us...but he wouldn't make room! Eventually, he got up to use the restroom & I saw the bride stop him on the way back. Someone eventually stopped by to tell me that the groom was too drunk & they made him go inside to lay down.

But the uncomfortableness didn't end there. There was karaoke at this event too & they told me since I "couldn't" sing a Thai song, that I had to get up and dance. No one else was dancing!!!! So I'm standing on the "stage" dancing all by myself! Pretty soon, some VERY drunk old guys get up to dance with me & again put their hands all over me & try hugging me! Just to give you a perspective, I haven't been touched by a Thai man since I've been here & now I'm getting grabbed by all of these drunk strangers. It was pretty uncomfortable & I snuck out as soon as I possibly could (luckily the house was really close to mine so I didn't need to have anyone drive me).

Here's the happy couple. The bride is absolutely beautiful!

A Thai Going Away Party

One of the guys in my office is moving to a new SAO, so last Friday, we had a going away party for him. We all went to this restaurant on a reservoir for dinner & karaoke (and of course beer).

It started out innocently enough...

There were even little kids there (although they left early).

Then the singing starts (notice they're all still in their seats)...

Here they are presenting gifts to the Pee Aroon (the guy leaving).


Then the drinking starts...

And they're up...


Then the dancing!

Now they're up on chairs!


It was a fun night...and I have to say it's pretty "interesting" dancing to Thai karaoke!